smaugthebeardie3756
Hatchling Member
- Beardie name(s)
- Smaug
So a little bit about how I came to own this guy. He started his life as a house pet at the residential treatment facility that I worked. Got him in May of 2021 from Petco. Not sure how old he was, but he was one of the last two from their batch of 5-8 babies that they keep together and had grown some. He was actually discounted and the employee noted that they would have had to separate them soon as they were getting big enough to start getting territorial, but he was definitely still at most a juvenile.
His first day at the house back in May
Made a lot of mistakes (the moss was removed pretty quickly). Had a coil UVB (ExoTerra Desert 150 26W) until he came home with me last month, but more on that later. Fed him spinach a couple of times before I found out how bad it is. Definite learning experience. We dealt with some issues with pooping and things, but ultimately we got very lucky that he does not appear to have suffered any long term damage.
I have to admit that I wasn't exactly excited about this choice of pet. I was hoping for a gerbil or hamster, or maybe a turtle or tortoise if they wanted a reptile, but this is what the residents chose, and since they put in the effort to meet the expectations this is what they got. Over the course of the 7 months that he was living there, I accidentally got attached to him and kind of fell on love. So, when we were forced to close down our residential services due to not having enough employees to provide the proper care, I immediately volunteered to take him home with me. He came home with me at the very beginning of December, and the first things I did were upgrade his tank, lighting, and get him to the vet for a wellness check. The vet commented that he is probably the healthiest looking dragon she had seen in a long time. He is very active and loves to be out of his cage exploring. He's usually a pretty good eater of his salads, but sometimes he will get picky.
This is him now! About 17 inches, and I haven't weighed him in awhile because I can't find the scale since the move.
And here are some more random pictures from throughout his time both as a house pet and my pet so far.
His first day at the house back in May
Made a lot of mistakes (the moss was removed pretty quickly). Had a coil UVB (ExoTerra Desert 150 26W) until he came home with me last month, but more on that later. Fed him spinach a couple of times before I found out how bad it is. Definite learning experience. We dealt with some issues with pooping and things, but ultimately we got very lucky that he does not appear to have suffered any long term damage.
I have to admit that I wasn't exactly excited about this choice of pet. I was hoping for a gerbil or hamster, or maybe a turtle or tortoise if they wanted a reptile, but this is what the residents chose, and since they put in the effort to meet the expectations this is what they got. Over the course of the 7 months that he was living there, I accidentally got attached to him and kind of fell on love. So, when we were forced to close down our residential services due to not having enough employees to provide the proper care, I immediately volunteered to take him home with me. He came home with me at the very beginning of December, and the first things I did were upgrade his tank, lighting, and get him to the vet for a wellness check. The vet commented that he is probably the healthiest looking dragon she had seen in a long time. He is very active and loves to be out of his cage exploring. He's usually a pretty good eater of his salads, but sometimes he will get picky.
This is him now! About 17 inches, and I haven't weighed him in awhile because I can't find the scale since the move.
And here are some more random pictures from throughout his time both as a house pet and my pet so far.