A Tribute to Wakka, Part One

            The following is Part One of a tribute to my bearded dragon, Wakka, who passed away December 4, 2021. This series will include favorite memories and stories of my life with my companion for five years.

            When I first adopted Wakka on October 28, 2016, it was a whole new experience. I’d never had reptile before, and frankly, I never wanted one. After my dog Casper passed away in 2013, I always figured I just wanted another dog. I live with my mom as I am disabled, and as some of you regular readers may know, unemployed, without the funds to live on my own and also as my mom needs assistance. Two years passed, no dog. (For more background on this, I posted a poem called “I Wanted a Dog”). Then my mom heard about bearded dragons and how they make wonderful pets. I was resistant at first. I’d only ever had fur babies and fish prior to that, and a lizard just never hit a ping on my radar. When I finally saw a picture of one, I had to admit it was adorable. (If you’ve never seen a bearded dragon, look them up so you know what I’m talking about). So finally, I was sold on it. So we bought the tank and some decorations. As I looked, I saw the most hideous decoration, and for some reason, I just thought my beardie would like it (it rang up at the register as “Tree Demon.”). Then I had to meet my new friend. The breeder at PetSmart brought me to the holding tank. There were three beardies in the tank. They were hatched on September 1, 2016. I couldn’t believe how tiny they were. Then one looked at me. Two were right near each other, the other was towards the back. As I looked at the ones in the front, the one in the back crawled forward and actually STEPPED on the other two and put its foot on the glass. You know how it is. You’re in a pet store, you want a pet and if you see an animal do that, you HAVE to take it with you. This little creature practically SCREAMED “TAKE ME!” So the breeder took the little creature out for me to hold for first contact. I have a firm grip and was a little afraid I’d smoosh it. I jokingly referred to this as “male postpartum lizard depression.” But this little thing looked up at me and gave me a huge smile. I asked for its gender, and was told it was a boy and asked to name him. Sometimes a name doesn’t instantly come to you, but I thought of my favorite video game “Final Fantasy X” and the character Wakka and I just thought he looked like a Wakka. So I adopted him and brought him home with me. The breeder placed him in a cardboard box with little air holes. Wakka was skittering around in it. When I got home, I set up his tank in my room and placed him in it. He stood there for a moment, looked around curious, then turned and climbed on the Tree Demon. His look said, “Hmm, I think I’ll like it here.” He also had a food and water dish, a plastic cactus, and a plastic triceratops skull, and over the next hour he explored. This totally confirmed “I think I’ll like it here.” And then came the feeding. I had bought a Bearded Dragon Manual (which pretty much was useless) and read the diet. I had bought a package of Omnivore mix, which had a combination of bugs, fruits, and vegetables. The diet also contained bugs, obviously. So I got freeze dried crickets. Honestly, live crickets would be a disaster. I’m a klutz and if I knocked over a box of live bugs, I’d have then crawling all over me at night and make so much noise that I’d never get a good night’s sleep for the rest of my life. And breeding live bugs would be excessive. I mean, I only wanted a bearded dragon, not a hive of dubia roaches, hornworms, and crickets. Only one pet was needed. Fortunately, Wakka LOVED his crickets freeze dried. He ran over to his dish, looked at them for a few seconds, then his little pink tongue came out, snagged the bugs, and crunched. We called the look “Happy nom nom look.” His eyes lit up in excitement as the tongue came out, and as he chewed with his little teeth, a huge smile stayed on his face as he crunched. After he finished his feeding, he actually licked his lips, to get all the bug pieces off his face. BUT! The problem came to eating his veggies. He looked at the plate, then at me with a look that said “You want me to eat THAT?” I don’t have any hooman kids, but from all I’ve seen on them, I knew exactly what that look meant. If he were a hooman, I’d say, “Eat your veggies or no dessert,” but he was a reptile so I couldn’t use that bribe. Then, to my surprise, he looked at a pea and munched it up, then a carrot, and the other veggies, then looked at me with a look that said, “Hmm, not bad. I’d rather have the bugs, but not bad.” Then he went to his water dish. I had heard that some beardies have trouble drinking water and needed a pipette. But Wakka stuffed his little face in and the tongue came slowly out, then in, then out, then in, then… well, you get the point. Then, of course, came the identification of his hooman family. So I became known as “Dada,” my mom as “Gammy,” and my cat as “Aunt Rose.” We, of course, could NOT let those two anywhere NEAR each other as my cat is dominant and would not tolerate anything trying to be cuter than her and would not be a pretty picture. So Wakka stayed in my room, Rose had the rest of the house. Their first meeting terrified Wakka, and if you knew Rose, you would know that this is normal even for hoomans and that you SHOULD be terrified of Rose. Wakka turned out to be very playful. My friend Chris is a reptile enthusiast, and set me up with bearded dragon support groups on Facebook, which turned out to be more help than the Manual. There were also certain other… behaviors… we don’t need to discuss, of course. Wakka’s first night in the house was interesting. He went to the corner or his tank, got his front feet up, and plastered himself against the glass. I don’t know how he could possibly be comfortable like that, but it turns out this is actually normal behavior. We actually found out he hated the dark, and had given him a red light for at night. Now, some people actually say a night light disturbs their sleep cycle. Five years tells otherwise. The lighting for a bearded dragon is also important as they need a certain temperature to be healthy, and the balance of periods of light and dark should be twelve hours of each. So Wakka made it through his first night and his start of five years of great happiness.

We’re going to stop here for now as there are a LOT more Wakka memories to share, so please, keep coming back for more stories of my five years with Wakka! And if you are looking for a pet, totally consider a bearded dragon! They are great, loving companions, relatively easy to raise, and lots of fun to share time with! Until next time, Tim Cubbin… out!