It's been almost 2 years!!!

She's clearly in good hands
She sounds like she eats more than Alucard, honestly, but I again think the roaches she's been eating have been on the larger side (they're from my own colony so I have a harder time judging sizes, apparently.)

My Simon was only 16.5" as an adult, on the small side, but I loved her regardless, and think the smaller size made her even cuter. I miss that girl.


If Spike does stay smaller, so be it

She is definitely my little buddy. I am pretty sure I would take her with me everywhere I went if weather permitted, along with stores and such, too.
It was a little chilly here the other way, at least for me (I get cold easily), so I was walking around in a hoodie, with Spike poking her nose out one side and a bit of her tail sticking out the other of my pocket. I am pretty sure the hubby thinks I am loony tunes, but hey, she won't be little forever!

I wish I could know about her parents, colors, sizes, just background in general, but I know that will never happen, so I am quite pleased with my little, multi-colored, bundle of energy.

Simon was gorgeous! Her coloring is just beautiful. I read your post about her. I am so sorry for your loss. It is never easy when losing a beloved family member, that is for sure.

Yeah, trucking Richter around is a hassle, lol. He's practically the length of one arm so he isn't as mobile, though I do cart him around in his little carrier, but carry him out of the carrier in stores (that permit him.) He's a handful, but luckily often calm and ragdoll-like.

Alucard is still pocket sized, but boy does she have heft to her.

Tonight is weigh in:


11 grams in a week! She was 81 grams on the 21st. She is getting too big for my little scale, so I improvised with the cardboard and zeroed it out before setting her on it. Needless to say, gaining weight isn't a problem.

I caught dragon kisses on video, FINALLY!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfdh89gZt9Y

Spike and Xander have been giving kisses all day to one another, but that was the first I caught on video. (Sorry for the random sock on the floor! Yay, 3 year olds! Haha) Somehow I figured Spike would be scared of Xander, but she doesn't puff up at him, black beard, nor ever get stress marks.

(** Spike is normally never out of her tank while my dogs are roaming free, UNLESS she is nice and secure in my hands! **)


**** EDIT ****

I couldn't help but take a few pictures of my little chubster!




My little piglet is getting more round than anything. Haha, but she is quite cute! She didn't eat much for breakfast this morning, but she did eat a bunch for lunch. Now I am curious if she will eat when it is dinner time. She still looks quite stuffed.

Nothing better than cuddles before bed with a sleepy, chubby little dragon. Spike absolutely loves snoozing in my shirts. I am going to have to just eventually give her one of her own cause at some point, I don't think we are both going to be able to fit.

I always thought those front pockets in hoodies were designed for keeping reptiles warm. :wink:

It was in the "spring" (just before "breakup") 4 years ago when we brought our beardie home from the rescue, and they thought the air holes in the carrier we had for him were too big, because it was still pretty cold outside and we still had snow all over the ground (that's Alaska). So they talked me into riding home in the car with him snuggled up under my coat even though we didn't know each other very well yet. He did fine -- only got a little squirmy just before we got home, and even ate a bunch of crickets and an earthworm his first day here.

We have since converted a cooler to a "warmer" by drilling some tiny little air holes in the lid and putting in a hot water bottle and some towels whenever we have to take any of the reptiles anywhere in the winter.

Spike looks "well rounded" and happy and healthy. :mrgreen:

I used to put snakes in my hoodie pockets when I was a child, especially the garter snakes out of the garden. I loved when Dad would go out and pick the veggies and what not, and of course, being the child I was, I would be picking the Garter Snake(s) up and sticking them in the pockets. Mom never quite figured out why I wore my hoodie outside in the garden all the time until I was about 9, and brought one inside the house that just so happened to have fallen out in the kitchen floor and onto her shoes. Heh... mom was not amused. She started screaming like a lunatic, trying to kick it off while trying to make a break for the front door, all the while yelling for my Dad. Haha. Needless to say, I wasn't aloud to wear my hoodie inside the house anymore, if I was in the garden beforehand.
I was the son my dad never had.

"Well rounded" I like that! I tell her she looks like she swallowed one of those campfire marshmallows. It's ok, I love my little squishy, chubster. She seem to grow width size, before she ever grows length wise, and then after she is "well rounded" for a bit, it is like she just grows into her chunkiness.

It's easier for our snake to slip into hoodie pockets and under shirts and up sleeves than it is for the beardie because he has smooth scales instead of spikey snaggy ones. I usually wrap the beardie up in a little hand towel when I want to get him warm and cuddly.

My mother was afraid of snakes and mice and just about any other kinds of creepy crawly critters. I still remember the time she freaked out when she stuck her hand in the cupboard and a mouse ran over it, and I regret that I wasn't more sympathetic. She couldn't even handle it when I had ferrets, but by that time I was in Alaska and she was still in California, so she never met the ferrets. I guess she thought I was totally nuts when we got the snake. She never met him either, and never knew about the beardie.

