Archer's thread--new pics on page 4!

Archer is so cute and amazing, i thought i'd make his own thread. i brought him home April 18th. at first i didn't want to handle him until he was settled, so i was referring to him as "the baby." about three days later i eased him out of his tank, but he didn't seem to mind me touching him at all. i held him for a while before finally looking at his tail (thanks google images!) and determined he was male. the name "Archer" had been swimming around in my head since it had a nice ring to it, plus i enjoy the FX show "Archer" (i could listen to H. Jon Benjamin read the phone book--oh that voice!) and thought it could be a good unisex name since it could refer to the title character or his mother. well, as i was looking at the tail and making certain he was a he, he pooped on me. that pretty much settled his naming right there since the cartoon Archer is a jerk (to put it very mildly).

anyway, enjoy some pictures!

(i plan to update it with more pictures as he grows).

this is when i first brought him home:

he was a bit cold from the car ride (and i wasn't sure if he'd be up for being handled yet) so i ripped open his box and let him warm up and crawl out on his own.

he was about 7 inches long when i got him.

Archer likes to stretch his back legs out while basking. i call these his "Lucky Legs." my parents have a weenie dog named Lucky who lays with his hind legs straight back, so it amused me when i caught Archer doing the same (and of course i texted a picture to my mom immediately).

Archer's other favorite place to lay is balanced on my laptop. he even falls asleep up there. it's especially cute when he tries to move across it from one end to the other in this sort of shuffle-sliding movement.

this may not be surprising to anyone here, but i've already fallen in love with Archer. and he's adjusted to life in my home with me, my boyfriend, my turtle, and my kitty quite well. my kitty, Princess, barely notices him. she'll sit by his tank and watch his crickets move around during feeding times, but other than that she doesn't really care that he's here (i've previously owned hamsters and rats which she didn't care about either, so i knew bringing a dragon home would be fine).

oh, and i started keeping a growth chart to keep track of his size. it's been awhile since i last had a baby animal--my cat and turtle have been with me since i was a kid, so i'm excited to watch something grow

 

[sheri85]

some updates: Archer is 8.69 inches! and he's been eating an average of 50 crickets a day. still no interest in greens, but we'll get there.

here are some new pictures!

modeling his new harness, which he still needs to grow into.

seconds later, he was sick of the harness and wiggled out (his specialty is wiggling):

caught a little beardie tongue

"what?"

you can see the tiles in the last two pictures--got rid of his calcium sand and put in light colored tiles for him. he seems to like it, and it looks much nicer in his tank.

 

[Sashee]

Hooray for no sand!!!

He's so adorable in his big harness!

 

[Beezer25]

Lol he does look great.

 

[sheri85]

Hooray for no sand!!!

i bought it before knowing the issues associated with it. as soon as i was able to i went to a home improvement store and picked out the tiles. it looks much nicer and i'm sure he loves not breathing in any dust. the only issue is his crickets can hide in the cracks, but he manages to get them out with his tongue

 

[sheri85]

i took Archer with me on a mini road trip to my grandparents' house where he got to meet my parents, grandparents, and some other relatives. he was very well behaved in the car (i bought a tote back made for dogs that zips at the top so sun can get in, but he can't get out), and he was well behaved when we got there (except for when he randomly decided to jump off my arm toward the giant hunter cat--luckily i'm quick too). most of the time he just basked on my shoulder while i visited my family, and everyone thought he was so cool. my mom wouldn't hold him though because she was afraid of his size--she was afraid she's hurt him, and promised to hold him when he's bigger lol.

i did learn some important lessons today: if i'm going to let Archer bask on me for several hours, i should probably apply sunblock first. and i should remove my turtle charm necklace. my shoulders, neck and chest are burnt, and my chest has a vague outline of a chain, and a circle where my turtle charm hangs. it's pretty embarrassing. i will be hiding in the house until it fades.

nonetheless, i'm glad Archer didn't seem to mind the car ride. i did put his crocheted blankie that he sleeps on in the tote bag with him, so i think that helped. he was generously rewarded with crickets when we got home.

i'll try to get pictures of him in his tote bag posted soon.

 

[sheri85]

got some new pictures of Archer!

this was about a week ago when his head was shedding:

he's so attached to me i can't put him down even when i have to wash my face at night, so i let him hang out on my sink. here he is posing on a perfume bottle:

hunting crickets (i'm trying to switch to reptiworms, but he still enjoys chasing crickets around):

nomming a cricket:

this was taken this morning:

i've been waiting for his body to shed all week. i gave him a bath earlier and the water got the shed off his back. there's still a bit on his neck, but he looks much better. i'll try to get pictures of him outside to show his colors (this might take awhile, thanks weird weather!)

