It's been almost 2 years!!!

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March 26th is the day we brought Spike home. My 7 year old son picked her out at our local Exotic pet store and named her Spike. She was in an enclosure with other dragons around her size and away from the smaller ones. We were told that the babies she was in with were moved because 'they were growing faster than the rest'. Spike ran right to the front of the glass and started scratching when my son walked by. Needless to say, she got his attention and we took her home. She had a full body shed 3 days off getting her home, too. ('She' does look female (I looked when we brought her home, but not since) Spike is now, roughly 3 months old and weighs 31g at 9 inches long.
We have had some set backs with her lights, which you guys have so graciously helped me with, and her lack of eating for a little while due to her relocation stress, but she is definitely a hearty eater now. BSFL being her favorite.

When we first brought her home:
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Throughout the month:
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New tank:
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Cuteness:
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10 minutes ago, waking up and warming up:
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Sorry for all of the pictures! ^-^ :D
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
It's so cute to see them interact with other animals.
I keep getting the cat warning, but my dragons and cat interact daily.

Richter climbed onto my cats back last weekend, head bobbed aggressively at Alucard on her, licked the cats ear and got the dirtiest cat glare in the world, and then rode her about two feet to her cat bed where she laid back down. It's a shame because I was recording his antics that day but missed recording that, but I was laughing too hard anyway. Would have had to take the sound out
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I would be a little leery having Spike around a cat right now, but only because of her size and the fact that she is still a baby. I watch her scurry around all the time and I can honestly see how she might look like prey, especially considering she isn't all that big.
But now, if she were full grown, I don't think a cat would bother her nearly as much. To me, they look quite scary full grown; especially considering some have some pretty darn big spikes on them compared to some others. That and I think the cat's personality plays a lot into the relationship, as well.
Our last cat, was not a hunter whatsoever. Squeakers was the most laid back and lazy cat I have ever had. Xander was outside to potty one day and when he came back in he apparently had a field mouse in his mouth that I didn't see. He let it loose in the house, barking nonstop at it like his bark was supposed to paralyze it for something. I lost track of how many times that thing ran right past Squeakers, once even right over his front paws, and he never even twitched. I don't mind a mouse, I just don't want it in my house and I figured the cat would also do his job and catch the thing. Pfft! He sure as heck fooled me! Little butthead never even lifted a paw or even twitched a whisker at it. If anything, he was giving me this look like, "You haven't caught it yet? What's wrong with you?"
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
I used to have two cats and two ferrets, and the ferrets had the cats totally intimidated even though the cats outweighed them. What Richter does with a cat sounds a lot like what my ferrets used to do. I always supervised them and they played pretty rough, but as far as I know, nobody ever drew blood (unless the cats had teeth marks under their fur where I couldn't see :? ).

One of my cats was a heck of a mouser but the other one was afraid of them. She was like those old cartoons of the woman up on a chair screaming "Eek! a mouse!" and expecting her husband to catch it and get rid of it for her.

Then I fell in love with a man who is severely allergic to anything with fur (including dogs, cats, and mice, although we never found out for sure about ferrets), and the mouse population in our house rose alarmingly after the cats left (one of the hardest decisions I ever made, but Friends of Pets helped me find them a very good new home), and that was how we ended up getting our first reptile, although one of the first things we learned about the snake was that, for his own health and safety, we couldn't turn him loose and let him hunt wild mice. So 15 years later we have a snake (the same one) and a lizard (the beardie), we're buying frozen mice and live bugs at the pet store, and we still have wild mice in our house...

Funny how things go sometimes. :p
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
I'm sorry about your cat situation :( I'm honestly allergic to cats and dogs, plus asthmatic, but my system got used to my cat's specific dander, etc. If I go to someone else's house with a cat I'll start having breathing issues and allergies again. I think even if I was more reactive to her I'd self medicate, but I fully understand that it's not you in the situation with the allergies. So glad they went to a good home though :)

Alucard is a little leery of the cat and I'd never leave her unattended with the kitty, nor do I believe she's big enough to roam the floor anyway. Richter is a monster, he's basically the size of my cat, and he already established he's the dominant one in the house (he's ran around head bobbing until I gave him full ownership of the house) so I am not at all concerned with him and the cat.

