This is the story of how a reptile motivated me to write two songs and four books. Yes, that’s right! A reptile made me do it!

How, you ask, did a critter known for tucking its head into its shell become my muse? Well, it’s a long story, but I might as well pull my head out of my – er – shell, and start telling it.

As a young child, I was never particularly drawn to reptiles. Don’t get me wrong. I thought Elvis, our tiny pet turtle, was very cute, in a turtley kind of way.

See what I mean?

And I liked most other animals. I loved dogs, cats, and birds. I once caught a salamander with my bare hands. I didn’t mind picking up nightcrawlers and threading their wriggling bodies onto fishhooks. But I wasn’t about to pet a lizard or a snake.

No, I wasn’t enraptured by scaly reptiles the way my little brother Rafa was. In fact, he had two pet snakes. He kept them in his bedroom. I never entered his bedroom after that.

Maybe that was why Rafa kept snakes in his bedroom.

Here’s me at age 12, after accidentally entering his room while sleepwalking:

Just kidding. I didn’t really mind the snakes, as long as they stayed in their glass cases, which they did. I figured it was just a phase my brother was going through.

But it wasn’t just a phase. He continued to be fascinated by reptiles, and has cared for many more over the years. It’s true. Just ask his pet newt, Figgy.

Eventually, he – my brother, not Figgy – became a vertebrate zoologist, a scientist who studies animals with backbones.

And speaking of backbones, I’ve managed to grow a pretty strong one when it comes to seeing snakes and lizards. I sort of had to, after moving to Tucson. Snake encounters are pretty common there.

During my first month in Tucson, I saw two rattlesnakes sunning themselves in my apartment complex parking lot. I came upon at least three while hiking, and another while riding my bike. Once, a rattler even reared up and rattled at my hiking partner and me. I learned to stay calm during these experiences, and to give them a wide berth. 

Then there were the lizards. They were everywhere outdoors, including on walking paths built for humans. They were never underfoot, though, and never a threat. I’m sure they were more afraid of me than I was of them.

I knew I was a real Tucsonan when I finally learned to tell some of the different lizard species apart. I even photographed them, when they weren’t moving too fast. In fact, I put some of those photos in my latest book, “I’m a Desert Spiny Lizard.”

But now I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to explain how I went from having a pet turtle named Elvis to writing two songs and four books about reptiles, and I’m not doing a very good job of that.

I think it’s because I like looking up silly pictures of animals and sticking them in my posts.

Right now, I need to go give some love to my pet, a dog named Maya. I’ll be back with Episode 2 soon, in which you will learn how I met a reptile conservationist who, along with Elvis, inspired me to write my first song about a reptile.

Stay tuned!