LilStinkpot
Juvie Member
Hi!
A neighbor kid down the street has a very large BD, and I have enjoyed handling her as often as I could get away with it. It was instant love. Every time we see some at the pet store I beg, but gosh! They are just soooo... expensive.
We were at our local Petco getting fruit flies for the baby mantises when I spotted a large-ish baby, 8 inches or so, all alone in an un-heated, un-lit aquarium with a sign "Adopt Me! $25!" How could I resist? It was a dream come true. I whirled around, snagged the nearest blue-shirt (just happened to be the manager, LOL!), and promptly adopted he/she/it. Yeah, we call him/her "hesh*t" sometimes, sorry Teddy!
I was pretty lucky to have a spare cage, so I moved the two corn snakes into the screen cage, leaving the 30 gal. tank for the BD. Today was a wild goose chase to find the replacement bulbs to make the UVB/heat dome work again, but now I have one VERY content BD sleeping in his/her new blankie (washcloth, for now).
I have been lurking on beardeddragon.org for a week now, peeking into as many threads as I can on the iPhone, even sneaking peeks during work! I have spent most of my time reading Jojo's story, and recently started Zack And Wheezie's thread.
It's amazing how intelligent these guys are, and how curious. I don't know what's more endearing, the super-alert gaze, the inquisitive tasting-of-everything, the often daily baths, or the nightly beardie-burritos? I tried that tonight, and Teddy fell fast asleep, almost before I finished wrapping.
I am not finished fixing up the viv, but I believe I have all the basics met, as best as my terribly limited budget could do:
-->30 gal tank- good enough for a little while, until he/she grows out of it.
-->Zoo-Med combo dome--> fluorescent UVB and halogen heat lamp (Edit: TERRIBLE lamp! Don't buy one!)
-->paper towels (I read THAT one loud and clear, LOL!)
-->Plenty of cork branches to climb and bask on
-->one huge rock to hold the branches in place, mostly
-->plastic "log" hidey hole
-->water bowl, just in case he does the unusual and wants a drink (tell me if he just WON'T use it, I'd rather give it back to the snakes)
-->chow bowl with constant supply of home-grown organic GREEEEEENS (my FAVORITE veggie, YAY!)
I plan to start growing some alfalfa, that sounds like good BD chow. I didn't know that mealworms aren't the best until just now, so I'll use up the last of what's in the 'fridge and stick to dusted crickets until I can get better. I have calcium, but no multi's yet.
I can't get basking-side and cool-side temps just yet, I just finished rounding up all the parts for the lamp. I have a cheap probe thermometer that'll have to do for now.
The zoo:
Four cats, Squirt, Gidget, Socks and Buttercup. Gidgit is a "special needs" kitty, she's stuck forever in "kitten mode". Butter is a tri-pod semi-feral rescue project kitty, faster on three legs than all three of our other combined! Squirt is a handsome genious classic gray tabby, and Socks is a pretty chocolate point Siamese (mix?).
Two 2-foot corn snakes. I forget time and again what the colors are called, I just say "white-on-pink and red-on-pink" or "just pretty". George and Reuben, raised from pencil sized hatchlings.
Two tanks full of guppies, gender segregated.
Four hermit crabs.
One 5'X5'X10' (that 10' is not vertical, duck!) greenhouse FULL of various carnivorous plants, plus more temperate growers outside. Even the hermit crabs have to share part of their 150 gal. terra with the lowland Nepenthes.
Me? I just turned 29 last Monday. I live in San Jose, CA, and really haven't moved very far my whole life. Local Grown, indeed! I have been "into" pets nearly my whole life. Mom did ALOT of cat rescue when I was little, and continued until she passed in '07. I met Dory and moved just a little ways away, and Dory has been such a sweetheart, letting me keep whatever critters I want. He loves the snakes, and just adores the new BD. He has taught me alot. Taught me to drive, taught me to sail, and is now teaching me to drive crazy! My first autocross was three weeks ago. Yeah, I was the slowest one on the track, but because I was the only one in my class, I won first place! :roll: I am also learning to be my own mechanic, mostly because it's fun, rewarding and cheap, and also because it's an antique, and few would work on a FIAT anymore.
I could keep going, I AM the worst chatterbox in the area, but It's past midnight, and the alarm's going off @ 5:30, like it or not. I'll keep an ear out on the iPhone tomorrow when things are slow.
