Season Two - E. 3 - Caring for Exotic Pets.

Meet Mike London from Reptile Kingdom.  What, you may ask, does he have in that rather large, air-hole punctured container?  A poisonous toad the size of a soccer ball?  A giant lizard with terrifyingly sharp claws?  Or perhaps it's a 50 lb boa constrictor named Sidney?  Any of those guesses could be correct as he brought all of them, and more.

Our first guest was a rather large Bearded Dragon which Mike set up on the desk in front of us and let wander.   I'm familiar with this particular lizard having driven from London, Ontario one spring day with one basking on my dashboard as I kept one eye on him and one on the 401 traffic!!  The one Mike brought to meet us was considerably larger, and surprisingly smooth.  Jacquie and Mary did quite well with this one I thought, considering their initial misgivings about the whole thing.

Next was a Tegu Lizard.   He was a little more intimidating as he roamed around the table with his oh so very sharp claws.  And in the same way that cats will rub themselves against the legs of my husband (so not a cat person), this Tegu seemed intent on visiting Jacquie! 

 

 



 This picture in no way does justice to it's actual size!!!    Each claw was the length of my middle finger at least. 

We also met Sidney.  Sidney is a 50lb Boa Constrictor, about 15 feet long.  She quite enjoyed exploring our desk.  I enjoyed the lizards a lot, but I think Sidney was my favourite.  At one point she hooked the end of herself over the edge of the desk in front of me, and then hung the rest of herself over the other edge and I will admit to a bad couple of seconds when I suddenly remembered that the desk has no front on it and she could have easily doubled back underneath it.  : )

Our final guest (we ran out of time) was a land tortoise, who made short work of the zucchini Mike gave him to munch on! 

As cool as it was to get up close to these amazing creatures, we all have to remember that taking one as a pet should never be taken lightly.  They require a lot of work.  The one thing people don't seem to realize, according to Mike, is that they will get bigger!  The tiny little lizard you buy today could grow to several feet long so be sure you are up to the task of caring for it! 

For more information, see Reptile Kingdom's website:
http://www.reptilekingdom.net/rescue.html

And if you find yourself in Fonthill, drop in for a visit!