Nicodemus & Luigi

So, although I had some doubts about getting our snake Bubbles, (out of concern for when he gets big enough to harm my babies..) John really wanted to keep him and so I talked to the breeder who sold them to us. He lives in the town next to us, McKinney. He told me that this kind of python, (jungle carpet) does not get nearly as big or fat as other pythons. Although it will probably grow to be 5 ft long, it will be lean. It also won't grow as fast as I thought, and will take ~4 yrs to grow to it's adult size. By that time, Frankie will be too big for him to hurt him. The cage we got is very secure, in that it's not just a tank with a mesh screen on top. It only opens in the front and has two levers to keep it shut. I told John that as it gets bigger, I want him to buy a tank that has a key-lockable door so the kids cannot open it.


Anyway, the other day, Susan went out for a run and in came a tiny little baby lizard. John caught it in a container, and the kids asked him to keep it...We named it Luigi. When we went to the pet store to get a tank for it, we ended up getting another pet, but one that can't hurt us. It's an adorable tree frog. John is re-living his boyhood by getting himself reptiles, and I am glad that it makes him happy as long as he will continue to take care of them and their cages, keep them secure..and that they don't stink the house up. The kids really like the frog since they can hold it and it's so pretty! It's legs stick to you, and it likes your warmth. This terrarium was half price so we spruced it up and let the lizard and frog live together. The lizard is so small it mostly hides, (and we know the frog might eat it) and the frog sticks to the plants or wall and sleeps. We named him Nicodemus....I honestly only recently learned that Nicodemus was a pharisee, and later a saint....I had only heard of that name from one of John's favorite movies, "The Secret of NIMH", in which the wise and mystical rat is named Nicodemus...

So our classroom is full of reptiles, music and crafts. They like school :) We can even dissect a frog when we get to biology. Just kidding--I actually like Nicodemus. 

 We put some small crickets in, but I haven't seen the lizard at all, and I haven't seen Nicodemus try to eat any...I hope it's not too distressed.