Claud's Crew! - New Girl In The House! - New Pics

Welcome to my journal for my crew! This will be the thread I post all my pictures and updates in regards to my crew! This is going to be like a journal of sorts. A tool I can use to look back on and see how I was doing things, and important events that have occurred for my crew! I really like being able to go back and look at things like that.

To start off with, since all my dragons had a thread previously, they will all get their own post under this to kind of catch up to where things are right now.

A bit about me (EDIT: Ok it's a lot about me now..)

I've had dragons for almost 20 years now. My first dragon was named Shredder. Information was so scarce back then, and I was so inexperienced, Shredder didn't last long under my care. He was housed on walnut shell, typical petstore setup (you think they are bad nowadays, think back 20 years ago) and I honestly don't remember much else about how i cared for him besides the fact that I had grown attached to him. After shredder died, I dedicated a good portion of my free time to learning about dragons. I knew I wanted another, but I didn't want him to suffer the same fate. I read, I learned, I talked to other owners that I would meet at petstores. I read every caresheet I could find online. I even talked breeders ears off when they'd let me. I got another dragon eventually, Hawk. And then another, Buttercup. Then I rescued Scorpio. And shortly after that, I saw a runt in a petstore that I bought, Rusty. For awhile, this was my crew. They all lived for 5 or 6 years. Their care wasn't perfect, but it was better and I was learning and growing as a dragon keeper.

One day the petstore owner and I were talking, and he wanted to give me his dragon. He didn't want to take care of her anymore. I had never taken in an adult dragon. I had always only had babies that I raised myself. I wouldn't have said yes if it wasn't for the fact that I wanted to stay in good with the petstore owner (this came into play massively a few years later)
So, now I have a 3 year old dragon, who I named Naughtica. Her name is based on Naussica, a character from a movie (she was the start to how I name all of the rest of my future dragons, after hayo Miyazaki film characters). Around the same time I got an adult Male, Spyro. I don't remember exactly how I got him, but I believe also from a friend I had met at the petstore. He was trying to produce white dragons (back then they were basically unheard of, and light grey hypos were the closest most people had gotten to that) and spyro was a light-grey hypo.

Naughtica and spyro were the only two dragons I had for a few years now. Around this time is when I also found this website, and my knowledge, care, and love for this hobby grew immensely. I loved being surrounded by people who understood. I loved being able to talk dragons all day long if I wanted. And I loved being able to help people. Obviously in the beginning, it was me being helped. But I soaked it all up like a sponge. I loved it.

Eventually I decided I wanted to breed. So, Naughtica and Spyro were put together for a week. And, it was successful. It was honestly a lot of fun, it was scary, but it was rewarding. Coming home that one day and seeing that a few hatched was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was so filled with joy and excitement.
But now a new learning curve. Caring for around 20 baby hatchlings. And it was a learning curve for sure. I was not at all prepared for how much they eat. I wasn't prepared to separate ones that started to get picked on. For that reason some lost parts of tails, some lost toes. One even completely lost a foot. But, i grew and I learned with later clutches.

Remember wanting to stay in good with the petshop owner? It came into play now. His shop was how I was able to sell my babies. It was either just my town, or the time, but he basically couldn't keep dragons in stock. Worked out great for me, and great for him. I had a solid consistent place to sell my babies to, and he had a reliable person to buy from.

I only did that for about two seasons before life changed and breeding as a hobby was no longer a viable thing to do. Spyro had died a year or two later. I really don't know how old he was.

But Naughtica was going strong. And a few more years passed and I had bought Kiki. I had always had a thing for red trans, and Kiki was the perfect girl to fit that bill. I had gotten over breeding and just wanted a dragon or two of the "higher end" morphs to enjoy. By this time I was very active on this site, and Naughtica and Kiki both had their own threads here (I will link to later). So did Calcifer, a uromastyx that I had bought from that same petshop I used to sell to. Naughtica was getting pretty old at this point. But, my care and knowledge had grown so much that I knew she was gonna be with me for the long haul, and that's what I was hoping out of kiki and calcifer. These three were my new crew. I was happy with everything I had.

Long story short, life got in the way again, and my crew had to be put under someone elses care. They were entrusted to my family. Unfortunately, that didn't work out well at all. And I feel awful. They were not taken care of properly. They eventually all passed. Naughtica was around 12 I believe. And I have no doubts she would have lived even longer if she were to have been under my care, I just wasn't able to.

It took me a long time to feel like I could get back into this hobby. One thing never left me, and that was my love for this hobby, and my love for these creatures, and my love for talking anyones ear off about them that will let me.

And here we are today.

