Broly the new super saiyan beardie

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Hi --
Sorry I've been "gone" for so long -- more about that in my latest TLDR on my "Puff H. Bailey" blog. :wink:

Badger sounds like a really good service dog, and it sounds like he'd qualify as an "emotional support animal" as well, but if I understand correctly, being a service dog is all he needs to get into places where only service dogs are allowed to go -- I guess the rules about "emotional support animals" are still somewhat fuzzy.

Yep -- I'd say a favorite food would make the best possible birthday gift for a beardie. It would certainly brighten their day.

The night before our trip weekend before last, we had just finished feeding Puff a huge meal of roaches so he'd be prepared to be alone for two days and one night with lots of salad and some Repashy Grub Pie, and when he was back in his tank and saw us putting the rest of the bugs away, he came running over to the front of the tank all excited, and I was like, " :shock: Seriously? You're stuffed, and you want more?" But I guess I shouldn't complain. The healthy appetite just might have saved his life over the last few months.

Too much of the same routine for too long can definitely put your brain in "neutral" -- and in my case, I'm afraid it can even contribute to my depression, much as I hate to admit it, because I tend to like my nice comfortable predictable stay-at-home-most-of-the-time lifestyle. My life has been anything but routine for the past couple of weeks, and I have to admit that a break from the normal everyday stuff can be a pretty effective antidepressant, but within unknown and unpredictable limits -- too much "adventure" can also stress me out and push me off the deep end. No easy answers. :?

We've had some similar problems to yours with our trash pickup -- a few years back the city switched to a different service provider and it turned out they wanted our trash receptacle in a different place and weren't picking it up because it wasn't where they expected it to be, but no one told us. There's only the two of us and we recycle as much as we can, so we could go several weeks without trash pickup if we had to -- but I don't like paying for services I'm not getting -- like if they only picked up the trash half the time this month, than do we get half off on our bill? Nooo, and I hate having to call and hassle with them too. Like you say, it sucks -- but at least not too much for us lately. Once they got things up and running, the service has been pretty reliable. and we have curbside recycling now too. :D And of all the bills we pay for our utilities, the trash bill is the smallest one and the least of our worries.

On the other hand, best not to get me started about the telecommunications bill ( :angry5: ). My husband did a bunch of research about what else is available, and it turns out that we're stuck with the one we've got even though they keep screwing us over with their bait-and-switch marketing and billing tactics, because nobody else in the area provides the same quality and type of services for the price. :banghead: One good thing about it though -- I guess maybe we'll still have cable TV (albeit ridiculously expensive cable TV) by the time the new Dr Who series starts, and I may be able to watch it after all. :) :roll:

So as long as we're not down to our last dime, I guess the best thing for me to do is to just quit complaining about the bills and go cuddle our beardie, and just be grateful that he seems to have dodged another bullet where the adenovirus is concerned, at least for now... :mrgreen: I guess things could be a whole lot worse...

(Oops. There went another TLDR. :oops: )
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

I'd use Broly as support if he wasn't into running away. It wasn't because of birds either. I don't trust him into staying put. In the window he's fine. Badger is fine.

We have one cable company here too. Last two weeks they haven't been great. I mean tv worked but internet was out. Most of the night was tv. I rather do YouTube but whatever.

I'm looking for a moth...I really don't want my sons and daughter eating it. I read the dust on the wings isn't great.
I would be panicking if the dragon children ate it. I know they didn't but Idk where it is. It's not very big.

I never did tell you about the cobra lily after waking it up in March. Well the main plant didn't make it as you know and left me 7 "grankids" and those grandkids are now making more traps for themselves. I may have babies to sell next year. Im going for $16...pot and plant. I need lots of pots and tell people who buy to repot soon as these guys love room to grow and give them babies. It gave me some as people told me it wouldn't live long...well come look at the 7 pitchers from the main plant! 7!! That's a lot to repot. I won't sell outside the state..Im gonna stay local. To be honest here, Idk if I could ship it safely there. My mom wants two she thinks they're beautiful. I got some green and magenta colored. There's a red too...though Im not completely sure what's wrong with it. It's either living or dying LOL. Make up your mind silly plant. My Australian pitchers are doing better they were rough trying to wake up. I don't think they were supposed to sleep. I have American pitchers too. They're doing great I do have to fill their pitchers. They eat well outside.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Puff is probably good emotional support for me at home -- he usually tolerates a cuddle for a while (especially if he's sleepy), and if he gets wiggly I just put him back in his tank so he can get on with worshiping his light bulbs. But I don't take him places with me because being out of his familiar surroundings would probably cause him too much stress and do him more harm than it would do me good. :(

I guess we're lucky that our cable and internet usually works well. I've got no complaints about their tech support and the way they keep their equipment running. :) It's their marketing and billing that sucks. :angry5:

You might be able to flush out your missing moth by turning off all the lights (works better at night) except for one, like maybe a porch light. If you're lucky, the moth will be attracted to the light and come out and leave the house before one of your beardies catches it -- maybe try it when they're asleep in their enclosures.