It takes a while sometimes for growing critters to balance their length with their width. That even happens to us humans -- like in my case, my length never caught up with my width. I'd probably be about right if I was about 7 feet tall... :wink:

My mom was never much for any animal that didn't have fur.
I found two milk snakes in our house once, they ressemble a copperhead here, but their bellies are white and black checked instead..... Mom slept in her car for a week before she thought it was safe to be in the house again.

She liked Wiley, my Leopard Gecko, and has even held Spike when I first got her, so that is progress! She say, "They have legs, that makes them 'normal'." I guess to her snakes aren't her idea of 'normal'.

Yeeeeah, I would be good to go too if I was about a foot and a half taller. This whole being short thing is for the birds. The hubby likes to make fun of me because I refuse to ask for his help in getting things from the top cabinets in the kitchen. I just climb on the counter lol.

Let's see, how does it go -- something like "red to yellow, kill a fellow; red to black, venom lack" -- but I think that's how to tell a king snake from a coral snake. I would actually never mess with a snake in the wild -- I'd stay well out of striking distance if I could because I don't have enough faith in my own ability to tell the venomous species from the non venomous ones, and some of them really are dangerous. Not a problem here in Alaska though. Too cold for herps, except for the little wood frogs that have antifreeze in their blood, and a garter snake that is sometimes found down south along the panhandle, but that's about it. Lots of people do have them for pets though, but you have to keep them indoors with the heat lamps on almost all the time.

I believe it is possible to "connect" with a snake, but the distance that you have to cross is wider. Lizards are a little easier because they have arms and legs and fingers and toes and eyes that open and close -- things you can relate to. Then there's warm and fuzzy, so mammals are even easier, but that doesn't completely explain why some people have a problem with mice and rats. I think I remember your post about Spike doing a good public relations job with your mother.

I don't mind being short, but top shelves ought to be illegal (don't think too hard about that or it won't make any sense :wink: ). My husband has the same problem with me. If I can't get things down off the shelves by myself in my own kitchen, then it's time to rearrange the kitchen. The problem is there isn't that much horizontal space, and I have a heck of a time getting down on my hands and knees to reach the bottom shelves as well. He's more than willing to help when he's at home.

Snakes don't bother me in the least, even wild ones. We have a little creek, and I use that term loosely, behind our house. When I mowed the grass the other day, and I always try and keep it nice and short, especially around the creek, as my youngest is only 3. I haven't personally seen any, but the people that lived here before us warned us ahead of time about finding some, mostly around the bank where the water is. The hubby is scared to death of snakes, so just in case, I get to mow that bank.

Now, Spiders.... ick. If I find them in the house, and mind you they are usually small, I catch them and send them outside, but they do give me the creeps. Our old house, I found a spider on one of my curtains for my window and it was bigger than my hand and had the longest legs ever. NO THANK YOU! That time I did turn and run. Luckily, the hubby has no problem with spiders. The big spiders, like Tarantulas...... they give me the willies. I don't mind seeing them in pet shops as long as they are behind glass.

We went to petco one time, for supplies, and one of the employees was letting some guy play with one of the Tarantulas. I didn't see it at first, but once it started crawling up the guys arm... I am pretty sure I almost fainted.

So, I just needed a place to vent real quick. I was browsing through my news feed on facebook and came across a post of someone wanting to sell their 7 month old bearded dragon and all of his accessories, including tank. The tank looks like a petty big one, has repti carpet, nice logs and hides. He looks so unhappy in the 2 pictures that were posted and a bit dark colored through his back and tail, definitely not happy colors, but I also noticed the UVB is a coil bulb, so that probably isn't helping matters either.
The post says that he is too difficult to take care of, due to not being home.
(I get that things happen and life changes, but these posts break my heart.)

If I honestly had the money right now, I would take him in a heart beat!

I have a grumpy butt this morning. She has been getting even blurrier on her chest, but still hadn't started peeling, so this morning Spike got a nice warm bath for about 10 minutes; and in no time at all, she rubbed across her rock and is now peeling. Her snout and the top of her mouth are turning a pale yellow and getting blurry, too. Shed, shed, shed... the life of a little dragon.

Her appetite was off this morning as well. She refused anything until about 11 this morning, but even then, only ate 7 roaches for me. Ehh. I'm not worried. My little butter ball isn't lacking in the chunky department.

Her chest went pop and she left a few pieces behind. I was trying to clean her tank from the little pieces (as you can see on the red rag), and had to move her hammock up higher to do so. Spike hasn't been much of a climber, even on the logs I tried, so the bottom of her hammock was basically floor level, but just angled upwards (if that makes sense). Well, I moved it, like I said, putting it up higher, over her one rock.. well, I tried to put it back, moving her off first just so she wouldn't fall or anything, and this is the look I got.
The red, old wash rag thing, is actually her blanket that she likes. I throw it over the one rock just because she seems to enjoy sitting on it while basking... although, sometimes she does scoot it off with her back legs if she would rather just sit on the rock itself. I have an interesting little dragon who has no problem letting me know what she wants.



I am pretty sure she is stinking her nose in the air at me. Lol.