Blog #1

Hello everyone, for this semester I decided to research on bonds with pets. I would be specifically researching on how we bond, what kinds of bonds, and how long it takes to bond with pets.

It took a while to think of an inquiry question, so I started to think about what matters to me the most. My geckos came to mind. There were some other ideas that came to mind, but I wanted to specifically research on my bond with my geckos. I always thought my bond with my first gecko, Choco was the most special. Is it because I had her for the longest? Or because she’s my first pet? But why was I more sad about the death of my 2nd gecko that I only had for a month…

In the past, my first “pet” were some fish we caught in the lake. I do not have a strong memory of them as I was only six years old at the time. I caught a lot of fish from the lake and put them in the jar. The next day, my dad released them back in the lake. I only had them for a day, but I still felt a bit sad.

Then my first “actual pet” came into my life when I turned 11. I bought a baby crested gecko from my brother. He had two geckos at the time, a yellow one names Miso and Choco. Before ever thinking that I would buy Choco, I was playing with her when I dropped my phone on her tail. She started shaking and it was probably the most shocking and scary thing I ever experienced. Her tail started to rot. I felt so sorry so I decided to buy Choco from my brother on my 11th birthday to take full responsibility on her recovery. Luckily, with polysporin ointment, she made a full recovery, but the end of her tail fell off. Then she lived a normal life for the next four years before she passed away. I always thought she would be in my life for at least 10-15 years since that was the lifespan of a gecko. This was very sad for me as Choco was a big part of my life.

Then soon after, my parents bought me another baby brown gecko, I named them Choco Jr. It was so exciting for me because they were just born, so it would be fun to raise them to a adult gecko, since Choco was one year old from the start when I got her. When we left for vacation, they were left at my friend’s house. They seemed so happy, but they died at my friend’s house when I was away and it is a unknown death. Even though I only had them for a month, I cried more than I cried for Choco. I think this was because I was sad to lose another gecko after just getting over my first one. I just felt so unlucky and sorry for the baby since they were only 1 month old, so not old enough to even identify their gender.

A couple months later, my parents got me two new baby geckos, I named them Keiko and Kuro. I was not too excited because I had a thought that they may die quickly as well. Thankfully, they are doing very well so far (10 months since I got them). But Kuro’s tail does not look healthy and is way thinner than the average gecko. I am always worried and make sure to put polysporin ointment on her tail to help with the blackening of her tail. I thought that no gecko would ever be as special like Choco, but I am doing very good with my new geckos, as if I had them forever.

I am so excited to research about pet bonds. Thank you for reading.