Broly the new super saiyan beardie

Picture coming up!

I can't turn upwards!!! But there he is!

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,

All my plants are members of the family! The "tongues " of Arbok have turned purple. I swear they were green yesterday. I suppose that's a good sign. Next year, if we can keep Arbok going as well as we can. We're going for a bladderwort, an aphrodite one. Im a member on an carnivorous website. They're nice and no one there seems to be trolls. They helped when I started with venus. Those two are now thriving. They're sending good luck our way with the cobra lily. They're helping as best they can with it. Some people suggested my friend neglected it since it was being shipped. I didn't get defensive but maybe he did. Other people who have theirs shipped have brown spotted shoots but look better than mine. We'll take care of it, it seems alive right now.

Yes, they're aquatic and theyll eat collard, mustard and turnip. I only give them one piece, boiled (makes it softer) and cooled (to not burn them if its possible).

 

[SHBailey]

You got me curious so I had to google cobra lilies and bladderworts. Looks like a purple tongue may be a good thing in some species for cobra lilies. I had forgotten what bladderworts looked like, and it sounds like their environmental needs might be a little tricky, since some of them seem to be semi-aquatic. But then, you're no stranger to aquatic. :wink:

At least your snails can eat the same kinds of greens that the bearded dragons eat, so that might simplify the grocery shopping a little bit. But if you have to boil and cool them for the snails, then I can understand why you would say that feeding the snails is harder than it looks.

We had kind of a bad day on Saturday. Squirmles and Puff barely managed to get their baths, and it got too late to feed Puff his weekly serving of bugs by the time we were even close to being ready for the next thing on the to-do list, so I turned on the heat lamps early on Sunday morning and fed him some roaches before we went to church, with a little Repashy Grub Pie for dessert. He really seems to like that stuff, but sure enough, by the time we got home he had plopped a nice sloppy one right in the middle of his basking platform and was laying next to it under the UVB tube giving us "The Look," -- complete with a half-flared slightly blackish beard (not a happy camper ). Oh well -- he was about due for a poop and we were overdue to clean out the terrarium anyway since we didn't get to it on Saturday. :roll: All better now.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,

Broly last passed a stool on Sat...usual messy. It wasnt complete diarrhea but a "pile" of mush with water. That's his third one like that. We're waiting on what the fourth looks like. I've dried greens but maybe it's the grated butternut squash. I know I have to accommodate the loop of henle so it doesn't do that. Oh well...we'll check a stool if we have to. He also needed a bath he got all of the tail.

Oh yeah, Im pretty good with aquatics. My cobra lily is kinda like that, mountain cold water flushes through its roots daily. So since we have a 3,000 gal koi pond we have a pump that pulls water through the cobras and back out into the pond. We have a few kois. Im sure the bladderwort will be fine around there.

Snails do like the same. One died so we have another one on order..we have Pichu alone. Snails aren't social but we ordered another. So for now we'll feed him/her Idk what that is. Collards help the shell because of the cal in it. It's in the 70s so I have to watch the plants.

 

[SHBailey]

Maybe piles of mush aren't too much to worry about as long as they're regular and as long as the beardie seems healthy otherwise. Puff's poops are often piles of mush with water too, so I've learned not to expect nice perfect little sausage shaped turds, and not to worry too much as long as we get some "output" every few days and as long as he seems ok otherwise. Maybe that's normal for Broly too with his loop of henle thing, and as long as you can keep him well hydrated, maybe cleaning up mushy messes and washing it off his tail is just something all of you have to live with. Not fun, :roll: but at least you know it's normal for him.

It sounds like you've got a really nice setup for just about any kind of aquatic or semi aquatic critter or plant that you can think of. Some friends of ours have koi -- they're really pretty fish. They have a pond out in their front yard that they put them in for the summer, but they have to bring them back inside for the winter so they have a big tank for them inside the house. Must be a lot of work...

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,

So we're having an excessive heat warning. Nothing new it happens in August. We have fans on, doors and windows open. There's no AC built into the house. Most have no AC in their houses. We have to deal with it. Cools down slowly our sunset is 8:37 after that it cools slowly. I've been spraying my carnivourous plants every hour because it's too hot and they'd burn if I didn't. I have no shade around my house till 4:40p. We have trees blocking and I've never wanted it more to have shade.

