Of course, there is the game Cricket, which I have to admit, I've never really watched and I have zero clues as to the purpose, the rules, the results, whatever. Then, there are the little tiny creatures we, here in America, call crickets. These are the noisy nocturnal critters who through the process of rubbing their legs together, can single-handedly keep an entire household up wondering why they haven't fed the darn thing to one of the beasts! That was my night. How was yours?
My daughter and I have lizards; she has geckos and I have a Bearded Dragon. She had a Uromastx recently, but a teacher from a remote area felt that the animal would be loved and cared for by her students, and Laura agreed to rehome it. I hear she's fine and trying to memorize all the faces of the many children who poke their noses up against the glass enclosure to get a better look. The Bearded Dragon I own is a girly girl, and I named her Isabella de Burgh, after the wife of King Robert the Bruce of Scotland. My Issy is quite the lady. She prefers eating her crickets every other day so as to give her time to really appreciate their company in the enclosure when they seemingly drop from Heaven! She is so very appreciative!
Crickets in this part of the world cost about 11 cents a piece, but when you go to PetCo or PetSmart and ask for 20 or so they give you 30 or so and mark the bag 20. This makes things really nice when you're only feeding 3x a week, and trying to keep the whole animal kingdom under a budget. I already had to deal with keeping her 40-gallon enclosure heated on one side and cooler on the other, while simultaneously not allowing it to become humid! You do that by not giving her a water bowl. What? Are you kidding me? No, I'm not. I gave her one at first, only to realize it caused the enclosure to be more tropical than arid, and well, Bearded Dragons aren't from Hawaii, they're from the dry deserts of Australia. HUGE difference, and inside her tiny little Aussie make-believe tank, it is supposed to remain as close to reality as possible. During the day the enclosure is around 93 degrees Fahrenheit on one side, and around 75 on the other. She again is quite appreciative.
This morning I was incredibly happy to wake up and find my lizard smiling at me. I stopped what I was doing, which was stretching and petting the dog, and I stared at my baby girl, my Issy. She had such a happy demeanor. I do realize it may be difficult for some to distinguish the "happy face" of a Bearded Dragon from that of a resting bitch face, but it's there, you just have to see it. Maybe it was in the way she held her head and her tail just so! She had, thank you VERY MUCH ISSY, chomped down (FINALLY) on the noise-making irritating cricket from Hell! Three times in the middle of the night, I tried to find him in her enclosure so I could nudge him closer to her while she rested in her hide. Three times I tried, but couldn't find him. I tried moving her hide, I tried moving her hammock, I just couldn't see him. I'd lay back down, and then....SQUEEEEAKKK. Really?
I was just too pleased with my Issy, so when I popped out of bed, even before I walked the dog, I cut up a few grapes and rewarded her with what I'm sure she is quite excited about. Beardies don't often do backflips or stand up and give you an ovation for your performance, so you have to take what you can get, and that face - it was enough! I was in good graces. I was in good standing. I am a good human. She will allow me to remain in her kingdom! This is good.
One of the things you do with crickets when you feed them to reptiles, is you dose them with powdered calcium and other vitamins necessary for the animals. You can sprinkle the calcium on their leafy greens and fruit, but since you know they'll devour the crickets immediately, it's a good practice to just let the bugs crawl around on and in the calcium for a few seconds before losing their lives. I've often wondered if every single cricket ever born will be in Heaven when we get there. I don't know how that works. Maybe God provides an entire planet just for bugs so they can live eternally without fear of prey and/or predator issues. Spiders may be there, harmonizing with squashed wasps and ants who made it into the kitchens of nasty mean humans. I am one of those nasty mean humans. I won't lie. I have rarely allowed a spider to live peacefully without being squashed or stomped. There was this one time, but he or she really was quite interesting. He/she lived in my mother's shower for over a year, but I digress.
So, yeah, that's about it. I have critters and I buy other critters to feed them. It's a thing. Laura also has rats. She has rats, cats, dogs, and geckos. I'm all but sure she'll pick up the horse count soon. It's been rather interesting living without them for a minute. It's cheaper too. I can't even imagine how many crickets I could buy with the money we're saving on horse feed, horse vet, horse boarding, traveling to see them, etc. Wow. Just....yeah, wow.
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