OFF THE SCALE
Michelle Riches, 31, from Northumberland, helped her adorable bearded dragon reach the dizzying heights of fame.
Sitting in the middle of the living room in his special bed, our bearded dragon was king of the house.
My husband Adam, 35, had put Top Gear on, and our lizard was watching it intently.
‘I think Wallace is enjoying it more than you are!’i laughed.
We’d bought Wallace in April 2016 from our local Pets At Home store.
I’d never been a big fan of reptiles, but four years earlier, Adam had begged me to let him buy a bearded dragon for his 30th birthday.
‘Go on then,’i sighed, after months of nagging.
So Adam bought his ideal pet and called him Biggie, after the rapper Biggie Smalls.
I was a bit nervous of the little scaly creature at first, but after a few days, seeing him grinning at me from his tank, I started to warm to him.
‘He’s actually kind of cute,’i said to Adam.
And, for the next three years, Biggie was the centre of our lives.
But in March 2016, Biggie was diagnosed with cancer and sadly passed away.
The house suddenly felt so empty without him around.
So, it was back to Pets At Home, where Adam and I fell in love with a busy little character with a slight kink in his tail. ‘He’s the one!’adam cried. We brought him home and called him Wallace – after Christopher Wallace, Biggie Small’s real name.
Weighing just an ounce, Wallace could easily fit in the palm of my
hand.
But he loved to eat, and soon grew to a whopping 1lb 2oz. His personality was massive, too. From the day he arrived, he was king of the house.
‘Morning Wallace,’ I’d smile every morning, switching on his UV and heat lamps.
Most mornings, he’d knock on the glass of his tank to greet me, demanding breakfast.
But sometimes Wallace got up on the wrong side of the bed and would just stare at me with a grumpy look on his face.
In the evenings, he’d race around the front room and then flop onto his bed to watch the telly with us. Talk about a lounge lizard! Wallace pulled such funny expressions, so that September, I set up an Instagram account to show him off.
‘Smile for the camera, Wallace,’ I’d say, snapping away.
Then, scrolling online one day, I came across a tiny Henry vacuum cleaner for sale. The little machine was the perfect size for Wallace! ‘What on earth are you doing?’adam laughed as he caught me snapping photos of Wallace pushing the little vacuum along.
‘This will be a great shot for Instagram!’i said.
Adam thought I’d gone mad, but when Wallace’s vacuuming photo got 321 likes, he was impressed.
After that, he helped me find more props for Wallace – a table football set, a snooker table and some binoculars.
Even my mum, Maria, 50, got in on it, turning up one day with a Wallace-sized wheelie bin.
‘We could take a funny picture of him dumping his salad in the bin,’ she laughed.
Wallace became such a hit on Instagram that he soon had nearly 4,000 followers and friends all over the world.
Then, for his birthday in February, four parcels had arrived for him.
‘Look at this, Wallace!’ I cried, pulling out party hats, a blanket embroidered with his name and a cape with the words Super Dragon emblazoned across it. Someone in America had bought it from a specialist bearded dragon outfitters!
‘That was so kind of them!’i smiled.
When I put it on him, he stamped along the floor, looking up at me proudly. He loved it! Thanks to Wallace, I’ve teamed up with four other bearded dragon lovers on Instagram to launch United Colors of Dragons, which helps rescue beardies around the world.
We’ve already raised more than £900 towards vets’bills for two poorly dragons in the USA.
Wallace is slaying it with his funny photos and use of props – his popularity really is off the scale!