Claud's Crew! - New Girl In The House!

[claudiusx]

Welcome to my journal for my crew! This will be the thread I post all my pictures and updates in regards to my crew! This is going to be like a journal of sorts. A tool I can use to look back on and see how I was doing things, and important events that have occurred for my crew! I really like being able to go back and look at things like that.

To start off with, since all my dragons had a thread previously, they will all get their own post under this to kind of catch up to where things are right now.

A bit about me (EDIT: Ok it's a lot about me now..)

I've had dragons for almost 20 years now. My first dragon was named Shredder. Information was so scarce back then, and I was so inexperienced, Shredder didn't last long under my care. He was housed on walnut shell, typical petstore setup (you think they are bad nowadays, think back 20 years ago) and I honestly don't remember much else about how i cared for him besides the fact that I had grown attached to him. After shredder died, I dedicated a good portion of my free time to learning about dragons. I knew I wanted another, but I didn't want him to suffer the same fate. I read, I learned, I talked to other owners that I would meet at petstores. I read every caresheet I could find online. I even talked breeders ears off when they'd let me. I got another dragon eventually, Hawk. And then another, Buttercup. Then I rescued Scorpio. And shortly after that, I saw a runt in a petstore that I bought, Rusty. For awhile, this was my crew. They all lived for 5 or 6 years. Their care wasn't perfect, but it was better and I was learning and growing as a dragon keeper.

One day the petstore owner and I were talking, and he wanted to give me his dragon. He didn't want to take care of her anymore. I had never taken in an adult dragon. I had always only had babies that I raised myself. I wouldn't have said yes if it wasn't for the fact that I wanted to stay in good with the petstore owner (this came into play massively a few years later)
So, now I have a 3 year old dragon, who I named Naughtica. Her name is based on Naussica, a character from a movie (she was the start to how I name all of the rest of my future dragons, after hayo Miyazaki film characters). Around the same time I got an adult Male, Spyro. I don't remember exactly how I got him, but I believe also from a friend I had met at the petstore. He was trying to produce white dragons (back then they were basically unheard of, and light grey hypos were the closest most people had gotten to that) and spyro was a light-grey hypo.

Naughtica and spyro were the only two dragons I had for a few years now. Around this time is when I also found this website, and my knowledge, care, and love for this hobby grew immensely. I loved being surrounded by people who understood. I loved being able to talk dragons all day long if I wanted. And I loved being able to help people. Obviously in the beginning, it was me being helped. But I soaked it all up like a sponge. I loved it.

Eventually I decided I wanted to breed. So, Naughtica and Spyro were put together for a week. And, it was successful. It was honestly a lot of fun, it was scary, but it was rewarding. Coming home that one day and seeing that a few hatched was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was so filled with joy and excitement.
But now a new learning curve. Caring for around 20 baby hatchlings. And it was a learning curve for sure. I was not at all prepared for how much they eat. I wasn't prepared to separate ones that started to get picked on. For that reason some lost parts of tails, some lost toes. One even completely lost a foot. But, i grew and I learned with later clutches.

Remember wanting to stay in good with the petshop owner? It came into play now. His shop was how I was able to sell my babies. It was either just my town, or the time, but he basically couldn't keep dragons in stock. Worked out great for me, and great for him. I had a solid consistent place to sell my babies to, and he had a reliable person to buy from.

I only did that for about two seasons before life changed and breeding as a hobby was no longer a viable thing to do. Spyro had died a year or two later. I really don't know how old he was.

But Naughtica was going strong. And a few more years passed and I had bought Kiki. I had always had a thing for red trans, and Kiki was the perfect girl to fit that bill. I had gotten over breeding and just wanted a dragon or two of the "higher end" morphs to enjoy. By this time I was very active on this site, and Naughtica and Kiki both had their own threads here (I will link to later). So did Calcifer, a uromastyx that I had bought from that same petshop I used to sell to. Naughtica was getting pretty old at this point. But, my care and knowledge had grown so much that I knew she was gonna be with me for the long haul, and that's what I was hoping out of kiki and calcifer. These three were my new crew. I was happy with everything I had.

Long story short, life got in the way again, and my crew had to be put under someone elses care. They were entrusted to my family. Unfortunately, that didn't work out well at all. And I feel awful. They were not taken care of properly. They eventually all passed. Naughtica was around 12 I believe. And I have no doubts she would have lived even longer if she were to have been under my care, I just wasn't able to.

It took me a long time to feel like I could get back into this hobby. One thing never left me, and that was my love for this hobby, and my love for these creatures, and my love for talking anyones ear off about them that will let me.

And here we are today.

