Meet KoKo!

Carson has been wanting his "own pet" for quite awhile now. Technically, Felix belongs to both boys but Carson is convinced that Felix likes Carver more. So just before Christmas I told Carson that when we got back from traveling that he could pick out a Beta fish as his very own pet.

And now we have a leopard gecko.

I don't even know. A reptile? I do not like reptiles. I am actually rather afraid of all of them. But my friend Courtney has a leopard gecko and we met it while we were in Florida and somehow we now have one too. 

This is Koko. And even though I didn't sleep for the first two days we had her because I was afraid we would do something wrong and she would die and Carson would be heartbroken...I actually really like her. I have spent copious hours watching YouTube videos and reading articles about caring for leopard geckos. I still feel like I have no idea what we are doing as reptile owners when I know absolutely nothing about reptiles. We are not reptile people. No one in my family has ever owned a reptile. 

But here we are. And Carson, bless, is so so in love with KoKo. He adores her and desperately wants her to love him back (we're still working on that part of the relationship). 

Now I am keeping mealworms in my fridge and actually have a cricket habitat I am also maintaining because even if they are fed to our pet gecko, I still want those crickets to have the best possible life in the meantime. It's complicated.

 

The cricket habitat.

 

Supposedly, leopard geckos can live for like 10-20 years. And I actually hope she does. Because Carson has invested his whole heart in this little girl. And he is going to be the best reptile owner ever 😊