Tuesday, August 27, 2013

New Addition to the House: Say Hello to Babylon

As most of you know, I have a number of ...let's call them roommates, it sounds so much better than Feline Overlords..that share the house with me. A couple-five roommates, to be specific.

Today, we got an addition to the household. You may notice that he does not exactly blend in with the rest.
 CAT
 CAT
 MORE CATS
REALLY BIG CAT
 NOT A CAT

Meet Babylon. Babylon is a Mali Uromastyx, otherwise known as a lizard. In fact, you could say he is my grand-lizard, since he belongs to my step-daughter Jennifer. (Sure, technically you might want to call him my step-grand-lizard, but that would just be silly.) When Jenn moved out of town a few years ago, she left Babylon in the custody of her mom, Jo. But Jo has to move and can't take him with her, and nobody else wanted to hang on to a really large lizard in a 4 ft. vivarium (that's a fancy word for a large glass tank with a lizard in it) for an indefinite period of time...so here we are.
Currently, Babylon and his home are sitting on the counter between my dining room/office and my living room. We'll see how that works out. I have a spot cleared for him upstairs if the giant tank is too much in the way, of if for some reason the cats freak out about it. And Jenn is looking into how on earth one transports a lizard from upstate NY to San Jose, California.

In the meanwhile, welcome to Summer Solstice House, Babylon. As they said in Oliver, "Consider yourself at 'ome. Consider yourself one of the family." Try not to eat the postman.

18 comments:

  1. Wow. What a handsome fellow! He's lucky he has such a nice grandma.

    (*sniggers* That's right. I called you GRANDMA.)

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    1. Yeah, you laugh now, but wait until one of your kids brings you home a grand-anything, missy.

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    2. That best be a LONG time coming. Or else...

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  2. Stupid question -- is there a lid so that the cats can't get curious and jump in after him?

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    1. Bethany--the cats are showing great curiosity, but so far, no attempts to actually get into the cage :-)

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  3. I was hoping to see another cat ;) ... but this little one is certainly cute too!

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  4. That's one interesting lizard. Rather exotic. Have the cats even noticed him yet? Have you knitted him any little booties or a blankie yet?

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    1. Humor, har. I do not knit. If I did, I assure you, I would not knit for a lizard :-) (Although, actually, a friend did ask if we were going to dress him up.) He does have a leash, in case I want to take him outside.

      Angus looked a bit freaked out, and Samhain explored by the cage for a while. The other cats have, so far, ignored him.

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  5. This should make Feline Fridays more fun.

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  6. Your first lizard. What a special event. Perhaps you should have a lizard shower. :)

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  7. He's adorable in a lizard kind of way, fat cheeks and all. So far no jail breaks, I take it. My grandfather once had two iguanas. Those two were humongous, one must of been at least 3ft long, not including the tail (another 3ft). The day one escaped and held my grandmother captive ontop of kitchen chair for a few hours, was the last time I saw them. (Hugs) Indy

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    1. Nope--I think the walls are too high for him to scale, and Mali's aren't climbers like iguanas are. Your poor grandmother :-)

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  8. Wow! I had also expected another cat had been added to the group. That's a handsome lizard. : )

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    1. I know, Roben :-) I'm pretty sure every one thought that. But this inn is full when it comes to cats!

      Thankfully, the lizard is (in theory, anyway) a temporary houseguest.

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  9. As loaner lizards go, he's neato! And fabulous name ;-)

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