Yoshi is a leopard gecko. She's nearly two years old and fully grown at 12 inches. She'll live for about 20 years, so she could theoretically outlive me. She eats live crickets and mealworms. Yep, I can sense most of you squirming already. What's wrong with having a hamster or cat, you may ask...
Don't get me wrong, I love furry creatures too. As a kid I had a rabbit, a guinea pig, several canaries and cats, two dogs and a pony. As a married couple we've had two cats, both rescues. One lived to the ripe old age of seventeen before passing away peacefully in our garden one sunny morning.
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| Our three newest girls - left to right Chiana, Kyru and Rush |
Yoshi doesn't purr or wag her tail. She has no way to express her pleasure, but she'll stay still and arch her back if stroked. She can bite if she's annoyed, but that's happened maybe twice since we got her, and both times with good reason. Her skin is bumpy on her back, but soft, almost silky on her underside. She has the most beautiful eyes - shades of green flecked with gold. Her mouth is fixed in what looks like a permanent smile. She requires little care, and is very docile. She only feels cold if she's been laying in the cool spot of her vivarium, and never feels slimy. Her feet have tiny, tiny claws that you can feel on your skin, but it doesn't hurt. I love to watch her stalk and pounce on her prey. Gruesome? No. Less cruel than a cat with a mouse, since she only hunts to eat. And when you write alien races like I do, she's fabulous inspiration for writing something non-human.
Will we get any more? No. Leopard geckos prefer to be solitary, and we already have three kids in the house. Lol. We've talked about buying stick insects for our two boys, but so far we haven't done so...
