Broly the new super saiyan beardie

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
So we survived another weekend (just barely). Nothing earth shaking -- the usual. My husband and I actually got a little housework done after we finished with critter care on Saturday. Robbie the Robot vacuum cleaner got to run around in the living room and kitchen, and probably almost choked on all the crud... :roll: It's been a long time. :oops:

I almost always seem to have a hard time getting back into the swing of things after my husband goes back to work on Monday... :|

We've had some cloudy drizzly days, but no real bad wind storms or anything. The snow is almost gone. We're waiting for dandelions. Meanwhile, Puff's almost out of greens so Daddy has to run to the grocery store after work tomorrow.

And I think our last batch of "medium" sized crickets were mislabeled. They're very big and very chirpy compared to what we usually get. Puff doesn't seem to mind at all. I like to err on the side of feeding him bugs that are just a little too small rather than too big -- so he can handle the next size up, but younger ones do tend to last longer. I know that crickets are nearing the end of their life cycle once they start chirping, although the sound doesn't bother me. It's actually rather pleasant -- reminds me of summer nights in California when I was a little kid. My husband has lost some of his hearing in the high frequency range where they chirp, so he can barely even hear them at all, but I knew something was unusual when he brought them home. Puff usually eats all of the smaller ones long before they get big enough to start chirping.

I agree with you -- what's the point of having a "pet" if you don't cuddle it and play with it and "pet" it? It's no fun if all you do is feed it and water it and clean up after it. The cuddling is what makes all those other chores worth it, as far as I'm concerned. But it seems like reptiles are "collector's items" for some people, and part of the fun of the "hobby" for them is to fix up a beautiful enclosure with live plants and all sorts of fancy stuff. Nothing wrong with that, as long as the critter is getting well taken care of and getting what it needs. Some animals are cuddlier than others.

BTW, my husband recently attended an IT expo -- they're good for his career -- he gets to keep up on the latest technology and schmooze with other computer geeks, and usually comes home with a bunch of little promotional trinkets -- laser pointers, tiny data storage devices, etc, and darned if his little bag of goodies didn't include a Fidget Spinner. First one I've ever seen in person. I think I can see the appeal. I might get hooked... :mrgreen: :wink:
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Crickets are awesome singers! I hate the smell and jumping. I switched to roaches more than crickets. Oregon, you hear tree frogs at night. I have seen them. They're orange some of them. I stopped using crickets.

Broly's been acting like he's depressed. He ate food and sits in the sun. He lies around awake. I think it's the new addition. Oreo our new grey and white 4-6 month old hamster. I was going to use Anubis...but her colors sold me on the name. Left her alone for 2 days now. I just been feeding and removing soiled bedding for the last 2 days. Oh and can't forget the water. Most websites I read say to allow 2-3 days before hand taming. I think I may try starting to tame tonight. She doesn't bite already she's just very skittish and runs to hide. Ash did this as well when learning to be hand tame. Except she did bite me! Im hoping she goes in the cup. Ash did go in a cup.

Kane and Jamie don't care. They all get loved.

It was so warm today 75 deg. Everyone went outside even my bunny. My guinea pigs don't care. It's ok.

I don't mind handling my parents guinea pigs. It helps when they need to cut mats of Jayne (she's a long haired).
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Congratulations for and welcome to the new addition to your family. :blob5: Oreo sounds like a good name for her with the colors you describe, and it sounds like you're doing the right thing by letting her settle in to her new environment before you start handling her.

I like roaches better than crickets too, but we get both kinds for Puff because that's about all we can get for him on a regular basis here, and I figure that he needs at least a little variety, especially since we swore off superworms. The best thing about them is that they're way easier to catch if they get away, just as long as you can keep track of them. They're pretty sneaky about crawling up my arm or underneath Puff if he misses them, and he's a lousy shot with his tongue, so after we feed him I have to make sure that he doesn't have anybody crawling around on his underbelly. The other advantage is that roaches don't make as much of a mess, don't smell as bad if they do, and don't die off as easily -- heck, the only disadvantage is that they're more expensive than crickets. Better nutrition for the beardie too, as I understand, with a higher nutrient-to-chitin ratio.

About the only amphibian we have here in Alaska is a little wood frog -- they have some kind of an amazing way of surviving the winters -- I think they have antifreeze in their blood or some such. :?

I don't think our temperatures have gotten past the low 50's yet this year. If it gets as warm as 75, I'll be thinking about taking Puff outside for a little natural sunlight, but he'll probably turn all black and want to go back inside and worship his light bulbs instead. There are so few days that get that warm around here, plus his human slave (that's me) isn't always up to going outside even when it is warm enough :oops: -- he's just not used to it. I think it frightens him because it's just all too strange to him.

