Regrettably, Harvey had to go. 

Jon sighed. It wasn't that he didn't love his lizard, but nobody could live like this. He thought back over the last few weeks. Things had started out so well.

"Uncle, Mark!" Jon exclaimed, throwing his arms around his favorite uncle. "This is the best gift ever."

Mark had exchanged glances, his eyes twinkling, with Jon's parents who didn't seem to share his enthusiasm.

"You are going to have to feed it every day," said Jon's mother. "And clean the tank every week."

But in his elation, Jon ignored his mother. He knelt down and looked the bearded dragon in the eye. "I'm going to name him Harvey."

"What does the lizard–er Harvey eat?" asked Jon's father.

"Crickets." Replied uncle Mark. "Live crickets."

"L..live crickets?" stammered Jon's mother. 

"Yep, I got some in here for you." Uncle Mark pulled a cylinder out of a paper bag that sat next to the aquarium that contained Harvey. 'He eats three times a day."

Sure enough Jon shook a few crickets out of the cylinder into the aquarium and Harvey snapped them up greedily. 

The next day Jon fed Harvey before school and after school and Harvey gobbled his meal up each time.

"Do you think you should feed Harvey before bed?" called Jon's mother. 

"Already doing it," shouted Jon in reply. He shook three more crickets into the tank. But Harvey didn't come out from the little artificial cave to stand amongst the plastic plants that adorned his home. The crickets jumped about for a while but didn't capture Harvey's attention. 

He looked sleepy to Jon. Maybe he had already eaten enough crickets for the day. The top of the aquarium didn't have a lid on it. It seemed the walls were too steep and smooth for Harvey to escape from. But suddenly one of the crickets leapt over the edge. 

Jon tried to grab it but it sprang away and disappeared under the bed. Jon went back to the cave. Now only one cricket remained and Harvey showed no signs of having eaten the other. Jon managed to scoop the remaining cricket up and shove it back into the cylinder. 

The cylinder was stored in the garage, but the escapees in Jon's room were noisy that night. The following night Jon's little sister complained they were in her room. To make matters worse Harvey seemed so fickle that he only ate two out of every four meals he was offered and not in any predictable way. Several more times a cricket escaped becoming dragon food. 

Within three weeks they were replicating in the house. 

"I'm sorry ," said Jon's mother, sitting him down on the edge of his bed and pushing a lock of hair from his face like she did before she tucked him in when he was little. "I'm going to need to call an exterminator for the crickets and it's very expensive. We can't do it over and over again."

Jon nodded. He knew what she was saying. Harvey simply had to go.