 

[sheri85]

got some new pictures for you all!

this is what you do when you can't choose which log to bask on:

one of my friends on facebook observed that he should be a model, and another pointed out that he really found the light lol:

showing off his colors (his tail's about to shed soon):

 

[lauraj1055]

hahaha! Love the sexy leg!

 

[Sashee]

Awww! Such a cutie!

 

[sheri85]

Archer went on a trip to my parents' (my mom and stepdad) house this weekend. he was very good for the 3 hour car ride (in the rain!), but puffed up as soon as we walked in the door because he didn't like the dogs barking (my parents have 3 weenie dogs). i took him to a birthday party on friday night, and everyone loved him. it was really funny because at one point Archer was under my sweater for warmth, and suddenly decided he wanted to pop out and see what everyone was doing. one lady saw him crawl out of my sweater and screamed hahaha :laughhard: made my night!

then saturday we went to my grandparents' house (which was an unpleasant visit because i always get the "you should visit more; you're wasting your life" lectures). but Archer kept lunging at my grandma and made her scream lol (i had him on his leash. and for reference, my grandma is verbally abusive to my grandpa, and just about everyone else she's in contact with, so i didn't keep Archer from scaring her).

my dad thought Archer was really cool though, and a friend of the family who had popped over fell in love with him and said she wants a beardie now. i've already recommended this site to her.

at my parents' house i made sure to keep Archer from the dogs, but their cat, Rascal, was a bit harder to avoid. Rascal kept watch on Archer when he was in his travel tank, and at one point while we were on the couch Rascal lunged for Archer. luckily i had his harness on and i was able to yank him away in time. my mom found Rascal while they were still living in florida, so he's an experienced lizard catcher and eater. Archer probably reminded him of his hunter days. he's a good cat otherwise, but he's not like my Princess who is nice to Archer (probably because she thinks he's some sort of remarkable new and delicate toy). all in all it was a great weekend away, and Archer adapted very nicely to being in his home away from home tank.

 

[Sashee]

Awww! That's so cool! My mom finally saw Yoshi for the first time and she was so freaked out by holding him. She was afraid he was gonna poop on her! LOL

 

[Denduran87]

Going to be a looker!

 

[sheri85]

Awww! That's so cool! My mom finally saw Yoshi for the first time and she was so freaked out by holding him. She was afraid he was gonna poop on her! LOL

my mom pets Archer, but she thinks he's fragile so doesn't want to hold him until he's bigger. i assured her he's not made of glass, but she still refuses. maybe after he puts on a little more weight...

 

[sheri85]

i took a lot of pictures of Archer while we visited a beach at lake Michigan, and as i was trying to upload them i accidentally deleted them from my camera. not sure how that happened, since only one photo was selected for deletion, but i totally lost all evidence of Archer's first trip to the beach. i'm very sad right now.

anyway, Archer was very well behaved at the beach, except when we walked past a huge flock of seagulls. he gripped my hand so hard he scratched me. but i kept those nasty birds away from my baby. the water was ice cold even for me, so obviously i didn't dip Archer in there. he seemed to enjoy being out in the sun and fresh air, and was very antsy when my boyfriend and i stopped for ice cream. thank god for that harness, lol!

i'll get more pictures the next time we go, but sadly they won't be Archer's first visit

 

[sheri85]

got some new(ish) pictures of Archer!

first up, Princess (my 18 year old kitty) is intrigued by the fascinating toy that is my beardie:

she's mostly pretty good around him, but i never leave the two of them unattended if Archer's out of his tank.

Princess give Archer a curious sniff.

Archer claims my PS3 controller (always a bad idea--need my game time):

Archer climbs his bag (it's actually a tote bag for a dog, but i figured if it can hold an 11 pound dog, it can hold a full grown beardie):

Ready for our next car ride:

this was taken at my parents' house two weeks ago--my mom's cat Rascal was very interested in Archer and his travel tank (Rascal used to live in Florida and is an experienced lizard eater, so obviously i never left Archer unguarded):

and back at home, Archer swims in my sink for bath time (i have no patience to scrub the soap scum out of my bathtub, not to the point where it'd be safe for Archer to swim in, so sink it is for now).

and finally here is his new favorite nap spot. it's the side pieces of wood of our coffee table. it's polished so he can't actually haul himself up there--just kind of flails around until i give him a boost. then he balances and goes to sleep.

as a side note, i LOVE those little white marks above his eyes. they sort of make me think of weird anime eye lashes or something

i'm amazed at how big he's gotten. i don't know how much he weighs, but he's at 12 inches now and his body looks pretty chunky. he loves his greens (finally) and reptiworms.