Mufasa and Norberta

Exactly, they are so expensive! I was just going to get more dubia (I love them, the girls love them) but Gordos doesn't have any, so I went on Rainbow Mealworms and theirs is really expensive. I didn't really want superworms, so I was gonna get Phoenix worms from RM but they only are selling them in their combo packs. So I took a peek at those and ended up getting two of the same combo pack. It had supers, phoenix, waxworms, a pitiful amount of dubia :roll: and the hornworms. They both seem to be enjoying the mix of bugs!!
Oh yeah, that's rough. I bet they are enjoying those bunkbeds though!
I'm still praying for Gabriel, happy thoughts and hugs to him. <3 Oh no!! Did she get burned or is she just overheated? Poor little girl.

Just realized yesterday when I had Mufasa out to play with that she is going into shed on her face and tail. her coloring is so different from Norberta's it is very hard to tell she is about to shed. Norberta has basically finished shedding now.

Norberta must be so relieved to be done with her shed. Imp is shedding bits and pieces of his head, but his body is still skinny. I spent so much time at Eric's on the weekend helping out that today I'm just so tired and a touch of stomach flu. My granddaughter had it for a bit on Saturday, she was done with it, my grandson is just getting rid of a cough and Eric slept on day Sunday and felt much better on Monday.

It's been sunny here for almost a week and relatively warm, so some plants are coming back and flowering. The rhododendrons took a big blow this winter, it was too cold and too snowy for too long, so they're trying to bud but they should be full of new leaves and colours.

But the cherry trees have bloomed, so that's been great! So pretty!

She definately seems to be!
I hope you are feeling better! Being sick is no fun. It sounds beautiful over there! I'm going to have a small flower garden this year in front of the house, plus an even smaller beardie veggie garden. I'm waiting for the weather to get to a more normal warmth before planting anything though. It was about 70 yesterday but today or tomorrow it is supposed to snow! :roll:

Thought I'd update some pictures from last week and do a quick update on the girls.

Mufasa is shedding slowly, almost finished her face and still hasn't started her tail and hand. Piggy little girl, still usually doing laps around her tank or surfing in the corner. I'm starting to think she doesn't like being hot because she doesn't use her basking rock much and prefers to sit in her bed on the cool end, so I need to experiment with the temps.
Norberta has been a bit off, isn't eating as much and was acting upset but is doing better now and is back to her bouncy self, just not eating very much still. Grr... She picks the hornworms out of everything else and picks at the supers, then leaves half of them. :roll: She wont be very happy to hear we are almost out of hornworms. :lol: Doing well other than that, lots of headbobbing, I need to try covering the sides of her tanks.

Went to a reptile show yesterday to get rats for Olympia, and also got Mufasa a new basking platform. Its a decent sized piece of driftwood that is giving me MUCH better temps, but so far Mufasa refuses to use it. :roll: At the show I also bought a dubia starter colony that was pretty cheap so I added that to my remaining colony that has shrunk a bit.
Pics of the girls from the other day.
In the last pic Norberta was trying to get to Mufasa who was running around outside so she was showing off her black beard LOL. And the funniest thing happened today! Mufasa "learned" how to head bob Norberta back! She does it really slowly with almost her whole body, dipping her head to the floor and doing almost a push up with her arms. HILARIOUS to watch, Norberta was really confused watching her :lol:

Are you sure Norberta is a girl? Because that behaviour is just like what Cierra does to any of the boys, the low dipping bob is to show that a female is ready to a male, oh that is too funny! Also means submission, also too funny! You never know what our babies are going to do next

So because of helping Eric so much, I ran out of vet $. So I had to do a Go-Fund-Me for $500, it was filled up in 3 days! Castiel has developed something awful in his side beard, on the left part of his beard has already fallen off. So now I have the funds for a biopsy and blood test and he's going on Sat am for that. Then it's just to wait for results. Oh My! Luckily the other 4 are free of this, whatever it is. My vet thinks it's fungal, first said Yellow Fungus, but it's not presenting that way. Here are the pictures.

