Aloha!

[Cloud]

Hello!

My name is Ryan.
After 6 cats (mum & 5 kittens), 2 dogs, 3 rabbits, 3 budgies, 1 cockatiel, 2 hamsters, 4 Geckos, ungodly amounts of fish, and even one curious case of Sea Monkeys - in my 21 years of existence - I decided to grab myself a ferocious Dragon .

http://imgur.com/a/6b89z#0

This naming of this little fellow of the past two weeks has been quite strenuous:
- He was initially Little Foot, Chomper or Petrie (The Land before Time, inspired)
- Then became Ifrit, Ramuh or Djinn (Final Fantasy, inspired)
- For one short day he was known as 'You little git!' (Bitten finger, inspired)

- But I then returned to Final Fantasy and named him Cloud on account of the characters spiky hair in the 1997 game FF7 http://imgur.com/AEsBK0x. ( Hoping maybe someone around here shares this love of FF so I don't look like a total loser here )

As the new and current love of my life, I foresee many adventures and much spoiling of my little man.
I shall keep you all posted.

I look forwards to getting to know you all

 

[MyBilbo]

Hello, FF, yeah boy! I was playing that in my early teen years on the old PSone, that I still own, although I am now a big xbox fan now sporting a 360 and one.

Any how on to why your here, indeed he is a good looking fella! I am a new owner of a red citrus leather back named Bilbo, Hobbit inspired lol he is approx. 4-5 months old now and 9 inches tail to snout, eye gap 13mm.

Hope to see more pictures of him as he grows =D

finally hello and welcome
Adam
UK beardie owner

 

[Cloud]

Ahh yes, LOTR/Hobbit were highly considered for names also

Your little guy has some lovely colouring.

 

[MyBilbo]

He is about to shed so is a bit grey and dull at the mo and in my signature pic, I might change it after, he has some lovely orange on his head, legs and tail, and a mostly brown body, he did look a bit green when I first got him. I looking forward to seeing your little guy grow, is it deffo a male? I only found out the other day, couldn't really see before, but he is deffo a he.

 

[Cloud]

To the best of my knowledge he is definitely a he.
When he's a bit more tame ill give him a proper check. Bit jumpy still, he wasn't handled very well, if at all where I got him from.

 

[MyBilbo]

If im honest my boy can be a little tyke!! one minute he is chilling out with me the next second he is running away, its almost like he plans his escape whilst be all cool and relaxed to lul me in to a false sense of security lol I have been handling him for 5-10 mins at a time 2-4 times a day for about 4 weeks (had him 8 weeks) after he stopped running from my hand in the viv, now just this week I have been bringing him right out and letting him sit on my bed, legs, and even laptop my 4 year old loves him and always wants to be there to feed him and hold him. im sure in time it will get better but to think he is still small and very young, of course he will still be scared sometimes

TAKEN 2 WEEKS AGO, MY MISSUS DONT WANNA HOLD HIM LOL

 

[Cloud]

He was fine to be picked up for the first 4-5 days I had him.
But the last week or so he hides the second someone walks into his room.

I walked in on him having a bask earlier and he leaped about 2 foot across the viv when he saw me.

I had to tame all 4 Geckos I had before this so we'll get there slowly.
Gonna be bath time soon, he's not going to like me one bit

What is your little guy eating currently?

 

[MyBilbo]

LoL this is me all over, the same I got him he was fine then he started acting all skittish a week later, just hangin there it was frustrating for me as he was fine then all of a sudden for no apparent reason he was scared? Its worth mentioning during shedding they can become a little shy, lazy and/or behave different to normal, including eating.

My Bilbo didnt eat very well when I first got him but it s totally normal as they are scared of their new home and surroundings, he only used to eat about 7-11 small/medium brown silent crickets a day to start with!!! so about 80 off pace lol He now has around 30-50 small/medium brown silent crickets x2 a day dusted once per day. feed them as many as they will have with in 12-15 mins what ever comes first.

He has only just started eating his veggies and waits for them to get all dried out before he touches them, he is having curly kale and romaine lettuce, I found out that romaine lettuce is a bit useless on its own as it has no health benefits other than water for hydration, im going to start him off on some cabbage as from tomorrow too just to try and mix it up so its not t boring for him, I have offered red bell pepper too but this was before he started eating veggies so maybe he would eat this too now, this all gets dusted too.