Your plants sound really pretty. I understand that some plants can change color because of soil chemistry. My grandma had hydrangeas (she called them "snowballs") and they would turn from pink to blue and sometimes have different colored flowers on the same bush -- it was pretty cool, but you get to figure out whether your plant is healthy or not when it turns some unexpected color. :? Have you ever seen purple collard greens? The first time my husband brought some of those home for Puff, I thought they were turning brown and bad, but then I realized that they were in good shape and it was just pigmentation -- maybe even some extra vitamins?

I suppose that anything from Australia, especially from the northern part (up in the subtropics), might not be adapted to go dormant in the winter because it doesn't have to in its native environment, although I always have to remind myself about that when I look at a world map. Australia always looks like it's way down there halfway to Antarctica, just like Alaska looks like it's almost at the North Pole. :wink: So some people would probably think I'm crazy for trying to keep a bearded dragon happy and healthy in this climate... :mrgreen:

Believe it or not, and if I remember correctly, we're starting our second (and maybe our last) "heat wave" for this summer -- temperatures in the 70s (that's a heat wave for Anchorage :p ). It usually turns cool and rainy in August. Can't believe we're more than halfway through July already. Summer in Alaska: Don't blink or you'll miss it!
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Haha yeah see the Australian wasn't supposed to sleep like my venus and cobra. So I went to keep it moist instead of wet like summer I noticed it wasn't warm in its room. It's in a different room then the other two. My space heater had died and it got 30 deg in there. I went out bought a new one and rushed it to Australian pitcher room and turned it on. In an hour it was 80 deg. It seemed really happy. It's doing fine too. It's still growing and eating.

On Friday, Im ordering a forked sundew it's supposedly from Australia. It won't be shipped till Monday, will be here Wednesday. It's my last one because I should save for pots for cobra kids. When one dies I will buy another plant to fill the empty pot. Until then won't buy anymore in the future summers to come. It's hard though love carnivorous plants more than any other plants...not to say I don't take care of my indecisive mint plant. It was in rough shape as it came home with a fungal issue known as powdery mildew. I got that killed but some leaves still turn brown/yellow and die.
I cut down dead stems and leaves and yet the green part wants to turn dead. Idk it's alive and kicking with some other stems that were ok with being cut from the dead stems. A lot of bad leaves were on it. Might save a healthy piece and get a healthy plant of my own. Mint loves growing.

As for the moth, no one ate it. It got warm in my room because I closed all the doors in the house except the bathroom for the moth fly into. It never showed up again so. CJ probably got him. CJ had liver cancer he lost half his liver and yet still an active hunter. Dewey is just lazy I never see this cat move. I know he's alive...he must use the litter box...but does he not ever have another spot to sleep. I don't think he moves much if at all.
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

So I had my dr appt and soon social security is wanting me to see another dr for evaluation. Aspergers isn't going away but ok. It's a bit stressful...I don't want to make a mistake and they deny me. I tried working...it just doesn't work at all. Ruins my routine, but never had an attitude to others about it. I have too many meltdowns in the workplace. Triggered by stress by dealing with people. Sometimes I just shut down.

So my dr confirmed my popping jaw is temporomandibular joint or disorder. It goes by two names. Nothing terrible it's manageable. My new plant came. It's so cute! It already caught gnats/fruit flies/thrips. It caught thrips as in kills them. Im pretty happy with her!

Dragon news: everyone eating and passing stools. They come outside for now. It's August so the sun will be gone soon and nothing but rain and clouds with high winds. Won't see sun till June when it says summer begins. I can say the dragons had a good summer.

Skink: Eren is busy doing his thing and growing. He's eating well and healthy.

