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

DorgEndo":3baopooy said:

Oh

ohhh

well

So I was eating dinner with my husband while holding precious dragon shed scales. Then, in a moment of supreme generosity and kindness, I put a piece of shed skin on my husband's arm. He felt something on his arm so he put it in his mouth. He realized something was wrong as he started to chew

I maintain I am innocent of any crime. He should have looked!

Click to expand...

?
I bet he will now!

Devlyn is now 2 years old! Don't know the exact day, my best guess is August 5th so I'm late posting.
I've been working with Devlyn to chase for her bugs. When I got her I had to feed her bugs one at a time. Eventually we worked up to a bug proof escape bowl and she would eat bugs from that. However she doesn't need that many bugs as an adult now. She gets about 5 total bugs a week on average. Usually a combo or dubia and superworms. I throw in hornworms for some variety. Been awhile since she had bugs other than those three types.
Anyway it has been almost exclusively hornworms that past two weeks for her birthday time. Plus she gets very excited for hornworms. She will run across her enclosure to get a Hornworm. Yesterday I offered a Hornworm outside her house and she ran about 6 feet. I tried to have her run further but I needed to move closer so she would notice the worm. I'm sure these dragon sprints are good for her. Plus she should be the mighty bug huntress and devour her prey, lol.
Feeding an adult is such a different game compared to when I first got her and had to try so hard to get her to eat enough to keep growing some. She is a shrimp at about 16 inches long still. She recently shed everything, no growth. About 416 grams. Her "salad" she still eats almost every day, maybe 1/4 cup, and up to 5 bugs a week like I said before. It's so little food. And I'm sure she will brumate for another 3 months again coming up in a month or two. It's like I barely feed her but the scale doesn't lie, she has heft and her legs show great muscle tone, her tail has a little squish of fat on it but her head fat is barely any squish (just right if she ask me).
Devlyn tried a new food, cherry! About 1/4 of a cherry on top of her salad and she liked it a lot
Devlyn is too fun. Sometimes I think of getting another little herp friend, but bearded dragons are absolutely my favorite type of herp. They look cool and act so amazing by being able to interact with with humans. Bearded dragons are incredible

Long time no post. Small update today.

Looks like Devlyn is gearing up for brumation. Since this will be her second time I can recognize the signs sooner. I'll still get her next poo checked to make sure doesn't have any illness. So, the plan is no food the next 2 weeks but keep her heat going so she empties out completely. I'll redo her enclosure to be a brumation suite. Last year she slept much better once she got a box to sleep in and dirt for a bed. I'll be doing that again on a larger scale and once it's full on brumation time I will move her enclosure to the bedroom. Much quieter and darker for her. I still will keep a low watt bulb for a day/night cycle roughly matching the day/night from the outside world.

Also, I have a new enclosure she can use. It's maybe twice the size of her current house. A lot more vertical space and more floor space. It is at my brother-in-law's house and it was with his mom from her ex boyfriend who was an ex friend from his dad after he started dating his mom after they divorced. Totally weird ? but my goodness it's a beautiful oak wood enclosure. Hasn't been used for any animal for over a decade (at least).

I'll have time while Devlyn is brumating to make her new huge house awesome. Plus I need to test out how to heat this beast of an enclosure to get hot enough. Already got 14% Arcadia T5 fluorescent lights for the new higher ceiling. I'm not sure if I'll reuse the same reflector hood or get a new one. After all there will be this empty 75 gallon enclosure once Devlyn moves into the bigger one. Maybe it could be a big house for a gecko. Give a little gecko something massive for a home

Things can still be very stressed with life and covid-19 is continuing to be the worst thing ever. I try to stay positive and keep doing what I can

Devlyn should be set up to brumate now! I have a time lapse changing up her enclosure on imgur

Brumation transformation time lapse https://imgur.com/gallery/9Yi1ACw

I started with picking an old box to modify. This is much bigger than the box I used last year
Generous sized entrance door
I added top soil and sand. Oak and maple leaves. I also added rocks and cork bark but I was not smart and didn't take a picture after that part
Devlyn watching me mess with her enclosure
Ah. The box fit. I had to scrunch it in there because I didn't measure good. Can't event tell
Got a probe. It got cooler after sitting in there awhile. I want to keep her lights on a normal cycle. Eventually I will leave the UVB off so it's darker for her. I still like having a basic bulb on for day/night
Devlyn started kicking dirt at the door immediately. She is done with being awake

Peaked in on my girl

She had dug all the dirt towards the door. So she is sleeping on cardboard only. So uh, yeah, should I still count it as she is on loose substrate? Ha ha. I'm glad I could provide her the satisfaction of digging and making a den for sleep

I was talking to some real life people about Devlyn brumating and it seemed I made them anxious on my behalf by accident.

How do you know she is brumating?

She cleared her poo from a vet check. Her heating is monitored with the typical range for beardies with a couple different thermometers. Her UVB is still new enough (no UVB sensor so I go by manufacturer specs). She stopped eating. Lost weight only after poops. Basked for about 2 weeks then wanted to stay on cool/dark area all day.

If you stop eating, don't lose weight, and aren't sick, then you must be brumating.