~Katie
A neighbor kid down the street has a very large BD, and I have enjoyed handling her as often as I could get away with it. It was instant love. Every time we see some at the pet store I beg, but gosh! They are just soooo... expensive.
We were at our local Petco getting fruit flies for the baby mantises when I spotted a large-ish baby, 8 inches or so, all alone in an un-heated, un-lit aquarium with a sign "Adopt Me! $25!" How could I resist? It was a dream come true. I whirled around, snagged the nearest blue-shirt (just happened to be the manager, LOL!), and promptly adopted he/she/it. Yeah, we call him/her "hesh*t" sometimes, sorry Teddy!
I was pretty lucky to have a spare cage, so I moved the two corn snakes into the screen cage, leaving the 30 gal. tank for the BD. Today was a wild goose chase to find the replacement bulbs to make the UVB/heat dome work again, but now I have one VERY content BD sleeping in his/her new blankie (washcloth, for now).
I have been lurking on beardeddragon.org for a week now, peeking into as many threads as I can on the iPhone, even sneaking peeks during work! I have spent most of my time reading Jojo's story, and recently started Zack And Wheezie's thread.
It's amazing how intelligent these guys are, and how curious. I don't know what's more endearing, the super-alert gaze, the inquisitive tasting-of-everything, the often daily baths, or the nightly beardie-burritos? I tried that tonight, and Teddy fell fast asleep, almost before I finished wrapping.
I am not finished fixing up the viv, but I believe I have all the basics met, as best as my terribly limited budget could do:
-->30 gal tank- good enough for a little while, until he/she grows out of it.
-->Zoo-Med combo dome--> fluorescent UVB and halogen heat lamp (Edit: TERRIBLE lamp! Don't buy one!)
-->paper towels (I read THAT one loud and clear, LOL!)
-->Plenty of cork branches to climb and bask on
-->one huge rock to hold the branches in place, mostly
-->plastic "log" hidey hole
-->water bowl, just in case he does the unusual and wants a drink (tell me if he just WON'T use it, I'd rather give it back to the snakes)
-->chow bowl with constant supply of home-grown organic GREEEEEENS (my FAVORITE veggie, YAY!)
I plan to start growing some alfalfa, that sounds like good BD chow. I didn't know that mealworms aren't the best until just now, so I'll use up the last of what's in the 'fridge and stick to dusted crickets until I can get better. I have calcium, but no multi's yet.
I can't get basking-side and cool-side temps just yet, I just finished rounding up all the parts for the lamp. I have a cheap probe thermometer that'll have to do for now.
The zoo:
Four cats, Squirt, Gidget, Socks and Buttercup. Gidgit is a "special needs" kitty, she's stuck forever in "kitten mode". Butter is a tri-pod semi-feral rescue project kitty, faster on three legs than all three of our other combined! Squirt is a handsome genious classic gray tabby, and Socks is a pretty chocolate point Siamese (mix?).
Two 2-foot corn snakes. I forget time and again what the colors are called, I just say "white-on-pink and red-on-pink" or "just pretty". George and Reuben, raised from pencil sized hatchlings.
Two tanks full of guppies, gender segregated.
Four hermit crabs.
One 5'X5'X10' (that 10' is not vertical, duck!) greenhouse FULL of various carnivorous plants, plus more temperate growers outside. Even the hermit crabs have to share part of their 150 gal. terra with the lowland Nepenthes.
Me? I just turned 29 last Monday. I live in San Jose, CA, and really haven't moved very far my whole life. Local Grown, indeed! I have been "into" pets nearly my whole life. Mom did ALOT of cat rescue when I was little, and continued until she passed in '07. I met Dory and moved just a little ways away, and Dory has been such a sweetheart, letting me keep whatever critters I want. He loves the snakes, and just adores the new BD. He has taught me alot. Taught me to drive, taught me to sail, and is now teaching me to drive crazy! My first autocross was three weeks ago. Yeah, I was the slowest one on the track, but because I was the only one in my class, I won first place! :roll: I am also learning to be my own mechanic, mostly because it's fun, rewarding and cheap, and also because it's an antique, and few would work on a FIAT anymore.
I could keep going, I AM the worst chatterbox in the area, but It's past midnight, and the alarm's going off @ 5:30, like it or not. I'll keep an ear out on the iPhone tomorrow when things are slow.
~Katie
, a probe thermometer, (temporary) paper towel "substrate", plenty of rocks to bask on, a hand-made "leese", and some really darling plastic "doggie" bowls that hold the crickets in one spot oh-so-nicely.
