Dewey's Thread: Updated: 9/6/12 He's Very Sick

I received Dewey on 1/13/10. After having him for a couple of days I officially decided to name him Dewey. Since he now has a name I thought I should make a thread dedicated to him so I can share our journey and his growth with all of you.

Being my first beardie, Dewey will always have a very special place in my heart. He's been a pure joy to have so far. Especially now that he's starting to come out of his shell little by little every day. I'm truly excited to see how he will develop in the months to come.

So, enough babble... here are the first set of pictures which I took tonight.

Hanging out on his vine. I wasn't expecting Dewey to be as small as he is. Yesterday was the first time he was seen up on his vine and he was up there again today. He seems to be a pro with navigating it!

Here's Dewey all wrapped up just before bed time.

 

[DeweysMom]

I got some more pics of the boy tonight. I noticed tonight that I've given Dewey a nickname. For some reason when I pick him up now I can't help but call him "pork chop". Weird, but it does seem to fit him!

This was how I found him when I got home from work tonight. Looks comfy huh?!

This was shortly after our cuddle time. He's just about out. After I took these pics I covered him up with his blankie so he could drift off to dream land.

 

[TASTIGER]

looks like hes settling in nicely

 

[DeweysMom]

Yes, he seems very content in his new home. I was so worried about relecation stress, but so far so good. I think he's loving his new pad.

 

[DeweysMom]

Dewey seems to be SO MUCH HAPPIER in his new viv than he was in his 40 gallon breeder. It’s like he’s a completely different beardie. He’s much more active and his colors during the day have been a lot lighter than they normally are. His appetite has also improved a bit. I’m so glad I decided to make him a crossfire. I thought he’d be more comfortable in it, but I wasn’t expecting this much of change. From this day on, all my beardies will have a 4x2x2 viv as adults.

Today marked another first for Dewey. I ordered him some hornworms and silkworms which he’s never had before. He gobbled up the hornworms and seemed to want more, but I stopped him at two. Tomorrow I’ll give the silkworms a go and see if he likes those. Very exciting times for my big guy.

Here are some pics from today.

Note his light color!

For the past couple of nights around bed time he gets into this position. Not sure why yet.

BIG boy!!

 

[fez09]

sigh....I just love Dewey pics...He really does seem like a thick lil porkchop!! Did he already devour those hornworms? Did he get any big ones? Mine LOVE to squish the guts out of the really big fat juicy horns!!!

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks Kat! The hornworms I got were on the smaller side.. note the word WERE.. some of them are huge now! I can't believe how fast they grow. Tomorrow I'll give him moreand will try to get some more pics. He goes and snatches the worms up a lot quicker than I can react with the camera sometimes!

Dewey has me worried once again. Things were going so great with his new cage, but he's been very blah over the last couple of days. His llittle eyes alway seem to look tired and he's been literally clinging onto the back side of the rock structure that I made for him so that he's basically dangling in the corner. It's the weirdest thing. At first I thought he fell and got stuck so I picked him up and not 5 minutes later he got into the same position. Today when I came home from work, same position.

The temps on the platform are within the right range (90° on the lowest point to 108° on the highest point). I'm wondering if maybe he's finding it to be to hot now? The cool side has been fluctuating between 79° to 84° so I think that side is ok.

His appetite has dropped off some, mainly with the dubias and greens, but I think that may be because I introduced the new silk and hornworms. Maybe he's holding out hoping I'll give him more worms. I don't know. I just wish they were like cats or dogs where they're more predictable and definitely easier to understand!

This is a picture of Dewey clinging off of his structure like I mentioned above.

 

[DeweysMom]

So Dewey's been acting very blah lately. Very sleepy, not moving around all that much, not really eating, staying in the corner of the cool side, etc. I weighed him and gave him a nice warm bath on Friday and that seemed to have woken him up a little bit for a little while. Friday afternoon he was basking. Saturday he was basking, but not really eating. Sunday he was very lazy and then again yesterday and today he was lazy and stayed on his blanket. Given the time of year and the temps (his viv temps are spot on), I'm thinking it's brumation. This is my first time through this and I must say that I HATE it!!! I miss my happy and perky boy.

