Hello everyone! It has been a hot minute since I chatted about our beloved critter family. Through the years we have lost a few of our family pets, and each time took a bit of my heart, sometimes large chunks. We are all animal people here and while they do consume a lot of resources and time, it is worth it. They bring us happiness and joy and peace, and I hope that they feel the love we have for them, even our little fishes or lizards. I know Miso does, spoiled princess that she is. Or should I say Queen?

Our sweet little Miso girl. We had two other kitty faces but we lost them both back to back almost two years ago. Maggie and Marlow. They were both seniors, as is Miso, who is 14. When we got her she was six months and was found in a cat hoarders apartment with 50 other cats. I was volunteering at the shelter during that time and fell in love with her little face and brought her home. She is a super goofball, a bit of a klutz, likes to stand on her back legs and chatter like a squirrel, and has a super loud purr. And best of all, I am her favorite person to cuddle with.

This is Luna! She is a leopard gecko, but I don’t really know what her type is. Maybe a Mack Snow? We got her from a pet store we were poking around in. When the store employees told us she was not doing well we knew she was the one we had to take home. The breeder had fed her inappropriate food for her size and she was ill, and we had to give her twice daily soaks. It was always funny to have little Luna in a jar next to me on my desk. She escaped once and gave me a heart attack when I went in and her tank door was open and she was missing! I found her in the closet after fifteen minutes of desperate searching.

Next up is Applejack! I love her little smile in this photo! She was a birthday present to me from Billy and Wyatt in 2021 and she is a crested gecko from Josh’s Frogs. We have very friendly geckos, and Applejack loves to be taken out and talked to – unless it is before evening. Then she wants only her beauty rest, and to sleep in her hanging coconut house. Cresties are crepuscular so they are most active at dusk and dawn. Her diet is mainly crestie food, and her favorite flavor is watermelon.

Freddy is our only frog. He is a pacman frog, and they are pretty….inactive as pets. They mainly dig a little spot in their tank and wait for food and barely move. He is not our most exciting pet but we love him anyway. They are very food and hunting focused and when I dropped these leaves into his tank he immediately attacked them before quickly realizing that they were not food.

This is Harlow, our shyest gecko. He is a pictus gecko and they are private little shy lizards by nature. He is also from Josh’s Frogs. He doesn’t really like a lot of interaction so I mostly leave him be which is how he likes it. He does tolerate me though because I am the one who feeds him…

Still with me? Good, because we have a few more to go!

This is my newest gecko baby, Oliver. I got him a few months ago and he was the size of my thumb, just so itty-bitty teeny weeny! He is another crested like Applejack, but he doesn’t sleep in his coconut yet. He mainly sleeps behind his plants. I love his tiny little feet! Oliver is also from Josh’s Frogs, who we obviously love.

Finally. We are nearing the end.

Wyatt’s fish tanks. Wyatt has always wanted a fish, and Billy and I were always like no no, it’s hard to take care of them, etc. But when his meds were switched a few months ago and he was sick every single morning for hours, we caved and got him a fish to cheer him up and help keep him occupied when he all he could do was rest. He picked a black and purple betta and named him Moon. Then when we started redoing his room, we got him another one. This time he picked a white one, that has yellow and blue markings (his favorite colors) and he named it Star. It’s not that much harder to clean two tanks than one honestly and it makes him happy. And oh yeah..each fish has a snail friend. Sunny lives with Moon, and Escargot lives with Star.

We love having our whole little menagerie of animals. We love them all very much, although it does add quite a bit of time to my day to care for them all. I usually do maintenance on the weekends and feedings after our dinner, so it is not really too bad though, in all honesty. Billy does the fish, I do everyone else.

And there you have it! Our little zoo.