Some Things About Mango :) <3

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I just wanted to talk about my bearded dragon Mango. I posted about him years ago and then stopped, whoops... But I decided to come back on here because I read posts on here for much of my days and I love my beardie and would love to post about him. The first day I got him I gave him so much love and that night of new years eve, i stayed home alone with baby Mango and made quesadillas with him sitting on my shoulder.
Since I cant post pictures this second I'll explain how he looks. He has beautiful sparkly golden eyes, with a swirl of glittery bronze closer to his pupils, and his eyelids ( not his actual eyelids but the part above his eye ) looks like a bright orange candy-cane pattern. When he is happy his colors get brighter and he is orange and yellow with some blueish-gray stripes on his side. He has orange stripes on his beard. His brightest colors are around his eyes and mouth, the rest of him is a lighter but still bright orange mostly. Just a little bit of yellow. His spikes are yellow. And his belly is tannish white. Some of his scales on his belly look off from scooting backwards on his log but it doesnt seem to be a problem. His face/head is my favorite part of his physical apperence. I think he is such a beautiful boy. I wanted to get a gray beardie but when I went to the petstore he was the one that wanted to come home with me, he chose me. He was just a regular petsmart beardie no special morphs or anything. As he's gotten older he's gotten really beautiful. I had a bearded dragon breeder I met in person tell me that he was one of the most beautiful and healthy looking dragons she's seen. It made me so happy and Mango of course was grateful. I'll post pictures asap, I love my pretty boy.
So I'm just going to talk about him.
Right now he is doing great, I've had him for about 2.5 years and he is about that age too. I was really worried about him when I first got him but he turned out better than I could have ever hoped. My day starts every morning with waking up to see Mango is awake before me ( his lights are on a timer, but even before i got the timer he was awake before me ), and he is staring at me. Or scratching on his cage if I sleep in late. He has never had any illness, parasites, or bad injuries. He bit off the tip of his tail the year before last which was kind of weird, he chased it around like a dog then bit it off the tip. But other than that, he's been fine. He has better lamps and lighting than last time I posted, in fact I just put in a new UVB light yesterday. When I got him the internet said a good sized tank for an adult would be 40 gallon, now the internet says 75, so I just try to give him what will fit in my room, don't know what to believe. He is in a 18Wx36Lx18H gallon plastic tub which so far works just as well as a glass tank. But in about a month I will be putting him in a 36Wx36Lx24H ( can anyone tell me how many gallons that is? ) pet play pin that I believe will work as a home ( if he needs bigger please let me know, though he does tend to prefer smaller areas for day to day living, i want to spoil him ), and if it doesnt work as a home, it'll be good for traveling at least because it folds down small. It makes me sad to have to leave him at home when I travel and cant bring him because his tub is too hard to travel with. I'll be flipping his old cage over tall-ways and giving it to my brother for my crested gecko I'll be giving him when I move. Funny thing I noticed about Mango, I will fill his cage with logs, hammocks, hides, to try making him happy but he only ever uses his one favorite log and food dish, everything else is ignored and he never uses them. I have his cage mostly empty right now but I will try giving him new things in his new home, maybe he will use it. Right now in his cage I have just his lock, food dish, heat and uvb, and newspaper for substrate. When I get the new cage i'll put back in his hammock, hide, and cat bed, maybe another log and a rock. The sides are mesh so he'll be able to climb the sides which he's always wanted to do. Also I'm getting him his favorite flukkers pellets and some reptile smell spray that makes reptiles not smell as much. His turds are pretty stinky and its hard to clean away the smell sometimes. I dont see the point for much more, he never uses it. He likes his log haha. I noticed that since he was a baby he has become a lot calmer and friendly as an adult. I weighed him the other day, I dont have a kitchen scale I just weigh myself than weigh myself holding him, probably not the most accurate. It says he is 2 pounds, and he is 21 inches long, I've always considered him a small beardie. He doesn't look fat. I dont believe he is fat at all and have been trying to fatten him up more but he is very good about his food and how much he eats and what he eats. When he was a baby he pooped twice or three times a day, as an adult he poops once a week, but twice if he wants to poop right after I clean it. My guess is that weighing method is flawed. He doesn't eat if he isnt hungry and never overeats, and I cant force him to eat more than he feels like. Greens are his favorites, and he is terrified of crickets, roaches, and mostly every live insect except grasshoppers and moths. He eats moths if they fly into his cage and I catch him huge grasshoppers sometimes. Weirdly enough is not scared of the cat who is a big hunter, just gets annoyed at the cat if he is meowing too much, though they are not friends, and he lets my crested gecko sleep on him. He will eat live grasshoppers, live moths, and dried mealworms. Mango's top 3 favorite foods are mustard greens ( I'm not sure why, I tasted them, maybe its because they have a spicy flavor and it isnt boring ), he loves shredded baby carrots, and the pellets from flukkers adult beardie buffet blend, since he is scared of bugs i think the buffet stuff is good for him. Fruits are a meh for him, but he'll eat it sometimes if its strawberry, blueberries, peach, or tangerine. He doesnt like mango lol. He gets scrambled eggs as a snack, he likes the fat and skin off of chicken and pork ( pork isnt good for beardies so he gets it rarely, so far no ill effects but im careful he doesnt even get it more than once every couple months.) Sometimes I'll give him a nibble of whatever I'm having for dinner, and very very occasionally he gets iceberg lettuce because it's he loves it, I think it's because it has a high water content and he doesnt really like drinking water out of the bath. I learned he will drink water out of a dish every few weeks if he is thirsty. He isn't really interested in dusted food but he will eat it eventually. I bath him whenever he poops because he runs around in it and get dirty+stinky, sometimes I use gentle cat shampoo to help with the smell, but im not sure if its okay for him so i only do it if he is a very very stinky boy and make sure he doesnt drink the water. He isnt that interested in most tv unless its late at night and he's bored, but does like to sit on my brothers shoulder while he watches people playing Mario on youtube. Mango hates it outside, it's the only time he gets upset of something usually he'll only ever get scared of something, but he does like looking out my window next to his cage and looking out the window on car rides. Sometimes he'll be looking not as happy as