Claud's Crew! - New Girl In The House! - New Pics

Welcome to my journal for my crew! This will be the thread I post all my pictures and updates in regards to my crew! This is going to be like a journal of sorts. A tool I can use to look back on and see how I was doing things, and important events that have occurred for my crew! I really like being able to go back and look at things like that.

To start off with, since all my dragons had a thread previously, they will all get their own post under this to kind of catch up to where things are right now.

A bit about me (EDIT: Ok it's a lot about me now..)

I've had dragons for almost 20 years now. My first dragon was named Shredder. Information was so scarce back then, and I was so inexperienced, Shredder didn't last long under my care. He was housed on walnut shell, typical petstore setup (you think they are bad nowadays, think back 20 years ago) and I honestly don't remember much else about how i cared for him besides the fact that I had grown attached to him. After shredder died, I dedicated a good portion of my free time to learning about dragons. I knew I wanted another, but I didn't want him to suffer the same fate. I read, I learned, I talked to other owners that I would meet at petstores. I read every caresheet I could find online. I even talked breeders ears off when they'd let me. I got another dragon eventually, Hawk. And then another, Buttercup. Then I rescued Scorpio. And shortly after that, I saw a runt in a petstore that I bought, Rusty. For awhile, this was my crew. They all lived for 5 or 6 years. Their care wasn't perfect, but it was better and I was learning and growing as a dragon keeper.

One day the petstore owner and I were talking, and he wanted to give me his dragon. He didn't want to take care of her anymore. I had never taken in an adult dragon. I had always only had babies that I raised myself. I wouldn't have said yes if it wasn't for the fact that I wanted to stay in good with the petstore owner (this came into play massively a few years later)
So, now I have a 3 year old dragon, who I named Naughtica. Her name is based on Naussica, a character from a movie (she was the start to how I name all of the rest of my future dragons, after hayo Miyazaki film characters). Around the same time I got an adult Male, Spyro. I don't remember exactly how I got him, but I believe also from a friend I had met at the petstore. He was trying to produce white dragons (back then they were basically unheard of, and light grey hypos were the closest most people had gotten to that) and spyro was a light-grey hypo.

Naughtica and spyro were the only two dragons I had for a few years now. Around this time is when I also found this website, and my knowledge, care, and love for this hobby grew immensely. I loved being surrounded by people who understood. I loved being able to talk dragons all day long if I wanted. And I loved being able to help people. Obviously in the beginning, it was me being helped. But I soaked it all up like a sponge. I loved it.

Eventually I decided I wanted to breed. So, Naughtica and Spyro were put together for a week. And, it was successful. It was honestly a lot of fun, it was scary, but it was rewarding. Coming home that one day and seeing that a few hatched was one of the happiest moments of my life. I was so filled with joy and excitement.
But now a new learning curve. Caring for around 20 baby hatchlings. And it was a learning curve for sure. I was not at all prepared for how much they eat. I wasn't prepared to separate ones that started to get picked on. For that reason some lost parts of tails, some lost toes. One even completely lost a foot. But, i grew and I learned with later clutches.

Remember wanting to stay in good with the petshop owner? It came into play now. His shop was how I was able to sell my babies. It was either just my town, or the time, but he basically couldn't keep dragons in stock. Worked out great for me, and great for him. I had a solid consistent place to sell my babies to, and he had a reliable person to buy from.

I only did that for about two seasons before life changed and breeding as a hobby was no longer a viable thing to do. Spyro had died a year or two later. I really don't know how old he was.

But Naughtica was going strong. And a few more years passed and I had bought Kiki. I had always had a thing for red trans, and Kiki was the perfect girl to fit that bill. I had gotten over breeding and just wanted a dragon or two of the "higher end" morphs to enjoy. By this time I was very active on this site, and Naughtica and Kiki both had their own threads here (I will link to later). So did Calcifer, a uromastyx that I had bought from that same petshop I used to sell to. Naughtica was getting pretty old at this point. But, my care and knowledge had grown so much that I knew she was gonna be with me for the long haul, and that's what I was hoping out of kiki and calcifer. These three were my new crew. I was happy with everything I had.

Long story short, life got in the way again, and my crew had to be put under someone elses care. They were entrusted to my family. Unfortunately, that didn't work out well at all. And I feel awful. They were not taken care of properly. They eventually all passed. Naughtica was around 12 I believe. And I have no doubts she would have lived even longer if she were to have been under my care, I just wasn't able to.