My cobra lily: a cabbage looper (caterpillar of those white butterflies) ate up one of my cobra pitcher. The whole plant itself is fine. I'll never find the little mother F! If I do I will kill it! It did my cobra wrong! See why I buy carnivorous plants...I hate bugs. Im not a fan or conversing with people either but I do it when have to.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Hi --
Sorry to hear you're still having to deal with all the hassle to keep proving to the powers-that-be that you're not able to "work" outside your home (as if all the critter care you do is not "work" :roll: ). And TMJ on top of that, as if you didn't have enough to worry about... :(

I guess I'm lucky that my husband managed to find decent employment before I had to even try getting on disability, but I'll be 62 next year so pretty soon I'm going to have to deal with social security (as in finally getting old enough to call myself "retired" instead of "disabled"), and medicare and whatnot. Oh joy. :banghead:

So you got a little plant that can eat the flies and thrips before they eat her -- pretty cool. :)

I didn't realize that your summers are just about as short as ours. We're already losing over 5 minutes of daylight a day, so it's getting a little darker for a little longer every night, and the weather has turned cool and rainy as it usually does here in August.

Puff's been doing really well and had a good checkup at the vet last Saturday (more about that on my other "blog"), but last night around 6pm he went in his hide, something he almost never does, so we're afraid that he's either not feeling well or that he may have gotten injured somehow, although there's hardly any way that he could have taken a really bad fall onto a hard surface, the way we have his tank set up. I checked on him and he was awake and responsive, but stayed where he was. We decided to give him the evening off from bathing and feeding and just let him rest. I turned his lights on at the regular time this morning, a few minutes ago, and he's peeking out at me now. I plan to give him about an hour and see what he does -- then I hope to do his usual "good morning" cuddle and try to make sure he's ok. :?

I hope he's not seriously considering trying to brumate for the first time in his life this year, especially when he's still not quite done gaining back all the weight he lost this last spring. Of all the bad timing... :banghead: If so, I'll probably try extending his "artificial photoperiod" (in other words, keep his lights on longer than usual) to see if I can "talk him out of" trying to go to sleep for several months.

Too bad your cobra lily wasn't able to eat that caterpillar before it ate one of the pitchers, but I'm glad the plant itself survived.

We sometimes get a bunch of little white butterflies/moths flitting around in our yard usually in the early summer. I've always liked them and thought they were pretty and sweet, but I never stopped and thought about what their caterpillars were doing to people's gardens at the other end of their life cycle. I gave up on trying to grow veggies in our backyard a long time ago -- I only have a "green thumb" if I keep it indoors. :mrgreen:
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Haha yeah I might do that and leave them outside for dormancy.

Cobra lily: unfortunately didn't notice more were ate up. :angry:....
They need to go away! Omg...then I found eggs! I scooped most out of my soil. Im not sure if I got 100%. Maybe some slipped away from the spoon. Funny how this bug skips all my plants and goes for my cobras instead. The butterfly is pretty but their babies are A holes trying to live. Wasps eat those A holes I need a pet wasp.

Dragons: are inactive it's partly cloudy and 64 deg so they're not too happy so they're all napping on the cool side.

Eren: is still energetic 6 month old or he's 7 months.
Blue: she's definitely named after the Jurassic World raptor. She can be viscous at times. Generally very sweet girl. Eats and growing.

Other cobras: unaffected but the disasterous (sp?) worms known as cabbage loopers. Whats done is done all I can do now is prevent it from getting worse.

Venus flytraps not once has any bad bug attack them. Strange.

Forked marston dragon sundew: happy she eats all nasties. Im not sure about all nasties unfortunately.

Yeah, I still have to prove to the powers that I can't. It's not that I won't because I have tried. They got me access to a service dog but they wanna see if Im joking or playing around. I can't be autistic I already am and actually have it. My brother on disability too and he doesn't ever have to see a dr. It's like I have to do it they wanna check the lady. I space out...a lot so answering their questions is gonna be a pain. Whole time Im thinking "i can be home it's too freaking early!" They want to see me at 8am. I so growled at that. I'll go and be nice not sure about polite LOL. Bad enough eye contact makes me very very uncomfortable. I rock back and forth as a coping mechanism. I sometimes do a hand waving thing when Im really stressed out. I do self harm when it's bad enough. I scratch myself till I bleed. If that isn't enough for disability Idk what is.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
So Puff got right up the next morning and went "downstairs" to chow down on his veggies almost as soon as I turned the lights on, and hasn't gone in his hide to sleep since, so no more worries about "unauthorized" brumation. :mrgreen:

One good thing about this climate is that we don't have quite the variety of insect pests that they do in warmer areas -- they have to have some way of surviving the winters, like the famous Alaskan mosquitoes with the "antifreeze" in their eggs. There are a few others that can get pretty nasty, but for the most part we get off fairly easy. Sorry to hear you're still fighting the battle of the bugs with your carnivorous plants, but I'm not sure if the "cure" wouldn't be worse than the "disease" if you could get some "pet" wasps. Unless if you could "tame" them, if one of those guys stings you, it hurts reeEEaally bad...

At least it sounds like your reptiles and most of your other carnivorous plants are doing reasonably well.

