I don't mention him often but I do love him dearly. Jack has been a huge source of entertainment over the past several months. I am quite happy that Honey went out and bought him and added him to our family. I was a little anxious at first though because I have never cared for a reptile. My sister and her family had an iguana, but they aren't the same type at all. Jack is also, and this is most likely biased, much more adorable than Izzy (their iguana) was.
Jack has always been playful, too. If you've never owned a lizard and have a couple hundred dollars to spare, then a Chinese Water Dragon may be the one for you. Make sure you look up information on them first, though. Honey had to leave the first pet store he went to because he was on the phone with a friend who knows reptiles and she told him they weren't taking care of them and quite possibly may be sick and end up dying on us. So he listened to her and went to the other pet store. There they had Jack, fresh from the tropics I guess. He was there only for a short while and he had admirers because of his wonderful personality among the employees.
When we first got Jack, he wasn't used to us and therefore was a touch frightened and tended to whip us with his tail if we tried to pick him up. But when he finally figured out how well we planned on caring for him, he was thrilled with us. We can pick him up and hold him for a few minutes at a time and we can reach in and scratch him behind his eyes quite a bit. Being a tropical lizard he has a love of water and heat.
For quite awhile we couldn't figure out why he was trying to hang upside down on the mesh cover of his tank, but we finally realized that he must not be warm enough, that we needed a stronger heating bulb. We did get him one, but man I do miss this. It was always fun to watch. He got quite strong and could hold himself upside down for a few minutes at a time. He was also smart because he'd let his back legs fall before letting go with his front and he never got hurt when he fell.
So here's Jack, named after Jack O'Neill from Stargate SG-1. He has a pond with no fish and he has an amazing personality. (Sometimes we think he may actually be a girl, but ... well we'll worry about that later. His cresting has never come in and that's usually how you determine.)
As always, click to enlarge. I am off again!
