Fluffy & Figment

I have posted random tidbits about Fluffy all over this forum. And I tried a blog, but somehow just not my thing. I don't know why I think giving them their own thread here will work any better, but let's give it a shot. Ok? I'm going to try for lots of pictures.

Let's start with the Fluffy-Monster...

No matter how fabulously I plan her viv, she finds the oddest place possible to sit. She seems to think the corner of her sandbox is a good perch.

And I went in this weekend and put a stuffed animal under the lowest platform of her viv so she could have a friend. She decided to snuggle with it tonight.

This was her day sitting in the sun at work with me. Wow! She was one seriously energetic little thing for about a week after that!

I'm sure most people saw this when I posted Fluffy's time around town, but I still love, love, love it and wanted to post it again anyway. Fluffy bowling!

And Mr. Figment! He is my little pudge-opotomus. Not quite there yet, but he is gaining weight nicely since we added hornworms to the diet two weeks ago.

I adore this picture. Walked in and found him sitting in his hammock like this. I have never seen a beardie sit up like a dog before, but that's just what it looks like to me.

This one was taken tonight. I finally spruced up his viv a bit this weekend and he is still adjusting. But he figured out that the vent next to his basking spot gives him a perfect view of anyone sitting on the sofa. That seems to make him feel better.

From a couple months ago. His first black beard. He thought we was so macho and we just kept taking pictures and giggling. Poor little fellow.

This is Fluffy and Figment's viv. He lives on top and she lives on bottom.

The entire living room. It's a nice large viv, but not overly intrusive.

My bug room. Under the cover is my superworms. They like the dark. And Fluffy's original viv is in the corner.

Neo is 12 years old now and for his birthday he got a beardie. We will be picking her up at Repticon in Ft. Lauderdale on May 13. I will see if I can get the photo into photobucket and I will add that onto this thread.

 

[FranktheTank]

Their viv is awesome, did you make it or buy it somewhere? I like how it looks like a piece of furniture and not just a big cage. I think it looks great in the room.

-Kaleen

 

[NeosMom]

I built the viv. Would you believe that is leftover hurricane wood? It's absolutely amazing what you can do with things you salvage. My boss was going to throw all of it away. Yes, it took me weeks to get it all stained and sealed properly, but totally worth it.

 

[FranktheTank]

Wow it's definitely worth it, it looks great. Job well done!

-Kaleen

 

[NeosMom]

Thank you very much! :mrgreen:

 

[NeosMom]

And Neo's new baby girl. She is coming from Fairytail Dragons in Orlando, FL. And I must say that Heather has been so incredibly WONDERFUL! Neo kept going on and on about leucistic beardies and so when we started hunting for his perfect dragon, I stumbled across Heather's babies from Boo & Bookie. Thinking they would be exactly what my son was looking for, I inquired about them. I was quite surprised when Neo turned his nose up at them and gave me a ridiculously detailed description of the exact dragon he wanted. Thinking it was a hopeless quest, I apologized to Heather and shared his "wish list" with her. To my utter shock, she was completely laid back about it and told me totally casually "oh, he probably wants my Prada & Etro babies" and starts describing what they would look like. At least a dozen emails later and we are all set to pick up the new baby at Repticon. I can not believe how helpful and patient she has been through this entire process. It is obvious that she cares a great deal for her dragons, as well as making my son happy in selecting his first beardie. I will be certain to post more about my experience with her once we get Crystal home.

And here is a picture of the newest member of our family. Crystal!

This is her new home in process. It was originally a dresser that my grandmother had given to me. It's been in the family longer than I have and has old sticker bits and all sorts of whatnots from all the kids who have used it to hold their toys and craft supplies through the years.

It took my hubby about an hour to gut it.

And here is the status as of today. We will be making lots of progress over the weekend because it has to be completely sealed and allowed to air out for a few days before we try to set it up. The colors are the same as the rest of the furniture in my son's room, so it will match perfectly.

I also started sewing Crystal's hammock, blankie and sofa today - all made of the softest fleece. I'll post those pictures later, too.

 

[FranktheTank]

Aww so adorable, I really wanted a luecistic dragon too, actually one of those babies from the same clutch, but baby Chloe fell in my lap and I must take care of her first! You are very talented, You should consider making and selling custom vivs!

-Kaleen

 

[NeosMom]

Thank you for the compliment, but not for all the tea in China! :lol: Working with wood is most definitely not my new favorite thing. I'm happy to do it on a personal level, but can't imagine full time. I would hate it within a month.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Fluffy & Figments viv is wonderful, what great craftsmanship. They're very lucky to have you! I just loved all the pics & yes, beardies are known as scaley puppies, especially when they're young. So you were on the right track! I really loved the pic of Figments first black beard. Rubio was 5 mo old when he discovered he could make a black beard, he was concentrating so hard one day, he went cross-eyed and fell off his log. I've never seen an embarrassed beardie, but he sure hopped back on his log & was looking around to see if either Roger or I noticed. Meanwhile we were busting a gut laughing so hard. So enjoy Figment, you have many more great moments to come!

