On the late morning of February 6th, Garden City Community College students were alerted to a notification on their Buster Biz app. Most students were expecting the usual notification; however, this was not the typical alert of sports and academic reminders. The notification was an invitation for a Lizard Baby Shower, everyone was invited, and it was set to take place on February 7th, in the Joyce Lobby. While many students were confused by this invite, staff, and returning students were excited, the lizards that had gotten married last year had hatched a little lizard bundle of joy.  

Taking a trip down memory lane, in the early fall semester, PRISM, the club dedicated to Promoting Respect and Inclusion of Racial Minorities, held a marriage ceremony for two lesbian lizards on National Coming out day. The Bride Geckos, Opal, and Kunzite had a happy ceremony with students and PRISM members in attendance. A few months later, their honeymoon ended when Opal laid ten eggs. These eggs were conceived from Opal and a sperm donor lizard which was ordered online by the lizard’s owner, Seferino Ramirez. Ramirez carefully took care of the eggs, placing them in an 80–84-degree enclosure meaning these eggs would hatch as girls. Lizard biology, is crazy right? Although Opal had laid ten eggs only one hatched and about a month later, Winona, named after the iconic Winona Rider, was welcomed into this world. Exactly a year after Opal laid Winnona’s egg, was her lizard baby shower.  

Attending the lizard baby shower was a blast. There was the traditional game of pining the tail on the donkey but with a twist, pining the tail on the lizard, pudding with dirt and worms was served as well as lizard eggs (cake bites), and of course, Opal and her baby Winona. Guests were able to help themselves to food as well as hold the lizards. Although some were hesitant to have the reptiles at first, Ramirez reassured them that the Geckos are harmless.  

“A Lot of people are scared of reptiles, I wanted to throw this party to get people adjusted and realize how beautiful these animals are,” Ramirez said.  

Hopefully, this will not be the last lizard baby shower thrown at GC3, as Ramirez told the guests in attendance, Opal is on track to lay more eggs within the coming week and if all goes right, Winona will become a big lizard sister.