Lil’ Murph has moved with his family! He is feeling really good about it all now. It took a few days for him to feel relaxed here.

Some lizards get moved with their glass enclosures and show no signs of being bothered, but lizards have personalities! Like dogs & humans are different in character, as are lizards. Many may find this difficult to believe, but I promise it’s true!

If you have that kind of relationship with your reptile, wherein you see them as your friend & you’re scaly child, would defend their life with your own…. well, you may be empathetic & highly tuned in to how your little or big, boy or girl is experiencing the changes.

If you are the lucky companion to a reptile or one day will be, these are things you may do to comfort your lizard with a major transition:

°Keep things of which they are familiar near them, i.e. their favorite branch, hammock, or dare I type it… stuffed animal.

°Let them remain in their enclosure with their lighting and an option to hide most of the time.

°When out of the enclosure, hold them the entire time, especially outside to keep them safe (if you’re someone similar to me, you may want him or her in a harness for lizards in the event they may want down to explore. Depending on where you are, possibly keep on your person a weapon of choice to protect them from low-life humans or predatory birds that can swoop down & grab them, don’t forget there may be beautiful, deadly snakes lurking unobtrusively, then, also, are those people whom let their vicious dogs roam free). 

°Placing the enclosure at a window is, I believe, a good idea for any caged creature (I personally, would never want to not see the great outdoors, [Do unto others….] right?!). The view, or birds, or whatever may give the scaly sweetie(s) something to somewhat meditate on, to calm him or her.

°Speak to them here & there when traveling, reminding them you’ve not forsaken them. This can also be done while giving them the grand tour of the different home, but if he or she is resisting the absorption of it all, it may be sensory over-load, wait a few days or so. Lizards may occasionally be slow to move or react, but by no means are they dumb. They are ponderers & observers. They have comfort zones too.

°Attempt not to allow your reptile to roam the new floors unless it is shown a desire to do so. As you can see in the video below, our Lil’ Murph was not ready for the overload to his senses. Just after I stopped recording, he voluntarily walked into the cage to be with his things. On top of this, he may not have approved of the unclean carpet, construction clutter and atrocious country-styled, diarrhea-hued wainscoting.

Finally, they may behave a little differently. They may seem sad, sleepy, have an appetite change or have a different pooing schedule.  Don’t be alarmed. If such behavior exceeds more than a few days, consider a visit to the exotic animal veterinarian. This may further stress them, but you know your lizard & it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Apologies for the audio. There were echos in the house & being a good camera girl was low on my priority list. I had been busy packing or at the new place working and bleaching nearly every hard surface for quite some time, so September 14th, a full day was going to be spent at the new place. I thought it a good idea to take Murph in a cage in the back of my car to spend the day with me.

After all, I could feed him, he could see his new home & I could take breaks to sit on the sunny deck with him. I placed him in the SUV so he could see me. I opened the sun roof for him.  I turned to check on him when I safely could. So, 10 minutes into the drive, he crawled into his hide to feel secure. It stressed him. He handled it well because he’s my tough little dude, however, I do baby him. He is highly alert, sensitive to his surroundings, and intelligent. The boy knows he likes to explore within mild forms of adventure, overall, preferring his life to remain chill (for a lack of proper description).

We moved into this old house and it has a neat history. One interesting thing I discovered from kind, elderly neighbors, (should I be neighborly & bake a pie or something? These people are so generous!) is that it is one of the houses in the area which, around 25 years after being built, due to changes to the land the homes were originally built upon, were actually moved and rested upon basements designed to the specs of the homes! I commend those old guys. They knew what they were doing! A grand-scale operation was executed with excellent results!

After cleaning the duct system, I scrubbed the old floor vents & am giving them a new coat of paint. Only one needed sanded first, but, I sprayed it anyway. Priorities, ya know… I have to deal with wallpaper. I see stupid little specks of mauve flowers even when I close my eyes!

Typical…  Dog wants in, Murph wants out! So much to do and they’re keeping me busier!! What is this lump, did the last residents cover a cold air return with carpet, Why oh why, what’s next?! Carpet has been removed from 2 bedrooms revealing hard wood floors (now cleaned but not sanded or shined, a later project).

Dog wants out because we’re out.

Murph likes this floor now.

We have a different large tree to appreciate. It’s not the wicked-beautiful one at our last home that we’ve loved for so long, but Murph has bonded with it. I did not stage this photo! Murph did a cute wiggle squiggle and the leaf lifted unto his head!

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Less-stressed best wishes from us. Hope all is well at your end!

“Give me Lizardry or give me Death!” – Dawn Renee ♥