She looks awake in that picture.
Can you see her face in the dark? I was peeping in on her. From 9/13 to 9/20 I peeped on 9/20. Then 9/27. Then 10/11. I'm going longer times inbetween peeps.
She moves in her brumation. But just because she is awake and will occasionally dig or move. She ain't ready to wake up. She has no desire to leave her dark box. The "door" is right there but she pushed dirt all at it. Minor weight change from 418 grams to 414 grams so far. My scale measures in 2 grams increments so for all I know the 418 was rounding up and the 414 was rounding down. Even at face value it is a 1.4% weight change at most in 1 month's time. Because she is a good weight (maybe slightly fat) a loss of 10% is what the vet recommends bringing her in for, whether in brumation or not.

Last year she lost 12 grams in weight over 109 days. A 3.07% weight change. At 28 days in now she has lost weight at 33% percent LESS the pace of her weight loss progression from last year. Taking an objective standpoint the observations I have from Devlyn and the facts we have about bearded dragons lead to a conclusion of brumation

Good looking and well cared for bearded dragon.

Sleepy Devlyn still sleeping.

I haven't done a weight check since 10/11/2020. Feeling anxious but she looks so comfortable. She has been in the exact same spot since 10/11/2020. She finally stopped moving around or digging to get into new positions. She was 416 or 414 grams. The digital scale I have goes by 2 gram increments so it flipped up or down before settling on 414 grams.

If I peek at her she opens an eye, barely. So sleepy. So comfy!

From last year I was pulling her out every 2 weeks until the last month where I left her untouched for 4 weeks in a row - then she woke up with spring energy. 9/13/2020 was when she got her brumation castle set up. That is 53 days ago. She should be halfway done

I want her to sleep deeply and peacefully. It's hard to let her sit in the dark. I hope she is dreaming of happy times

I hop she has nice dreams in her box.
I'd be nervous about my dragon brumating, but it seems she doesn't really want to.
The closes she gets is just being lazy in the winter.

Thanks for all the well wishes reptilemaster!

Today is Devlyn's 96th day of brumation! Pulled her out to check her weight. Last year she slept 109 days

09/19/2020 418 grams
09/27/2020 416 grams
10/11/2020 414 grams
11/15/2020 410 grams
12/16/2020 406 grams

She was 424 grams when she went off food on 9/06/2020. 9/13/2020 was the she got her sleepy box. I felt bad pulling her out. She was out. I can peak in on her, early in her brumation she moved around a bit more and would open her eyes. Lately she won't move at all if I peak on her. She is deep in sleep. Scales are bright happy colors while she's sleeping. Her body looks good. Still has head fat, tail fat, round pancake belly, and good muscle tones in her legs. I don't know how she keeps her muscle mass while not moving or eating for so long, the magic of reptile metabolism.

Weight loss is much less than last year. She is doing a good job brumating.

Devlyn is awake! Sleeping beauty has awoken. My beautiful princess pancake is back. I think she woke up pissed, ?


I made her drink 0.50 mL of water after waking up because last year she ended up under hydrated after brumation. She hates drinking water so I it was me. I pissed her off.

I'm so happy to see her crawling around again!

Devlyn drank water WILLINGLY.

This is second time, I think, third at most when she has willingly drank water. She hasn't pooped since waking up 4 days ago. Days 1 and 2 I made her drink 0.5 mL. Giving her a bath, she would not leave the bath. Stayed in the bath for an hour. Drank water. Then wanted out of the bath.

She ran on the floor for a bit. Then found a box. Now she won't leave the box



Box arrived today and was on the floor, honestly expected my cat to crawl inside, not a dragon.

Devlyn has had 4 small dubia roaches (1/2 inch size), 3 hornworms of a small size (1.5 inches at most), and some bites of collard greens and radicchio. All with multivitamin and probiotic powders every time, plus one with calcium.

There really isn't info on any special supplementing after waking from brumation. Some females may need loads of calcium for eggs, but aside from that there isn't info I can see. Makes sense to me to go more frequent on the multivitamin and then probiotics. Multi for all those B vitamins and the iron. Probiotics because she hasn't eaten and has basically been turned off for over 3 months. She slept 119 days which is more than last time. Coming in at 404 grams waking up.

Devlyn will go to the vet in about two weeks for reptilian chemistries and an exam. If she doesn't poop I'll make sure she gets an x-ray too. I just want her to poop

Devlyn drank water twice since the past post. It only took almost 2.5 years of life before she learned she can drink water.

Today she willingly drank water from a syringe too! I had worked on syringe water/food before and she did it.

Still no poop.

Devlyn had a hornworm and butternut squash today. I think this is her first time eating squash. Another first! Now she needs to poop
Slight delay on Devlyn's new bigger enclosure. Waiting on the heating element. And then it will be a few days where I monitor the set up to make sure it works right. Until then she is okay in her 75 gallon enclosure. Got a new 12% Arcadia T5 HO light since the other one was about one year old.

Still love Dev's tank! She probably knew it was water this whole time, just didn't wanna give you the satisfaction :mrgreen:

-Brandon

I'm sure you're right Brandon. She was messing with me the whole time.

In good news Devlyn pooped!

She spent an hour in a leisurely bath. Gentle belly strokes in a downward motion to encourage a poo. Went from bath straight into the enclosure. Baking in the hot spot. Her bath was kept warm and then she really got full hot. Devlyn starts glass surfing. I figured it was time.

Set her loose on the floor. She runs around. Finally she stop in front of couch and she seems to be getting into a poop position. But alas, there is trouble! She is trying to hold onto a piece of plastic to brace herself, her claws slipping off the plastic. I got you girl. I get on the floor to hold her hands. She wiggled her tail a few minutes then finally gets a poop out. Big white urate with a small teeny poop. The urate was pretty impressive, and no wonder she was thirsty. It looks like a very normal poo except for the large urate.