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
 

saraho

Hatchling Member
Do you think your scale babies are noticing the fires? I would think they have instincts telling them danger is near. I don't know, just a hypothesis. We were talking about it today at the library where I work and keep Charlie. We have some very weird sunrises and sunsets thanks to the fires, but I'm all the way on the eastern edge of South Dakota. I have no concept of what the atmosphere must be like out there. Be safe and keep those pretty lizards safe too!
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Original Poster
saraho":28bpwhyq said:
Do you think your scale babies are noticing the fires? I would think they have instincts telling them danger is near. I don't know, just a hypothesis. We were talking about it today at the library where I work and keep Charlie. We have some very weird sunrises and sunsets thanks to the fires, but I'm all the way on the eastern edge of South Dakota. I have no concept of what the atmosphere must be like out there. Be safe and keep those pretty lizards safe too!

Sorry, I don't know how I missed this!
Hard to tell, of course enough time has passed now that I might not even remember ha, but I'd say it didn't affect them too much. Besides the fact that they all were wanting to just hunker down and sleep all day. Almost like a mini brumation. So in a sense, yeah, maybe they did notice the fires and their instinct was to dig/bury/hide.

This week all of them have been super active. We have had horribly bipolar weather here lately. The previous week it was 60, last week it was 100, and this week it's been 80. But this week everyone has been super active and having a great big appetite. So that's always good to see :)

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Original Poster
Moro decided to hunker down early for the night. Sorry for the quality of the picture, her tree cave is in the back corner of her viv, and I had to zoom in through glass to get the pictures :)

31715-4238620377.jpg
31715-4842079855.jpg
31715-7327966280.jpg

She tucks her little arms up under her head almost like she uses them as a pillow :mrgreen:
I shouldn't say little arms though. She has always had super chunky/muscular looking arms. More so than any dragon i've ever had.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Original Poster
Not much to update about this thread. Everyone has been doing fine. Moro doesn't really get bugs anymore, all she gets is small baby dubias occasionally, or BSFL when I have them. Othewise, stuff just seems to rot in her throat.

But, suki had a big surprise for us today. I walk in tonight and check on her, and she has 12 eggs thrown about her enclosure all dried up. Must have laid them this morning. I didn't even recognize them at first. I shouted at my wife and asked what she fed them! Then I realized it was eggs! Poor girl, she wasn't showing at all! No signs or symptoms. And on top of that all, she is going through a full body shed...
I didn't feel anymore eggs in her, but she was ravenous so I let her chow down on 5 or 6 male dubias.

Poor girl.

-Brandon
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Original Poster
Suki has laid a few more rounds of eggs... she's a weird one. But she's been losing a lot of body weight and fat stores because of it. I can actually see her bones at the base of her tail. I just don't understand why her body is taxing her so much to produce these eggs... She's been eating like a mad woman but just want stop laying and losing weight.

Anyways, like all things this too shall pass.

Maybe it is Tombos fault. I mean look at him...
31715-5486196992.jpg
31715-8062960263.jpg
Something is clearly in the air.

I decided to try out sand with Kiki too. Moro has been doing fine and it and seems to be much more active since the move to it last year. Kiki so far isn't sold on it I think... she's basically stayed on her basking log the whole time.
31715-9123593829.jpg
However, her colors are much more bright with the change for some reason.. could just be the new basking spot though. Basking light mutes her colors quite a bit. She is still neon yellow.

-Brandon
 

Rocky2022

Sub-Adult Member
Beardie name(s)
Rocky, Ruby
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
How in the world am I just reading this story (I know I've seen posts in this thread). Shame on you for making me cry early in the morning. Good grief-
Thanks for sharing- and I love how the story continues (and will hopefully do so for generations).
 

vrenee1018

Juvie Member
Gosh, I haven't been on in forever and I received a notification that someone commented on your post and it brought me back to the times I was constantly on here posting about my beardie and reading about others. Thanks for the re-read @Rocky2022
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Original Poster
How in the world am I just reading this story (I know I've seen posts in this thread). Shame on you for making me cry early in the morning. Good grief-
Thanks for sharing- and I love how the story continues (and will hopefully do so for generations).
Gosh, I haven't been on in forever and I received a notification that someone commented on your post and it brought me back to the times I was constantly on here posting about my beardie and reading about others. Thanks for the re-read @Rocky2022
Thanks to both of you :) It's always interesting to hear that someone besides myself actually read that monstrosity of a wall of text lol.

Since I haven't posted any pictures or updates in awhile, here is one of Kiki from two days ago

20221022_174106.jpg
 

xp29

BD.org Addict
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Zen , Ruby ,Snicker Doodles, Sweet Pea, Sinatra
Is she a microscale or Italian?
Or just a really pretty leatherback? She looks cleaner than alot if leatherbacks.
She is a very gorgeous girl.
 

Rocky2022

Sub-Adult Member
Beardie name(s)
Rocky, Ruby
(stopping myself from rubbing her back on the screen)
Fun Fact- many years ago, I touched a leatherback and thought all BDs were smooth to the touch. I was afraid of Rocky in the beginning and while he didn't feel really rough, I just knew in my mind that he was going to shed into a leatherback. Talk about wishful thinking?! I love Rocky just the same.:love::LOL::ROFLMAO::rolleyes::sneaky:

you are @Claudiusx! Not only is she a beautiful leatherback- the red stripes that perfectly highlight her.:love::love::love::love::love::love::love:


In this picture she screams a girl to me (features of her head). I am really maturing in this BD world, go me!:LOL::ROFLMAO:
 

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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
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i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
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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