Come on down to Devlyn Town everyone, let's go!

Welcome to Devlyn Town everyone! We're a welcoming place.

Devlyn joined our household on February 9th, 2019 at 6 months old. I don't know her birthday, and she wouldn't tell me, so my best guess is August 1st, 2018.
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Devlyn was bought from a pet shop that went out of business. Came from an unnamed wholesale vender. The original owner did a lot to take care of Devlyn. A baby dragon who had parasites and a respiratory infection from the pet store. There were some hiccups with coil UVB bulbs but that was corrected after a vet visit in October 2018 to UVB fluorescent tubing and proper heat control and a bigger enclosure. The original owner sold Devlyn to me because Devlyn is a very picky eater (aka non-eater)(and as of 2/09/2020 Devlyn still can be a picky eater, she needs a lot of care to eat well) and the lady's life was very busy with other pets, kids, and a failed marriage. Devlyn went from whatever shadey pet place she was born, to a cheap pet store, to a loving first owner who only gave her up so Devlyn could get more attention and care and the cost of her ongoing care. My husband and I have given her a good home now! This is Devlyn town, she is the mayor, we do her bidding.
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See pic above for her enclosure she has had since late 2018. About 45" by 17" by 19.2". New bulbs added after the move FYI. Devlyn likes color so I am currently going insane by creating more furniture, buying decorations and making decorative elements for her. Stay tuned for more episodes of Devlyn town!
ENCLOSURE UPDATE 2/09/2020
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Update 1/10/2021
Awoken from brumation#2. 119 days.
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
claudiusx":1pvnh6rj said:
How funny she instantly wanted the dark box haha :)
I also gave her a small amount of soil. Barely had any organic potting soil that was safe to use. I know loose substrate can be controversial, but I have been thinking for awhile now half loose and half tile would be a good choice for my Devlyn. It might be necessary too if she becomes gravid after brumating :shock:

The dirt may have been more appealing than just a big dark box. She shaped the dirt into the perfect little soft bed from nose to tail
 

Claudiusx

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I've been thinking about switching back one of my tanks to sand, just for old times sake and to see how I like it. I originally used sand when I first started, but eventually switched over to tile for cleanliness. The whole impaction issue wasn't really an issue to me.
I do think it gives the dragons some form of enrichment to have at least somewhere to dig or mess around in. But I sometimes wonder if I'm thinking about it simply because it's something I want to try again, or if it's really because I think it's best for the interests of the dragon.

It's a fine line to walk. Over the years I've learned to just let people do what they want, and what makes them happy. There are tons of ways to raise a healthy dragon, just like their are tons of ways to raise a healthy kid. Everyone has their opinions and not everyone is 100% right or 100% wrong.

Oh I'm rambling lol..

-Brandon
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
Devlyn woke up a bit today. She ruined her perfect dirt bed. Kicking dirt everywhere. In her lizard brain I'm sure she figured dirt is what the ground is made of so she thought there would be more...

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I'll get more organic top soil and I'll get playsand today. Do a 50/50 mix. Make a big pile for the cool side of her tank and put her ramen noodle box back on top, lol
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
Dirt. It happened.

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Above Devlyn in her teeny dirt pile.
Below, sans Devlyn, adding the big dirt pile!

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Final step, return the dragon to new big dirt pile, see below

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She was unsure if she liked it for about a half hour. I put her ramen box back and she thought for a half hour before going back into her box. Then she dug for a solid 3 hours. SOLID. It sounded exactly like a mouse in the wall. My mother-in-law's house is full of mice and my brain keeps thinking I hear mice in my house walls.

She refused water but had a small lick of dirt. Don't eat the dirt Devlyn. Dirt is not food. I know she was only smelling it like a lizard does, still looked funny to see her lick dirt. Smacking her dragon lips something like a dozen times while she smell-tasted the dirt she licked up

Probably won't update for awhile. Sleepy digging dragon seems to be brumating with wake ups just fine
 

Claudiusx

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Looks like devlyn liked the digging time then! Boy 3 hours? I guess shes built up a bunch of energy with all the sleeping.

Hmm makes me want to give my guys a digging box to play in.

-Brandon
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
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Brumation update. How exciting!? .....................

It is hard to say when day 1 of brumation was. Hindsight shows me she was getting ready in September, but I don't think she was comfortably brumating until middle-late of October when I got her dirt and a bigger hide to stay inside. I can say it has been 89 days since she ate food. Yesterday we did a bath and she drank. Drank water. This is the second (?) time I have ever seen her drink water. It is a big deal to me that she drank water. Weight 380 grams.

Showed her some bugs, she looked, thought about it, then decided brumating was way too cool to quit now. I put her under her hot lamp to dry off after the bath, which I usually do. After she was completely dry she went back to snooze.

Basking after a bath - she always dries herself nice after a bath. She is a smart girl who knows she should dry off all her scales.
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Looking at bugs, but didn't have any, she went back into the ramen box. You can see some of her dirt bed (playsand/organic topsoil 50/50 mix).
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My husband and I joke that we do not have a pancake right now. We have ramen noodles. Cold ramen noodles. We miss hot pancake time. She is 16 months old now.
 

DorgEndo

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Ah! So it's been about 108 days since she ate food to my best count. She ate bugs. I showed her food starting a month ago, but today she ate and drank some water. Not much but then she was basking

I think someone has woken from brumating! Ahhh!

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08/19/2019 408 grams
09/07/2019 414 grams
09/11/2019 394 grams pooped 9/07 and intentional vegetables only since 9/07. But really she hardly ate the past few days.
09/18/2019 398 grams
09/21/2019 398 grams pooped after bath, good looking poop, no weight after
09/29/2019 390 grams no poop or anything
10/05/2019 388 grams
10/10/2019 384 grams
10/26/2029 384 grams
11/03/2019 382 grams
11/15/2019 382 grams
11/25/2019 380 grams
12/07/2019 380 grams
01/04/2020 378 grams before food and water.

She hasn't pooped since September 2019. Oh my. I wonder what her poop is going to be. LETS GEY EXCITED FOR POOP EVERYBODY
 

Claudiusx

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Wowowow about time!

That's gonna be some fermented poo :D
Not much weight lose for 108 days. IDK what I'd do with myself if my dragons brumated for that long.

-Brandon
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
I'm pretty sure her digestive tract has been empty. It was some time between 9/11 and 9/21 she stopped eating and had her last poop. She had gained some weight right before brumating which she almost pooped all out, lol

Girl is awake and basking. She ate some crickets and snubbed her salad offering. I thought crickets would be an easy first meal. Just 6 small gut loaded and calcium dusted crickets. Offered 9 crickets, she stopped at 6. I've been keeping some on hand mostly for my frog, but Devlyn likes crickets too
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
Devlyn has been such a good dragon since waking from brumating. Being so perky and active. She got to run across the floor after a bath...
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Her goal was a dark corner where she promptly planted her face, LMAO!

I was doing my somewhat regular mini panic checking that her light set up is adequate. Checking temps. Measuring UVB distances. She likes to bask in areas that are in the 90 degrees most of the time. She doesn't spend too much time in the 100-105 hot spot directly under her hot lamp. Here is a 90s basking pic
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For my own ease of mind I wanted to put her lighting set up pics here. She got a new UVB tube after waking from brumating. I would rather be cautious and replace the UVB tube sooner than recommended. I have paranoia and no UVB meter. So paranoia wins!
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Then finally her main basking spots of choice. She can get rather close to the Acardia 12% T5, but she moves around and spends more time in the lower spots. She can get around 8 inches close. Spends the most time at the 15 to 18-20 inch distance spots
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The angles look weird in above pic. Trying to hold camera, tap screen button, and hold tape was a little bit complicated.
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
Devlyn did something so smart!

Granted I have not meet many bearded dragons, however I am quite sure the evidence speaks for itself that Devlyn is a smart dragon.

For a few weeks she kept moving this small fake plant I have in her enclosure. It is the only fake plant she has tried to move. Usually if she interacts with the fake plants it is to lay on top of them

I didn't get it until yesterday. She was moving the plant to obscure herself from entering her hot side hide area. Where she moved the plant to allows her to poke her head out and look around while being relatively unseen. My smart girl! I'll stop sabotaging your efforts. I've moved this plant back to its spot (where I thought she would have room to lay on top of it) at least a dozen times by now. I'm sorry girl
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See above she is under the ceramic hide and log, the green/purple fake plant allows her to poke head out and you can't see her well unless you get a weird angle pic like this
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
I Want to Break Free! https://imgur.com/gallery/Ngjdb49

The uploader here didn't like the gif I made so imgur it is

I caught this action on camera and thought it was a great example of the excited / alert tail dragons get. She goes from relaxed body to scratching like crazy while her tail is aiming for the stratosphere.

Devlyn went to brumation a baby and woke up a teenager. She has been so energenic.
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
Crazy bug Devlyn still be crazy.
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I’m having some new experiences in my personal life. My union is probably going to strike due to negotiations going poorly. I really like where I work. The issue are the board of directors and CEO making decisions to give themselves huge raises while taking away benefits and denying a raise for workers. The CEO got a 56% percent raise. We are a non-profit company. Their actions literally go against our vision statement: “Health as it could be, affordability as it must be, through relationships built on trust.” Except for when millionaires vote for someone who is already a millionaire to receive a raise to make them even more of a millionaire and the regular employees can be denied any raise and raise the cost of their healthcare to pay for the raise of the CEO. One person is not so much more valuable than over 3,000 people! CEO had a raise in 2018 as well. A few people at the top are making this mess. The everyday workplace stuff is wonderful.

This makes me worry, because we might have to go for an open ended strike. It will make things tight. I don’t have much in savings. It is only thanks to this job I was able to buy a house and then start saving again. There is so much I could go on about from bad advice given to younger me on what to do when going to college then getting a job and how to live life. People said do a job you love. If you love work your life will be so great. So I worked minimum wage jobs in group homes and paid for my college working in retail junk jobs. Everyone, literally everyone I went to get advice from counselors and various educators all said I was doing great. While living paycheck to paycheck and sometimes without a car if I had a car issue. People commended me on being selfless. Well thanks for nothing jerks. I’m 35 and barely have any savings. I barely was able to get a house of my own. Better than all the years of rent I’m never getting back.

One of the things I wanted again was a bearded dragon. I don’t ask for much. Even with the union I can understand some increase in health premiums that rise with inflation. I still want a raise for my cost of living. I don’t accept being denied a raise and increase in premiums all to fund a millionaire becoming even more of a millionaire in a non-profit company that is partially supported by taxes. Ridiculous!

I want to take my dragon to the vet and probably pay $350 for blood chemistries, exam, and poo test without worry that I might dip into my very meager savings. I have no retirement savings. I could never afford a human child, I really doubt that will ever happen. Stuff is so expensive.
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Dragon on the windowsill, heat pack under the blanket
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Pretty Devlyn
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
Well, the next step to vote to strike is officially in 5 days. So stressed...

Distract myself with Devlyn! I really do want to make some big changes to her enclosure set up this year. However some warm weather to get projects built is what I need.

In the the meanwhile Devlyn has been so darn crazy. Climbing. Bashing her face against stuff. Did some rearranging to her place and she appears to really like it. Whenever I have made changes to her enclosure she takes to them almost right away. Some changes she won't use the item where I put it, so I have interpreted that as she doesn't like it. When she interacts with it same day then she likes it.
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She climbs on that back wall like a psychopath, I might have to move her UVB tube...
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Also caught an eye bulge! Her lips shed yesterday. Other head shed is starting. She hates her head shedding so that must be another reason she is going nuts and not eating as much.
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Claudiusx

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I really like Devlyn's setup, it looks great. And how amazing, I've never had a dragon do some rearranging like that! She's definitely a smart girl.

The job stuff sounds stressful, how are you handling that now? I know it's hard to go through things like this but that's why it's always important to try to save and put away as much as you can. I got into some of Dave Ramsey's stuff a few years back and it changed how my finances are handled quite significantly.

But of course in this day and age, the first goal is being able to even make enough money to have extra to save. Or, be able to live below your means for awhile to give yourself that foothold of savings.
Anyways, I hope it all works out for you. Finances and work can definitely be super stressful events to have to deal with.

-Brandon
 

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