Rocky and Rudy

While I was in Atlanta I was having lunch with one of our corporate lawyers named Bill. He suddenly blurted out if anyone at the table wanted a Bearded Dragon as a pet. I thought I had some friends who might want one so I texted a few and all I got was a maybe. His son was getting tired of it so Bill wanted to find a home where he would get more attention.

Sorry for the red light but he was under his red light when I took this. 

Later on, we met him at an exit and he gave me the dragon named Rocky with the aquarium, lights, heat lamp, and everything else you would need. We were in a cargo van so Rocky had a long bumpy ride the next day to his new home. I told the wife when we pulled up to unload…”I have a guy without a home…he needs to have somewhere to stay so I told him he could stay with us. ” She said…”you mean he is in the van????” I opened the door…a complete shock is the best way to describe it. Now Rocky has a permanent home with us. Forget the friends I thought would want him…he is the least needy soul of the entire household. Now we are starting to interact with Rocky more. He will climb on you and sit there on your shirt and chill out. 

A lady I work with lets me babysit her prairie dog (Thea) every few weeks and we have grown quite fond of her. Lori came into my office on July 9, saying she had the prairie dog (Thea) with her. I picked her up and I stopped…she was much heavier and I remarked on how much she was feeding him. She smiled and said no…that is not Thea…it’s his brother. She wanted company for Thea but all they did was fight so she asked if I wanted him. Well yes, I did! She didn’t have a name but Rudy sounded good so we went with that.

One thing I’ll say about prairie dogs is that they’re incredibly unique pets. Rudy, for example, feels almost like having a small human in the house. They’re the most curious animals I’ve ever been around. Rudy is still a work in progress. He’s come a long way, though! At first, he was quite moody, though he still loved attention. Over time, he’s been improving, but I’d say to anyone considering a prairie dog—they require a lot of attention. Rudy craves interaction, so we plan to get him another prairie dog for company in the future.

They’re pretty easy to feed, too. You can find most of their food at the grocery store: oats, Cheerios, sweet potatoes, sunflower seeds, and other things they love. The main staple we get for Rudy is Timothy Hay, which we buy from the Tractor Supply store.

I take Rocky to an upstairs bathroom we don’t use and he runs amuck and there is nothing in there to chew that would be dangerous. He lives in a 4-story enclosed cage around 5 feet tall. I plan to make a 10×10 wooden box and fill it full of dirt so he can have a place to dig in the spring and he can be outside some.

 I usually get a “yahoo” from him when I come home. He seems comfortable now, and even our dog Martha tolerates him but will tell on him if he gets loose. It’s funny: When a neighbor’s dog came into our house when we opened the door, Martha went to Rudy’s enclosure to guard him.

I will get Thea from Lori sometimes to take home. It’s like having two monkeys running amuck. Thea and Rudy will fight at times but it’s over in 2-3 seconds. They will whip their claws out like they are Ninjas. Prairie Dogs in the wild have a life expectancy of 4-5 years…captive they live 8-10 years. I can see why…they are afraid of nothing. He will stand on his feet and grab Martha’s nose when she bends down to look at him. 

This will end our private zoo, which includes two turtles, a Bearded Dragon, a Prairie Dog, and a Saint Bernard. That is enough; the doors are shut tight now. Rocky gives us the least trouble of them all.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

46 thoughts on “Rocky and Rudy”

  5. that’s awesome! Hope you can get another little prairie dog for Rudy to have a buddy. They are very cool little animals…don’t they naturally hibernate in winter though? Is he still up and active as ever? That’s a cool looking lizard too; I seem to be one of the few I know who like them (in the wild, not sure how great they’d be as pets, but at least they should be fairly low maintenance), we have geckos here ( a lot at the old house, only see a few here) and a few of the bigger, striped lizards that are at least a foot long when you include the tail. I always am pretty stoked to see one of those, especially if no one else here does because most people just don’t like reptiles I find.

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    1. No they don’t hibernate….they do once a year go through what is called “rut” and when they do…the males…you do NOT get near them. They are vicious…the female dogs can only get pregnant one hour of a year…
      See we don’t have many lizards here…I bet you do see quite a bit there. I left Rocky’s door open last night by mistake…he took a stroll to my music room lol…Martha was barking at him all the way…he was fine. She won’t hurt either one…but she will tell on them.

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    1. The most exciting member of our collection of animals and humans…would be Rudy…obbverse we cannot turn an animal down…that is the problem.

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  7. I’ve never had any experience with reptiles, but he’s cool looking. Rudy is adorable. Hope you’re right about the chewing part. We had a rabbit back in the 70’s that had the run of the basement (litter-trained). She chewed anything that wasn’t nailed down. She even chewed the rubber pedals off my sister’s old bike. She must have swallowed it too, because we never found it on the floor. I’m surprised she lived as long as she did with all that inside her.

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    1. Oh we keep an eye on him. Once in a while he will see an album and we swoop it up lol…no I don’t trust him but when he is in the restroom we are up there…no Rudy doesn’t get the honor system lol.

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  10. I don’t mind at all reading posts about your private zoo. At one point, we had five cats (we had taken in as feral babies), two dogs, two bunnies and some 20 tanks with guppies – my dear wife used to breed the little fish. She stopped that when we moved to our current place some 13 years ago. Now we’re down to two fish tanks and two cats. Pets are a lot fun but I will also add they can be a lot work!

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    1. They are a lot of work! Rocky the Dragon really doesn’t need much although I left his door cracked last night so he thought he would take a tour of the house lol…Martha barked and told on him but didn’t hurt him at all…she has done the same with Rudy…the barks translate into “put that damn animal back in their home” I’m the only one that is free lol.

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      2. Bailey calls him Ringo for some reason…but on a funny note…I didn’t put this in there because it’s confusing..
        When we got him…we thought it was a HER…we named her Trudie….Loris thought Thea was a girl…nope she was a male…he was named Theo…so I found out the right sexes…now instead of Rudy and Thea….it was Trudie and Theo lol.

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    1. Oh yea…havoc is the right word and his engine is always on. He is much calmer now than when I wrote this in August…but always ready to go amuck.

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    1. Yea reluctantly I would say at first…but as soon as she seen them…it was over. Rocky was the hardest sale because neither one of us has ever had a reptile except a turtle…and they are not the same.
      Now Rudy…he sells himself lol.

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  16. Prairie Dogs… I remember you were going to get one or two, couldn’t remember how it was working out. Good to see it’s going so well. While they’re probably somewhat bigger, they remind me a bit of guinea pigs (I had one as a pet in the….. I dunno, 1970s or 1980s. I used to put her in the bathroom, too!) And Rocky – that’s quite a pet to have, too!! There’s a video on youtube that I watch, of a bearded dragon that is in love with a sock. Don’t know if I can get it to post in this comment, so might do it in a separate comment.

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    1. Rudy is a character! You can’t just go into a pet shop here and get one…Lori got Rudy from a breeder.
      Yea they are a little bigger than guinea pigs…and probably one of the cutest animals ever to walk the earth lol.

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