Garfield's slave errr Mom

Hiya all.

Been on the other bearded dragon forum for a while but really glad I found this active one.

Fairly new to bearded dragon husbandry but been raising reptiles a long time. Beardeds are definitely my favorite now though! Especially after meeting and raising Garfield. He is such a character. Who wouldn't love beardeds if they can be like him!

They always say to let them eat for a certain amount of time (15 minutes seems like the norm) but when i first got this guy at just under 4 months old, he would eat 30 3/4" dubias in 5 minutes! Well, i keep feeding him like that since he is so young and noticed one day (at 5 months) he had fat pads where he shouldn't have!


I guess you know how he got his name lol. Dubias are his lasagna! Needless to say, young or not, Garfield is on a diet. Balancing act on making sure he is growing and getting him to eat more greens. Lucky for me, he eats ANYTHING!

Have you ever seen a 5 month old dragon jump to the TOP of his 18" enclosure because you arent dropping the dubias in fast enough? Video to come lol.

I do have a couple of rescue dragons too. Pretty year old Ava who was severely impacted and starving when I got her and Lil' Heart (has a heart shaped markings on her head) or Lil. Presumed female for now. She is a tiny 5 month old that is finally starting to eat on her own. Pics of them soon.

Nice to meet fellow dragon lovers!

Garfield is definitely my fav!
Here he is sleeping on the edge! He's a daredevil. He always goes to this spot to sleep.

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Ava
This is Ava sleeping. She's a 18" one year old girl that I finally got cleared of an impaction likely caused by being mostly fed small crickets from pet smart. She's a happy healthy girl now.

Ava in her bath ... a little black bearding involved sometimes but these warm baths sure helped her impacted condition!

This is Lil'Heart. She is a tiny little thing that is only about 2 weeks younger than Garfield. She wouldn't eat for months. Had to forcefeed her which we both hated. Finally got her eating on her own thank goodness! She's only about 8 inches (compared to Garfield's 15"). She's putting on some weight now. She has markings in the shape of a heart on her head. Vet never did find anything wrong with her. Said it was likely stress. Everytime you got close to her she was arm waving. Not so much anymore though. She was skin and bones at a local petsmart and i couldn't stand it. Only had dry pellets in the viv. Keeping her temps a little higher now although she doesn't bask much in the hottest 110 area. These guys are keeping me on my toes, i can tell you that. Planning on getting into breeding eventually but now I just falling in love with the breed itself. I won't be breeding normals like Lil for petsmart tho! I just couldn't leave her there in those conditions. Probably get her healthy and growing and get her a new GOOD home.

Newer pic of Lil. She's almost 9" long now! And putting on some weight! On her own! Yay!