Short fiction from the Beastly Facts universe - each series told from the animal's point of view.
A bearded dragon with opinions, ambitions, and a cricket problem - told entirely from his point of view.
Meet Dex: a bearded dragon with opinions, ambitions, and a cricket problem. This bearded dragon short story kicks off a charming, witty animal fiction series.
Dex is back. Part 2 of the bearded dragon chronicles brings new trouble, warmer basking spots, and one lizard who refuses to be ignored.
Dex faces his oldest mystery, the orange shape beyond the glass in this humorous short story about rivalry, territory, and the unexpected.
Dex has settled into an eleven-day ritual with the cat beyond the glass, until the twelfth day arrives and the windowsill stays empty, in this quietly funny short story about routine, absence, and what a king starts counting on.
A long soak sends Dex into a dream where he commands a ship across a golden sand sea, in this swashbuckling short story about rivalry, command, and the one line even a pirate king won't cross.
Mike sets up Dex's first outdoor sun pen, and the bearded dragon meets real wind, real grass, and one supremely unimpressed blue jay, in this funny, humbling short story about just how big the world turns out to be.
When a window is left open a crack on a warm afternoon, Dex and Whiskey come closer to real contact than four years of glass-pressed friendship ever allowed, and Dex learns what the boundary between them was truly protecting all along.
Dex dozes on his basking rock and dreams he has sprouted wings, leaving the ground for the first time to see his whole small kingdom, terrarium, house, yard, and neighborhood, laid out in miniature below him, in this wondrous short story about flight, perspective, and home.
Dex is carried off in his travel tub for a checkup and lands in a vet's waiting room ruled by a loudly opinionated parrot and a magnificently put-upon chinchilla, in this ensemble comedy short story about dignity, chaos, and discovering the world is bigger than the glass.
Dex begins shedding his skin for the first time and treats the whole ordinary process like the retirement of an old administration, enduring an itch he refuses to name and a private worry about who he'll be underneath, until Mike helps loosen one stubborn patch near a toe and a brighter, cleaner dragon emerges on the other side.
In a single vivid dream, Dex trades his terrarium for a mountain kingdom, becoming a true fire-breathing dragon of legend who hoards treasure and guards a grateful village, only to wake on his basking rock without so much as a wisp of smoke to show for it.
When Mike leaves for a few days, Dex is boarded in an unfamiliar tank and forced to share a room with Nettie, a blunt, fearless blue-tongued skink with zero patience for royal theatrics, in this culture-clash short story about being the outsider for once.
On the one day a year Dex actually notices, Mike marks his Gotcha Day with a small stone turret, a rare treat, and extra time under the lamp, and Dex spends the afternoon quietly measuring just how much has changed since that first cardboard scented day.
Dex is recruited into an elite squadron of skydiving dragons and has to trust an instinct he's never once needed before, in this high-altitude short story about fear, falling, and the surprising uses of a bearded dragon's beard.
The vacuum cleaner's roar sends Dex into a dream where he's the reigning champion of an underground racetrack, and the only thing standing between him and the trophy is a hamster with entirely too much energy.
A warm soak in the sink sends a very dry-climate lizard on a submarine expedition to the bottom of the ocean, in this short story about a desert dragon discovering he can still find a warm rock anywhere, even down there.
📰 The Critter Digest
Care guides, husbandry deep-dives, and fun facts - the main Beastly Facts blog.
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