Some people would probably call me crazy for having a bearded dragon in Alaska, but I'm not the only one -- There are a number of people who have beardies around here, as well as snakes and turtles and other reptiles.

Well, at least 2/3rds of your beardies seem to be adjusting well to the change, and hopefully Broly will come around. At least he's still eating and basking, so he'll probably be ok sooner or later. :)
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Yeah, Broly eats but not as much lately. Im sure it's the hamster. Simba and Kion are pretty much at peace with Oreo on her wheel. He should get over it as he ate well on Saturday before bringing her home. My brother said he ate and passed a stool on Sat. He hasn't passed stool once since then now and won't eat too much. Im not too concerned for it as he is still eating. If the not going potty persists then he's going to get a bath. He never goes more than 7 days. So we'll see what happens. His weight might suck this week too since he's eating less right at this moment. He did hit 581 last week.

Update on taming Oreo...did not go well. She ran so fast...I put her back and will just do food, water and replacing soiled bedding and of course just talking to her till Fri. Maybe that's a better choice. I even moved slow. Clearly, Oreo isn't ready to be tamed yet. This hamster is going to be a challenge. Ash was over stress in like 6 days and was calmer to hold, even when starting. She does eat and play on her wheel and chew her toy with me around.
Technically, Fri is day 6 anyway.

Also on Fri-we are going to see the new Avengers movie. Im excited about that! I love Thor and Starlord (if anyone seen Guardians of the Galaxy). Will have to feed everyone early on Fri afternoon. Tom has a day off so he's probably going to spend it sleeping and waking up to see some old Dr Who episodes he may have missed and on occasion watch some very old episodes with William (1st dr)- Sylvester (7th dr).

Update on Broly: he just ate some more squash he came back over to it. He ate some and left his bowl and came back to it. He aslo passed just a urate..I think I spooked him with trying to get him off the carpet to pass a stool somewhere easier. Oh well. Seems like he's recovering from having a new family member in the room.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Speaking of weight, Puff has lost a bunch in the last year, assuming our little old scale is accurate. (I hadn't mentioned it here yet, because I posted about it over on my "Puff H. Bailey" thread.) Something is apparently seriously wrong with him, so we hope to find out what the future might hold when he sees the vet tomorrow morning. If we just need to feed him more bugs more often, we can do that, but if he's going to require some kind of more advanced medical care that we can't provide, we may have to make some hard decisions. My main goal (same as with all the critters I've ever had or ever will have) is to prevent him from suffering if at all possible, and to make whatever time he has left as pleasant as possible for him, whether he lives many more years or only for a little while longer. It may not be as dire as it looks right now -- we'll see, but I've known for several years that we could be headed down the road to something like this due to the adenovirus, or who knows what else. :?

It sounds like Oreo is going to be a shy one, and make take a little extra time and patience to tame. At least she doesn't totally freeze and/or hide when you're in the room -- that may be a hopeful sign. :)

Have fun at the movies. :D I saw Guardians of the Galaxy #1 on TV a year or two ago -- it was a fun one. Haven't seen the sequel yet. My husband has this coming Monday and Tuesday off so we're going to enjoy a 4 day weekend. No definite plans to do anything special yet, other than catch up on chores with maybe something cheap ($0) and simple afterwards (we have no budget for entertainment :roll: ). A lot will depend on what we find out from the vet about what Puff is going to need.

I haven't seen all of the old Dr Who episodes -- do you get them from Netflix or some such or is there some TV station in your area that's showing them? Our local PBS station has been running the old Tom Baker episodes, but at 9pm on Saturday nights (with no apparent option to watch it online later for free), and I rarely manage to stay up that late on Saturdays. Pretty pathetic, huh? :oops: And then even if I do manage to stay awake, my husband is not into Dr Who (I wish we could watch it together, but that's not a deal breaker -- I still love him anyway :wink: ).

We've had some pretty crazy weather around here this last week -- rain mixed with snow and hail and wind. Power outages all around Anchorage, but ours managed to stay on, although our telelcommunications cable got knocked around in the wind so bad that now it's hanging so low that my husband can reach up and touch it, and he's only 5'7''. Fortunately, everything is still working so far. I called and told them about it a couple of days ago and they said they'd send someone "ASAP" even though I told them it probably wasn't as urgent as all the other outages they're trying to deal with after the storm. Nothing has been done about it so far, but that's understandable.

