Taipei City Fire Department Captain Hsia Chih-chuan (夏志銓) is in love with dragons — not the fire-breathing kind, but bearded dragons, an agamid lizard native to Australia.
“I fell for the dumb-looking bearded dragons at first sight when I watched a Discovery Channel program introducing the species,” he said.
After the program ended, he spent the night researching the species over the Internet and bought his first bearded dragon the next day.
Photo: Yao Yueh-hung, Taipei Times
Hsia said he remembers being struck by the white nails of the bearded dragon when he first saw one, overturning his preconception that all reptiles had black nails.
Through more Internet research, he learned how the combinations of genes could result in the variants of the species in terms of appearance such as thin or thick scales, or scalelessness.
He has been deeply obsessed with the creatures ever since, he said.
Photo: Yao Yueh-hung, Taipei Times
Admitting that the reptiles do not appear cuddly, especially given the fierceness with which they devour live insects, and their territorial aggressiveness, Hsia said that the reptiles could be very tame and close to human.
He now has 13 bearded dragons, some of which he bought at pet shops and others that he imported directly.
His most expensive purchase was a baby “stripeless” bearded dragon that cost him NT$28,000.
A mature stripeless bearded dragon costs between NT$70,000 and NT$80,000, he said, adding that he plans to buy more of them to breed.
“One has to keep cockroaches before keeping a lizard,” Hsia said with a laugh when asked what he feeds his lizards.
A bearded dragon eats five to six roaches a day, he said.
To keep down the costs of feeding his pets, he buys 4,000 Dubia roaches — which are also known as orange-spotted cockroaches — at a time, keeping them in a box and feeding them carrots, sweet potatoes and vegetables before giving them to his lizards, he said.
However, 4,000 roaches do not last long, and they do not reproduce fast enough to keep pace with his lizards’ appetites, so he has to buy a new batch every four months, he said.
“Large roaches are for large lizards, and small roaches for small lizards,” he added.
The veteran firefighter, who has served for more than 12 years, says the mental and physical stress of fighting fires and rescuing people are a burden, which his colleagues at the Chengde Fire Station relieve by jogging, biking, hiking and other activities, but he prefers spending time with his lizards.
He says he gets pleasure just from watching his bearded dragons and he can spend more than an hour at a time just looking at them.
“It is like fishing, which also allows you to enjoy a moment with yourself. It is very stress-relieving,” Hsia said.
Although he has kept lizards for years now, he says he always enjoys the balanced movements of the bearded dragons and their vibrant expressions, he said.
Sometimes his lizards look as if they are monarchs overseeing their kingdoms or philosophers in deep meditation, and the sight always refreshes him, he said.
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