With the wife away on a fun trip (friend’s wedding in New Orleans), I took the kids to the Lehigh Valley Zoo. I must confess – aside from the 10K I ran there last summer – I haven’t been to this zoo in probably 20 years… back then it was just the Trexler/Lehigh County Game Preserve. We ended up buying a season/annual pass, which gets us in as much as we want in the next year (yes, this zoo is open year-round). It’s nothing super impressive or over the top, but it’s a nice place in the middle of “nowhere” to see a bunch of animals and spend a few hours.
This evening, we added a new addition to the family – Zena – a crested gecko. After losing our leopard gecko Lucy, I promised the kids we would get a new pet. This time, I wanted to try a rainforest-type creature as opposed to the desert lizard that Lucy was. Crested geckos are much easier to care for, don’t necessarily need to eat crickets, can survive in 70 degree weather (i.e. room temps), and aside from a terrarium, have pretty simple needs. They come from an island southeast of Australia – New Caledonia. Apparently thought to be extinct, they were rediscovered in the 90’s, and while no longer able to be exported, are thriving thanks to US hobbyists. We brought her home, got the new terrarium set up (think aquarium turned on its side with plants instead of sand) and put the new gecko inside. We’ll give her a good week to settle in and go from there.
Zena – Crested Gecko