These were taken on March 11, thought it was weird colouring, but didn't think anything further because it was spring fever season and Castiel was black ALL the time:

This is what fell off right behind his ear:

The spot is the pink spot right behind his ear

It doesn't even hurt him. So for now I'm washing the area with Chlorohexite, then dabbing it with full strength Beadine daily until the results come back.

I'll keep you updated.

Thanks for the pictures, Norberta is sure looking good, so is Mufasta.

I still have to post pics on my thread, will do that soon.

I'm not 100% sure actually, I really am not good at sexing them, I wouldn't be surprised if she turned out to be a he honestly :lol: Is that seriously what it means?? Oh jeez, they are never gonna stop surprising me LOL. And Cierra just plays with all your poor boys emotions doesn't she? xD
That is amazing you got the money you needed for a vet visit! Has Eric gotten a job again? Oh no Castiel!! That does not look good, at least it isn't hurting him. Hope the vet can help, please do keep me updated.
I'm glad you think they look good! I've been thinking so too, nice to get another opinion. Norberta is eating pretty regularly again and Mufasa acts like she is starving every time she sees food, :roll: and their weights are gaining slowly. I'm really hoping the baby dubia I have will hurry up and get to the proper eating size or Mufasa is gonna start eating my fingers with her salad and bugs LOL.
I took pics today!
Mufasa in her bed
Norberta on her fleece blanket ignoring her mustard greens...
Tongue!
Sitting on my leg, she didn't wake up happy so I got her out for a few minutes and she cheered up.
Her eyes are so expressive! They tell you when she's excited, sleepy, mad, happy, its so cute.
I don't know what she thinks she's doing.

Thanks for sharing, great pictures! I'm so glad they're doing well.

Update!
Mufasa is doing good, we are at a stand still in the battle of the basking log now and she uses it half the time and then pushes the barrier out of her way the other half of the time. :roll: We're working on it. She is 296grams today! I haven't measured either of them in a while though, will do that this week hopefully. Mufasa is going into shed in a few places already, so very happy with her.

Norberta is doing well too! She was shedding more again but has gotten a good portion of it off already. She also reached 184grams! Very excited with her, slow and steady. Her hot basking bulb decided to break on us so I need to get a new one this week. I'm also thinking I want to get her a log like Mufasa's next time I go to the reptile show, I really like it and it holds heat better than Norberta's bricks.

Also, not related to the beardies, my ball python Olympia decided to finally to strike her rat when I fed her on Sunday!! She has never done that for me so it was great, gave me a minor heart attack though. Shes also 866grams.
Rose the hermit crab. And my ten year old cat Butterscotch the other day.

I'm pretty excited its summer, done with school for now so I can spend more time with the girls and working on some projects. I've started watercolor painting and have made some not bad pieces so far.

Your girls both look great, you'd never think there had been anything wrong with Norberta. I love how pale Mufasa is compared to Norberta, they make quite the pair.

I'm finally starting to recover from this stupid hayfever, taking 2 antihistamines a day and puffers and they're finally working, so hopefully back to work in another week or so, see doc tomorrow. Still getting tired all the time, but will talk to her about that as blood tests taken were all negative. I just can't wait to retire and not have to work f/t anymore. 3 1/2 yrs to go!

My crew are all doing well. Castiel got results back and negative for bacteria or fungus in his beard, so no idea how part of it fell off. (I just posted about him on my thread). Hoping to hear from my vet tomorrow about last round of results.

Gabriel is still full of energy, even with that big belly of his. Tonight he dug underneath his newspaper and is fast asleep on the glass. I'll move him in a minute back on his blankets.

Imp is full of himself, constantly blackbearding and bobbing, doesn't matter at what or who. He's still skinny but I found a way for him to eat bugs, it's putting them on the living room floor and him chasing them, so he's eating more bugs, which is great.

Cierra is getting fat, thought she had eggs but she's not acting like it. So she might be going to the vet for an xray soon. Before I go back to work.

Nathaniel is shedding all over the place. He had a swollen foot with shed on it, so I used coconut oil for a few nights and the shed came off. He's walking almost perfectly well now, which is a huge relief.

