Alucard's Journey

I'll try not to make this introduction too upsetting.

After the sudden and tragic passing of my two year old, Simon, I had an empty enclosure and a beardie sized hole in my heart.

Simon was buried in my front yard, and a red maple tree was planted on her grave site as a memorial. Richter came to show his respects. As time passes, this whole area will be converted into a beautiful garden in her honor. Rest in peace, Simon. You were truly loved.

I'm on day two now and am still grieving horribly, but if I could turn her empty enclosure into a great home for another dragon and give them a good life, why not start now.

Alucard has been introduced to the house. She will never replace Simon and she knows she has big shoes to fill. She was also taken out to pay her respects to Simon's memorial site. She is a normal morph little girl beardie, just like Simon, and has a lot of spunk and a big appetite.

She's about two months old, 8.5", and 32g.
She will inevitably lose the very tip of her tail, but it looks like this is healing well and will not cause her any concern.

I look forward to the love and laughter she brings to me and appreciate her presence turning Simon's home into something positive again.

 

[NBGwen]

They look great! And that baby chameleon - *GAH!* so adorable!

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

This little boy is gonna make it this time! He's got moxie! I like that!

To those following this thread but not really others, I adopted a rescue dragon on 8/13!
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=235768

 

[NBGwen]

...and now I really want a chameleon...Good thing my aquarium, Charlie, my budgies, cats, and dog have been keeping me busy :shock: :lol: I think hubby would have a coronary if I came home with another one LOL

 

[SHBailey]

My husband has always been very supportive about the pets, even though he's the one that gets stuck with their care more often than not when I'm not up to it, which is too often.

The other day he told me about a dream he had that we had an iguana running around the house like a reptilian dog, and I took the opportunity to ask him if he would want pets to take care of if it wasn't for me (the snake and the bearded dragon were mainly my idea), and he said he probably wouldn't actively seek them but he would be willing to take them in if he learned of one that needed a home. He does seem to enjoy taking care of them, and he always seems to be willing, so I hope it's not too much of a burden for him.

Your growing reptilian family all look good, Traildrifter, including the rescue beardie on the other thread. Sounds like you've got your hands full, so I hope you can keep them all healthy and happy.

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Such a good day for pets!!

My rescue beardie finally passed her impaction... boy did she pass her impaction. Feel free to check out the thread, but there are poop pics. She is DOWN 550g to 523g from impaction alone!

Alucard finally grew!! She's up .6" from last week, so so happy. No longer stuck, and she's starting up several different sheds now. Her hands, feet, and face are all in different shed phases.

15" 317g

Chameleon is up 5g, 11g to 16g in one week, he's doing so well

No change from Richter in length or weight

 

[SHBailey]

Glad to hear she got unstuck, but when you outgrow your skin, then you have to shed... :mrgreen:

 

[NBGwen]

My husband has always been very supportive about the pets, even though he's the one that gets stuck with their care more often than not when I'm not up to it, which is too often.

The other day he told me about a dream he had that we had an iguana running around the house like a reptilian dog, and I took the opportunity to ask him if he would want pets to take care of if it wasn't for me (the snake and the bearded dragon were mainly my idea), and he said he probably wouldn't actively seek them but he would be willing to take them in if he learned of one that needed a home. He does seem to enjoy taking care of them, and he always seems to be willing, so I hope it's not too much of a burden for him.

Your growing reptilian family all look good, Traildrifter, including the rescue beardie on the other thread. Sounds like you've got your hands full, so I hope you can keep them all healthy and happy.

My hubby isn't so pleased when I mention possibly wanting another lol - I'm the one who cares for the pets...so with my health issues an occasional lack of energy, I have to be mindful of what I have. The fish are easy peasy. Charlie is a breeze, the budgies - they are simple for the most part but OMG ALL THE POOP! I had NO idea how much those little birds pooped in the run of a day :shock: And I researched a LOT before getting them - even got them a HUGE cage (large parrot one) so they had lots of room to play and fly (and be safe from the cats). I find my two cats and dog more work LOL, but hubster helps with the dog, and if I am away he will care for the others. All the fur/feathered/scaled babies know I am the food/care source. The fish go nuts when I approach the tank with food. I know my limits though. No more pets for a while.

 

[NBGwen]

Traildrifter - awesome growth on your babies! So glad your rescue finally is free of that blockage! That chameleon - ugh, it kills me with it's cuteness!

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Traildrifter - awesome growth on your babies! So glad your rescue finally is free of that blockage! That chameleon - ugh, it kills me with it's cuteness!

Vedool (chameleon) needs a more stable cup/platform next time. He almost tipped it over after the photo. Poor buddy. I caught him.