Maybe not being eligible for disability benefits is a blessing in disguise for me, because if I had to keep going in and talking to someone to prove that I can't work (for a permanent condition that isn't going away any time soon, no less), I'd probably go nuts. Stress me out and make my condition worse, watch me go off the deep end and freak out, now do you believe I can't work? :roll: Thank goodness my husband has been barely able to earn enough for us both to live on (plus the reptiles) for the past 15 years, so I've been more or less "flying under their radar" (so to speak) until I'm just barely getting old enough to file for social security benefits on the basis of "retirement" -- no medical or psychological evaluation required, as I understand. I guess all I have to do now is show them my birth certificate to prove that, yes I'm really that old, and they have some record somewhere of my employment history that says I managed to work just long enough to be eligible for a little something. So hopefully that won't be too much trouble for me when the time comes. Meanwhile, I don't envy you having to keep going through that. I hope that someday they figure out that it's not going away and that it doesn't do you or anyone else any good to keep hassling you about it.

Anyway, if the latest "evaluation" is all over by the time you read this, I hope it went well :) , or that you at least "survived." :|

Meanwhile, it's getting to be just about time to turn on the heat lamps, get Puff out of his "burrito," and do our "good morning" cuddle. :love5:
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Evaluation is Aug 28. I have two appointments with the dr before that. Fasting lab on the 24 or earlier if I want. I can't eat for the night or if it's an after 6pm thing. Another one is the results of my bloodwork then evaluation day after bloodwork results. Im already tired thinking about it.

I found a wasp egg in my plants...my american pitcher. I fished it out and laid it on the picnic table. I thought maybe its mother would come back Idk. I don't think so though. It's still there so it's an incubator. Should hatch out soon. Not too soon though. I guess I have a pet after all. It's obviously going to be wild and will be outside as a wild wasp. I don't expect it to be nice to me. I had ladybugs in the cobra lilies. They'll eat thrips and they have so no more shriveled dehydrated cobras. They eat aphids. I got predatory mites and they eat spider mites.

Tom bought me snails for guppy tank unfortunately one died...been dead. So we have one for guppy tank. I was gonna get the other for the African dwarf frogs. They'll have to wait.

Oreo has a giant cage unfortunately biting is her bad habit.

Dragons are good not much going on.

I've been playing Fortnite on xbox one. So fun I started today and now almost level 6. I'll play tomorrow. Im sleepy but taking care of the animals.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Sorry to hear that you have to wait till the end of the month to get all that unpleasant business over with, but at least you've got your critters and an xbox game to keep your mind off of it until then.

There's a store here that sells ladybugs for aphids. I think you get a bag of them and they recommend that you poke a little hole and let them out one by one, otherwise they tend to disperse and not stay in your yard where you want them. My sister has a bad aphid problem with one of her trees, and has tried all sorts of things. I don't really know how they survive the winters around here, but they seem to come back every year.

Puff is doing well (more about that on my other thread). His appetite seems to be slowing down a little, but that's to be expected this time of year. Also, he's gained back some of the weight he lost, so he probably doesn't feel so mortally hungry anymore. Still likes squash, and still needs his daddy to help him get it in his mouth.
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

One of our frogs has died. We had her for some months. We got her with Michael. Sam and Michael were a 2 for one deal because they were friends. Now that Sam is dead we're hoping Michael doesn't go inactive not eat and die because his friend died. African dwarf frogs aren't aggressive to each other. They'll eat dead snails as far as I know. If snails do live the frogs be happy to live with them.

Chilly (not too cold), cloudy and just down right gloomy. High humidity though...jumping the dragon tanks to 80%! Ran the dehumidifier and fans. It's annoying..I hate humidity I feel warm and unclean. Hard for me to breathe. I know that seems hard to believe. Everyone can breathe during it.

Wasp egg has hatched on August 11. Larvae is now hatched and eating. Idk if it's a boy or girl. I don't pet it or anything. Eventually it will get wings and a stinger. If memory serves right females have stingers. Males don't. If Im wrong I want to know.

Nothing usual. Pretty boring. Still playing games on xbox.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Sorry to hear that Michael lost his lady friend. Do you think they'd be likely to hit it off if you get him another friend or is it more like hit and miss?

It's been raining here too, but the indoor humidity usually stays fairly low most of the year. I've never been able to find much of a consensus about what the best humidity is for bearded dragons -- most say they're okay with a wide range, although I always figure they must like it on the dry side since they're desert critters. 80% is probably too much for just about anyone.

Puff seems to do ok and doesn't have any complaints about the humidity as far as I can tell, unless that has anything to do with the lousy job he's been doing with shedding lately. :?