I have switched off fish tank heaters, lights to lizards and heat pads to geckos. Uvb is left on. Im thinkin about a cool bath for the beardies maybe geckos can get in though I never ever give them a bath or a spritz from a spray bottle.
We're definitely not cooking tonight without AC it gets hotter. Trying our best with roaches and crickets to keep them cool. Fresh, cold, hydrated food. Silks have cold mulberry leaves. Guinea pigs and hamsters have cold water in their bottles and one in their nest.

Yes, I've figured it's the squash thats causing goopy messes. Hes very healthy. Pinworms have messed his GI up though it's treated. Aftermath, messed up GI with a loop problem due to inbreeding. They're terrible to clean up. They're messy and just can't keep hands clean while doing it. It's everywhere. In the end, youre getting cleaned up too. Sometimes I'll get sausages other a goop with water.

We have a heater in the koi pond in winter. Summer it's a cool 75 degrees. It's hot outside the pond. Venus flytraps got moved over this morning to the pond.

 

[SHBailey]

Wow. I didn't realize it could get that hot there, although I do remember how hot it used to get in August in California. When I moved to Alaska I was surprised to find that it usually turns cool and rainy in August around here. We could still get a few warm days, but they're probably going to be fewer and farther between from now on. We usually have snow on the ground by Halloween.

It sounds like you have your hands full trying to keep all your critters and you plants cool, but it also sounds like you're on top of it. I hope you don't have to deal with too many more days like that before it starts cooling off.

I had one of my overwhelming episodes of fatigue this morning so Puff missed his good morning cuddle, although I did manage to turn all the heat lamps on before I went back to bed. When I got back up around noonish, he had crawled out of his "bedtime burrito" so we settled for a midday cuddle, but when I went to put him back on his basking platform -- speaking of goopy messes -- I discovered that he had been sitting in one. Major cleanup project, but it looks like he somehow managed not to get it all over himself. He used to be pretty good about staying out of his own poop, but he's been getting kind of sloppy about it lately. A little bit of incontinence or middle-aged laziness maybe? So we're just now finishing up the last load of Puffie laundry... :roll:

A long time ago, I came to the conclusion that if I was going to have animals around, I would have to get over being squeamish about poop or it would make by life really miserable. :wink:

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,

The cobra lily seems to be growing a new pitcher that was tiny when we received it. It has eaten ants or gnats...something casts a shadow when you shine a light from the top of the pitcher. It's definitely done being stressed. I hadn't seen it eat in action yet but hoping one day I can.

Broly passed another goop, it looked a tiny bit better. Water looked like water not stool water. Everyone else's stools are perfect.

Yes, Sue it does get hot. 86 deg maybe warm in some states but here it is hot! I had to get out a kiddy pool for the dragons to swim in and the water wasnt cold it was cool.
They also got dried in the warm sun. Today was cooler at 71.

Im gonna get to bed. I was fine all day but as dinner came around. I couldnt eat I felt very ill. My stomach is suffering probably another gastric problem. It's not celiac related. It's a random stomach ache or gastroenteritis. Im not sure how I feel about that. I try so so hard to not be sick. Im also afraid of vomiting...with me, it's violent. It's been that way since I was 7. We don't know why doctors never found out why. They ran blood tests nothing ever showed. To this day, it's a mystery.

 

[SHBailey]

Glad to hear your new cobra lily seems to be recovering, and even had itself a little "snack".

Puff turned his "after bath" cuddle into a "bedtime cuddle" for the second evening in a row last night, even though I was on the phone chattering with my sister while I was holding him. We hadn't talked for a while. That doesn't seem to keep him awake -- I can talk a blue streak at whoever and he sleeps right through it, unless something makes me laugh and he gets bounced around. I guess he knows the days are getting shorter, but we're going to need to have a little talk if he's seriously considering brumating. :roll:

Do you think maybe it was the heat that made you sick? I know that sometimes I feel sick to my stomach if I get overheated. Fortunately, that doesn't happen very often around here. I'm glad to hear that it's cooled off a little for you and I hope you'll feel better.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,

Well to my surprise my cobra lily had a fly in it crawling. I saw it crawl and all of a sudden it dropped! It's in the base of the stem getting digested. Idk I think it was a fly. All i saw was a shadow moving and then dropped.

Had to run to the store grab a few things. Tom wants steak I don't like the taste of red meat. I do tolerate the taste if I want some. I got lamb as its the only red meat I'll eat.
I mostly eat white meat, fruits and some veggies. Im bad with veggies just glad my dragons like em. It's a great diet and I should totally get into it. My diet isnt the best.

