Chameleon weekdays in the office DataArt

DataArt is very fond of animals. Almost in each of our many offices lives some wondrous beast. Often the animals become talismans and a kind of office mascot. Petersburg DataArt has long become a chameleon kingdom. Now it is ruled by Sir Benedict V. Cucamberbatch , already the second mutable lizard. We will decorate the text with his photos.

Today we would like to share the story of the appearance and difficult fate of the first of our cold-blooded friends. Katerina Molochnikova, our Dear Editors and, in combination, a chameleon-manager will tell about chameleon passions in the St. Petersburg office of DataArt.
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Why precisely chameleon? It all started with the fact that colleagues, leaving for the whole summer in another country, brought their lizard into the office and asked to look after him. A chameleon a couple of times a week should be fed with food (locust, crickets and fat worms), and the food should be fed with apple cores. Another chameleon is necessary every day to drink from the broom, water the tree in the terrarium ... and a couple of little things. And, in fact, everything. No hassle .

Quick reference. In their natural environment, chameleons live for about two years - then they become less tenacious, start falling from a tree and either break up, or someone eats them. At home, they reach four or five - fall low and there are no predators. Our fall should have been four in the fall, and it was quite awake, although it flew off the branch just in vain. The owners were sure that the animal would definitely make it to their return in September. In general, I accepted the position of chameleon manager with peace of mind ...

An embarrassing thing started on the eve of the departure of the chameleon owners: the beast was lost, did not want to climb a tree and did not react to the locust. We blamed it on the situation and slow mournful lizard stress. But not-uh-et! Apparently, during the next fall, the chameleon managed to break the back paw: it was swollen and lost its grip. Accordingly, he could no longer climb up to the lamps. We arranged it downstairs, adapting to the business an additional tuned lamp and a cork stand for the hot - for comfort.



For a while he sat with us, ready for serving and satisfied with life, until it was time to feed him. And then it turned out that no expected hassle-free firing of the language is expected, that is, we must somehow force the pet to open its mouth. Pet wildly rotated his eyes and opened his mouth only in the terrarium. And, of course, treacherously closed, while we ran to him with a cricket at the ready (remember, no hassle).

We studied the Internet and tried to shake his jaws, which advised noble chameleon breeders. The jaws in response gloatingly tightened even tighter. We remembered that the chameleon opens its mouth, falling into militancy. And they showed him a magnifying mirror. That is, one is holding a chameleon, the other is a mirror, the third is half a worm in tweezers (because a whole worm somehow tried to bite our sissy by the nose, sissy was offended, and since then he had to cut the worms) pharynx Such a trick worked a couple of times, then the animal suspected us and squeezed the jaws of stone. I remind you - still no hassle .



One colleague, fortunately, found the strength to disassemble crickets into components (since solid chitin was also firmly rejected), and after a month of living together we reached some kind of consensus: if the beast was hungry or thirsty, then when we pressed the lower jaw, mouth and allowed to throw food there or splash water. All this was accompanied by prolonged persuasion and endless requests to “be a good chameleon, open your mouth and eat this wonderful muck” (belly of a cricket breaded in vitamins for reptiles, say). No hassle .

However, on one non-red day in the morning, we found the ward in a completely bad state (literally a tongue on his shoulder) and called one ex-colleague, a specialist in all kinds of reptiles, to ask how best to euthanize a poor man. He said that the most painless way for him was to put in the refrigerator, then put it in the freezer. First, they say, fall asleep, then painlessly go into another world. So we did, trying not to advertise as a whole, that here in this box from under the card readers in the branch for spare vegetables (in the refrigerators used by colleagues, of course, no one did not rest the reptile), the chameleon (though there was a great idea to write on the fridge "morgue") ... We felt ourselves, it must be said, very strange: the degree of absurdity was clearly off scale. Then a colleague took the cold body to the dacha and dug in the picturesque pine forest between the cat Mormyshka, the cat Syroyazhka and the cat Shabbat.



The story, of course, is very sad, but I had, perhaps, the only chance in my life, leaving, to drop my colleagues in an everyday tone: “Chameleon in the freezer. If anything, you will warm up! ”And, be sure, I did not miss the chance.

And soon we decided that the terrarium should not be empty. They called the chameleon breeder and ordered a panther guy - the guys are brighter and their character is more sociable. Waited, waited - and took a three-month-old fish with legs. It was about the size of a little finger, but with a clear expression of contempt for the world and creative flight on the face. Therefore, we immediately called him Benedict V. Kukamberbertch (where “B” is “Magnificent”) in honor of the actor who presented the world with the most beloved highly active sociopath - Sherlock. Called - and began to grow.

Hysterically lost in the terrarium, because he is a chameleon and mimics then under the ficus, then under the cork wall. They were afraid that they would drown in their drinking fountain. We caught crickets escaping from captivity throughout the office. Raised all the joy. Now our Benedict is a full colleague in the position of Senior Chameleon. We love him, and he considers us walking trees and still belongs to the world with a hint of patronizing contempt, which is what we never tire of repeating on our Facebook .