The Animal Journey

Both BJ & I had dogs growing up.  Nothing too special.  Our parents took care of them mostly.
We looked forward to having a dog with our own kids, but when JBJ was little, we discovered he was allergic to everything. 

Everything, except rats... & rabbits... & mice... & birds... & fish... & reptiles... & amphibians.

So that's what we've had.  JBJ got his first rat when he was 5 years old.  Since then, he's had at least 5-7 others.  I like the little fellas.  They were clean (believe it or not!) and they were fun.

Then we got rabbits.  Our total has been 18.  That includes 2 litters.... a litter of 10 and a litter of 4.   But most of our rabbits have met an awful demise. 

We got mice because we figured the rats were cute and then the mice were cuter.  But WOW! they stink.  They lasted 3 days in the house and were promptly put into the garage.  But then they died.  I think JBJ forgot to give them water.

We've had plenty of fish.

We've had 4 parakeets.  We have 2 finches now.

Then JBJ got into reptiles and amphibians.  Over a year ago, he caught 4 salamanders at a mountain pond while we were camping.  They are still alive.... in a tank.... in his room.  Then he got a Bearded Dragon.  And he named him Norbert. 

Norbert has grown on me.  I kinda like the weird-looking thing.  I LOVE to watch him eat.  I get great satisfaction out of finding an escaped cricket in our house and tossing it into Norbert's cage....makes me feel powerful.... or morbid.

Well, today we added the ??? up-teenth animal to our collection.  A FEMALE bearded dragon named Daisy.  Guess what JBJ's plan is?  Yep, he wants to breed them.... just like the rabbits.

I read somewhere that bearded dragons can lay an average of 35 eggs per clutch.

Heaven help us.