Chameleon Revisited

Deb had mentioned to me once or twice that there was a great little pet shop up by Publix (a higher quality grocery store in this area) that has some of the more exotic pets. I was out that way getting my hair done recently and decided to go take a look. I was curious if they had any chameleons that had feet like the Panther Chameleon I had painted (and still have). I've gone out on the Internet looking for a good close up picture of their crazy feet, but I guess I'm the only freak who is fascinated by them. There are plenty of pictures where you can sort of see their feet, but nothing that I could put on here that you wouldn't need to enlarge to see.

The pet store was not a disappointment. I looked in every single cage and aquarium, and they really do have an interesting array of exotic (and more mundane) pets. I ogled the chameleon's crazy feet as much as it would allow. They really are not the most social creatures and I was met with looks of distrust by one eye, while the other concentrated on a nearby leaf.

I was proud of myself when I looked in on the tarantula without doing my normal reflexive heeby-jeeby shiver. I still wouldn't be interested in being in the store if the spider came out of it's case, but at least I didn't squeak at the sight of it.

The pets I found most intriguing (aside from the chameleon) were the chinchillas. They had a cage out in the middle of the store with maybe five or six chinchillas in it. Chinchilla lanigera is the scientific name. According to some websites I looked at, they can become tame and bond closely with their captors (I mean humans). I put a finger up near the cage, though, and the one who seemed to be interested in human interaction was actually more interested in nibbling at human fingers. So I satisfied myself with ogling them as well. They are cute in a strange, furry creature sort of way. According to the Internet (because it knows everything), they are good as same sex pairs, especially with litter mates. I didn't look to see how they are with other animals, like big fat cats. It's a moot point. I know how my big fat cats are with other animals and it would never work. Not that I'm looking to bring a third pet into my house, or anything; they were just really cute.