Isaac wasn't an impulse gift. I'd spent months before hand researching pet lizard options, visiting pet stores (I was lucky at the time that my town had a specialized fish and reptile store full of very knowledgeable, friendly staff), and planning a care regime. For months, I felt like I'd talked of little else except bearded dragons. When the little guy was finally revealed to me at the end of a Christmas morning that first saw me unwrapping several new pieces of pet care equipment (including a book on bearded dragon care and management), I felt like I was ready.
A lot of pets change hands this time of year, and many of them come to a bad end. Some new owners mean well but don't know what they're doing. Others lose interest. It's important to remember that your new pet is a new responsibility, and you owe that responsibility not to the giver, but to the animal itself. Be it a dog, a bird, a fish, or a tarantula, it is a separate, sentient being with its own needs and preferences, not a toy, not a fashion accessory. Before anything else, the needs of the animal come first.
In other words, no anime-themed terrariums.
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