Leapin’ Lizards Scaly Creatures Are Gaining Popularity As Pets

Lizards aren’t exactly what you’d call perky pets. They prefer sedentary activities like lying around and eating to running and playing fetch.

Still, don’t sell these scaly dust collectors short, because there’s far more to them than meets the eye.

“Reptiles have really become the latest rage, because we have a better idea of how they’re taken care of,” says Lanny Calkins, a sales associate for Petco’s South Hill store.

Pet stores have transformed live crickets and mealworms into convenience food, says Calkins. “It’s like going out and getting some milk. You get some crickets while you’re at it.”

Monitors (which average about two feet in length) are popular with young apartment dwellers because they’re quiet and clean. Unlike small, jittery lizards (like American anoles) large lizards can be trusted outside their cages, says Calkins.

Some owners put leashes on their lizards and walk them outdoors. Others use their scaly pals for a fashionable shoulder accessory.

Like people, some lizards are more interesting than others. Spokane’s Don and Barb Stephens own two male, two female and 26 baby veiled chameleons. The breed, which originates near the border of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, provides hours of entertainment.

When the couple’s chameleons aren’t blending into the woodwork or eating bugs, they’re sending complex color-coded messages to each other. Their language is filled with subtle and dramatic transitions that relay a number of emotions.

For example, Azure’s skin, which is normally teal with rust spots, turns black with bright yellow spots when she’s warning other lizards and humans to keep away from her babies.

When his chameleons are sporting bright greens and teals, times are good, says Stephens. If they’re greenish-brown, it’s time for mega-vitamins and extra rest.

Each day a drama of unrequited love, passion, competition and betrayal unfolds in the Stephens’ South Hill home. The lizards’ heated exchanges make warring soap opera villains seem friendly.

Buzz, a male patterned like a beautiful Southwest tapestry, sits patiently in his corner cage. Out of the corner of his eye he catches a glimpse of Junior climbing down a branch toward freedom.

Buzz quickly sucks in his gut, which laterally compresses his body. This macho muscle flexing puffs up his spine and gives him a mammoth profile while ironically shrinking his width to the size of a slice of Wonder bread.

Buzz then turns a brilliant green, dons his most fearsome crest and unrolls his long tail. This lets other lizards know he’s a fierce reptile who’s capable of defending his territory.

“They’ll put one hand under their chin to make themselves look bigger. They’re very into illusion,” says Don Stephens.

Junior watches Buzz’s continuing intimidation act and decides he’d be better off back inside his cage. The defeated lizard does an about-face. Another battle of the mimes ends with no serious casualties.

“They’re social in that they interact together, but they don’t want to be too close to each other. They want to maintain their individual space.”

Junior’s cage is located by a mirror, which allows him to routinely practice his “I’m the hunkiest lizard” pose.

Because Junior doesn’t change colors during his posturing, Stephens believes he recognizes his own reflection. Stephens takes that as a sign of intelligence in animals.

Junior is so enamored with his own good looks he can’t go by a mirror without giving himself a scaly nod of approval, says Don’s wife, Barb. “They really have a narcissistic side to them, as all men do,” she jokes.

Like adolescent boys, male lizards constantly search for the go-ahead sign from girls. Every three months, females turn bright green to signal it’s baby time. However, when a lady lizard turns black, it sends the opposite message.

“When she puts on her black negligee, it doesn’t mean the same thing it does in people,” says Stephens.

As our drama continues, Junior valiantly scales a hanging plant to reach his beloved Bisbee. He attempts to grasp the vine while simultaneously striking his handsome lizard pose. This results in a couple of near slips, which land poor Junior in a precarious upside-down position.

Bisbee looks at her desperate suitor and promptly turns a charcoal color, which in lizard language means: “Get lost Romeo.”

Lizards are aware of each and every melodramatic event that goes on because their eyes operate independently of one another.

“They can be watching you with one eye and the flies flying by with the other,” says Stephens.

Their vision enables them to journey across bookcases, over teacups and through plants, and still keep an eye on the locations of both their true love and their competition.

In addition to their romantic interests, lizards enjoy a good meal. Stephens hand feeds his pets, and they snack on an occasional unlucky bug that flies indoors. In one quick zap, unsuspecting interlopers disappear, and the house is debugged.

“It’s like a plunger. It’s a hydraulic plunger that comes straight out. If they so desire, they can shoot their tongue more than the length of their head and body,” says Stephens.

Adds Calkins, “It’s really fascinating to watch them eat. They do eat really well as long as they’re kept in ideal circumstances.”