Columbia Township boy has a scaly fair submission
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COLUMBIA TWP. — Ever since he was a little kid, Nick Romanini has loved dinosaurs.
Two years ago, he welcomed into his life a little creature that reminds him of the behemoths who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Since then, Nick, 11, has become very good friends with the bearded dragon lizard he named Sally.
“My lizard seems like a prehistoric dinosaur,” Nick said.
She lives in a big aquarium in his bedroom where she basks under two different kinds of lights — a regular light to keep warm and an ultraviolet light to replicate sunlight.
Nick will exhibit his pet at the Lorain County Fair as a member of the Cisco Kids 4-H group.
Previously he has taken her to small gatherings, but this is the first time she will be exposed to so many people.
Caring for Sally is a job that Nick enjoys, but owning and properly caring for a bearded dragon is not inexpensive.
They sell for upwards of $80 to $100 in a pet store, but Sally was $40 at a reptile show because she was just a baby.
All in all, it probably costs $40 a month for her food, including live crickets and worms, nutritional supplements and ground-up walnut shells for her bedding, according to Nick and his mom, Kelly.
A brown/black belt in karate, Nick will be a sixth-grader at Columbia Middle School.
His life goal is to study hard and perhaps be a paleontologist or zoo keeper, following in the footsteps of one of his great-grandfathers, who cared for cheetahs.
For the time being, he lavishes his care on Sally, who seems to enjoy being around Nick.
She hissed a little and tried to run away while being photographed for this story, but she’s generally good-natured, Nick said.
Nick pointed out how her body and her beautiful orange beard grow in size when she meets strangers.
“It puffs up like a beard,” he said. “She does that when she’s mad or cranky.”
The lowdown on bearded dragons
- How big do they get? Bearded dragons — Pagona Vitticeps — grow 18 to 24 inches.
- What do bearded dragons eat? Lots of greens and crickets or worms dusted with calcium dust.
- Can bearded dragons eat wild-caught crickets and bugs? Experts say no because the insects could contain parasites. Fireflies are potentially lethal when ingested.
- Are they friendly? “Beardie” fans say they are among the most social of lizards and seem to be listening to and understanding their owners.
- Do they bite? Not generally, if they were handled as babies.
- How can you tell if your dragon is male or female? If your beardie bobs its head, it is a male, and if it waves its arms, it is a female.
- How long do they live and where do they come from? They live three to six years in the wild but with proper care, they can live a decade or more in captivity. Bearded dragons originate from Australia.
Source: www.reptilecare.com.
Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.
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