Throwback Thursday – A Pet of Days Past

Some people are cat people, some are dog people and for a while, I was a lizard person.

Puff the Magic Lizard was a coal skink, a cousin of a chameleon. He was a gift. The way I like to tell it is, when my brother stayed with me for a while in Red Deer, Alberta, he didn’t want to go the flowers-and-candy route to say thanks. He bought me a terrarium and a lizard instead!

Puff became a bit of a celebrity in the Red Deer and then, Prince George, B.C. radio communities. I mean, who else had a pet lizard? My roommate Shannon and I even learned first hand – hers – that a lizard’s tail does indeed detach and grow back!

Although I didn’t particularly enjoy purchasing live mealworms and crickets that he needed to survive, he was an entertaining little guy. When I drove through the Rocky Mountains to my new job in BC, I had to pull over because Puff’s spindly little fingers were reaching out of the Styrofoam travel cooler I had purchased for his transport comfort. Imagine a small lizard loose in a car!

Later, my BC roommates forgot about Puff’s delicate sensibilities. His terrarium perched on a huge stereo speaker, they cranked up the drum-heavy pop stylings of Cliff Richard and I came home to witness Puff performing an unwitting jump-dance to the beat. I grabbed his house and scurried with him to the relative calm of my bedroom.

Puff survived my London townhouse fire. A vet later explained that he had the ability to close some gill-like openings on his back and avoid taking in smoke. That same vet expressed glee as he cleaned up my little friend with a cotton ball and warm running water, and Puff peed down his arm. “That’s a great sign!”, he exclaimed.

Puff lived another year or so after the fire. I continued to purchase live critters and feed him dutifully. One day, I found him stiff and deceased and I mourned my pal’s passing. My friend and neighbour Derek Aubrey disposed of his body and I gave away the terrarium. There will never be another lizard for me!