-Brandon
 

vrenee1018

Juvie Member
Oh goodness, that is so scary! I'm so very happy to hear/read that your little girl is doing much better. I cannot begin to fathom what that is like. Thank you for sharing something so personal and luckily it had a good outcome for all of you. I hope she continues to get better and remains a strong little girl!

I'm sure the dragons will totally forget the not eating for 3 days when you give them their junk food. Haha

Vanessa
 

Claudiusx

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She really is a strong tough little girl. I have a picture of her with the IV in her arm and little tears in her eyes that just breaks my heart. She went through a lot the past few days. Including basically (not really) starving too (our little girl hasn't gone 3 hours without food for almost her whole life lol) For the MRI, she had to be on an empty stomach so we stopped feeding her that night. It was supposed to get done at 8 am but kept getting pushed and pushed and finally she was able to get it at 1pm and was able to eat by 2. She had a ghramcracker in both hands and wouldn't let go for the world LOL!

vrenee1018":28p6swpy said:
I'm sure the dragons will totally forget the not eating for 3 days when you give them their junk food. Haha
They've already had meal 1 and scarfed it down. They are gonna be getting meal 2 soon here. There was 1 hornworm small enough for Moro, so Moro got 1 also :)

Also, fun fact. They all had 2 blueberries left in their salad bowls before I had left them. It was left over from the salad the day before. None of them eat the blueberries originally. But when we came back, they had all eaten their 2 blueberries except Mei. She didn't touch them even with 3 days of "starving" lol. Guess she won't be getting anymore for awhile. :D

But besides a few extra poo's in the tank, they are all fine and none the worse for wear :)

-Brandon
 

BlueDragon09

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Hahaha!

That's funny! My 4 year old eats blueberries,red/green grapes, apples and bell peppers are a hit and miss. Greens are nothing but the past. I offer but he prefers the occasional food items. The only staple he will eat is winter squash. I give the leftover greens (which is all apparently) on a different plate than the dragon's to the hamster and she happily eats it all.

I had to share that story. Im glad everybody is feeling better now and ate their blueberries.
 

Claudiusx

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Ha, well at least it doesn't go to waste! Mei definitely let her blueberries go to waste.

So time for ham hawk friday. It's a thing.
One thing about Moro I've always noticed, is how thick and meaty/muscular her legs are. She has a rather slender/slim build to her body, but her legs are just bulbous and massive.

31715-3220330952.jpg
The camera really doesn't do it justice. It might be the angle. But when you see her in real life, it definitely pops out as they seem oddly disproportionate to the rest of her body lol.

Here is one of Moro, followed by one of Suki
31715-4519934449.jpg
31715-8869414669.jpg

There is a slight size difference when speaking of whole body here, but the difference in leg size is about double!

The odd thing too is, you'd expect with such meaty legs that she'd be a good climber. She's probably the worse climber I've ever had lol. If I put her on her log, she will kind of slide down it until she catches a grip. Same with her rock.. She's definitely unique :)

-Brandon
 

vrenee1018

Juvie Member
claudiusx":2uo8inl4 said:
She has a rather slender/slim build to her body, but her legs are just bulbous and massive.

That's exactly how my little Tampi is. It's like they're doing squats or something when we're not watching :lol: :lol: :lol:
 

Claudiusx

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Ha it's funny because she is so lazy, I hardly ever see her moving around.

Also last night she had a pretty large meal. She is really holding a lot of her food in her throat now as opposed to swallowing it.

I remember reading a thread recently where a dragon was treated for an RI and afterwards they noticed that the dragon wasn't holding the food in the throat anymore, but swallowing it right away instead.
Since I noticed her doing this after her bathtime scare a few months ago, I wonder if it's related to a respiratory issue? I just don't know how I would go about fixing this. It doesn't seem to affect her, but I wonder if her slower growth is due to it. I'll have to think about that one..

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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Mei spotlight today!

Suki is starting to pass her up in growth I believe, At least thats what it looks like to the naked eye. But Mei's colors are really starting to come out. And she has got to be one of the spikiest dragons i've ever had.

Look at these side spikes:
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31715-4322488029.jpg
31715-2919063103.jpg

She was really sweet the other night. She's usually the most frantic when being held, but the other night she was perfectly content just sitting in my hand and watching the rest of the house go about their business.

-Brandon
 

vrenee1018

Juvie Member
Aww she looks so beautiful. So bright! Love love love her colors! I love when they get all snuggley with you and just want to sleep in your hair (well for me at least. Haha) or snuggle against your neck and on your chest without a care in the world.