Looks like you're right about the female wasps having stingers and not the males, because it's a modified "ovipositor" -- I didn't know that. Had to google it.

I have to admit I have a hard time imagining you getting bored with all those critters to take care of. I guess anything can get boring if it gets too routine. Maybe it's time for another trip to Disneyland, or a Sci-Fi convention, or maybe at least a movie... :wink:
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Nah, taking care of the animals isn't boring. It's when Im done and nothing else to do.

Fed the gargoyle gecko, the dragons and my larvae wasp.
Leos are fed at night much like the hamster is. Tom feeds his hedgehog. I feed the guinea pigs but he cleans their gigantic cage.

I feed the aquatic animals every other day so they don't get overfed. Whatever food left down there they continue to eat it. I don't give much just not all 5 frogs eat at the same time. Three frogs eat daytime and The other two eat at night.

My dads football team is on so we gotta go head out to my parents house.
 

SHBailey

Gray-bearded Member
Hi...
Sorry it's been so long since I've been on here that I guess you're done with your dreaded evaluation by now. I hope it went well.

Puff appears to have gained back all the weight he lost, if we read the scale correctly. We plan to keep weighing him every week now so we can make sure he's maintaining, and we also hope to shop for a digital scale whenever we get a chance. The one we have can be off by as much as 20-40-60 grams depending on what angle you're looking at it from. My husband assures me that he reads it from the same angle that he tares it, and he's usually pretty good about being precise with such things, so I'll have to trust him even though it seems too good to be true. :shock: :D Puff does look like he's plumped up nicely, after looking so emaciated this last spring. His tail still looks like a shedding disaster area, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him or doing any harm, so we keep soaking him every day and making sure to get it nice and wet.

I noticed that football season has started up again. I used to watch it with my dad, and my husband and I used to get invited to a friend's super bowl party every year, but they quit doing it for the last couple of years because they were taking care of elderly parents. She would put out a huge buffet so I'm sure it was a lot of work, but it was lots of fun for all of us. I'm a social football fan -- I only enjoy it if I have at least one other person to watch it with who also enjoys it, and my husband isn't really into it, but that's okay -- we have plenty of other stuff that we both enjoy together. We went to the state fair last weekend. I was only able to stay for half the day before I got too tired, but we did do the reptile exhibit and the arts & crafts -- my personal favorites.

Sounds like your little menagerie is doing well, and getting well taken care of. :)
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Original Poster
Hey,

Yes, it's over. The evaluation dr thought it was dumb to review me again since there's no magic wand to make Aspergers disappear. He said the government just felt like updating my file making sure Im not "faking" autism. I assured him Im not faking anything. He said that Im good to go then. I still get money. He made sure I was telling the truth by asking questions and it may have been seen that it's staged but it wasn't...I had major meltdown. Idk what triggered it. Wait...I know what it is.. I had so much human interaction (two dr appointments before social security). I told him why this happened and he understands. He made sure that the government knows I still can't work since a lot of human interaction does make me so nervous and awkward that I do end up having a meltdown.

On Sunday the 26, I got parotitis a blocked salivary gland called parotid. It helps produce saliva. It was so bad...it hurt and having drs poking, prodding and even squeezing it...I swear tears came out. It's fine now not as painful but still hurts to eat something huge like burgers or muffins. I can't open my mouth too wide. My dr said eat sour candy and do warm compresses. I've been doing warm compress and sucking sour candy though my dr said stop the sugar and lose 20 pounds. Apparently Im getting "fat". Im almost close to pre diabetes. My blood test showed that but everything works well cholesterol a bit high. My dr suggested a diet high in fruit (which I can already do) and veggies (don't do well). He suggested V8 if I have to. I'm sure he rather me eat veggies.

The wasp is grown...but he won't go. It's a he. I opened the container and let him go. He flew up but didn't go too far. He helps in the garden of carnivorous plants. Eating the bad bugs that enter. He lives in the wood by our house. He comes to greet me every day. He's happy he protects my plants. We also have a praying mantis that seems to come by. I've seen it a lot I know this because it has a twisted leg but walks well.

Broly was hilarious!! He had a black beard he really thought everyone got carrots and not him LOL. Ok, so I hid the carrots under the collards he didn't know. What he did know is that Oreo, guinea pigs, Kane and Jamie get carrots. So he black bearded his salad as if to say "hey! why is everyone getting carrots and not me!" I lifted the collards...I said "you got them too" within minutes his beard was orange and he chowed down. Im not sure if he'll ever like me burying food under collards again.

TLDR.
 

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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
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i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
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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