The animals
that have shared my home are as diverse as can be. I have held and cared
for lizards, hamsters, a guinea pig, many amphibians, turtles, cats, and
various invertebrates. Currently, I have a bearded
dragon, an albino dwarf hamster (who looks like a little devil with
those beady red eyes), a brown anole, a budgie,
two fish, two cats, and two red eared sliders. Below
are some of the stories of how they came into my life.
Cambian is
my husband's cat. He was orphaned when his mother was killed in a
farming accident whose details are too gruesome to mention here. We
raised him on bread and milk fed through an eyedropper since he was only
a few weeks old. For the first month, his home was a large cage and he
slept in a toppled over orange construction road cone. He was quite
wild, and hence was named Cambian, which is a fictional name meaning
"half-demon". Now, 6 years later, his name should be changed to
"half-chicken". He hates new people and when he hears the doorbell, he
bolts for under the bed. Almost friendly to people under age 30, he will
sneak out to peek aloofly and carefully at them from the other side of
the room.
Connor, the
5 year old cat, on the other hand, is friendly to ANYONE. Repair men (we
have to physically restrain him from following and rubbing on the
guy who fixes our cable), friends of ours, the average joe off the
street, all become his best buddies as soon as they cross our
threshhold. At least part Norwegian Forest cat, (he's too small to be
Maine Coon), he has a fluffy body that makes him look much bigger than
he really is. He is very talkative and will tell you his whole
life story if you're willing to sit, pet him and listen. He has some
strange habits, such as sleeping in the bathtub even when it's wet and
growling in his sleep (a very nervewracking sound in the middle of the
night when he's soundly sleeping on your feet). He was adopted by me
from a less than ideal home. The guy had 25 half-starved cats, had been
reported to the Humane Society more than once, and was in general not
worth his weight (which was QUITE considerable) in salt. The mother of
Connor used to be tortured by the guy's kids. One would hold her head,
another her feet, and the third would run over her with their bicycle.
Not a good situation. So with the help of the man's neighbor (who
happened to be my Aunt) Connor came to live with me.
Jupiter,
the bearded dragon was a free donation to my home. A lady was getting
married and her fiance was scared to death of teh lizard. Was scared
that he would bite him and give him some hideous disease. As if a dragon
will jump out an attack you. *laughs* He came free, complete with 50
gallon tank, lid, decor, and lights. I gratefully took him in and have
had him for a little over 5 years.
The
turtles, two female red eared sliders, came to me by way of my job. I
used to be a zookeeper last summer and the zoo had a turtle pond with 5
turtles. Over the course of the day certain events dictated the eventual
abandonment of two extra turtles in our pond. So, I volunteered to take
them home. As my husband can attest, I can't refuse any animal who needs
a good home. The larger female is missing the back half of her scutes
(probably due to VERY poor water conditions in her old home). I named
her Half-Plate consequently. The other, a smaller female with gorgeous
markings, is called Full-Plate. They live in a large Rubbermaid tub with
plenty of rocks to climb on. I can't wait til the summer when they can
be put outside for afternoons in a kiddie swimming pool. It will
do them both good to bask in the pure sunshine, instead of beneath
reptile lights.
My budgie, Cyan, is a normal aquamarine color. He's
the newest "baby" in the house and is still getting used to being near
people. Not yet fingertame, he doesn't like hands in his cage in the
least. We are working on his diet, but so far all he wants to eat are
seeds. He really likes my husband and whistles at him during the day.
Now, the hard part is getting David to realize that he's the bird's
chosen buddy and that it expects him to whistle back:)
The brown
anole, who currently is nameless, was a hitchhiker in my in-laws trunk
from FL to Michigan last Christmas (2001). How he survived a 2000 mile
drive in the cold and snow is a miracle. He was missing a chunck of his
tail, but it has started to really grow back. Fat and happy, he lives in
a custom decorated tank in my animal room.
I have 2
fish, who are rather normal, except for the fact the golden gourami
kills everything living except for the pleco that lives with it.
*shrugs* I quit trying to find any other fish to put in the tank. Maybe
someday I'll have another aquarium with "nice" fish.
The hamster, also nameless, is a bit bitey, and only
really likes our friend Brian. *shrug* I guess hamsters can pick their
own friends:) He's pure white with bright red eyes, and
loves chewing on Gingersnaps and coconut shells.
The animals
that have shared my home are as diverse as can be. I have held and cared
for lizards, hamsters, a guinea pig, many amphibians, turtles, cats, and
various invertebrates. Currently, I have a bearded
dragon, an albino dwarf hamster (who looks like a little devil with
those beady red eyes), a brown anole, a budgie,
two fish, two cats, and two red eared sliders. Below
are some of the stories of how they came into my life. 