It took me a long time to feel like I could get back into this hobby. One thing never left me, and that was my love for this hobby, and my love for these creatures, and my love for talking anyones ear off about them that will let me.

And here we are today.

-Brandon
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
claudiusx":j27wo94n said:
And if I'm honest with you, I dont see a problem at all with anthropomorphizing. If it doesnt cause harm to the dragon or the person, I see no issue. No harm no foul. It does seem like your favorite word lately though.
I did say we all do it (myself included), and that I think it's natural (albeit sometimes misplaced). I think "harm" in this sense is subjective. The problem is usually misinterpreting what's really going on with pets, or between pet and human. :wink:

For example, an owner leaves a dog home alone, and the dog freaks out, doing damage to furnishings, doors, possibly having an "accident" (peeing or defecating), etc.

It's not uncommon (in fact it's common) for an owner to then complain to their vet, "He only does this out of spite/because he's mad at me. Sometimes it's not a vet that hears the complaint, but a volunteer at the humane society where the owner wants to surrender the dog. (Or their YT audience :roll: )

This is a classic case of separation anxiety. Dogs just don't think that way; they can get mad, but they don't feel spite, or "get back at" their alphas/owners for hurt feelings or wrongs--those are human things. All the dog knows is that its person/alpha left him. He didn't understand, got scared, and out of frustration, acted out.

pictures dont always catch the action or behavior that is exhibited with the so called looks lol.
Likewise, written words don't always convey thoughts & feelings the way they're intended! :)

The more you're around them and your particular dragon, you'll pick up on cues or looks that aren't normal, or are only displayed during certain circumstances.
Yes, I have talked about pets studying their humans for body language, cues, etc. and that we humans need to do the same with pets--regardless of species.
Anyways, you keep throwing that talk around you'll make us all sound like crazies! :p
Haven't you been paying attention? Pet owners are crazies, self included! :headbang:
 

vrenee1018

Juvie Member
Maaaan, I feel like I'm late to the party! LOL It was a great read on your interest in bearded dragons, and I am very thankful that you have. You and along with Cooper and several others have shown and given so much insight and advice on these wonderful creatures. Thank you for that! I've followed a few of your other threads that had Tombo and Moro and then Suki and Mei, so this is a nice catchall of your crew. :) They are simply just beautiful stunning dragons and I've definitely shown them off to my bf and he thinks they're so very cool as well. Look forward to more adventures of the crew! :blob5: :blob8:

Vanessa
 

Claudiusx

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Got their weights graphed out.

31715-6294600451.jpg
31715-2246549037.jpg

Interesting to see how Moro really hasn't been growing that much. The past couple weeks shes been acting pretty slow but this week she's picked back up energy wise. So we will see how she does this month for weight gain.
Goes to show you how big the two girls are. Maybe it's something about the Dunner line. Tombo is honestly massive to hold lol. I'm going to have to measure him to get a length.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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They all got some watermelon today.

Suki somehow managed to teach herself how to pick it up and eat it, she ate it all quick.
Mei couldn't be bothered to even try.
Moro drank the juice in the puddle it left like it was a miracle from God. I felt bad she was having trouble eating it so I helped her out.
Tombo tried to eat my fingers again. Didn't seem interested in it but I came back 5 minutes later and it was gone lol.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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vrenee1018":211016gq said:
Maaaan, I feel like I'm late to the party! LOL It was a great read on your interest in bearded dragons, and I am very thankful that you have. You and along with Cooper and several others have shown and given so much insight and advice on these wonderful creatures. Thank you for that! I've followed a few of your other threads that had Tombo and Moro and then Suki and Mei, so this is a nice catchall of your crew. :) They are simply just beautiful stunning dragons and I've definitely shown them off to my bf and he thinks they're so very cool as well. Look forward to more adventures of the crew! :blob5: :blob8:

Vanessa

Hey, the more the merrier! Thanks for stopping by and posting! :D
I'm humbled at your words :)

Much more adventures to come to this journal!

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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Suki is a great eater. I had to leave early today so I gave everyone a bowl of worms probably only 20 minutes after lights came on. That way they'd be able to eat when they warm up and want to. So I go to make them all a salad too, Suki already ate all of her worms and was back to basking. I drop in the salad and she darts to it too!

