hello from hal and guafi!

[halomtano]

hi! im halomtano' (call me hal) and this is my bearded dragon guafi!

this story is really wordy, sorry about that. i have a lot to say.

my sister in law texted me 2 years ago, back when i was a senior in highschool and asked me if i wanted a bearded dragon for free. guafi had been through 2 different owners at this point, and her previous owners were apparently moving to morocco and decided they didnt want her anymore.

it was a family of four with two young children if im not mistaken, but i didnt personally know them. my father in law wouldnt let her or her siblings keep her. i dont actually know her age, they said she was 2-3, and her original name was liz. she was obviously not taken very well care of when i first saw her if the state of her tank was any indicator. i really think they got bored of her and didnt like that keeping a pet actually came with taking care of the pet. probably the same as the person who originally bought her.

(the second pic above was after i hosed the entire thing down outside and disinfected everything, because they hadnt cleaned it in what looked like a few weeks.)

i reamed her 'guafi', the chamoru word for fire (my familys from saipan). i thought it was fitting for a little dragon

i moved her into a 90gal my parents got me pretty soon after i got her and shes been living in there since. ive been feeling weird about it though, so i started building a 120gal from scratch and im almost done with it. itll be a bioactive viv, and im building a counter with a minifridge as well. im also physically disabled though so its a slow process. maybe one day ill make her a 210gal. i really like woodworking. im a butch lesbian and i think it shows

i came to this site because shes been acting weird and i keep getting worried about her health. shes underweight (360g) and ive been steadily getting her weight up since i got her (it used to be much lower!). ill detail her health problems in a different thread, but my vet isnt really being helpful and just tells me that shes fine without explaining to me what could be happening when i take her in. its the only vet in the area who looks at reptiles and all of the people who own reptiles that ive talked to about her say shes not the greatest vet, i think she mostly sees cats. so, im here to ask questions! please tell me where i can improve and what i can do differently, ive never owned a reptile before and am going off of what i learn but its a continuous battle.

now heres more pics of her from over the years

 

[xp29]

hi! im halomtano' (call me hal) and this is my bearded dragon guafi!

View attachment 87688

this story is really wordy, sorry about that. i have a lot to say.

my sister in law texted me 2 years ago, back when i was a senior in highschool and asked me if i wanted a bearded dragon for free. guafi had been through 2 different owners at this point, and her previous owners were apparently moving to morocco and decided they didnt want her anymore.

View attachment 87691

it was a family of four with two young children if im not mistaken, but i didnt personally know them. my father in law wouldnt let her or her siblings keep her. i dont actually know her age, they said she was 2-3, and her original name was liz. she was obviously not taken very well care of when i first saw her if the state of her tank was any indicator. i really think they got bored of her and didnt like that keeping a pet actually came with taking care of the pet. probably the same as the person who originally bought her.

View attachment 87692
View attachment 87693
(the second pic above was after i hosed the entire thing down outside and disinfected everything, because they hadnt cleaned it in what looked like a few weeks.)

i reamed her 'guafi', the chamoru word for fire (my familys from saipan). i thought it was fitting for a little dragon

View attachment 87694
View attachment 87695

i moved her into a 90gal my parents got me pretty soon after i got her and shes been living in there since. ive been feeling weird about it though, so i started building a 120gal from scratch and im almost done with it. itll be a bioactive viv, and im building a counter with a minifridge as well. im also physically disabled though so its a slow process. maybe one day ill make her a 210gal. i really like woodworking. im a butch lesbian and i think it shows

i came to this site because shes been acting weird and i keep getting worried about her health. shes underweight (360g) and ive been steadily getting her weight up since i got her (it used to be much lower!). ill detail her health problems in a different thread, but my vet isnt really being helpful and just tells me that shes fine without explaining to me what could be happening when i take her in. its the only vet in the area who looks at reptiles and all of the people who own reptiles that ive talked to about her say shes not the greatest vet, i think she mostly sees cats. so, im here to ask questions! please tell me where i can improve and what i can do differently, ive never owned a reptile before and am going off of what i learn but its a continuous battle.

now heres more pics of her from over the years
View attachment 87696 View attachment 87699 View attachment 87700 View attachment 87701 View attachment 87703

Welcome to the forum
Her name is GREAT I love it.
What are you feeding her, what supplements are you giving her, and most importantly what are you using for uvb and basking.
You've come to the right place for any info you need,this is a great and helpful community.
There is someone here that can answer most any questions you have, don't hesitate to ask

 

[Chris.]

Welcome Hal and Guafi. She's a really beautiful dragon and kudos to you for taking her in like this. Sounds like you will take really good care for her too.
xp29 mentioned the most important aspekts of taking care of reptiles already, heat and uvb.

Also don't get hung up on numbers for weight. My boy is also "only" 350g but that number is no indicator of being healthy or not. Look for visible hip bones or sunken fat pads at the back of the head, those are indicators that your dragon would be underweight. Guafi seems more on the light side but not seriously underweight to me

 

[halomtano]

Welcome to the forum
Her name is GREAT I love it.
What are you feeding her, what supplements are you giving her, and most importantly what are you using for uvb and basking.
You've come to the right place for any info you need,this is a great and helpful community.
There is someone here that can answer most any questions you have, don't hesitate to ask

thank you!! her name being cultural like mine was very important to me im really glad that everyone here is so welcoming, i dont know why i didnt join sooner.

right now i am feeding dubia roaches, usually 8 medium sized ones, and 2-3 superworms if shes still hungry. she also eats collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens (if i can find them), and dandelion greens usually, but right now shes being picky and wont eat her salad at all. im not really quite sure why shell eat all her bugs but not her salad. she usually doesnt turn down food in any way.

right now i have a zoomed reptisun t5 HO 10.0 UVB on top of the wire mesh on her screen, and her basking is a 75W zoomed basking light.

 

[halomtano]

Welcome Hal and Guafi. She's a really beautiful dragon and kudos to you for taking her in like this. Sounds like you will take really good care for her too.
xp29 mentioned the most important aspekts of taking care of reptiles already, heat and uvb.

Also don't get hung up on numbers for weight. My boy is also "only" 350g but that number is no indicator of being healthy or not. Look for visible hip bones or sunken fat pads at the back of the head, those are indicators that your dragon would be underweight. Guafi seems more on the light side but not seriously underweight to me

oh, thats really good to know! my vet only told me that beardies are supposed to be above 400g so here i was worrying, but that makes me feel a lot better. and thank you so much for your kind words, it gives me a lot more confidence that im doing right by her

 

[xp29]

oh, thats really good to know! my vet only told me that beardies are supposed to be above 400g so here i was worrying, but that makes me feel a lot better. and thank you so much for your kind words, it gives me a lot more confidence that im doing right by her

Their size can range very wide. My male Sinatra is 400 to 450ish, my male that passed in January Zen was over 1300 grams. I had a female G. Giant (puff) that was even bigger.

 

[AHBD]

Hello Hal, you did a good job describing Guafi's journey and seems like you're taking good care of her now. She does not look undersized at all, the reason some people think it might be under weight because a lot of beardies are actually over weight. Has Guafi been losing weight or are you just concerned that she's always been too small ?

Beardies don't always eat their greens if they can have insects every day so if you hold back the insects for a bit she should start eating greens again.

 

[Xjrosie]

Welcome! You have a beautiful dragon.

If you ever have bloodwork or fecal tests or stuff from the vet, always get the results and you can post them here. It's not me, but there's a few people here who work in the field and can help you understand your girl's health is actually doing.

And it's really cool that you're doing a bioactive Viv for her. I would love to, but I have cats, and they eat plants.