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
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
My Repashy products came in so I thought I would give them a try.
I mixed them up, Grub Pie for Spike and Bug Burger for the roaches. It was actually a lot simpler than I thought it was going to be.
I LOVE salads, so keeping my roaches in veggies is as bad as feeding myself, so, figured i'd give this a try along with the greens I give the bugs.

This is what Spike thought of the Grub Pie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qu1PGCyplo

She literally almost bit my finger when she chomped down! She only ate one hornworm for dinner, refused roaches, but didn't have a bit of problem eating the Grub Pie. :D
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Yes, it's pretty much like making Jello, but the Grub Pie sets up really fast once it starts to cool. Pretty easy to make up.

Most beardies seem to really like the taste of it. Too me, it smells a little bit like cricket poo, but maybe that smells delicious to a beardie. It's good for hydration too, unlike the dry pellets, which our beardie won't touch anyway -- he doesn't seem to recognize them as food. :|

I haven't tried the roach food. I use dry cricket food and plain water gel for both crickets and roaches, and they seem to do fine. Some have expressed some concerns about the water gel, but as far as I've been able to determine, it's safe as long as you don't let it dry out and let your beardie eat the crystals along with the bugs, because they can expand and cause impaction once they absorb moisture again. We're careful to replace the water gel for the bugs when it starts to dry out, and we haven't had any problems with it. It's very convenient along with the dry food -- doesn't get moldy or anything. But some people like to give vegetable and fruit scraps to their feeder bugs, or their beardie's leftover salad. I suppose that works well too. The Repashy Bug Burger would be an all-in-one food+water thing, probably a lot like the food cubes that they get shipped with, but I haven't tried it yet. It will be interesting to see how it works out for you.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Yeah, the grub pie smelled... odd. I didn't care for it, but it only smelled like that once I was mixing it. Now that it set up, the smell is gone.
I didn't notice much of any smell with the bug burger, though.
I made the bug burger the same way as the grub pie and once cooled, I just tossed it in the bug bin. I waited about 20 minutes and I noticed that the bugs took to it quite well. I was surprised at how quickly they went to it.

Spike is off with her eating, especially now that it looks like most of her body is about to shed. I know it can be common for them to go off their food when shedding, but since she ONLY gained 1 gram in a week from her being too picky and not wanting to eat, I figured I would give the Grub Pie a try. She took a couple of big bites for me and even almost bit my finger in the process, plus 1 hornworm, so I'll take it. Who knows, maybe the grub pie is going to be something I can use to feed her while she is shedding, if she will continue to eat it for me, that is.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Since working on her shed and refusing to eat like she was, Spike's chubby pot belly has since gone down. She did eat another hornworm and some more grub pie for me this morning.
And just a few minutes ago, she also left me the biggest poo EVER! Haha.

And now this is the look I get since she is deciding to bask and be more active for a bit.
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She also got another good soak in the sink and another scrubbing with the toothbrush. Needless to say, I think I scrubbed just about every inch since it seems like every part of her is working on a shed; all except her back and tail.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
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The more of her face that she sheds, the more it seems to be turning yellow. <3 The top of her head is still turning grey and dulling in color.
Spike has been out basking for a good while. That bath and giant poo must have made her feel better.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
I know this has nothing to do with beardies, but I thought I would share anyway.
My hubby is now deployed and our oldest is taking it quite hard. When he left 4 years ago for basic, our boy was absolutely lost without his daddy. I decided to get him a companion all his own, which we adopted a black and white tuxedo kitten, 6 weeks old, from the humane society. His name was Squeakers as he really could not meow. He sounded like a squeaky toy, hence his name.
When we moved back in October, Squeakers slipped out the door and we never did find him, unfortunately. I still haven't given up; still go in person to all the humane societies in our county and neighboring ones; still go and check all the local and neighboring rescues in the area; still check the lost and found pets on facebook; and still put out new flyers every month in hopes of finding him. That cat meant so much to my son and comforted him so much while his daddy was gone. They were inseparable up until the day he vanished.