-Brandon

[claudiusx]

Tombo

Tombo was my first dragon I got after being out of the hobby for 6 or 8 years. Here he is on the day I got him!
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And here he is now....
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Yes... that is the same rock... LOL

Tombo was hatched on 1/27/2019 by Kidsanddragons.
This is his Dad:
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And this is his Mom:
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Here is Tombo getting caught eating salad for the first time! (he used to only eat it in secret, now he eats it from my hands)
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Here he is in his new home I built him:
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A month or so later...
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Annd just another month or so later..
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Mondays.... (and full body shed starting...)
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Can you see the "happiness" in his eyes....
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Will update this section later with his weight and size gains over time.

-Brandon

[claudiusx]

Moro

I got Moro not long after getting Tombo. I just couldn't resist.
I don't have her exact hatch date, but we are just going to go with February 20th, 2019 since that's close enough!
She was hatched by Daichu dragons.

Shes a hypo leatherback witblit.
Her parents are:
het witblit - het hypo - leatherback
Het witblit - het hypo - leatherback

Here she is the day I got her:
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And here is Gandalf now! (don't let her see I called her Gandalf...
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Her colors have warmed up a bit as she's gotten older. She's not as pure white as she was as a baby. That's very typical with witblits. It's usually only the hypo zeros that stay white. However, I love her off-white warm tone.

She was just so stinking cute as a little baby!
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Here she is a month or so later
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Oh and one thing you should know about Moro, she has some weird poo fetish. I kid you not, this girl is so lazy, she will just poop right underneath herself basking, and sit in it. In fact, for 3 months straight she would ONLY poo on her basking rock. ONLY! No where else. So sorry, most of her early pics have poop in them....

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Here she is a month or so later in her new tank:
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And this is the start of her Gandalf phase... around July 2019
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I really think it all started after a bath scare we had. I will link the thread here as it's quite a story:
Bath Scare

She really doesn't eat much insects, she loves her salad. Has from day 1. And she's not fat or overweight, she just tends to keep her food in her throat when she eats, and I think this has caused it to stretch over time.

I will update this with her weights just like Tombos.

-Brandon

[claudiusx]

Suki and Mei

I really had an inkling to get another deep-red Dunner. I love the Dunner line and I had found someone selling not only deep reds, but deep red dunners on Fauna Classfieds. I later found out that who I was purchasing from was Kevin Dunner... the creater of the Dunner line. Talk about star struck LOL!

So why did I get 2? Because Kevin is a dang good salesman! (Or i'm just easily convinced when it comes to dragons!)

So after a short talk with Kevin, I end up buying the original dragon I wanted, and another! Enter Satsuki (suki for short) and Mei!
(sue-key) (may)

It took me a very long time to settle on their names. Probably longer than any other dragon i've ever had.

Anyways, Suki is the leatherback, and Mei is the Non-Leatherback.

Suki is a Trans Dunner Leatherback
Mei is a Hypo Dunner

Suki was hatched May 18th, and Mei May 20th. They are not sisters, however I will probably refer to them as sisters from time to time.

Here they are the day they arrived:
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Kinda blurry pic, but heres Suki's little blue belly!
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And since it's too good not to post again, Here is Moro not impressed at all with the two new girls
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But these two don't care! I don't think they have paid Moro any mind since they've been here lol!

Mei loves sleeping under her paper towels.
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Suki tends to sleep like this....
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Lol.
Although she's starting to catch on and sleep under her "covers" too just like her sister.

Here is Mei giving that look...
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And Suki is finally starting to shed her cape.
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And finally, two pics of them from tonight:
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-Brandon

[claudiusx]

Suki finished her shed tonight
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-Brandon

[JumpinJellyfish]

Beautiful babies!

[claudiusx]

Thank you

Everyone ate all of their salads today expect Moro. She had ate probably 90% of it. Her appetite has slowed down a bit the past couple weeks. Seems all she cares about is watching the two girls. I'll probably be blocking her whole view of them. Currently she has a little corner she can see them out of

-Brandon

[Blackenedsabbath]

Awww all those pictures are a cuteness overload! Tombo's dad has a very interesting pattern on his back too

I'm glad you felt you could get back into owning dragons, you are very knowledgeable and give great advice

[claudiusx]

Thank you! Yeah he really does the dunner polkadots well huh?

Some new pics of the new girls today.

Mei is deep into a full body shed
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She has a voracious appetite still. No shedding is gonna bring her down. The girl has some chompers too. She bites clean through her supers tonight in one bite. The problem is the part that was hanging out of her mouth goes unnoticed since it's not moving anymore lol! Her jaw is like a guillotine!