Vanessa
 

ComicBookMama

Sub-Adult Member
claudiusx":1w3p8j69 said:
Anyways, that's why the dragons didn't eat for 3 days.. :silent:
I try to be as open as I feel appropriate. You never know when someone might need to see something you're going through in order to help themselves out. Or how your trials can help another.

And that's the God's honest truth! I'm so glad your little one is better - never had a seizure scare with my boy, but I've had relatives who have and I can't imagine how terrifying it must be. Fevers are nothing to laugh off, particularly when they spike so high.

At any rate, I'm glad everyone is home and well now, and that the dragons got a good feed. Loving keeping up with Claud's Crew on this thread!
 

Claudiusx

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vrenee1018":ptq4097h said:
Aww she looks so beautiful. So bright! Love love love her colors!
Thanks! :)
vrenee1018":ptq4097h said:
or snuggle against your neck
This hasn't happened yet, but it's making me think of Calcifer my old Uro's tail slapping my neck.. she's so spiky haha!

ComicBookMama":ptq4097h said:
And that's the God's honest truth! I'm so glad your little one is better - never had a seizure scare with my boy, but I've had relatives who have and I can't imagine how terrifying it must be. Fevers are nothing to laugh off, particularly when they spike so high.
Oh yeah it was definitely scary. Luckily the seizures only lasted 5 seconds or so each time, but the horrifying part was afterwards when she was just limp and lifeless in my arms. When she first did it I had no clue what was going on. I picked her up not expecting her to be a ragdoll. It was honestly the most horrible feeling in my life. At the time I thought we lost her.
And then the next day it happened in moms arms so she had to go through that feeling too.
Luckily the seizures stopped at number 2. Even though one night in the hospital her fever spiked to 104.9

Anyways, it's been ominous for us today, we are both home with her. This day last week at 1230 is when it happened. So we were all kind of holding our breath. Not that shes sick anymore, but it was just a tough experience. My wife just mentioned 10 minutes ago "at this time the paramedics were here, huh?"
Yup.. and I was strapped to a gurney in the ambulance with our daughter pressed tight to my chest.

But, that's behind us. They did say it's possible this happens again with new fevers, but now we are better prepared, and she's had all the testing done to make sure that there was nothing else causing the seizures.

Well the crew is in for a treat, as I'm about finished up with the new 4x2x2 double stack that i've been building for most of the year... LOL
Here is the thread if anyone is curious and hasn't seen it:
viewforum.php?f=75

The only thing I haven't figured out, is who gets the new digs. Suki and Mei, or Tombo and Moro.

It was originally meant for Suki and Mei, but Tombo is currently in a 48x18x20 that I built him, and Moro is in a 40g breeder.

It makes sense for T and M to move to the bigger tanks, and Suki and Mei to take their tanks, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

Feel free to weigh in with thoughts anyone..:)

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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Well the voting is in - Since no one voted.. LOL

Tombo and Moro got the tanks.

Here is Moro in hers..
31715-7628227467.jpg

And Tombo in his:
31715-8408575658.jpg
31715-1071433062.jpg
31715-8764523146.jpg

Tombo is a little stressed with the move. Didn't eat as much tonight as he normally would.
Moro seems to absolutely love it though. She has a few new rocks, and she's nudged her face up against one and has settled in for the night LOL. I don't know how it's comfortable but she likes it.

-Brandon
 

DorgEndo

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That sounds like a good decision. Take my vote of approval if you like. It has been more time now. How are Moro and Tombo doing?
 

ComicBookMama

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The new habs look great! I bet once they get used to them, the dynamic duo will really love them. They look like modern art sculptures in there- so nice and bright!
 

Claudiusx

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DorgEndo":3kt1yqb1 said:
That sounds like a good decision. Take my vote of approval if you like. It has been more time now. How are Moro and Tombo doing?

Moro seems good, I'm about to feed them all. That will tell me how Tombo is doing.. LOL

ComicBookMama":3kt1yqb1 said:
The new habs look great! I bet once they get used to them, the dynamic duo will really love them. They look like modern art sculptures in there- so nice and bright!

Thank you! I still have some decorating to do, but I do like my decision to paint the interior white. As opposed to what I did with Tombo's old tank which was just to keep the wood look with a sealer over it.

I will post a good pic of the full tank and stand here and to my DIY thread once I get the room cleaned up. Tanks and clamps and tools and light fixtures are all over the room from getting the new build in lol. It's a mess.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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Hmm.. Tombo is just fine.. LOL

Didn't take him long to get over that move.

Tanks are staying a bit hotter than I want. Might need to add more ventilation in, we will see. I'd rather just drop wattage.

-Brandon
 

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