Now, before the hubby left, we talked about getting another cat, but never got around to it. The other day our son decided he didn't want another cat because he didn't want to 'try and replace Squeakers'. I can live with that. So, today we made a 2 hour drive from home to visit a breeder down south of us. This is who he decided to bring home and he named her/him (needs a dna done to determine) Tweety.

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Tweety is the newest addiction to the family and is a Lineolated Parakeet.

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and this is where Tweety likes to hide- under my chin, hanging on to the front of my shirt.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
We finally got my oldest son's corner computer desk put together today. But in order for everything to fit, we had to do some rearranging.
I had to move Spike's tank to the other side of the room. Instead of being beside my computer desk, she is now looking at the back of my computer chair. She wen from one side of the room against the wall, to the other side, just to be up against the other wall. Lol yeah.

The whole entire time that I am slowly, carefully, and trying to gracefully move Spike's tank and the bookshelf thing her tank sits on, my son is going, "Oh man, Mommy." "Not that way!" "Wait!" "Look out!" "Don't up dump her!"

Lol Yeah. I normally don't move heavy things myself as I don't have the upper body strength (but the hubby isn't here to do it for me), so it was a challenge. Slow and steady is all I can say. Even though my a/c is on, I was sweating bullets by the time I finally got everything where I wanted it.
I wasn't hot or anything, so I am chalking it up to my nerves being shot while moving her. >.<

Now that everything is where it needs to be, straightened up, and all of her lights and everything is hooked back up, Spike decided to come out of hiding and do some basking.

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smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
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We are growing again and her appetite is coming back, too!
This morning she ate 10 medium dubias and didn't even try to spit them out cause of the calcium powder this time! In all honesty, she ate with such force and snatching ability that she almost caught one of my fingers. She hasn't been that overly excited about her roaches for a while. Plus, she scarfed them down and chomped so quickly, I wasn't even sure she tasted any of them. Lol.

She sat still for me to measure, but wouldn't for the scale so I'll give that a try this evening around bed time.

**EDIT**
Spike is growing faster than I think. I looked back over where I keep her weight and measurements; on July 5th she wasn't even quite 11 1/2 inches yet. But today, on July 25th, she is 12 and 1/4 inches.... if I am remembering how to read the measure correctly. Haha. From the 12th to the 19th, though, she stayed 12 inches exactly. From the 5th to the 12th, she grew a little over half an inch. I think her growth length wise is just coming in spurts instead of a continuous so much a week kind of thing. At least she is growing, just at her own little pace! :D
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Spike looks so sweet in her close ups, and the little green parakeet is adorable.

Did I ever mention that I noticed a side effect with Repashy Grub Pie, at least with our beardie? -- it seems to make a pretty good laxative. It might have had something to do with the big poop. :wink:

It must be hard on both you and your son to have your husband deployed. I feel so lucky that my husband is 4-F. He tried to get into the Air Force once and they wouldn't take him because of his asthma. Just as well, because I don't think I'd be able to deal with him being deployed, even though we don't have any human children. I need his help to take care of the reptiles.

I'm glad you managed to get the furniture moved around by yourself, but I feel the need to mention that the usual recommendation is not to try to move a reptile in a glass tank. It's safer to take them out and have someone else hold them or else put them temporarily in whatever kind of a carrier you use for traveling with them, just in case. That way, if something goes wrong and you drop the tank and break it, at least the critter doesn't get hurt. Just something to think about if you ever have to move her setup again.
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Hm. Maybe that is where the giant poo came from. I never actually thought about the Grub Pie causing it. It wasn't runny or abnormal looking, it as just an extremely large log compared to what I am used to her leaving me.
Spike is becoming quite the character. Little booger wants to be in everything and give everything a lick, too.
Tweety, is very sweet and loves nothing more than to be cuddled or cupped in our hands; even enjoys sitting on my shoulder, peeking out through my hair. Haha. She/he (needs to have a dna done to be sure) even enjoys sitting on my oldest's shoulder while he is playing on his laptop. If he has his headphones on, Tweety likes to try and nibble the different color flashing lights on the ear part.