usual, then I take him to town with me or spend the night at another friends or families house with him or take a drive and he's happy again. He likes traveling just like I do. That reminds me of when I was on a 3 hour drive and I stopped at a petsmart to look at fish and I brought him with me, and he pooped inside the store where I could throw it away instead of inside the car where we would have to smell it all the way home. And another time I was outside with him and he hopped off my lap with his mouth open to eat a flower, it must've been very tempting. It made him so happy to eat that tiny white flower. When I feed him live insects he'll usually just open his mouth when it gets near him and eats it without barely having to move. He isnt always lazy, when it comes to hunting though he moves as little as he can. He barks at my cat like a dog. And he tries to climb walls like a gecko. I dont think he knows what he is. /// lol those three slashes he just put his tail on my keyboard. I make and buy him outfits and he doesnt really enjoy wearing them if its too constricting but will tolerate his sock sweater and his dragon harness. He loves getting his beard stroked and kissed, he likes getting pet all over but on his beard is his favorite. Mango loves hugs and cuddles and kisses, he seems so grateful. He also licks things which is very funny, and he will lick me on command. I also taught him that if he goes through the green door or sits on the green pillow he gets foods or pets and if its red he has to wait. It was my attempt of getting him ready in case someone makes cars and traffic lights for bearded dragons. His first favorite color is red though, second is green. Even if he realizes he doesnt like the fruit, vegetable or other food that much, he always goes for red first, then green, then the rest. I think Mango is a very sweet boy, he isn't the most cuddly when he wants to run around when I let him out, but when I hold him he like to crawl up and place his beard on my lips. I do kiss his beard lol, I'll take him out and kiss him then put him back, and I think he likes it because he always lays on me in that way when I'm holding him. And whenever I bath him, he thinks because he is clean he gets to crawl in my hair and get tangled. Which is okay, I just worry about him falling. He always lays close to my face, i'd like him to lay on my lap or chest so i could look at him but he likes to be right up next to my face. Baths are not his favorite, but if he is dirty he lets me clean him, I can tell he doesnt like it. He also just sits still and lets me clip his nails. He likes to sleep cuddled next to me later in the day when he done running around, his beard gets black if I dont follow him when he runs around the house too. He does like to excersize as long as I follow him. He likes being in smaller areas and stays in mostly one spot of his cage, but once a day or less he'll scratch to come out and will travel the whole house. He never hides under stuff in the house and stays where I can see him. He's very loving too. I like to think of him as humble, he does get scared sometimes but he rarely gets upset, he lets my bf's baby brother grab his tail and slap it up and down, he likes everyone he's ever met except for one person he poked him with a blade of grass ( even if they dont love him like I do *cough* my mom *cough* my bf, i'm pretty sure my mom is just pretending because i hear her baby talking him when im not in the room and my bf will come around ) he doesnt except tons of gifts and likes his one log, he doesnt beg for food, he doesnt beg for attention but is very happy when he gets it, never bites, hisses, run away, bobs his head, waves, hides, and rarely turns black, only buffs out his beard to help absorb heat in the morning, he lets the crested gecko sleep on him, he wont eat more than his fair share, he will only eat one grasshopper then refuses to eat more until I feed my other reptiles, my five-lined skink escaped and was found sharing a heat light with Mango, he is content just being alive most days, one time i put him in a 10 gallon for the weekend and he looked just as happy as ever, one other weekend a 15 ( both times because his cage was too big to put in the car but i couldnt leave him at the house ), he doesnt mind if i have to leave for a few days even though i wish i could always bring him everywhere with me, and he just has this look in his eyes of gratefulness and humbleness. If I had to describe him in 2 words that would be it. Grateful and humble. It's hard to spoil such a humble boy, but I try. I could talk about him forever. Whenever I look at him, he looks at me like that, it melts my heart. I know he loves me too by how he acts towards me and for me, it's hard to explain. I love him so much. Ahem, then my day ends with saying goodnight to Mango who sleeps half hanging off his log or in the corner with his beard up against the wall for some reason. Sometimes he'll sleep in bed with me or on my nightstand next to me. He went under his log for the first time the other morning. He's helped me through the toughest times of my life and he makes me feel so good to have him. Anyway... I love him and I would give him the world.
And with that said, I am giving him the world. I am moving out early next year or late this year and traveling the world. I am bringing him with me. I'll try to make it to every continent in his lifetime. I am so excited to travel and as much as it's gonna cost to bring a lizard everywhere, I love him too much to leave him so I am bringing him with me if I can. I'll be so sad if I cant bring him, but luckily for me there is a forum for giving away reptiles and selling, if I cant bring him, I would want him to have a great home with someone else. But right now I am sure if I get enough money I can bring him. There's a petair-like company that can ship him around because he cant fly in the cabin with me, I dont know how much that is going to cost yet but I know he is worth every penny. And he does like traveling, never gets stressed during moves, which is good. I want to be able to give him the world I believe he deserves. He is so special to me.
If there is more I want to say I will post it, ahhhhhh so much to say ill never be able to say it all, and will try to post pictures asap. I love Mango.
And if anyone wants to tell me how I can spoil him while having him live a very long happy life with me, make him as happy and healthy as possible, please let me know. For me, my lizard, and everyone and everything I care about, happiness and health are the most important things. Thank you.
I love Mango.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
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It sounds like he has a great life with you. It's good that he enjoys his veges. If he is smelly, perhaps try giving him a bath. A soak in some water with a mild soap like dr bronners baby mild unscented usually gets them smelling better when they are soiled. As far as travel goes, traveling internationally with him may be problematic due to customs regulations. I think that will depend on where you are traveling. It may be difficult to get him back and forth. What you might do instead is go on road trips with him around the country. My guys have done well on long car rides and that will let you go on your own adventures while ensuring he can tag along with you.
 