No stools from anyone. My new ivory snail came. Shes healthy and active so far. I know I should have a quarantine tank. LOL so bad. The seller assured us it's safe to put her in. I ordered roaches too. I'll get them Tue as theyll ship Mon night.

My stomach still a bit messed up but not totally queasy. Tom made me grape nuts cereal with honey and black cherry yogurt last night. It seemed to settle my stomach.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,

Tom decided to check Broly's stool as he keeps passing goops. Turns out pinworms are back! He passed goopy stools 6x and wasnt clearing up. Strange, Broly didn't even seemed like it phased him. Eats well, very active no black color anywhere on him. Hes sick though so we have panacur. We have non dairy strawberry yogurt and given 6 hours after treatment. We're four treatments into it. Still hasnt cleared. The smell..not really bad at all it never was. Checked coccidia...low. So we'll keep up with panacur. We F10 everything from tank to logs and hides. He never acted ill so I've never known. Sorry Broly. Took him to the school, professor checked thoroughly. He said hes perfect. We tested for Adeno negative. We asked if we should keep panacur, he said not necessary. Hes well trained so hes not jerking chains. Keep you all updated.

 

[SHBailey]

So do you have any idea how Broly got reinfected with the pinworms, even with all your efforts to keep everything sanitized? At least there's treatmen for that, and it's good that they don't seem to be making him really sick. I'm glad to hear he tested negative for adenovirus -- you don't want that one if you can possibly avoid it.

If I remember correctly, pinworms was what Puff had when we first got him -- a couple of doses of some sort of deworming meds at the vets, and as far as we know they didn't come back. I don't remember what the medication was -- I'd have to go look at his medical records. A few months later I thought he had some sort of parasites again when I saw a bunch of little white things that looked like small grains of rice in his poop, but when I took a sample to the vet, it turned out to be cricket eggs. :mrgreen:

I'm not into meat either -- I'm sort of a vegetarian at heart, although we're not strict about it, and I do have a hard time getting enough fresh fruits and vegetables as well. My husband loves greens -- he's the only one in the family who does, including the beardie, but he also likes meat once in a while. Maybe it's a "guy thing". :?

I like grape nuts too -- haven't had them for a while, come to think of it. We often buy whatever kind of cereal is on sale at Costco. But is there a gluten-free version? As I recall, one of the main ingredients in the regular kind is barley, so I hope that didn't make you sicker in the long run.

This latest weekend was pretty productive for us -- all the critter care got done by early afternoon on Saturday (Squirmles put away several mice and Puff had crickets and roaches and several grudging bites of greens with much persuasion from "daddy"), so my husband spent the rest of the "day" (until he ran out of daylight around midnight) putting a larger gate in the back fence so he can drive the electric car into the backyard closer to the electrical outlet on the outside of the house. We have a Chevy Volt, and we discovered that we've been getting a lot of "line loss" through the long extension cord. The poor guy was exhausted and slept most of the day yesterday (except for church -- he NEVER misses church, except in the most dire of circumstances :roll: ). I hope he's had enough rest to be up to going back to work today. He still has to hang the gate -- waiting for the concrete to set up around the new post. Hoping to get that done this evening or at least sometime in the next week.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,


I have no idea how this happened. He's had problems in the past. He'd have runny stools as a baby too but it was due to hydration. He kept getting mushy piles. Vet diagnosed pinworms, treated when he was 1 yr. So at least once a month he got runny then stopped. We did more testing and xray. Test revealed zero info and xray showed a kink in the renal area. It never grew out as he grew like most dragons.
I think that's the gut that grows out... Nevermind.
Broly's gut isn't better, he takes enzymes for digestion. Pinworms caused digestive problems. Inbreeding caused the kink in the loop.

The vet did say he'll have issues growing up. This might be it. He's 2 yrs now, he's grown up. I did weigh last week as this runny stools going on and he hadnt lost any weight other than what he loses during bathroom. He gained 5g making 505 to 509g. Which was weird because what I read about parasites is lethargy, runny and smelly stools, appetite loss and weight loss. In bad cases, black beard. His stools are runny but not smelly. Appetite is great, weight goes up. Every single parasite story is the same. Their dragon is losing weight and appetite. He's not having any of that. I'm just done. Im f'n stressed to hell Idk whats going on with him. He's had six runny stools since. I've already treated him and it's still going on. Tested stool again, clear!! So WTF???! Im done! Tom will to figure something because we have other reptiles. One sick is enough and Idt he was sick to begin with. He's active and eats, everything is good just not his stools. I need a miracle to see logs again. I think this is it, runny stools forever.