Here are some pics from Saturday when he was awake and moving around.

I noticed him peeking through the vent at me and thought it was the cutest thing.

I love it when he basks like this. To me, it makes him look happy and proud.

Then this morning... lol... This is how I found him under his blankie this morning. Looks very comfy doesn't he?!

 

[mrstuart75]

.

 

[mrstuart75]

Im sorry, just getting used to this ... however, I would like to ask, if you built your terrarium or you bought it? It's really beautiful!! Dewey is so adorable!!!

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks! Yes, we built Dewey's viv. It was done using the Crossfire Enclosure plans. It's made out of white melamine, but I painted the interior using one of those fancy painting sponges. I also built his rock structure out of styrofoam using the directions on the "Beautiful Dragons" website. I'm at work right now and don't have the links to redirect you, but if you do a search you can find them pretty easily.

 

[beardie osk]

Hi Mandy, I've been off line for a while and unsubscribed, so I had to catch up...........don't you just hate brumation? It's so hard to tell what's going on, I have some of my boys that do the same thing......whenever in doubt, and the appetite is lacking, I always suppliment with babyfood, but then of course you have to be careful with that as well, they like the babyfood and get spoiled and want just that. It could be Dewey's holding out for the horns or silks, it's so hard to tell. Keep the baths going, monitor his pooping, and give his calcium etc. in the babyfood if he's not eating well. Of course, if you think things are going on too long there's always a fecal to rule anything out. I feel your pain..... :roll: Keep us posted.

 

[fez09]

Hi Mandy, I'm just catching up with threads and noticed that you haven't posted in a little bit...Is Dewey feeling any better??

 

[DeweysMom]

Hi Christine (sorry, I didn't realize you had replied until now) and Kat! I'll post a Dewey update for both of you together.

Dewey's still not right - at least not my vision of being right. He had a fecal done which came back clean and the vet (who is experienced w/lizards and other exotics) didn't see anything that raised any flags. The vet thinks it's just a resting/brumation phase, but I just hate it and keep stressing over it.

The thing that doesn't make sense to me is that Dewey isn't sleeping. I was under the impression that brumation meant sleeping. Most of the time when I check on him he is awake, but he's under his hammock on the cool side of the viv. It seems weird that he's staying awake. He won't touch any food or go up on the basking platform on his own.

I've been bathing him once a week (since we figured he's resting) and after his bath he'll eat something and go up on his platform to bask. Today for example I used a vaca day because I was out of town over the weekend. At about 10:30am I gave Dewey his bath and he actually roamed around our room for a few minutes. When I put him back in his viv he ate 2 medium dubia nymphs (no salad) and then he spent the rest of the day basking. If he follows the same pattern that he's been following, he'll stay on his blanket tomorrow until I give him his next bath.

I've been weighing him every time I bathe him and he's staying in the same area. He's lost 4 grams. How much do they usually lose when they brumate?

This has been going on for about a month now. I miss my perky little boy.

 

[athenacp]

Well, Digger never appeared to lose weight when he burmated, but he brumated weird. His first year he kinda just hung out, he wouldn't eat unless I fed him baby food and that was once a week, I'd give him a bath once a week and he would just lay around. He did this from Sept to March, then I remember in March 2005 I offered him a super and he ate it and was looking for more! The following years he would either just lay there, maybe sleep sound for one to 2 days, then wake up and eat, poop then back to sleep or he wouldn't sleep he just wanted to cuddle or he would get the urge to explore and would want the floor or the couch and walk around or he would just lay there...it was never the same from year to year. I was a worry-wart and would take him to the vet and only twice in his life he had bad fecals (and this was when he was 2 & 3 years old) the rest of the time they were clean.

My little one would brumate anywhere from 4 months to 8 months, sigh. Drove me nuts!

It sure sounds like brumation to me.

 

[fez09]

Hey Mandy, just checking it on you and Dewey, hope he's up and around and eating for you!