MangosMom1

Member
Original Poster
CooperDragon":35no7yp0 said:
It sounds like he has a great life with you. It's good that he enjoys his veges. If he is smelly, perhaps try giving him a bath. A soak in some water with a mild soap like dr bronners baby mild unscented usually gets them smelling better when they are soiled. As far as travel goes, traveling internationally with him may be problematic due to customs regulations. I think that will depend on where you are traveling. It may be difficult to get him back and forth. What you might do instead is go on road trips with him around the country. My guys have done well on long car rides and that will let you go on your own adventures while ensuring he can tag along with you.

I didn't mention in the post, but my new job requires international traveling, I would like to bring Mango if I can. Hopefully I can work something out.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
How long to you tend to travel for? If it's just for weeks at a time then finding a reliable sitter for him might be best. If you are gone for months or years at a time it might make moving with him a bit easier. Some countries may require some quarantine time or vet verification of his health etc. This will require checking in with customs/immigration for each country you travel to though. Companies with shipping experience such as Shipyourreptiles may have some further advice on this front as well.
 

MangosMom1

Member
Original Poster
MangosMom1":19aeewjp said:
If there is more I want to say I will post it, ahhhhhh so much to say ill never be able to say it all, and will try to post pictures asap. I love Mango.

Pictures of Mango
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MangosMom1

Member
Original Poster
CooperDragon":3f33iyz1 said:
How long to you tend to travel for? If it's just for weeks at a time then finding a reliable sitter for him might be best. If you are gone for months or years at a time it might make moving with him a bit easier. Some countries may require some quarantine time or vet verification of his health etc. This will require checking in with customs/immigration for each country you travel to though. Companies with shipping experience such as Shipyourreptiles may have some further advice on this front as well.

Well I'll be in different countries for months, it might be years before I circle around back to the this country. Every few months I'll be moving somewhere new again. It's a lot of travel.
 

loljelloclowdz

Juvie Member
The turd part made me laugh ? just be careful if he goes after flowers, you don’t want him to eat something poisonous. They are just like little kids - always trying to eat things they shouldn’t & you gotta be on them like a fly on a turd so they don’t eat a lightning bug or a tomato leaf when they are outside. Also I should made a pop-up bearded dragon enclosure for traveling so people can take their beardies on non-international trips.
 
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