So I posted a few times about us planning on getting a bearded dragon for my son, who is currently 18 months old. Obviously, any interaction will be supervised and of course, I will be doing 100% of the care & husbandry. We have a couple herper friends who introduced their kids to critters pretty young, and it worked out well. Likewise, I want to introduce my boys to animals pretty early on as well.
Here's the thing....I really do not like bearded dragons, and I am not really keen to taking care of roaches. I understand beardies are very friendly and tolerate a lot of regular-handling, but I have always found them to be a little more "stinky" than any other lizard species I've cared for, and while if push came to shove, I know I could hack dealing with Dubia, I'm not looking forward to caring for bugs of any sort. Maybe its because of all the recent spider problems we've been having, but my "ick" sensor has been on high-alert lately, and the less bugs I gotta to deal with, the lower my heart rate is.
The wife is more inclined to a beardie though, because of the aforementioned friendliness. She says that's the only lizard she would mess with on her own while I'm not around. I am now pushing for a blue-tongue skink. We've had them before: easy, durable, SLOW-moving, no need for live prey. In fact, the last one we had was technically hers, and she kinda just got bored with it. I don't know why she is not groovin' on it again.
I dunno...lots of factors here: as the primary care-taker, I think I should get some say-so on what animal we get for the kid, but at the same time, I want to get something my wife will not be reluctant to handle as well. Anyone want to weigh in on this? Beardie or BTS? Maybe another suggestion?
Here's the thing....I really do not like bearded dragons, and I am not really keen to taking care of roaches. I understand beardies are very friendly and tolerate a lot of regular-handling, but I have always found them to be a little more "stinky" than any other lizard species I've cared for, and while if push came to shove, I know I could hack dealing with Dubia, I'm not looking forward to caring for bugs of any sort. Maybe its because of all the recent spider problems we've been having, but my "ick" sensor has been on high-alert lately, and the less bugs I gotta to deal with, the lower my heart rate is.
The wife is more inclined to a beardie though, because of the aforementioned friendliness. She says that's the only lizard she would mess with on her own while I'm not around. I am now pushing for a blue-tongue skink. We've had them before: easy, durable, SLOW-moving, no need for live prey. In fact, the last one we had was technically hers, and she kinda just got bored with it. I don't know why she is not groovin' on it again.
I dunno...lots of factors here: as the primary care-taker, I think I should get some say-so on what animal we get for the kid, but at the same time, I want to get something my wife will not be reluctant to handle as well. Anyone want to weigh in on this? Beardie or BTS? Maybe another suggestion?