Bella is my constant companion and is very understanding when I can't do a huge walk with her because I'm overtired, but that's happening less and less, so must be finally getting the allergy under control.

The cresties are doing just fine, eating really well, I hardly ever see them, being home I'm to bed earlier than normal at night.

I did lose my Miss Leona, so sad. I never checked her heating pad and she overheated. I took care of her for 5 weeks but she passed last week, poor sweetie. No more leos for me. I don't like under tank heaters. So I put my roaches in her 10 gallon and used the same heater and the roaches LIKE the heat. So they're making more babies now. Have to check again tomorrow how they're doing. I do miss my Leona, though, so maybe in the future I can use the 20 gallon for another leo but with proper heat this time. I felt so awful...

Thank you Deb!! Yes, she is doing pretty great right now. I think I understand her a lot more and can read how she is feeling easier after going through all this, so I'm almost grateful but I am so so happy she is semi healthy now and able to relax and feel good. And their colors are so fun! I wish I could get side by side pics but Norberta would be very very angry about that :lol: I love them so much.
Oh no, glad you are finally feeling better! That is no fun dealing with allergies and being sick. Good to hear about Castiel, keep me updated on what they say today. And yay Gabriel!! How funny, trying to find new sleeping spots lol. Imp is so hilarious, he certainly knows he is the baby doesn't he. Glad he is eating more bugs finally. Has Cierra laid any eggs so far this year? And good Nathaniel's swelling is gone! Bella sounds like a very sweet girl. Nocturnal animals are so funny, Olympia is awake at night and has pretty much a set time she comes out of her hides and climbs and does whatever, I always try and peek in on her and make sure she is doing alright. Such a funny girl.
Ohhh no!! I am so sorry to hear you lost little Leona. Did you have a thermostat with the heat mat and did it just fail, or did you not have a thermostat? Heat mats are very unpredictable without a control and it is so easy to overheat the little things. I use one with Olympia and that is one of my greatest fears, I'm hoping to update her to a bigger tank this year and get a better thermostat and heat source, a radiant heat panel or something.

First time dealing with a heat pad and no, I never checked, just by feel, but didn't realize she needed much less heat. Lesson learned. If I ever get another leo, they'll have the proper temps from day 1.

I'll keep you posted on the crew. I'm not sure about Cierra, I think it's time for vet for xray to see if she does have eggs. I've never seen her so lazy, normally she'd be pacing, trying to get out of her tank. It's weird 'cause she's gained a bunch of weight. I'll see how my pay is tomorrow.

Gabriel hid under his newspaper because he pooped all over it, so I think he'll need a bath this am. Time to start my day, get Bella out for a walk, supplements for the kids, baths tomorrow. then home to hear from the vet.

I'll be so glad to return to work, I don't want to go through reduced income again, never helps.

I'm so gad you're done school, are you done high school now?

Gotcha, yeah, at least you know now for the next little one to come your way. That does sound odd, hope its nothing bad with Cierra. Sounds like a bit of a busy day. Do you use liquid supplements? (calcium and vitamins) Yeah that stinks, hope you keep feeling better so you can get back to work soon.
I am so glad too LOL, it's been a busy and stressful few months. No, not yet. I just finished off my sophomore year, so halfway there.

I was able to get Norberta a new basking bulb and she is thrilled, adjusting to the warmer temps after a week of not having it right. Looks very happy in her tank. I gave both the girls a treat in their salads, they have pretty much never had blackberries and Mufasa seems to enjoy them, havent seen Norberta really trying them on purpose. It was collards, strawberries (Norberta's favorite food ever) and then some blackberries. I don't think they even looked to see what was actually in the salad before diving in. :lol:

You are so lucky that yours eat on their own. Only Cierra will eat out of bowls, the boys won't, so it's up to be to make sure they get what they need...it's ok when I'm home, but not when I'm working. Oh well, have to figure out a better schedule!

They didn't care for them at first, now if they haven't gorged themselves on bugs they love it.
Oh no, those boys have you wrapped around their claws don't they? :lol: :lol: Sounds like a pain to fit that in around work and everything else.