Fluffy sure loves getting around, I know you take her anywhere but where do you work that you can take her there & put her outside in the sunshine? Lucky you! Fluffy looks like she loves to be out with you, and bowling? What's her scores like :mrgreen:

I hope you continue to put pics on here, I just love watching them.

Your son's new beardie is beautiful, she's a smaller scaled dragon, right? I really don't know the difference with the newest innovations, but she sure if pretty & she's going to be very colourful. Your Fluffy sure is colourful, I wonder how Figments colour is going to change as he grows? How old are they now? It's going to be fun having a baby, but I don't envy you the crickets, or do you raise roaches? I was thinking of ordering a few different types of bugs online, but my crew just don't eat enough for that to happen. I have a small roach colony but only Didi eats about 1 a week. The others look at them like "what in the world are you trying to feed me?" I just found a local shop that sells hornworms, so I'm going to buy a few to see if they like them. They love their supers & enjoy crickets, I'm the one that doesn't enjoy taking care of crickets. I like their sound, I just don't like their smell or cleaning out their tanks. So supers it is, much easier to care for. Mine are in a cricket keeper in wheat bran, then in a cupboard so they're always in the dark like yours.

Thanks for starting this thread, it's so nice to meet your beardies! More pics, please :mrgreen:
Deb

 

[NeosMom]

Thanks Deb! I'm glad I started them a thread. I will get some more pictures up this weekend. During the week I work 7am to 6pm, so not much time for other stuff in the evening. I manage a drycleaner / laundry. It's a little mom & pop place in a semi small town, which gives me a bit more freedom. Saturday I only work 8-1 so it's not a bad day to take Fluffy to work. The boss hates having her there so I don't do it very often. The day I took that picture she hadn't been herself. She had been sort of "off" for the week prior. I wanted to post in the health section or something, but it was one of those things where I really couldn't say what was wrong. She was eating and pooping and basking and her color was fine... how do you post that and say something is wrong? But she was just not herself. So, I took her with me and I put a super cushy towel in the bottom of a laundry cart and let her sit by the open back door where the sun was shining in. She got almost 3 hours of real sun and it was like a new Fluffy! Truthfully, I think the out time had as much to do with it as the sun. She is a little diva and nothing perks her up more than people fawning over her and telling her how wonderful she is and petting her. I think her favorite trip is Dairy Queen because it's a nice walk and there are always kids in line to fuss over her while we wait.

My son's beardie is a leatherback. That is the most custom ordered beardie in the history of the world. If I think Fluffy is spoiled, it's nothing compared to Neo. He just gushes over every leucistic he sees here and goes on and on about how he wants a leucistic or a citrus. So, I find Fairytail dragons and see the Boo & Bookie babies (both parents are leucistic so we are talking WHITE babies). My little bugger of a son turned his nose up at them!!! After all, this is his birthday present (12 years old) and so he wants the perfect beardie. Very light in color. Somewhere between a citrus and leucistic. Kinda like white with a little bit of yellow or peach. Oh, and leatherback would be better. A girl. And she HAS to be extra sweet with a great personality. :roll: Yeah... let me get right on that. So, I send Heather an email apologizing for wasting her time about the Boo & Bookie babies and shared my son's wish list with her. I thought maybe she could give me some insight on how to start convincing my son to compromise. Instead, her answer was "Oh, he wants one of my Prada x Etro babies" and that was that. A dozen or two emails later and we will be picking Crystal up at Repticon in less than two weeks. Neo says she's perfect. Uh-huh... until she poops on his bed one day. :lol: This is going to be so much fun!

Fluffy's mommy is a red flame that practically glows in the dark. Beautiful dragon. And she got hypo from her father. So, she has some really neat coloring. As you know, it depends on her mood and the lighting. But her beard is turning orange which I just LOVE. As for Figment... Hubby stopped at the pet store to pick up crickets for me and the next thing I know he is driving me straight from work to there to show me the ADORABLE little leatherback that he just had to have. That was a Wednesday night. Being that I am the one hanging out here all the time, I had to make him a home - in only 3 days - between work schedules. :shock: He doesn't ask much, does he? :? Are you getting the feeling I have two very demanding men in my life? Awwww... who am I kidding? I love them both and their dragons, too. I actually need to get a really terrific picture of Figment that shows his color. He has the most beautiful citrus coloring. Almost a greenish shade. I can't wait to see him in a few more months. (He is 7 months and Fluffy is 8 months now.)

