Were I a bearded dragon, my chin would not be turning black with anger/ excitement but instead, red with embarrassment.

You see, a couple of weeks ago, we determined that we needed to be extra vigilant about making sure Godzilla was getting enough exercise.  We have been a little worried about his back legs and keeping them in good, active shape. He is an animal that by nature tends to sit and bask a lot, and by upbringing sits around even more (he came to us as a hand fed pet who saw no need to move to his food).  So we wanted to make sure he just isn’t sitting around 24/ 7 and Katy was assigned the task of experimenting with different ways to exercise him.

At first, she did all the sensible things :  offering him different basking spots and bathing opportunities in a larger environment, putting his Monday/ Thursday diet of crickets into a larger space for him to chase after (versus de-legged and in a bowl), and allowing him time in a bigger and more topographical cage.

Some ideas resulted in a little more movement and exercise, but Katy was not quite satisfied. And so began her experiment of tying a superworm onto a string and dragging it around like bait for Godzilla to chase after. When she ran this idea by Kent and I, we politely expressed our doubt.  And by “politely”, I mean  knee-slapping, guffawing laughter at the ridiculousness of the idea.  I mean, running to other keepers and declaring loudly, “Ha! Guess what Katy’s trying to do!”.  I mean, asking Katy to tell us when she was finished, so we could advise visitors  to go to the farmyard and watch Auggie and Miss Piggy lift off and zoom around through the treetops.

Well, don’t you know the darn worm on a string thing worked?  And so, red faced and ashamedly, I offer up my sincere apologies to the genius, the brilliance and the undaunted imagination of one Keeper Katy.

Enjoy the video.