‘She apologized to me for how she reacted and seemed genuinely upset after she realized what she did to Phil.’: Teenager tries Tiktok butter trend on sibling’s bearded dragon leading to the lizard almost being cooked alive

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Sep 23, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

Ok, it is official, social media is straight up bad, it is rotting the minds of our youth and making them do things without thinking about the consequences. Well, other than the consequences that result in them becoming internet famous, that is. And this is the heart of our story today, which tells the tale of a young girl who had been using her sister's pet lizard for TikTok clips for quite a while before she came across a trend that would change everything.

Without thinking, she tried her best to jump on the bandwagon, while completely ignoring the fact that what she was doing was essentially creating lizard bacon. Thankfully, the pet Bearded Dragon aka Phil was saved in the nick of time. But this story is a stark lesson for all of us about the new dangers of the internet. What ever happened to strangers in a chat room…
 

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  • 01
    I(18F) have a bearded dragon named Phil who I have had for about 1 year now. Phil is deeply loved by me and my family. My sister(15F) who I will call Jane, really likes to make TikToks of Phil which I have
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  • 02
    completely no problem with since they're normally just videos of Phil running around or doing something silly like opening his mouth when he basks.
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  • 03
    Yesterday my sister came up to me to show me a Tik Tok she had made of Phil. There is a trend on Tiktok of putting butter on dogs as some audio plays over it of this guy saying "butter dog". Well Jane showed me a video of her
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  • 04
    putting some soft butter on Phil so that she could follow the trend. When I saw that I became very upset. I had seen a video recently of someone explaining how doing this trend with bearded dragons
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  • 05
    can be dangerous cause the butter will stick to their skin and if they get put back under their basking light the butter will heat up and basically burn the bearded dragons skin. I told Jane to
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  • Wow, the Tik Tok generation is seriously getting scary. At what point did kids stop thinking for themselves entirely. Like, we are happy to cop to the fact that we were not the most switched on generation in our childhoods, but we also never got lose to butter frying a lizard in the name of social media attention…

  • 06
    delete the video and that she can't do stuff like that with Phil and quickly got him out from under his basking light that she had put him back under after the video and started to bathe him in the tub to try and get off
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  • 07
    any of the butter she didn't wipe off. My sister came and told me I was overreacting and that it's just a fun trend. It snapped at her and told her I'm not letting her near Phil until she apologizes to me
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    Cheezburger Image 10556412928
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  • 09
    and promises to not do trends like these with Phil again, and ask me everytime she wants to make a video with Phil. My sister got angry and told me she wasn't apologizing for just wanting to have fun with Phil and that I
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  • 10
    can't take Phil away from her. After I finished making sure all the butter was off I put him back in his tank that's in my room and told her she's not allowed to come in and take Phil.
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  • 11
    My parents found out this morning and told me I was out of line for what I did and that it was just a innocent video. They told me I need to stop freaking out so much over things that involve Phil. My
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  • Ok, well now it seems rather obvious as to how this younger sister has ended up in a position where she only cares for herself and what she wants out of life. It is truly shocking to see the way that some parents react to their kids’ behavior.

  • 12
    Cheezburger Image 10556413184
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    sister said she's not apologizing cause she didn't know it would hurt Phil so I should get over it and let her see Phil again.
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  • 14
    I feel like I can't trust her with Phil though, if she hadn't shown me the video Phil would've sat in his tank getting burned under his basking light and I wouldn't even know until it was too late.
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  • 15
    Edit 3/mini update: I'm just gonna answer a question I've been getting a lot, yes, I did tell her and my parents why it was dangerous to put butter on his head. I'm gonna sit them down sometime today or tommorow and try
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  • 16
    to explain to them today with evidence to show them why what my sister did wasn't just a fun trend but could've hurt or d Phil. I also ordered a lock for his tank. Thank you everyone for the awards and support,
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    Cheezburger Image 10556413440
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    I'm gonna be sitting down and reading all the new comments once I finish my online work
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  • 19
    Hello! So sorry I haven't been on in awhile, things have been very busy for me, but I'm here with a update.
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  • 20
    So after my last post and getting all your feedback, I had ordered a lock for Phil's tank and put it on once I got it so that my sister couldn't just get him. I waited a bit to see if my sister would apologise but she didn't. So I sat
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  • 21
    down both my parents and sister to go over again why I wasn't allowing her to see Phil and how what she did was not okay. I had made a slideshow and everything about how putting butter on bearded
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    Cheezburger Image 10556413696
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  • 23
    dragons was in fact not a harmless trend. I told her that I wasn't mad at her for doing it since she didn't know but I was upset over how she reacted. It took a lot of explaining and I even used some advice you guys
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  • 24
    gave me on how to best explain it, and after a lot of talking and a bit of arguing it seemed they finally all got it. My sister got upset and apologised to me for how she reacted and seemed geniunely upset after she realized what she
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    did to Phil. My parents also apologised for not taking my side and scolding me for what rules I set in place.
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  • 26
    The lock is still staying on the tank just in case, but my sister is now allowed to see him and play with him of she asks me, and she's not allowed to make anymore videos of Phil without me being there to watch. She seems a
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  • 27
    bit irritated about the rules but she follows the rules. I also got her to take down the video off of Tik Tok and she ended up making a video on how what she did was stupid and that to not do what she did which
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  • 28
    I'm very pleased with. She has gone back to making her harmless videos of Phil just running and playing and all is going well now. I also want to thank reddit again for the advice and reassurance that
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  • 29
    what I was doing wasn't wrong since I honestly was pretty lost at that time. Phil is also doing well and he appreciates all the compliments of the picture I posted, he knows he's a handsome boy so
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  • 30
    he's happy to have gotten the appreciation he deserves :)
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animal stories teenager cooking butter siblings reddit story upset apologize bearded dragon trend alive lizard tiktok
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