Willie and Mario – Bearded Dragon Sibling Warfare

Let me introduce you to Willie and Mario, our pet Bearded Dragons!  They are about 2 ½ years old and ‘supposedly’ came from the same family.  I say supposedly because they have different colors and patterns and are so different in temperament.  They were about 1 ½ inches long when we adopted them and are now about 20 inches long. 
Bearded Dragons are originally from Australia and live in the arid, rocky, semi-desert regions and dry open woodlands of Australia.  We’ve built a similar aquarium environment with sand, rocks and a water dish.  I also made a long picture of the Australian desert and wrapped it around their aquariums so they would have something resembling "home" to look at!  Peter (my significant other who introduced me to lizards) is designing and building new homes for them.  I’ll post a picture when they are finished!   

Mario in his desert aquarium

Willie and his black beard

Willie is usually a relaxed, ‘let come what may’, kind of guy.  He is orange and tan and when he wants to show his dominance his beard is black with a purple cast.  He puffs it up and certainly tries to look twice his size.  If I were a lizard, I’d be intimidated!   When one is being dominate the other does a lot of arm waving – kind of like lizard yoga!


Before sibling rivalry!

Mario is a little smaller, gray, dark brown and ivory, with a most beautiful pattern on his tummy.  He has always been a picky eater.  For a long time he would only eat green lettuce.  So we had to wrap a cricket in lettuce so he would get his protein, but if we completely covered the cricket he would eat it.  If so much as a leg showed, he simply shut his eyes and turned his head.  Talk about body language; Mario is going to have life his way!   If he wants out of his aquarium, he will try until we can’t stand it and give him what he wants.  I’m going to use a photo of his tummy pattern as texture on one of my necklaces.
 Both Willie and Mario love the sun.  When they were little, they played together and basked happily on their rock on the corner of my workspace.   Now that they are adults, we keep them at opposite ends of the room or out of each other’s view.  Sibling rivalry is at work and we are in the process of making a two-tiered basking box, which will go back in the corner window on my work table.  Hopefully this will bring peace since they won’t be able to see each other. 
 
Morning Wake UP
One morning I was busily working on a piece of jewelry and looked up to find both lizards intently watching me.  I like that.  These animals inspire me with their movements, their patterns and their personalities.  Keeps me doing my best as I enjoy them! 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning As We Go!

Image
Viking knit is the oldest method of chain making and I've become fascinated by it.  Once I conquered the single knit, I decided to add beads.  I could have googled or asked how it was done but it seemed like something I could just figure out.  And I've learned a lot as I proceeded first with tumbled turquoise beads and then with pearls.  I thought I'd share a few of the things I've learned.   Iif you want a great tutorial on viking knit technique, Trina Ann at http://blog.trinaann.com/  has written a clear concise easy to understand tutorial.  I highly recommend it.    Tumbled tuquoise beads in viking knit  I used tumbled turquoise beads in the first viking knit chain and I did not really know what I was doing.  But I went right ahead and as it turned out, I liked the end result.  Since the beads were irregular in shape there was a random quality to the finished product. During that process, I began to really understand the technique of viking knit.  Loo
Read more

Polymer Clay Conversation

Image
One of the polymer clay groups on FaceBook is 'Polymer Clay Collective'.  This is a group of artists working in polymer clay who share ideas and support each other.  I'm so glad to be a part.  A new feature of this group is the 'Polymer Clay Collective Conversations' where a different member answers a set  of questions.  I get to be first - the trailblazer! I hope you enjoy learning a little more about me and in two weeks I get to learn more about someone else. • Tell us a bit about where you live. I live in Prescott AZ right next to the national forest.   When I look out my studio windows, I often see large black ravens swooping between the pine trees.   Binoculars are always available for close viewing of our smaller forest birds.   You’ve probably read about the forest fires we have had in our area this summer.   The monsoon rains we are having are so welcome. • What do you do when you're not polymer claying? As of 2010, I became a retired interi
Read more

Giving New Meaning to UPCYCLE!

Image
My first ever ‘Do Over Challenge’ was such fun!  I signed up to participate in Jeannie K Dukic ’s 6th Do Over Challenge not really knowing anything about how it worked.  I received a necklace that was very sweet with copper wire connections and pinkish pearls.  It sat on my work space for a couple of weeks while I pondered my next move.  One day I opened my polymer bead collection and was drawn to the pinkish and green beads.  They really looked good with the pearls.  I found some green crystal beads and a few other contenders.  But when I tried the small striped beads, I knew my combination!  This is the finished product for most of the pearls in the original necklace. It was the week to finish some of my long term projects.  I kept the wires with the red and green rubber bands from the braces I wore for 3 years.  When they finally came off, I asked the orthodontist if I could have them.  He wanted to know why since almost NO ONE wanted them and I told him I wante
Read more