Anyway, I hope that storm isn't headed down south your way, and if so I hope it fizzles out before it gets to you, otherwise it won't be much fun. Things have settled down a bit for us in the last couple of days, but they're still predicting a rainy weekend, although hopefully nothing as quite as nasty as what we've already had. Oh well, we may be spending half the day at the vet's office tomorrow anyway, trying to figure out what's up with Puff.

I was really happy when he started eating his veggies again until I started wondering if the sudden increase in appetite wasn't too good to be true. I don't know how long this has coming on, but I feel bad that I didn't dig up the scale and check his weight sooner than I finally did. :oops:
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Today we started to hand tame and surprisingly she wasn't horse power 3000! Still very fast and willing to jump away. She had jumped away a couple times. I was on the bed so soft landings. She did slow a tiny bit so a bit easier to hold today. If I hold for too long she WILL bite. I can hold her for about 5-10 seconds before she decides she's going to bite. I had the cup to transport her from bed to big cage and vice versa. Nobody is sticking hands in her cage to grab her. She already understands "stop!" she does stop when I tell her. She understands go too. I tell her go and she does. So far very smart and we're only hand taming! I think she picks it up when I tell the beardies to stop and go. Right now she's getting a break- food, water and rest. I will try again tonight.

Update: I tried again and should have not held her longer. The nip this time. However I can pet her when she stops moving.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
It sounds like you're making some progress with Oreo.

You know, when you think about it, it's pretty amazing that a tiny little hamster (or a bearded dragon or a leopard gecko, or any other small critter as well) can learn not to be afraid of a human many times their size. Sometimes, when I want to get a feel for what it must be like for them, I imagine what it would be like for me if something the size of a T-Rex were to pick me up and put me in some sort of a cage, and then what if it were a benevolent T-Rex that brought me food and water and gave me everything I needed, and how long would it take me to get over being scared to death every time it walked into the room and/or tried to touch me? Maybe a few weeks isn't really too long if you think about it that way. I hope she warms up to you eventually, but I know you'll take good care of her no matter what.

Bad news at this end -- Puff has indeed lost 180 grams in the last year. :shock: :( (It wasn't an inaccurate scale after all -- ours pretty much matched the one at the vet's office.) I posted more details about it on my "Puff H. Bailey" thread. We haven't got the results of all the tests yet, but so far we haven't found a reason for it other than the adenovirus. We're hoping we can help him recover by feeding him more bugs more often, as well as trying to see if we can get him to eat some other types of veggies besides greens. Thought it was a good thing at first when he started eating his salads again, but it turns out now that he's just been really hungry because something has apparently gone haywire with his metabolism, or whatever the heck it is. Can't win for losing... :roll: :cry:
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

The Avengers movie was awesome btw!

Oh no, so Puff wasn't giving you a miracle after all. I have read different forums on adeno and it can make the dragon's metabolism go wrong. Idk too much as the dragon before Broly had adeno and didn't get much luck with studying it. I had him and tried to help him and might as well study adeno with him. He died unfortunately. Adeno made him stay 6" long though he was 6 mos old no matter how much I fed. Also succumbed to the dreaded yellow fungus with black fungus as well so two fungi and one weak dragon...

Well Broly...has decided he'd be picky about food ONCE AGAIN! No collards no mustards. What he WILL eat is: carrots, pumpkin, butternut, apple, grape, roaches, silk and BSFL. He had not passed any stool since Saturday which isn't unusual for him. He looked tired today too..today was vet anyway. Bloods showed everything was fine, fecal test was good. Negative, no parasites/worms! Stupid pinworms messed his stuff up anyway so we definitely don't need them back. So yeah, he's going through the "no greens" stage again. Ok...but he'll eat everything else...yeah, alright that makes sense...I'll just add a favorite in there and he'll eat bits and pieces of greens. Kane and Jamie are doing fine they'll eat anything.

Oreo update: she used to wash my scent off her. Yes she did do that. Today I picked her up from running too far away and she didn't clean herself when I put her back. She'll sniff my hands and not run away. She'll also put two paws on my hand to grab the treat. She'll sniff my shirt for a while before backing up but not running away. She's real curious about my scent. It's like she's thinking "hmm, I think I smelled this before but not too sure if I trust it...I'll just back away.." Oh but you'll put your paws on my hand LOL. More updates to come.