Yoshi, my cat, will definitely try and play with him, but she is front de-clawed and honestly doesn't actually touch him, anyway. She gets the kitty wiggle-butt and just chases him when he's running around and then sniffs his face and he licks her nose. She's tried to grab him as he runs by if she's laying down, but again, mitten paws, and she isn't grabbing him in an aggressive way, basically just pats his back as he goes by. Touch, touch, touch. It's purely playful behavior and never a predator/prey thing.

Richter, the cat wrangler.
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smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I would have a million pets if I had the space and money for them; fur or scales, I don't care which. Haha. I really want a snake, but the hubby is scared of them. One of these days I will have one along with the Rottweiler I have wanted for a very long time.
We just need to buy a farm. Lol.

If Yoshi is content just lounging around with a big lizard on her back, or even taking him for a feet foot ride, I doubt she would seriously hurt him.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Today we went to where my grandpa grew up. Our family cabin is sitting in the same spot that his house did and on the land my family has owned since 1860. Granted, I never met my grandpa, but my grandma also grew up across the bridge. We had a family outing today to the cabin. My son's just HAD to go swimming in the river. The water was ice cold, but they didn't mind. While in the water, my oldest pulls up this giant rock! He wanted to bring it home and put it in Spike's tank. Well, we did. I cleaned it, the whole 9 yards to make sure it was clean and ready for her. I moved her hammock that she usually basks on to the other side of her tank and put the new rock under her basking light. She scurried her little butt on the rock as soon as it was in her tank.
Spike does not care for logs, as I have several and she refuses to use them, but put a new rock in her tank and she is all for it!
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
My grumpy butt is finally working on her shed. Her belly and sides are peeling right behind her front legs, slowly working its way to her back.

New giant rock that she is madly in love with as her new basking spot.
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I think Spike is an oddball. She will not use any of the logs I bought her to climb on, not interested whatsoever. But absolutely loves rocks!
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
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It is official, Spike has exploded over night. I noticed before I put her to bed that her back around her neck finally broke loose. Then, this morning, this is the dragon I uncovered from her blankie. Poor little one. <3
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
She has it all mostly off now, at least off her back and beard. I haven't looked at her tummy though. She was NOT a happy dragon this morning when I woke her up. I got this pitiful look from her that made me a little sad. I dislike seeing her grumpy and irritable.
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
I felt terrible during Alucards last shed. Her eyelids were all flakey and she kept rubbing her face on everything and looked miserable. Makes me think about when my allergies are really bad and I just want to put something weighted on my face and sleep. Hopefully get next eye shed will go smoother.

Poor little spike. She has to be feeling great now that she exploded
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
She has completely popped. She only has random, small patches left to rub off. I couldn't even begin to imagine how that would have to feel. It can't be all that comfortable, especially being itchy for anywhere from a day days to a few weeks. Yeah, no thanks. Poor babies.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Spike finally got her shed off her back and her colors are showing more now than ever. She was such a dark little one with not a whole lot of color to her back, but not now. After this shed, it looked like her back starts out kind of yellow and turns to a rust like color towards her tail with like some blue-ish color happening. Before breakfast pic:
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After breakfast:
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SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Her new skin is very pretty. Shedding may be uncomfortable, but at least it doesn't last forever and they get a nice new skin when they're all done, sometime even with some surprises as far as new colors.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I am actually a little surprised at the colors. Don't get me wrong, she has always been a pretty dragon to me, but the colors I can now see after her shed, I normally only saw when she was outside in the sunshine and even then, it wasn't an all the time thing.

Tonight is weigh in... Spike has gained another 10 grams and is sitting at 70! She wouldn't hold still for me to measure, but sit still long enough for me to weigh her. :)
 
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