Who needs furry friends?

Published 10:56 am Tuesday, September 1, 2015

: Nine-year-old Lilyona Valdez and her mom, Serena, have two pet bearded dragons named Sophia and Lola. Sophia and Lola are sisters, and are about 3 or 4 years old. They’ve been with the Valdez family for about two years. Along with the bearded dragons, Lilyona and her mom have three dogs and a cat that live with them in Albert Lea. Lilyona said they take the dragons for walks on a leash around their neighborhood and that they like hanging out with the dogs. “They’re fun to play with and they like to cuddle, too,” she said.

: Kari Anderson has a pet Jackson’s chameleon named Slade, and a leopard gecko named Optimus. Slade is about 5 months old and Optimus is about 7 months. Along with the two lizards, Anderson has another leopard gecko, along with a vorax gecko and a pit bull at home. She currently lives in Emmons but will soon be moving to Albert Lea. The lizards are fed crickets and super worms, which Anderson said she is not a fan of, but she still enjoys having the lizards as pets anyway. The lizards require heat lamps in their tanks, and the geckos also need UV lamps.

: Kari Anderson has a pet Jackson’s chameleon named Slade, and a leopard gecko named Optimus. Slade is about 5 months old and Optimus is about 7 months. Along with the two lizards, Anderson has another leopard gecko, along with a vorax gecko and a pit bull at home. She currently lives in Emmons but will soon be moving to Albert Lea. The lizards are fed crickets and super worms, which Anderson said she is not a fan of, but she still enjoys having the lizards as pets anyway. The lizards require heat lamps in their tanks, and the geckos also need UV lamps.

: Jessica Kane has 12 birds at her Albert Lea home that she shares with her husband, Justin, and her godson, Kaleb Espinosa. The two she’s pictured with are Bailey, an 11-year-old male eclectus parrot, and Zoey, an 11-month-old female Congo African grey parrot. Kane has had Bailey for about two years and has had Zoey for her entire 11 months. Kane has had birds as pets for about three years, and works for the bird rescue Parrot Help out of Plymouth. She called her parrots entertaining and “full of unconditional love.” She did warn that parrots aren’t for everyone, as they require a lot of maintenance and can live over 100 years.

: Ada and Ron Theusch and their children have had their pet peacock, King Tut, for about four years and think he is about 8 years old. Tut roams around their property north of Conger, peacefully coexisting with the chickens the Theuschs raise each summer, as well as their pet dog and cats. He eats chicken feed and whatever else he finds around the property, and tends to spend the winters in the chicken coop. Ada Theusch said Tut starts to lose his feathers toward the end of July, and that usually by mid-August they’ve dropped completely. By the time he comes back outside in the spring, she said his plumage is back in all its glory.

Colleen Harrison is the photo editor at the Albert Lea Tribune. She does photography and writes general-assignment stories.

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