Mufasa and Norberta

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I already introduced me and Fasa, but I thought you all might like to see his cuteness, lol. I also have a question for you professionals: do you have any idea what morph he is?
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Here he is sleeping in his new tree, slept in it all of last night.
Mufasa will just sit on my chest and nap or watch whats going on. ;)
One last question: Half the time he doesn't eat his crickets, is there anything I can do to help him eat?
Well, I think that's all for now! :) :)
Makayla.
 

sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
I'm proud of her, too. So Tracie has a new gout product that she's made that includes the medication that you give Norberta, you should check it out at www.bug-de-lite.com. She send me a blurb about it and I thought of Norberta right away.

Mufasa might have poop issues but she's looking good and so is Norberta, she has such a nice looking tummy.
 

MufasasMomMakayla

Juvie Member
Original Poster
I actually just got a new bottle from Tracie and she had mentioned she was working on that! The next time I need more I will try that so I can use the supplement thing too. Thanks for letting me know about it!
And YES Norberta finally has a little tummy, it makes me so happy seeing that and that she runs around and everything. Though she could be a little less stubborn some days lol. :lol:
We've done four of the baths for Mufasa and I tried giving her some pumpkin today, she licked a little off her nose but didn't seem very into it. We'll try again tomorrow lol.
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Some pics from the other day of the girls right before lights out and then Mufasa showing me how much she disapproves of the bath LOL.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Yes, they both look really good. It also looks like Mufasa likes baths just as much as Puff does. :mrgreen:

If the red urate turns out to be the "new normal", you'll probably eventually get used to it -- otherwise I would have died of a heart attack a long time ago... :wink:

You might have to stick a little pillow on that log for Norberta's chin. :laughing6:

Puff just LOVES Repashy Grub Pie :love10: , and I've discovered that it has a side effect -- it seems to be a pretty good laxative. So you might want to give that a try if you can't get them to eat pumpkin, applesauce, or any of the other usual remedies. (Deb -- did you ever try that with Cierra?)
 

MufasasMomMakayla

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Thank you! Lol it's so funny how some react to water. And true lol.
Mufasa will not poop. I need to get some pumpkin into her, she just won't eat a lot of it. Sigh. She will eat anything but it. :roll:
Norberta is doing good, pretty relaxed and sleepy lately but not actually going to sleep until bedtime.
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Also, my ball python Olympia has been sleeping occasionally the past week with her head peeking outside of her hide, it is the cutest thing so I thought I'd share lol. Her hides are too small for her (I'm getting bigger ones when I get her bigger set up) so when she curls up a certain way it lifts a lot of the hide LOL.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Snakes seem to like to cram themselves into tight places such as hides that seem too small for them. I think it makes them feel safe, something like, "A predator can't pry me out of here."

Snakes also invented the game of peekaboo. Invented it and perfected it. :lol: Looks like Olympia is pretty good at it.

Hopefully you can "get things moving" for Mufasa. Warm baths and gentle belly massages can also help, and you can also try unsweetened applesauce and/or a little olive oil if she won't do pumpkin, and of course, I've already put in my shameless plug for Repashy Grub Pie -- most beardies seem to like the taste of it. Puff won't eat pumpkin or apples or just about anything else "vegetarian" -- he seems to think he's supposed to be a strict carnivore. :roll:
 

MufasasMomMakayla

Juvie Member
Original Poster
She is the cutest, lol! And she has been sitting with her head out of her hides a lot more now its really funny. Does your cornsnake do that at all?
Thanks, I will check for all that and keep trying baths, she ate some pumpkin yesterday and got a bath today but nothing. :?
Lol Puff is such a funny guy, he loves his bugs. :lol:
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SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Yes, our snake does that too. His favorite hide is an empty Kleenex box (it works out well because I'm allergic to dust mites and rarely have enough energy to do the vacuuming, so our house is full of them and I keep him well supplied with empty Kleenex boxes :roll: ). He often coils up in it with his nose just at the edge. Another one of his favorite ways to play peekaboo is to crawl up my sleeve, do a U-turn at my elbow, and then poke his nose back out.

Yep -- Puff loves bugs and nothing much else (except Repashy Grub Pie, but it's made of mostly bugs too), and he seems to turn his very happiest golden color right after he's had an opportunity to stuff himself with crickets and roaches. :D
 

MufasasMomMakayla

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Sorry I've been bad at posting! Life has been crazy.