Im not going to bother with meal worms as I hear to much about them and they don't have much in the way of nutrition, crickets are one of the best things you can give them daily

the ratio of food is approx.
Baby 20% veggie 80% protein
Juvenile 30% veggie 70% protein
Adult 80% veggie 20% protein

or summit along those lines, basically the older they get the more veggies and the less live food they will have

 

[Cloud]

Don't worry I did months of research on their food before getting him.
Due to being a little scared at the moment he isn't brave enough to come out of his hiding spots and hunt down the Hoppers I have for him. He is currently eating Calci-worms which I'm gut loading for a week or two before giving to him. (I strongly recommend this). Which is perfect because they don't need dusting with calcium, just using Herptivite Multivitamins with them.

Im trying to avoid crickets for now as I used to hate them passionately when I used them for my Geckos. Hoppers/worms for now. And I'm gonna head on to Dubias when he gets a bit bigger and settled in.

He's on Carrot, Bok Choy, Kale, Broccoli(rarely), and I just put in some Mangetout for the first time today. All of which he loves to ignore

 

[MyBilbo]

Yeah I did read about them, I gut load my crickets before giving to him, they have jelly and any bits Bilbo does not eat as well as fresh cabbage and kale, maybe you would know how does the whole 'worm' thing work regarding the space between their eyes as most worms are pretty dam big compared to say crickets and space between eyes? he is happy with his crickets for now and is growing well so I don't wanna rock the boat to much

Im using NUTROBAL contains,
calcium & 150IU D3, Vitamins, A, E, K, B1, B2, B6, B12, C, Folic nicotinic and pantothenic acids, biotin choline niacin and minerals, Na, Fe, Co, I, Mn, Zn, Se, Cu

of which half of it I have no idea what it is lol

 

[Cloud]

They aren't the size of you normal garden worm or anything as I'm sure you know.
I initially ordered small calci worms for him, which had a few that were about 6-9 mm long. So they an OK size for a young beardie, but the rest of the pot was pitiful. The smaller ones were the like of a couple grains of sand. So I wont be getting them again. I am growing the few I had left, so I'm hoping they'll fatten up into a decent size.

Today I received a box of the large calci worms, they are a perfect size for him, if not a bit on the large side. They would be great for a growing beardie the age of yours.

I used the article on this website to fatten then up before feeding. And it works a treat.
https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/growing-phoenix-worms/

I don't know what half the vitamins are either, don't worry
But I know he's getting them at least !

 

[MyBilbo]

Its nice to meet a fellow uk beardie owner, do you order your worms online? I can get most of my bits from my local family run pet store where I got Bilbo from, but they don't sell calci worms? have a really nice deal on at the mo every tub £1, any worm, cricket, locust any size

 

[Cloud]

Just a quick pic of the two worm sizes. As you can see the little ones are almost pointless.
Neither of these have been fattened up yet. so the big ones will be even bigger soon!

http://imgur.com/fR091xS

There is an extremely well know reptile store not too far from myself called Cold Blooded. They are known quite well all over the country, the man who owns the shop does reptile shows around the UK I believe. So i'm pretty fortunate that I can get decent food from there, but I've only picked up Mealworm, Hopper & Crickets there. They don't sell Calci or Dubias ect...

There are a few places online that I am trying out ordering from. I've just gone with the safe option using a more 'commercial' store for now.

http://www.reptilecentre.com/worms_g34512_34565.htm

Everything I have received from these guys is in incredible condition. I guess they probably just charge a bit more.

Other sites I'm going to try out:

http://www.roachcolony.com/ (Wouldn't make a habit of buying roaches, far too expensive. Better to breed them yourself.)
http://www.rickslivefood.co.uk/
http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/
http://www.silkwormstore.co.uk/
And a few others.

They vary little in prices and P&P. I'm not worried about spending a few extra pennies if I means I'm going to get a better quality of food, so I'll give them all a try.

 

[MyBilbo]

cheers for that bud, yeah I have similar problem with the crickets about 80% are just right and the remaining 20% are tiny little things, but he still eats them, I waste nothing like I said even the food he dont eat goes to them, they'll eat anything lol

 

[Cloud]

I was throwing all leftovers into my mealworms, but ive stopped feeding them now. Useless creatures