I've been a "lurker" on this website for almost 4 years now, ever since my husband and I started thinking about getting our first bearded dragon, so I guess it's long past time I signed on here and introduced myself and my little reptile family (2 humans, one bearded dragon, and one cornsnake), especially since I've learned so much from all of you and enjoyed reading your stories, etc.
We got our beardie from a local reptile rescue which has since had to close down. He was about a year old (some of our friends had advised us not to get one that was too young for our first one, and we had also learned that lesson ourselves with the snake -- another story), and in reasonably good shape considering the horror stories I heard about his past history. They had already done a pretty good job nursing him back to health. My husband named him "Puff" (after the song about the "magic dragon"), and I went along with it because I had named the snake ("Squirmles") and it was his turn to name one. We're lucky to have a really good reptile vet who has helped us through a number of adventures with both of our critters, most notably Puff getting really sick with adenovirus about 2 years ago. She said it wasn't a death sentence but no cure either -- all we could do is treat the other conditions that arise and hope that his own immune system gets a handle on it, which is what seems to have happened, although his appetite has never quite come back to what it was before he got sick. We have a heck of a time getting him to eat his veggies these days, although he still chases after crickets and roaches with reasonable enthusiasm. But almost a year ago he surprised me by having a full blown testosterone fit -- black bearding and head bobbing and bouncing off the walls and the whole crazy thing. I'd read about this but I'd never seen Puff do it before. I figured it must be a good thing -- this must be what a normal healthy adult male bearded dragon is supposed to do once in a while, except that his biological clock was running about 3 months fast -- it was right after the winter solstice. So we're muddling through, and my husband and I probably both fell in love with him within the first year that we had him. "Daddy" has gotten really good at slipping greens in his mouth when he's busy chewing on a bug, and also gets a big kick out of "Mommy's" lectures: "Puff, can you say 'omnivore'? it means you eat bugs AND veggies..." but Puff just gives me "The Look". I suppose just about everyone around here is familiar with the famous "Look" -- I think some of you call it the "stink eye".
That's probably about enough for an intro, so I better finish up before this gets too "TLDR"
Hopefully more in the future, and sorry for taking so long to post something
shb
We got our beardie from a local reptile rescue which has since had to close down. He was about a year old (some of our friends had advised us not to get one that was too young for our first one, and we had also learned that lesson ourselves with the snake -- another story), and in reasonably good shape considering the horror stories I heard about his past history. They had already done a pretty good job nursing him back to health. My husband named him "Puff" (after the song about the "magic dragon"), and I went along with it because I had named the snake ("Squirmles") and it was his turn to name one. We're lucky to have a really good reptile vet who has helped us through a number of adventures with both of our critters, most notably Puff getting really sick with adenovirus about 2 years ago. She said it wasn't a death sentence but no cure either -- all we could do is treat the other conditions that arise and hope that his own immune system gets a handle on it, which is what seems to have happened, although his appetite has never quite come back to what it was before he got sick. We have a heck of a time getting him to eat his veggies these days, although he still chases after crickets and roaches with reasonable enthusiasm. But almost a year ago he surprised me by having a full blown testosterone fit -- black bearding and head bobbing and bouncing off the walls and the whole crazy thing. I'd read about this but I'd never seen Puff do it before. I figured it must be a good thing -- this must be what a normal healthy adult male bearded dragon is supposed to do once in a while, except that his biological clock was running about 3 months fast -- it was right after the winter solstice. So we're muddling through, and my husband and I probably both fell in love with him within the first year that we had him. "Daddy" has gotten really good at slipping greens in his mouth when he's busy chewing on a bug, and also gets a big kick out of "Mommy's" lectures: "Puff, can you say 'omnivore'? it means you eat bugs AND veggies..." but Puff just gives me "The Look". I suppose just about everyone around here is familiar with the famous "Look" -- I think some of you call it the "stink eye".
That's probably about enough for an intro, so I better finish up before this gets too "TLDR"
Hopefully more in the future, and sorry for taking so long to post something
shb