 

[SHBailey]

It sounds like Broly is doing well in all the ways that really matter (eating well, maintaining a healthy weight, etc), and maybe goopy poop is just normal for him and something you all will just have to live with, although I realize it would be nice if it was otherwise because cleaning up after it is not fun.

I've heard that many reptiles carry parasites in the wild and manage to remain reasonably healthy, but can get a "superinfection" in an artificial environment if their tank isn't kept clean. But if they have human slaves like us who take care to clean up the poop as soon as we notice it, and do our best to keep everything as clean and sanitary as humanly possible, it probably keeps the parasite population down to a level where they can live with it. And Broly has the added advantage of built in access to good medical care in the form of a vet for a "daddy".

I've also heard rumos that live bugs that you get from pet stores or other suppliers can sometimes carry parasites, so I'm thinking that maybe it would be a good idea to bring a poop sample to the vet to be tested next time Puff gets a checkup, just to be sure. I tend to think we don't have to worry because he has his own tank and never comes in contact with any other beardies, etc -- now I find out you can't even trust the food supply. Yeah -- frustrating. :roll:

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey,

Well, Broly's stool looked so much better. We also just came back from the uni as our vet. Professor examined him, ran analysis on stool to come clear. Weight..actually I don't think we checked as I told him it's 508 this week. He said check next week and get back to him. We didn't wanna stress him...weighing stresses him out.
Xray revealed his kink in the loop of henle was backed up (like a pipe). Clogged if you wanna use that. Mouth was clear of any infections. Bacteria is fine. He's returned home and the professor gave us some pheonix worms (sometimes they give patients a free cup of 500) for Broly and our guys. Capaldi is sick..he's got mouth rot...not sure where it came from. He's lost weight from not being able to eat (this was last week). This week he's gained 10g (he lost 16) and mouth is better. He's eating tons.

Yes, that's true, food (live bugs mostly) are tainted with parasites. Usually crickets are the ones tainted. I have cultured fruit flies, crickets, roaches and silks. Fruiflies are for my bettas and eels but I give them to the beardies, skink and geckos. They're wingless. I don't buy pet shop bugs, used to and everytime was good.

Broly was always opposite. He had worms but opposite behavior than others. Most ppl exp weight & appetite loss and lethrgy. Broly did not exp any. I had to add mint to salads now. Mint has anti parasitic properties. Most research I read says. Broly LOVES mint it's added only weekly not everyday. Professor says it's fine to add. It's for moderate levels, if parasites are too high you'll need meds from the vet. Mint has taken care of him in the past. It helped again after meds proved ineffective to him. Now we have normal stool. It was better than the last six times.

 

[SHBailey]

Sorry to hear that Capaldi's got mouth rot -- are there any effective meds for that? It sounds like he's getting better, at least.

We used to have mint growing in our yard, and it came back every summer for a while, but eventually it fizzled out, probably a few years before we got Puff, so he hasn't had a chance to try it. I ought to see if I can get some growing out there again. Plenty of dandelions and clover all summer, always.

I'm just about to give up on crickets, especially since Puff seems to have so much trouble catching them lately, but that would leave only roaches so I'm hoping to find an easy way to get something else besides -- maybe silkworms or Phoenix worms (we're soooo done with superworms :roll: ). Local choices are limited, and I have yet to try getting live bugs of any kind shipped to Alaska -- not looking forward to dealing with the expected hassles. Trying to keep enough variety in his diet, between what's available and what he likes, is a constant struggle.

Another cloudy rainy August day here -- expecting or at least hoping for nicer weather over the weekend so my husband can put the finishing touches on the new back gate (big enough to drive the electric car into the yard closer to the electrical outlet on the outside of the house). Puff went back to sleep during his good morning cuddle today, instead of tolerating it for a little while and then waking up and getting wiggly like he usually does. But he's on his basking platform staring at me now. I'm glad this one doesn't get really serious about brumating, at least not so far.

Squirmles has turned back into the carnivorous couch potato and is apparently planning to spend most of the rest of the year coiled up in his favorite Kleenex box, and my sinuses are more than ready to keep him well supplied with fresh empty ones, also as usual... :mrgreen: