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
 

DorgEndo

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Devlyn
Hey Brandon , how is Moro doing? Hope you figured what she was doing with maybe holding food on her throat or beard.
 

Claudiusx

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Hey thanks for stopping by and asking about Moro :)

No real solution or cause yet, but she's been getting only salad the last week and her beard has gone down a bit. It's still pretty large.
I'm also making her bask in the morning when she wakes up and in the afternoon when I come home from work. She doesn't tend to move around much (but she is very alert) and is content to kind of just stay wherever she is the whole day. So I think that might have been causing some issues and not letting her digest and assimilate the nutrients she needs as well as she could have been if she was basking.

I also removed her log on the cool side that she was hiding under all day. Now she pouts at night and goes to sleep over there with her face dug into the corner lol.

But, no more scares with her, just slow and steady progress.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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Here is a pic of Moro and her beard, about half the size it was last week..
31715-7370717027.jpg

And here is what she thinks of me messing with her beard
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And lastly, here is Mei with her winter coat on lol.
31715-1982713263.jpg

-Brandon
 

DorgEndo

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That's a big improvement for Moro. Hopefully she can learn that basking is the best and feels good. I would think having the beard back to normal parameters feels better than sticking out so far.

Lol at the winter coat for Mei. I too like a coat the hangs past my hips, it's better for any cold winds and then you don't sit on cold seats, sit on comfy coat
 

Claudiusx

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She's back to being a bit lazy again. She hasn't had a bug in a week now, but she's been doing ok with her salads. And she is drinking quite readily.

Just to clarify actually, I haven't given her any bugs in a week. I'm sure if I offered her some she would eat them.

Beard is still a bit full, so I'm thinking she still hasn't actually swallowed it, or there really is just that much loose skin. I wish I could check in there without really stressing her out.

Kiki has been doing great. She's a big salad eater and a big bug eater lol.
Here are two pics of her from tonight, eating some mustard greens by hand.
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31715-1071866723.jpg

-Brandon
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
Angel does the same thing, she'll pig out on her greens and her throat will get huge . Then she basks for a while and it goes back down, I thought she might be part chipmunk, lol! Man are these critters weird.
 

Claudiusx

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They definitely are quirky lol.

Caught Tombo eye bulging this morning. Big boy apparently is getting ready for another shed.
31715-2285153284.jpg
31715-1296054218.jpg

Came back a bit later to another classic "how is that comfortable?"
31715-9090552078.jpg
31715-4854564178.jpg

Apparently it is, and i'm the herk for judging him. lol.

P.S. Who can spot the hidden dubia roach?

-Brandon
 

BeardedDragonSteve

Juvie Member
claudiusx":8v7f2m92 said:
They definitely are quirky lol.

Caught Tombo eye bulging this morning. Big boy apparently is getting ready for another shed.
31715-2285153284.jpg
31715-1296054218.jpg

Came back a bit later to another classic "how is that comfortable?"
31715-9090552078.jpg
31715-4854564178.jpg

Apparently it is, and i'm the herk for judging him. lol.

P.S. Who can spot the hidden dubia roach?

-Brandon
Found the dubia roach! It is in the middle of the two bottom rocks in the second to last picture. :D
 

Claudiusx

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BeardedDragonSteve":29ml6jz2 said:
Found the dubia roach! It is in the middle of the two bottom rocks in the second to last picture.

You got it! :D Good eye.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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So I let Moro out to explore the whole entire living room today. I figured the change in routine and being out to explore might help get her a bit more active.
She was a bit timid at first but then decided to start moving around and exploring.
I let her be for a few minutes and came back to this....

31715-2523147334.jpg
A whole giant world to explore and this is what she decides to do
31715-8910747179.jpg
Wedge herself under the door stop and press her face against the wall as she snaps on the cold tile.

Oh well at least she got some enrichment.

Kiki was looking nice and bright... and plump today.
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31715-6163638285.jpg
31715-8066784576.jpg

-Brandon
 

vrenee1018

Juvie Member
Th babes are getting so big! Love all the updates... especially of Moro just choosing to lie face facing the door on the cold tile. Hahaha So cute.

Vanessa
 

Claudiusx

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I'm such a hypocrite. I haven't been posting nearly as many pictures lately as I ask of others.. LOL.

Here are some pics of Kiki tonight after gorging on her Dubias. I don't typically feed a large quantity of dubias but I have been with her for the past week or two. Only because I got a really good deal on 500 small nymphs. That way I didn't have to sort through my own colony. Which by the way, is now booming. I bumped up the temp on them to keep them at around 90, and holy cow. I've got a lot lol.

Anyways, here is Ms. Kiki.
31715-3617758169.jpg
The bottom half of her beard has typically been staying black like this. It might be due to the fact that all the others can see her, but Tombo seems to be the only one now who puts up a fuss about her. But she stands her ground against him. The size difference is only 1:50 LOL.

31715-8559606634.jpg
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And back in her spot :)
31715-7931162105.jpg

-Brandon
 

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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.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
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.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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