Oh my goodness that is so cute he loves those boxes! And Puff is such a funny dragon lol.
The girls are doing alright, Mufasa is trying to brumate but refuses to poop, uhg. Norberta is doing good too, sleepy but not brumating.

I don't have any new pics yet, but will try and get some up this weekend.
 

Terry15

Sub-Adult Member
I mix the grub pie with a little applesauce & some olive oil in the food chopper, Mystic loves that. That might help him do his thing.
 

MufasasMomMakayla

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Thanks Terry15! I'll try and get olive oil and try that.
Its weird, it doesn't feel like she has anything in there when I rub her belly but I know I haven't missed a poop. :?
Here are a bunch of pics!
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Terry15

Sub-Adult Member
I have to feed Mystic by spoon, he's a spoiled dragon. He's almost 3 years old. He's my nieces Beardie, but I had to take care of him while she was in the hospital 3 times. So officially he's mine since he's used to me. They need so much attention, everyday a little more. I wish he was a snuggler, lol, love him for sure.
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sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
Sorry, I've been MIA, great pics of your girls. They are all 3 so cute, love the peek a boo that Olympia is doing :D I just posted a bunch of pics on my thread, too. Nathaniel is now officially up, yeah! He's been brumating since mid July. Cierra and Castiel are still down, though.

Bella loves being with the dragons, she considers them their guardian and when they're out, she's with them, right in the middle.

Gabriel is still doing great, I don't think the aneurysm is getting any bigger, I hope not anyway. I still give him Serrepeptase every morning, drop by drop. I've started putting his bugs in powders now as he was choking on the liquid calcium and liquid vit/min. He's doing really well. Even took him to the vet a couple of weeks ago and she was amazed that he was eating, pooping and getting himself around the living room on time outs.

Imp still has to be hand fed every day or again, he loses weight. It's a worry but otherwise he's healthy, so I just do what needs doing. Gives me more one on one time with my little brat. :mrgreen:

My grandkids are getting so big and we went out together for Halloween, me for the first time with them. We were out for 2 1/2 yrs, just doing a couple of streets across the park, they were little troupers and said Trick or Treat and Thank you to every person giving out candy. It was alot of fun.

Otherwise, still counting the days to retirement, 3 years now, can't wait!
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
So has Mufasa been eating much of anything lately? If not, maybe she doesn't have enough poop in there for you to feel, even if you know she didn't sneak one out when you weren't looking. I guess you know it's not a good idea to let them go to sleep for a long time if they have anything left in their digestive tract, but some beardies just don't seem to understand that principle. :?

I actually got the idea to use Kleenex boxes for hides when I was thinking about getting a bearded dragon. Squirmles gets leftover toilet paper and paper towel tubes as well, and when he was little he used to be able to coil up in a toilet paper tube with room to spare, but he eventually outgrew them. I was trying to think of something that would be the right size and shape for a beardie to hide in, and then we decided not to get the beardie right away (it was about a year later when we finally got him), but it occurred to me that the snake might also like a Kleenex box for a hide, so I put one in his tank and he mostly ignored it for several days... Then one day he seemed to discover it and crawled in and now it's his favorite place to hide.

Whenever I put something new in his tank, standard operating procedure is to taste every inch of it with his little flicky tongue, and then he usually concludes that it's all good and safe, then settles down and accepts it as a "new normal" part of his little world.

I cut one end of the Kleenex boxes off so I can get him out of there fairly easily if I need to. Otherwise, he knows how to crawl in the slot at the top. My husband and I take turns holding him when it's time to clean the tank, and one time I gave him the Kleenex box, snake and all, and I told him that he might not even have to take Squirmles out of the "package", so he put the Kleenex box on the bed and just stood there and watched it, and Squirmles was still in there by the time I was done with the tank and we put him back in. I'm not sure if he even knew that he had been out of his tank. :lol:

Sometimes I wish Puff would just open his mouth and let us spoon feed him, especially when he gets klutzy and doesn't seem to be able to catch his bugs. Sometimes he just sticks out his tongue and seems to expect them to just hop on there. But he's got his own ideas about when to open his mouth. Sometimes my husband can manage to slip a leaf in there, and sometimes Puff will grudgingly eat it, but I think he'd always rather have a cricket or a roach or a worm if he gets a choice. So much for the 80%/20% veggies/protein ratio for adult bearded dragons. :roll:

I can't blame you for counting the days till retirement, Deb. Between your beardies and your grandkids, you don't need the job to keep you busy. :mrgreen:
 

MufasasMomMakayla

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Terry15 Mystic looks so cute, is he your first beardie?

Deb hello again! I saw the pictures, everybody looks great! And I am so proud of Gabriel, he is amazing! And that's great Nathaniel is up now! Do you think he'll stay up for a while now? Ohh Imp, :lol: he is such a pest lol. Sounds like Halloween was fun for you guys! And yay retirement!

SHBailey nope, not really. But I haven't been offering cause I was holding out hope I could get her to poop. Yeah, she doesn't seem to get it. :| That's so funny Squirmless didn't move out of the box lol, Olympia is very active and I cant get her to hold still usually. I haven't added anything new in her tank lately but she is getting moved to a new one once I get her a Radiant Heat Pannel (with the next paycheck) so we'll see how she reacts to all that. Is there a specific reason that Puff has a hard time catching bugs some days or is he just too lazy to chase them?

Well I was doing some morning reptile stuff this morning and when I got to Mufasa I told her if she basked for a little while I'd flip her box over (I usually have it as a bed and she's been sleeping on it a lot the past few days) so she could have her hide. She basked for probably half an hour while I was dealing with the cats and when I went to check on her she slowly slid into her hide while making direct eye contact with me the whole time, then spun around to stick her head out and look at me smugly. She's been asleep pretty much since then LOL.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Squirmles has a seasonal split personality. Right now he's the Carnivorous Couch Potato and spends most of his time coiled up in his Kleenex box or buried in his little pile of fabric maple leaves. Then usually around Ground Hog Day he turns into the Amazing Solar Powered Snake -- hyperactive, anorexic, and hormonal. He usually goes for an extra long time without a shed in the late winter, and then usually right after his first shed of the year it's like someone flipped a switch -- he goes crazy, and when we try to feed him he looks at us like, "Wrong one of the 4 F's, folks. Drop a lady snake in here and see what I do." Then later in the summer he slowly settles back down and starts eating again. We used to take him to the vet because I was worried about him not eating, but he usually checked out healthy otherwise. I'd had my suspicions about what was going on for several years, and then finally someone wrote in to the Q & A column in Reptiles magazine saying they had a corn snake and they didn't know whether it was male or female, but every spring "it" would get hyperactive and refuse to eat. Hmm... that sounded familiar. Answer, not quite in so many words, but the gist of it was: "You've got a male, and he's horny. It's mating season." The article went on to suggest altering the snake's artificial photoperiod to trick his hormones into thinking spring was over, but I decided not to try that. As long as it's something natural and as long as it's not endangering his health, I figure it's best not to mess with it. I keep both of our reptiles' lights on 12 hours a day year round, but they can probably tell what time of year it is by the light coming in the windows, especially here in the subarctic where there's a huge variation from summer to winter.

You probably know to be careful where you place Olympia's new heat panel, so there's no risk of thermal burns. (Forgive me if I'm overstating the obvious :wink: )

Puff is a lousy shot with his tongue, and since he tested ADV positive about 3 years ago, we've been concerned that the adenovirus or some other opportunistic infection might be eating away at the wiring in his brain. He tends to strike too high and too far, so roaches often run under him and end up crawling around on his underbelly, and crickets hop all over him. Sometimes he gets frustrated and seems to give up and just sits there. It had been getting progressively worse, and a few months ago my husband made some videos of his pathetic attempts to catch bugs and tried to email them to our vet, but due to technical difficulties she wasn't able to view them. Then in the meantime my husband got the "bright idea" (pun intended) to set his UV lamp on top of the feeding pen (we take him out of his tank and put him in a big plastic storage tub, otherwise the crickets would get away from him and hide behind the "furniture" in the tank) and he's doing much better. So apparently, it's got something to do with his vision -- he seems to need bright full spectrum light with plenty of UV in order to see what he's doing. I tried looking in his eyes with a penlight and didn't see any obvious cataracts, but I don't have a practiced eye so that doesn't prove anything. But we're getting by ok for now.

His laziness seems to be selective. He's not too lazy to chase bugs, but he is too lazy to go "downstairs" and eat his salad. We keep it at the cool end of the tank so that it stays a little fresher, but he ignores it, and stays up on his basking platform most of the time. If we didn't hand feed him greens, he'd probably be perfectly happy to be a strict carnivore.

Bearded dragons may not be able to speak English, but they can definitely communicate. I suppose you got Mufasa's message loud and clear: "I'm going back to sleep whether you like it or not." :lol:
 
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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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