Alucard is eating like crazy, so she must really be going through a growth spurt. She's eating 40-50 large crickets a day and her salad, opposed to maybe 10-15 crickets a day last month when she wasn't growing. She's extremely food motivated, and as soon as she sees I have food she goes crazy.

Basically everything in my house is sick of roaches, which really sucks. So I've been ordering large crickets by the 1000 per month ish to feed 3 dragons, a chameleon, and a pacman frog. Luckily Richter and Juste (the rescue) aren't in need of too many crickets, and the pacman only goes through a few per week. Vedool eats about maybe 8-10 per day of the smaller ones which are still relatively large for him.

Sleepy-time chameleon

 

[SHBailey]

Looks like the little chameleon is already into cuddling. :love5:

We got some Phoenix worms for our beardie -- had to order them off the internet because they don't have them in the local stores. No problems with shipping, at least not in the late summer, and except that the shipping costs almost as much as the worms themselves. He seems to like them, but I'm afraid they're a little on the small side and I think he has trouble seeing them. He's an extremely lousy shot with his tongue, and it seems to be getting worse. We just have those and roaches now, and since they have a limited "shelf life" I'm not planning on getting any more crickets until he's done with the worms. Roaches "keep" for up to several months,so they're still a pretty good staple, and the local stores usually have them around here. Fortunately, the beardie doesn't seem to get tired of them.

 

[NBGwen]

I orderd phoenix worms for Charlie...then gave them to a fellow beardie owner as Charlie wouldn't even look at them unless I held it up to his nose, and he usually turned it. He seems to be on a hunger strike right now. I accidentally broke his favourite tree (ugh) and the pet store did NOT have any more!!! ACK! He's a moody boy.

I used to order 100 crickets at a time...once, the box broke in my basement :shock: crickets...crickets everywhere... I don't know if I could handle having so many lizards - they are so lucky to have you! Vedool is so adorable.

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

So I guess Alucard wants to grow in waves now.
No growth in length since last week. Lots of shedding going on, and a huge appetite, so I'm not too concerned this time. I think she'll just grow in phases now.

Richter is up in weight, same length

I promise I'll get a larger weigh in platform for them soon. They're both spilling over.

I did not weigh Juste yet, but I will in the morning. She's doing well, but seems to be getting a little more skittish around me. Her head movement has greatly improved though.

And chameleon is up 6g and flaunting his stuff.

 

[SHBailey]

As long as you've tared the container, and as long as their tail doesn't touch the table under the scale, you're probably still getting a pretty accurate weight, even though you may still want to get them something more comfortable to sit in once they outgrow the one you're using. And if they're going to grow in "waves", I guess all you can do is learn to "go with the flow", as long as they're eating and shedding and pooping well (good input and output :wink: ) and seem healthy otherwise.

I suppose that just about everyone who has had insectivores for any length of time has some sort of a favorite horror story to tell about crickets all over the house or some such. Mine's pretty tame by comparison, about the escapees who take up residence under the refrigerator and "chirp chirp chirp" all night long for a month or two. I guess they find enough organic crud to live on under there -- I'm going to be really embarrassed about the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of my kitchen whenever the time comes that we have to move that refrigerator... :roll:

I actually don't mind the chirping. It would probably bother my husband, but he's lost some of his hearing in the higher frequencies right around where crickets chirp, so he can barely hear it. Everything works out pretty well. :mrgreen:

Not too sure what's going to happen with our latest Phoenix worm experiment. Puff seems to like them but he has even more trouble "catching" them than roaches or crickets (you wouldn't think, since worms can't run fast or jump away). They may be too small of a target for him. He tends to strike too high and too far. My husband and I are talking about letting some of them morph into flies (since Puff is not likely to eat them all before they do) and turning them loose in his tank to see if he will at least be able to have some fun chasing them. :?

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Alucard update!
Been over a month. I've been weighing everyone weekly still, but Alucard slowed down so much that it wasn't worth the constant updates.
So a month later, she's up to 16" and 411g

Richter is doing great as well. Up to 560g and still at 20"

Juste is doing very well. She's lost a lot of weight since bringing her home, down to about 475g. Her mobility still isn't great, but she's excited to try and run which unfortunately results in her flipping onto her back.

V, the chameleon, is going strong, getting huge. Almost two months with him now!

 

[KozmoRox]

So good ? to see everyone doing well!! Growing and happy little buggers. I bet they all keep you busy!! It’s been slow here since Kozmo’s brumation, I think she’s almost done though. I miss her like crazy!! She hasn’t grown in length much, but she’s 485g!! Woohoo!!

Love to see all your photos!! Keep ‘em coming! Check out my girl! https://youtu.be/c87ERDKEEwE