31715-9518429618.jpg
31715-2055657772.jpg

Shes been eating great but hasn't been pooing as much as I'd like her to. Mei is eating normal and pooing normal. Suki seems to go longer in between but they are much larger poos.

Anyways, got some pics of Moro. I swear this girl has so much attitude.
I ran up and took this picture
31715-6978711979.jpg
And I swear to you once she realized what I was doing she just turned her back to me. She didnt move from her spot, she didnt run away, she literally just rotated to give me her back.... LOL.
31715-7122896719.jpg

Yeah that's poo at the bottom of the picture.... it's not a Moro pic without her best friend.... :laughing6:

-Brandon
 

vrenee1018

Juvie Member
That's awesome that they're all eating well! Go Claud's Crew!

claudiusx":3twyj7rc said:
Anyways, got some pics of Moro. I swear this girl has so much attitude.
I ran up and took this picture

That is hilarious. I swear those are the same looks my Tampi gives me whenever she looks at me now. Like, "How dare you have other animals than Queen Me. Hmph!" Haha Also, Moro's poo is her best friend. Ahahahahahaha :lol: :lol: :lol:

Crew is looooking good.

Vanessa
 

Claudiusx

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vrenee1018":1vcypkkg said:
Haha Also, Moro's poo is her best friend. Ahahahahahaha
Yeah... and I wonder why I get the cold shoulder. I put her on blast for the world to see.. :laughing6: :oops:
But I love her. She's for sure the sweetest of the bunch, despite the attitude. Maybe I only get it because I'm not taking her out like she wants :silent:

Thanks for stopping by Vanessa :)

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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Tombo Time!

I was doing a deeper clean on Tombos tank today, so out he went and in I went! LOL

He gets pretty aggresive (hormonal) when I let him out of his tank into the room since he sees all the other girls. So I placed him in a tub... well it was clear and he could see through it...

31715-2764323992.jpg
It might be a bit hard to tell in that pic... but Tombo's blue bars, turn into black bars when he black beards and gets hormonal lol..
31715-4107321077.jpg

So, since I've never shown off Tombo's black bars.. I decided I'd let him out of the bin to really wind him up! :laughing6:

31715-6493308791.jpg

31715-8700470598.jpg

I wish I would have gotten some better pictures. The camera didn't quite pick up just how dark his blue bars got. Was really cool to see!

Anyways, here is Mr. Tough guy sporting his wittle bwack beard! LOL
31715-1964114271.jpg

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

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Weights this week:

Tombo 273g
Moro 124g
Suki 91g
Mei 90g

Happy to see Moro starting to gain some.
Not too much gain out of Suki, but shes been doing really good with her salads so I'm not concerned at all about that. Allows Mei to catch back up.

And Tombo... well hes still a bottomless pit.

-Brandon
 

BlueDragon09

BD.org Addict
Hey,

Broly used to be a bottomless pit...for squash. Greens he ate them in early summer now not so much it's hit and miss with him. He's actually slowing down! In the four years I had him he's never once brumated. He's slow to eat though once he knows it's there he'll go. He's not quick about it anymore. Time for fecal test if he's planning to go down. I know to check for parasites/worms before brumation and after. I can't imagine parasites/worms going crazy inside a sleeping dragon but hey what do I know, Im not a parasite LOL.

I am glad your crew is still going about food. Im glad everyone is gaining weight.
 

Claudiusx

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BlueDragon09":2f8gkrme said:
In the four years I had him he's never once brumated.
Same with Naughtica. I had her for close to 9 years I think it was, and not once did she brumate. To be honest, none of my dragons have ever really brumated. Maybe a slight slowdown in activity, and sleeping a bit more from time to time, but never brumation.

I don't know if it has something to do with Cali weather, or my husbandry practices. But that's just how it's gone.

Hopefully Broly isn't gonna sleep for you lol. But if he does, I hope the fecal comes back ok. Small numbers are ok.

Thank you, I was a bit concerned about Moro but she's eating good now. She actually does what Tombo used to do, glass dance when I go to the feeder closet. Now Tombo pretty much perpetually just sits near his glass waiting to be fed. He has a little ledge where the glass rides, and he puts his arm up on it like he's waiting for dinner service lol!

And I'm hoping I'll get Suki and Mei into their new homes this week. I actually have a day off so I'm planning to steam roll through this enclosure build today!

-Brandon
 

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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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