I do know how she feels to be picked up by some giant. Im antisocial myself and takes a long time for me to open up in real life. Im going to patient with myself in hamster form.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Glad to hear you enjoyed the movie. Maybe I'll get a chance to see it someday if it goes on TV or YouTube for $0. :wink:

Puff turned out to have severe anemia -- more details about that on my "Puff H. Bailey" thread. Last week was hectic so I didn't get a chance to do much but "lurk" on the rest of the threads I've been following around here. We're still not sure if this is due to adeno or to a real iron deficiency from not eating enough greens for the last several years. If so, the injections should help, so I'm hoping that's all it is because then there would actually be something we can do about it. He gets iron in his vitamin supplements but I'm not sure how well his body has been absorbing it -- I know that some chemical forms are better than others, and also that some people (and presumably reptiles as well) are genetically predisposed to not being able to absorb as much iron from their diets as others.

We could tell Broly some horror stories about what happens to finicky dragons, but at least he's getting plenty of Vitamin A and fiber from his current preferences, and you can't go wrong with silkworms and BSFL. :) At least your other two are good eaters.

It sounds like Oreo is hard at work trying to figure things out. Hopefully she'll come to a conclusion something like, "The thing that smells like this feeds me yummy treats and takes good care of me, so it's probably safe to make friends with it." :?
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Well that sucks. I never dealt with an anemic dragon or person. I have no idea what it's like. Must be a lot of work on your end.

I've been really busy myself keeping the house clean. I done a good job so far. I kept up on the kitchen floor. I mop it at least once a week as well as my shelf full of figurine dragons, fairies and other stuff. That shelf gets dusted or more like undust. Dusted doesn't make sense unless you are dusting it like bugs.

Broly's eating greens again. Idk sometimes the switch goes on or off when it comes to greens. Oh well.

My birthday coming up on May 25. Im not sure what Im doing I know what Im not doing: cleaning the house. I clean up 99% of the time anyway. Tom said he'll take care of dishes and trash. Im turning 31. 9 years from 40..doesn't seem too far because lately years are going by fast. We're already on May.

Today was nice. Sunny but cold. Everyone got windowtime at least.

Oreo is actually a lot better than last week. Because she's young she's still very much on the go. She wants to run and explore. She's still washing my scent off her when we're done. I thought she stopped that but hamsters like bathing themselves frequently so no big deal. I can already brush her hair by a soft bristled brush. I didn't notice when I purchased her she has a very small slice of ear missing and a tiny pinhole next to it. They're small injuries that anyone could miss. I already looked in her ears no mites. We're pretty much done with taming now it's just a process of getting all that energy out of her. I don't feel well but still willing to do what it takes to be a good mother. I have to push myself to do chores. I was lazy as a teenager...at age 16 I stepped up and pushed myself into cleaning.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Actually, it's not a whole lot more work -- two trips to the vet for iron and B12 injections so far, and extra feedings to help him gain back the weight he's lost. He has a follow up appointment with the vet a week from Saturday to check his hematocrit and see how he's doing, and then we'll see what comes next. Meanwhile, he still has a good appetite and he hasn't gotten too weak to walk around, so I'm hoping he has a good chance of recovering from this latest setback.

If I had a shelf full of figurines, I'd probably be trying to find some cheap plexiglass to cover it with -- that way I could still see them and enjoy them but I wouldn't have to dust them. :wink: I'm a horrible housekeeper -- just don't have the energy most of the time. My husband and I are both allergic to dust mites and our house is full of them... :oops:

At least Broly's "green switch" didn't stay "off" for 3 years like Puff's did. :roll: Actually, I'm kind of hoping that his anemia might be due to a deficiency and not to the adenovirus, because then there would be something we can do about it, if we can find a good source of iron (and whatever other vitamins he needs) that he will actually eat on a fairly regular basis.

Happy birthday, and warning: the older you get, the faster time passes. I think it has something to do with relativity... :wink: Hope you find something fun to do in the meantime.

Our weather has been kind of "blah" -- mostly cloudy with a little rain and a little sun here and there, and slowly getting "warmer" (50s now), but at least no more major wind or really nasty storms lately, and lots and lots of daylight with only twilight at night -- it won't get completely dark again until sometime in August. Everything is finally turning green and my husband picked the first dandelions this week -- little bitty Puffie bite-sized leaves. They'll get bigger and we'll have a whole yardfull of them soon.

IMO, humans are "wired" to be "lazy" -- left over from when we were "hunter-gatherers" who didn't know where our next meal was coming from, so we instinctively burn as few calories as possible by not moving unless we absolutely have to. My husband has a heck of a time dragging himself out of bed on his day off, and he berates himself for being lazy, but I remind him that he's not lazy, he's tired. He works too hard during the week, and then has to help me on the weekends because I have a heck of a time pushing myself to do anything -- too much "inertia." :( I try to do what I can, but it isn't much.

As long as Oreo's ear isn't infected, then it sounds like it isn't anything too serious. Do you think maybe she got bitten? I'd suppose that being energetic and curious is probably healthy at her age, too.
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

No bad winds. No storms as of late. A few showers at night which makes the night muggy...I hate humid days/nights. It's uncomfortable for me. I feel like Im sweating (eww). I do take a shower after it's not humid anymore. We had some good weather, just partial clearing as they call it.

Broly stopped collards again. If I put carrots or butternut squash (I have a butternut squash plant) he'll go for it. He ate some mint too. He's not a fan of greens again LOL. Mint and collards are not awesome to him. He'll eat them only if he has his favorite in there. So I got him some mint into him and a bit of collards.

Oreo is fine obviously. I just hadn't noticed it before and had to be bitten by her mom or got bit by another hamster before we got there. The other hamster was gone before we got her or her mom bit her on accident when she picked her up. Mother hamsters pick up their young. Oreo and I are pretty much friends. I have a few night friends (leo geckos and hamster) and few day friends (gargoyle, tokay gecko and three dragons). I had a hamster when I was 5 yrs old I don't remember much then. Oreo doesn't act like a hamster she acts more like a female rat (heard female rats are very very energetic). Im still handling her every night.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
So they're predicting rain all week around here, but we had a little bit of a partially sunny break early this morning, so my husband decided to get up early and take an extra walk on the way to work to go talk to someone about why our gas bill is messed up. He could have done it by phone, so it was just an excuse to be outside for a little longer. He hates being cooped up indoors on an even halfway decent spring day. He loves this time of year when everything's turning green, even though the pollen does nasty things to his allergies. Dandelions are getting bigger and better, so picking them for Puff is a good excuse for him to be outside too.

It sounds like Broly gets plenty of variety. Maybe he craves what he needs when he needs it, so hopefully it all averages out. That's nice that you have a source of fresh butternut squash for him. We've been buying the little frozen cut up cubes for Puff, and we just barely got him to sample some. He seems to do better with the greens, but at least he's still eating well (more details about that on my other thread).

You've got a nice mix of diurnal and nocturnal critters to fill up your days and nights. Meanwhile, Puff just started his day and is peeking out from under his "beardie burrito tortilla" (Daddy covered him up with it last night because I fell out early) and looking at me like, "When are you going to turn off that stupid computer and cuddle me or feed me?" :wave:
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

We have a couple days of rain. It's just cloudy or partly cloudy. Not really sunny.

Yes, I have a few different types of animals to hang with.
They're good. Training Oreo some tricks isn't easy. She doesn't understand but she LOVES coming out of her cage.
I got her to understand she needs to be weighed every week. She's 128g already. She can't go over 200g. Over 200 is considered overweight. For Broly, over 630g is overweight maybe 650 at the least. He is 20" long.
Jamie is 21" so she cant go over 650 I think. I know Kane is 25" so 700g at best. He finally is 599g. Jamie is 598 and Broly as of last week is 564 he was 570 the week before.

I hate pollen! It's totally nasty to my allergies. It's nice and pollen is out. I keep my allergy pills on hand. I have skin reaction to the guinea pigs. I have red patches all over my chest and under my chin. I have to use soap and water to make it stop itching. I get red bumps on my arms from the dragons...so another reaction. My skin doesn't like animals except aquatics because no one has to touch them. I deal with it because I love animals it's my skin...it reacts a lot to furry or non furry.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Well, between trips to the vet and struggles with depression -- I've gotten way behind on my email & stuff. :oops:

Our weather's been rainy and sunny off and on -- pretty nice for Alaska, really. :)

Your critters sound like they're all healthy sizes and weights. Puff is definitely underweight now at around 18" long and 350 grams at last weighing. :( He was over 500 grams around this time last year. More details about that on my other thread...

I didn't realize that you had allergies to some of your animals too. Never heard of anyone being allergic to reptiles, but I guess it can happen. I also understand that the reaction can be worse if something roughs up your skin, and beardies have those little spikes that can do that.

I'm allergic to mouse turds, but I'm lucky that when I break out in hives, the reaction only lasts for a few hours and I almost never get an infection or any serious complications from it, and the next day it's usually gone like it never happened. I've found that the easiest and simplest thing for it is an ice pack -- it seems to reduce the inflammation and the itch, at least temporarily until it subsides on its own.

My husband has a 3 week "staycation" starting after the holiday next week, so I don't know how much I'll be able to stay in touch during that time, but I will at least be trying to check in once in a while. Hope you have a fun weekend. :wave:
 

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