Lizzy Lizard: The Unconventional Childhood Pet

We all share the same embarrassment of our first email address. Ranging from green.pinkie.princess and soccergurllll27 to saxophone2741 and puddin.pants, the chagrin is real. Very real. Feeling a bit nostalgic this week, I bring to you my first email address..... LizzyLizard. (Cringe) This email address stems from my prized pets. Most eight year olds have goldfish, dogs, or maybe even a hamster as their first pet, but not me! My first pet was a lizard. Other young girls my age had Barbies, baby dolls, and dress up clothes in their room, but I had two 100 gallon aquariums.

Adult and Baby Bearded Dragon (Credit)

My first lizard was named Spike and my second lizard was named Kiwi, both of which were Bearded Dragons. I got them both from different reptiles shows when they were a wee little three inches. Although they are cute and little at first, Bearded Dragons can grow to be 20 inches long! The picture to the right shows how large the size difference is between the teeny babies and large adults. It is to note that one should never put babies and adults together like in this picture. Adults will eat babies! (Eeeek!)  Let's hope that little guy made it!

As I said earlier, I got my Bearded Dragons from a reptile show. If you have never been to a reptile show, I would totally recommend it! Venomous cobras, dimly lit rooms, and cigar smoke characterize the event. Perfect for an eight year old! (#ParentingGoals) My dad and I scoped the stands for the perfect baby lizard and settled on Spike. It is key to understand that it was 17 degrees that day and lizards need heat to live. We rode the two hour drive back home with the heat turned up completely, sweating to death, just so my first pet, little Spikey, would be okay.

I just had Spike at first, but when he turned six months old, eight year old Lizzy thought he was really lonely and needed a girlfriend. So off we went to the reptile show again to pick up a new girl Bearded Dragon. We raced home excited to unite the two new best friends (Or should I say arranged marriage?). This is where the fun ends. Spike tried to kill Kiwi. Like he actually wanted her to die. So we went to the pet store to buy another 100 gallon tank and they lived side by side for the rest of their 10 year life. It was a crushing blow to my childhood ideality of love.

Some families bring their dog into their annual family Christmas card, but my family had lizards in our annual card. If you don't believe me, look to the left.  LOL. Here I am posing by the Christmas tree circa 2006 with my reptiles.

Spike and Kiwi both lived to be 10 years old, passing away earlier this year. RIP.  Bearded Dragons are great pets, and I definitely would recommend them. I'm glad I got to share this walk down memory lane with you and my unconventional childhood pets. Comment below your cringe worthy first email address and if you too had any weird pets growing up! Thanks for reading!