I agree. I know I should have moved her or put her in something else until I got everything situated, but it didn't dawn on me. I took everything out of her tank that way it was lighter to move, but for some reason actually removing Spike from the tank, too, didn't occur to me. That is one of the other reasons I miss my hubby. When both boys are running around like mad little, crazy men and I am trying to do something stressful, like rearrange or move Spike's tank as was the case, he reminds me of all the things that could go wrong and how to prevent them beforehand. With the boys and me being the only one to do it, I just wanted to get it done, carefully, slowly, but still at a decent rate. I have a problem of wanting things done now, and not waiting, and I forget to take everything else into consideration; like removing Spike in case something did happen. LUCKILY, it didn't and I did get extremely lucky that time, but if I ever have to do it again, I need to stop and think things through before my anxiety gets the better of me. If I had hurt her due to my own stupidity, I would never be able to live with myself, that is for sure.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
I'm glad you and Spike got through the move ok, and I understand about getting scatterbrained when you're stressed out. My husband calls it being "flop headed" when it happens to him, but it's pretty much the same thing that happens to me. Sometimes we manage to remind each other of things like that when the two of us work together, but sometimes we both forget something important. I've walked away from our snake's tank with the lid off once or twice, and I lucked out when he didn't take a notion to crawl out of the tank and slither off and get himself lost at that moment. I suppose you'll probably remember to take Spike out and put her somewhere safe the next time you have to move her enclosure.

Sounds like Spike wants to taste everything to see if maybe it's good to eat. And that's funny that Tweety tries to go after the flashing lights on the headphones. :lol:
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
Haha. Flop headed. I have never heard that before, but I like it.

Spike has been tasting everything in sight, literally. Lol she even gave my fidget spinner a lick, which I assume is because of the different, bright colors on it.
She has been out running around her tank a good bit today and basking. I am kind of surprised since she is turning even more grey for her shed, I figured she would hide some more like she was, but nope.

And Tweety is the quietest bird I have ever heard. Barely makes a beep unless one of us is talking to her/him, then we get chirped at. My oldest gets a kick out of Tweety going after the lights. It is quite cute.

And I couldn't get a picture but Spike is 118 grams! So, + 10 in a week! she really enjoyed those hornworms. I think there might only be 4 left. Haha.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
I have yet to see one of those "fidget spinners" but there was an article about them in our local freebie newspaper the other day. I guess they're getting to be pretty popular.

Maybe Spike is learning that she's in a nice safe place where nobody is going to hurt her, so she doesn't feel like she needs to hide anymore, not even when she's shedding.

I've never had a parakeet, or any other kind of bird for that matter. I didn't realize they could carry on a "conversation" with their humans like that.

Hornworms grow really big really fast, so it's probably just as well if Spike eats them all before they get too big for her and/or start morphing into whatever kind of a moth they turn into (unless you're planning to breed them yourself). Most beardies go nuts over them. Someone on this website once referred to them as "giant green squishy gummy worms". :mrgreen: They're good for hydration too because they contain a lot of moisture.
 

traildrifterphalanx

Sub-Adult Member
SHBailey":1cgzat8j said:
Someone on this website once referred to them as "giant green squishy gummy worms". :mrgreen: They're good for hydration too because they contain a lot of moisture.

That person may have been me.... :|
If not, I refer to them as gummy worms anyway
 

smackey2

Hatchling Member
Original Poster
They do remind me of gummy worms, that is for sure.

Since Spike's tank is no longer beside my computer desk, she has been quite active, even though she is still working on her shed. It hasn't actually started peeling yet, but she sure is getting pale/grey in color. The only parts that aren't turning is her back/tail and the front part of her face that she already rubbed off.
I like seeing her out and about, especially enjoying her new climbing/basking logs.

She wasn't in the mood for breakfast this morning, so I am going to get ready and try and see if I can get her to eat something for lunch.
 
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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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