Marvellous Mocha - the fire breathing dragon!

Well, a whole bottle of Tabasco sauce really helps.

This week's been a tough one for the little madam, as I've been pushing her comfort boundaries hard. She still has a finicky thing about having her hands touched, but the reward and treat system has been working wonders, as you can see - she'll do most things for a handful of American Nature Zone Beardie Bites.

She's becoming a brave little dragon, with a very laid-back nature, even to the extent of standing up to Sandy in the food queue. It seems that tinned dragon fly larvae are much too nice to let anyone chase our tough young rescue away from!

That's not to say she doesn't have bad days; I tried to retrieve her from the Tiki Hut the other day and tapped her tail first so as not to scare her too much. Well, she soon told me she didn't like that, hunkering and husking. So I laughed at her until she stopped and blinked at me indignantly.

She was very happy when I did return her to her tank though, as I recarpeted her tank in a good Wimbledon green Astroturf. A bit concerned about stepping on the weird green stuff at first, though has since found it to be very comfortable.

She also discovered that her favourite thing now is to push her food bowl along the slippery "grass", stuff it into her log hide and then sit on her platform sniggering as I try to fish it out - every day without fail.

So I found some cute little tennis balls to keep her occupied, instead of wedging her bowl. It kind of worked. She still likes wedging her dinner in the hut, but she is also enjoying jamming the balls into corners and pushing them around her tank.

I found her last night, wedged between the wall and the leg of her table, happily asleep with the yellow ball... I'd have taken a picture, but I didn't want to disturb her.

For someone with few facial muscles, Mocha sure knows how to smile, because she LOVES bathtime. It's water bowl to the power of 10 - and warm!

I snapped this picture because she was making me laugh, running up and down the bath sampling the water from different locations - here she's annoying Hyphen by drinking the water right next to his tail. There were LOTS of different tasty waters to try; by my hand, by Sandy's feet, next to the bath plug...

She even knows the colour of her towel now too - she's got Kyle's fuchsia pink one and is learning that when her towel appears it's the end of bath time - she can scramble up it and out of the bath to get dried and warm in time for lunch.

All the exercise is working wonders too, and her little muscles are now starting to bulk up as she puts on healthy weight.