I darted around the kitchen. I needed some kind of animal meat. I opened the fridge. Yes! I’d forgotten that Dad had gone fishing with his friends a few days before. He always saves a few of the smallest fish as treats for Sassafras. I grabbed two fish.
“Hey, Sassafras. Can you share one of these with Marshmallow?”
Sassafras stared at both fish and meowed loudly. He grabbed one, dropped it in his food bowl, and took a bite.
That left me with one fish. I figured that counted as permission to share it with the baby dragon. I didn’t wait to see if Sassafras would change his mind. I quickly gathered the other things I needed for the experiment and went straight to the barn with Sassafras at my heels.
If Marshmallow ate either the fish or the worms but ignored the plants, he was probably a carnivore. If he ate just the plants, he was probably an herbivore. And if he ate both meat and plants, he was probably an omnivore. I knew I should be writing all of this in my journal, but it would have to wait until later. Little Marshmallow needed me to be quick.
He was still lying there, slumped on the ground and barely awake. I didn’t think he’d make it over to the plates, so I put them all right in front of him. Sassafras meowed and stared at the fish longingly. I picked him up and petted him. It gave my nervous hands something to do.
I waited. Nothing happened. Little Marshmallow was too weak! I snuggled Sassafras and tried to think. What could I do? Maybe I should put the food right up to his mouth?
I dangled some worms in front of him and wiggled them. “Want a little taste?”
Marshmallow took a lick, and then laid his head back down.
I tried the same thing with each of the other foods. He gave them all one lick, but he didn’t eat any of them. I sat on the ground and put my head in my hands. I couldn’t even watch anymore.
Then I heard a sound. I looked up to see Marshmallow crawling over to the fish. He swallowed the whole thing in one gulp. Then he tucked his tail under his head and closed his eyes and went to sleep. I crossed my fingers and toes that the fish and the nap would do the trick. It was breaking my heart to see little Marshmallow so sick.
Sassafras bumped my chin with his head and purred. He could tell that I was super worried about Marshmallow. I decided to read through the rest of the reptile book, just in case there was something I’d missed. Sassafras curled up in my lap like a warm, rumbling blanket as I read.