You are so lucky to have hornworms locally! I ordered a big assortment of worms from Linda's Gone Buggie. Found out that my babies adore hornworms. They are both starting to grow again - finally. I had started to worry when they began to turn their noses up at the crickets and they both just stopped gaining any weight. So, their diets consist of the biggest hornworm I can give them each day, plus a few supers. Figment at the butterworms, reptiworms, and a few of the waxies I got from Linda, but Fluffy is such a pain in the rump. Horns and supers are it. I almost ditched the cricket colony after that, but now I'm really glad I kept it. Will come in handy when Crystal comes home. Honestly, I don't understand why people dislike dealing with crickets. They are just a cakewalk to me. I never have any problem at all. Of course, I clean them every single day. And on the rare occasion when I have skipped a day they are pretty unpleasant. But it's like anything else. A quick 5 minute chore to keep things going. I have a really hard time with the whole roach thing. Being born and raised in SW Florida, roaches seriously creep me out. I've finally reached a point where I think I could do Dubia if they were legal here. But my hubby and Neo are 100% against it. I don't think they are terribly fond of my current bug breeding. For that matter, my boss isn't exactly thrilled that I have my bugs shipped to work. :mrgreen: Oh well. He will get over it.

It's good to see you around again, Deb. Hate that I lost track of you for a bit there. I promise more pictures and stuff this weekend.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Crystal is a great looking baby & I'll be looking forward to more Figment & Fluffy pics. Bet your son can't wait to get his baby home!

I"m glad you started a thread. I know what you mean about dubia, but I did buy a colony. Gave 3/4 of it away, it was way too big & keep my small one in a 20 gallon tank. Only Didi eats one a week or so, they're all super worm eaters & have been for years. They all thrive on them, then I have to stuff veggies/greens into them as they won't eat them otherwise (spoiled? yeah just a bit, it's all Roger's fault). So I have to make sure they get their food into them & whatever else they need before I leave for work at 10:30a. Luckily Jake comes in at 5:30-6:30, cuddles them all & puts them to bed. I'd be lost without them as I don't want their lights on until 9:30p when I get home. Otherwise, my gecko likes the babies, so that's why I keep it. I don't like dealing with crickets, mainly because I live in an apartment & there are too many escapees. Some ended up in a neighbours & boy was that a mess, so stopped getting them, as you can't stop a few of them from escaping. I haven't been over to get hornworms, maybe tomorrow afternoon, they get their shipment in on Wed late afternoon, so I'll see if I can get over there tomorrow. I don't even know if they'll like them, so will only get a few just to see. With my luck they'll love them at 1.79 each! But can't order them, too many, as even if they like them they won't eat more than 1 or so a day.

So looking forward to more pics on the weekend, I'll let you know how they like their hornworms!
Deb

 

[NeosMom]

I tried the baby food tonight. I am determined to get Fluffy to gain some weight. Since the only thing she is willing to eat that is helpful are hornworms, I am up you know what creek right now because all my hornworms are only about an inch and a half or so. So, after getting some good advice from Deb, I pulled out the sweet potato & chicken baby food that I had set aside. It was here just in case any of them ever got sick and needed it. She ate about 4 ml of it before she totally gave up. It was kinda strange because she seemed to like it, but she was still more interested in running off to do other things. :roll: Here is a picture of her baby food face.

And when I returned her to her home I see that Figment has been watching the whole feeding process. He has a nice little black bearded and is just bobbing away. :? Since I can't possibly leave him out (even though he is putting on weight just fine) I had to take him over and feed him some of the baby food, too. you can see in his picture that he seemed to like it better than Fluffy did, but he only got about 1 ml.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I know Fluffy is only 8 mo old but she looks fine weight wise, why do you think she's underweight? And what does she weigh? When Didi came to be he weighed 300g and he was already 4 yrs old. I've managed to get his weight up to 412g & now he looks a bit better, he was so skinny when I got him! But Fluffy looks great, love her colour & really love her beard! So let me know & I'll let you know if she's got good weight for her age. Don't forget she still has over a year to grow & once summer gets here (oh that's right, you live in Florida, warm & sunny most of the time!) she'll eat more. You should get her out in the sunshine on Saturday afternoon and Sunday if you can, that will normally get her appetite going. So let me know.
Deb

 

[NeosMom]

Last weigh in / measure was on Tuesday. She was at 16" and 252g. Figment is 18" and 323g. She is a month older than him and was bigger at one point. Then a couple months ago she got insanely finicky and looked like she was losing weight. It was visible enough that my husband could see it, too. That's when I got a scale and started carefully tracking them both. They were eating and growing neck and neck until early February and suddenly Fluffy is just not keeping up at all. Am I wrong and worrying way too much?

 

[sweetiepie9]

My Sweetie did the same thing, drove me crazy, so that's when I started her on babyfood, too. I was just wondering why you wanted to start this, but if it's just until the hornworms grow & she'll eat those, then go for it, Won't do her any harm, but I'd give her butternut squash as well as sweet potato. She won't gain weight very quickly but it will at least give her some good nutrients. I have 5 picky males, they'll eat supers (does she like those, those will put weight on her quickly, too) but not any veggies or greens unless I actually open their mouths to get them started & hand feed every single morsel. Drives me crazy, as they can't live on protein alone. What I do, though, is feed the supers the greens they won't eat, so at least they get something. I also throw in butternut squash & carrots to the worms, hopefully that will pass along to my dragons. They're healthy & all but I really am envious of owners who have beardies that will eat salads on their own.
Deb