Senior Felix Sutter compares owning a lizard to owning a cat—just with a little less responsibility, as lizards are asleep for most daylight hours.
Felix grew up with a cat and has loved pets ever since; however, they have an affinity for reptiles. During the pandemic, they discovered a YouTube channel called Snake Discovery and have been obsessed ever since.
“I used to watch this YouTube channel called Snake Discovery, which is, in my personal opinion, pretty good to watch, and it’s very entertaining,” Felix said. “I would hyperfixate on that, and then just watch every single video that I possibly could. After I started researching leopard geckos, I immediately got back into watching them, and I still haven’t stopped…it’s probably a little bit of a problem.”
Felix got the opportunity to own their first reptile last year after one of FHC’s science teachers could no longer take care of their residential leopard gecko. Impassioned by the possibility, Felix researched information about these geckos and soon became a proud lizard caretaker. After a year of having the lizard (whose name is Oscar, Bud, or Olaf, depending on the day), Felix has picked up on typical lizard behaviors.
“He has a little attitude,” Felix said. “Sometimes, I have to clean out his eyes, and I just pick him up. If he doesn’t feel like it that day, he will grumble at me. A couple of times, I’ve put him on my floor just to see what he’ll do, and he runs around like a little toddler. He has pudgy, toddler-looking legs, and he flails around like a crocodile. He’s kind of like this small toddler that croaks at me.”
Since Oscar/Bud/Olaf has a Vitamin A deficiency, Felix feeds him canned mealworms and crickets for plenty of nutrition. However, super worms—a larger version of typical mealworms—are his favorite.
“As lizards do, he just sits there and does nothing or explores around the cage at night, because he’s nocturnal,” Felix said. “But when I put a superworm in front of his face, he starts going ham—running around the enclosure trying to find it and being stupid and missing it. He really, really likes superworms.”
With Oscar/Bud/Olaf’s thriving personality and expression, Felix has developed an affection for the creature, inspiring them to hopefully own their personal menagerie in the future.
“I think I would love to have snakes and bigger lizards,” Felix said. “I think that I would probably like to have a bearded dragon, two cats, and a dog. I feel like with reptiles, since they’re so easy [to take care of], you could keep a bunch of them and then feed them every once in a while. It’s expensive, but it’s not too much work.”
As Felix has spent more time with Oscar/Bud/Olaf, they’ve become grateful for his joyous presence in their house. The way Felix sees it, pets are an essential part of life; theirs wouldn’t be complete without Oscar/Bud/Olaf.
“Well, I feel like I definitely got happier because I had something to do,” Felix said. “I could take care of this small creature, and he’s cute. I have something to be excited about when I go home and think, ‘Where is he now?’ And, I can buy things for him.”
Felix knows not all reptiles have the privilege of being taken care of properly, so they urge others to know what they’re getting themselves into before making an impulsive purchase of a reptile. They believe all pets deserve a healthy life and proper care and hope to continue rescuing animals.
“Do your research before owning a reptile,” Felix said. “I see things all the time where there’s a goldfish in a fish tank, and there’s an inch of water in it, and [people say], ‘Well, it just grows to the size of the tank.’ No, it doesn’t…people have owned crocodiles and said the same thing. It’s stunted, and you’re not taking care of this [animal] very well.”
