It's not easy being green ... or is it?

Today is pet day around the Roberts' house. Starry the hamster got fresh shavings and a grape for behaving while I shoveled out his cage. When I picked him up he snuggled against me and squeaked his chirpy kind of squeak as a thank you. Every time I walk into my son's room, Starry runs over to the cage and stands on his back paws to greet me. You can understand why Starry (or Hammy # 4 as I commonly call him) gets a lot of attention.

Then there's Skippy our White's Tree frog.
He is neither cute nor cuddly. He doesn't rush to the side of his aquarium to visit me, preferring to hide under his vine covered rock. He has a loud raucous call that's like a stick against a washboard and, because he's nocturnal, he'll only make that sound in the middle of the night. He doesn't like to be held and if you must hold him be prepared because he'll most likely pee on you.

He's also a fuss pot. Flies, mealworms or grubs are supposed to be part of his diet. Nope. Medium sized crickets please. Anything else and he'll drown the thing in his puddle of water or ignore it. I don't go stomping around in my back yard looking for crickets. I have a cricket account at a local pet store. Transferring a couple dozen grotesque hopping bugs from a little bag to the aquarium without setting a couple loose requires much skill and dexterity. If one gets loose, the sound of a cricket chirping will be my night call for weeks. Trust me when I say the sound of crickets is only kind of cool when you're camping.

Still, it's Skippy who is closest to my heart. I like him much more then my friend's leg-humping dog. I like him much more than my other friend's eye-scratching cat. I like Skippy so much I'm thinking of giving him a hop on role in book 2 of the Ghost Duster series.

Since the series already has Hairy the bunny, do you think another hopping creature is a little, well, over the top? Any other unique creatures you can suggest for starring roles?