Suki is doing good too! Ate tons today. And her red is really staying dark after her shed it's really hard to capture on camera. Or I'm just bad at photographing lol.
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That last one is just after eating her dinner. She seems to hold her food the same way Moro does, just not as extreme.

Speaking of Moro, she had a much better appetite today. And was much more active. She looked on desperately as I was feeding the girls. Not very like her to show desperation for food like that but she was glass dancing and trying to get at the worms.

Tombo.... idk what the deal is if it's the weather or hormones all throughout my beardie room but he had a voracious appetite today too. It took me 4 tries to open his glass.... because he kept lunging at my fingers trying to eat them when I'd get them close enough! LOL.

So everyone is doing good it seems

-Brandon

[Drache613]

Hello Brandon,

Your gang all looks really good! I bet you must be so happy now, seeing how they are all
so healthy. They have some great colors to them, too.

Tracie

[BlueDragon09]

Hey Brandon,

I don't post much on others threads but omg! Beautiful dragons!

I raised a dragon (died at 10 years old) for 15 years now so I understand the very scarce information back then. Sand, walnut shells everything was appropriate back then. I use tiles for my 4 1/2 year old. I was just saying I relate to your first post.

Im also posting to follow your adventures with your crew.

[claudiusx]

Thanks Tracie!

I was just saying I relate to your first post.

Im also posting to follow your adventures with your crew.

Thanks for stopping by! I feel probably many can relate (at least those who had dragons back then). I feel bad for my first, but if it wasnt for him I wouldn't have ever gotten so into this hobby. I was completely enthralled with my new pet, even though I was doing so much wrong. But it's what started it all. And I'm grateful to him for that.

Well, hopefully our adventures dont disappoint lol! I haven't been able to get out with them as much as I used to with kiki and naughtica and calcifer because life has been a bit busier for me, but I still try.

My daughter (who recently turned 1) absolutely loves them. She reminds me of myself when I first got shredder. I would lay on my bed and just stare into his tank for hours on end it would seem. She crawls over into their room and sits and stares at them. Occasionally making a gasp of noise like "hey look!" Or poking her finger at the glass to try to touch them. She has that sparkle that I too had with my first dragon. Its heartwarming.

-Brandon

[claudiusx]

Everyone got some explore time yesterday.

Tombo came out first, and instantly became super territorial and black bearded at seeing all the girls lol. Head bobbing, body inflating, the whole nine yards. Hes definitely a man's man. Until you go and try to pick him up and he tries to squirm away like a little baby!

After Tombo went back in, I let Moro out to explore the room. Of course her fascination with the two new girls drew her right to them. The girls seemed more eager to get to her than Moro did.
I decided to let Suki out with Moro. It was their first time out together so I was super cautious. There was a few scares where Suki went over to Moro and looked like she wanted to eat her tail, but she just licked it a few times. Moro is always so calm she just sat there.

Then I decided to bring Mei out also. So the 3 girls were out. Mei is a lot more timid and jumpy than the rest. She was more so trying to glass dance to get back in her tank.

Here I am concerned about how the two girls will interact with Moro when out of no where with no warning, Suki lunges at Mei's face and tries to bite her. Instantly they were separated and Mei didnt have any cuts or broken skin. She didnt even seem top bothered by it but it was definitely scary. That was enough for them so they all went back in their homes lol. Goes to show you though that things can change in an instant, and you should always supervise multiple dragons.

Anyways, here is a picture of the trouble maker trying to act all innocent with her pose.
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Here's one a bit closer of her partial eclipsed eye.
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-Brandon

[MrSpectrum]

Hi Brandon,

Just found this thread; I don't scan this board much (probably a little envy that I'm still waiting on my own tales ). Not a lot different than dog/cat owners talking about their charges, or parents talking about their kids. I get it.

VERY impressed!

Funny, I don't recall Gandalf being a Hayo Miyazaki character...
From the one picture, it also appears (could be an illusion) that Gandalf is the flattest beardie I have ever seen.

Beautiful enclosures--especially the oak; I'll be delighted if mine turns out even close to that good.

I noticed some mirrors in some pics, and glass in others. Had any problems with the reflections and territorial aggression/behavior?

I also appreciate that you've kept things real by including the bad with the good.

Very nice narrative.

[possumpeg]

Wow! You really do have quite a story to tell! I'm so new to this whole thing, and I'm always concerned I'm going to say something really stupid. I lost my first beardie Chip to the unsupervised dog and a screened enclosure. I never thought I could love a reptile, but I cried like a two year old. I have been so super diligent with Cheddar and although I would love to have more, I think at this point I just want to make sure I have a firm grasp on how to care for them properly before I get another one. Cheddar is so beautiful, I would love to breed her, but I'm glad I read this first! Thanks for the experience and all the beautiful baby pics!