Introducing Beebz

[xp29]

Lmao he is gonna call the cia, the fbi and a bunch of other 3 letter institutions he can't remember off top his head.

 

[Axil]

So Beebz finally got his vet visit today. He was supposed to go last week but I got sick the day he was scheduled. All and all, things went pretty well. He has a small sore on his head that i was advised to keep an eye on. His back and head are about to shed so hopefully it will resolve itself when the skin comes off. He weighed in at 280g, and while we didn't get a length measurement i think he's over 16" long enough.

The Vet said he was big for his age but his weight was appropriate for his length, and that he was very strong. He decided to prove that by struggling then hissing (never heard him make that or any noise before), and puffing up when she was examining him. After his ordeal he got back in his carrier and pooped which saved me having to bring back a fecal sample another time.

There was no bloodwork done or anything like that. He got a physical examine and they took the fecal so i should get the results for that sometime tomorrow. It was a little more expensive than i anticipated ($300) considering the lack of bloodwork, but we live in CT where everything is expensive so i'm not super suprised.

Overall it was a good experience. Other than his protests at the physical, Beebz traveled very well. I like his carrier a lot. I bought it for the vet visit, but it also folds out to give him some more space if I want to set it in the yard to give him some sun and fresh air. It's supposedly 19.5" long, which makes me want to try and get another measurement of Beebz as when he stretched out he was pretty close to taking up the entire length.

The Vet seemed knowledgeable. I tried not to cringe too much when i got the "Bathe him so he can absorb water through his skin" lecture, but other than that the advice i got sounded like it all meshed with what I understand to be true based on my research.

Here is Beebz back home telling me what a horrible person I am for letting the Vet touch him:

He refused to get down and eat, so I figured he earned delivery today despite my resolution to try and make him exercise for his meals:

He made sure I knew that doesn't make up for the indignities he was made to endure:

Feeding has been a little more challenging this week. Beebz has decided that Roaches are not his favorite, preferring crickets, BSFL, mealworms, superworms, and the ever treasured hornworms. I like that he gets a variety but I did prefer him happily gobbling roaches as they are the easiest for me to keep alive and healthy! My order of 1000 BSFL started smelling heavily of ammonia so i stopped feeding them, that was frustrating. The cup they came in wasn't much bigger than the 500 counts, so i think there are just too many in there. I need to look into a better setup to transfer them to if i order that many in the future.

We are down to just a few mealworms and superworms left as far as feeders go. I finally got him to eat the rest of the Dubia so I can easily clean out the bin and get it ready for a new order. I'll pick up some crickets today to tide him over until the next shipment from Dubia.com arrives. I went down a size and ordered 1000 of the 5/8 roaches. Mealworms i went the other way and got 200 large, as the mediums look tiny now. He also get some more supers and hornworms. I'm holding off on getting more BSFL until I have a bin ready to transfer them into.

I'm a little worried about Beebz getting enough exercise. He is a lazy dude, and spends most of his time in the enclosure laying around. Amusingly he was apparently more active than normal at the vets, the tech asked the vet: "So is that what an angry one looks like? Normally they just freeze when we take them out of the carrier" His carrier should be good for getting him a little outside time, but even expanded he really can't run around. He walks around a bit when we let him into his playpen, and he'll run for food he deems valuable enough (hornworms, superworms, crickets) but that's about it.

I'll add some pictures from my phone shortly.

 

[xp29]

Until your around them most people are inclined to be like "it's just a lizard".
But isn't it amazing how opinionated a lizard can be lol?
I think most people are very surprised at how much genuine personality these guys have.

 

[Axil]

Until your around them most people are inclined to be like "it's just a lizard".
But isn't it amazing how opinionated a lizard can be lol?
I think most people are very surprised at how much genuine personality these guys have.

Yeah while i'm sure i anthropomorphize him quite a bit Beebz definitely has more character and ability to express himself than I anticipated when we got a reptile for a pet. From what I read of other members' Dragon's adventures he's more on the chill, content side than many are. Sometimes that worries me that he doesn't "do" enough, but I'm ok with him being more laid back and not trying to do things like escape his enclosure and bang against the glass constantly.

He was the calmest at the petstore actually. Most of his clutchmates were piled up on the basking rock climbing over each other or running around the front of the enclosure near the glass. He was perched up by himself on a piece of decor just chilling out, and didn't try to avoid being grabbed and handed to my daughter to adopt. I was actually a little bit worried at the time that his behavior could indicate he wasn't as healthy as the others, but as time passes i'm pretty sure he's just a calm dude.

 

[xp29]

Yup.
I've had 4 that are/were hell on legs and 3 that are/was so calm we have forgotten they are out on occasion.

 

[Axil]

Decided to take Beebz out for a little bit and since it was too messy in my daughter's room to set up his playpen I figured we'd just sit in the bed for a while:

30 seconds later I was rewarded for my efforts with a big dragon turd on her blanket .

So now I'm doing laundry and he is letting me know Dragons have no concept of remorse!

 

[Axil]

We took Beebz out in his carrier today since it was nice out. My phone said it was only supposed to be 75f but I packed a thermo in Beebz carrier and after sitting in the sun for ~10 minutes it was reading 95f!

So we moved to the shade where it was around 85 and hung out there for an hour. I liked the carrier, it unzips pretty big and Beebz seemed to like sitting in one section at a time for 10 minutes before finding a new location to stare off into the distance.

We are currently having an argument over dinner. Beebz wants superworms and to have then placed in his mouth while he basks. I want him to eat some roaches first.

I was punished for my insolence by having him jump into the bowl, eat 4 roaches then stand in it staring at me while the remaining roaches used his body as a ladder to climb out.

He is now on his basking rock alternating between pretending he's asleep and glaring at me.

Yes I know there's a superworm in the bowl, I tried to lure him back to the bowl with it, don't judge me!

He may end up losing his chance at dinner tonight as this standoff a gone on for 30min and at some point I want to eat my dinner!

*sigh* He is pretty sure I'm being unreasonable. And somehow he is very convincing! How did a little lizard learn to be so manipulative!?

*edit*

We compromised... sorta. He came down ate the worm and some leftover salad then stared at me at the front of the glass. I gave him crickets of which he ate 15 or so and told him no more worms today.

 

[xp29]

He is telling his buddies his hoomans training is coming along nicely

 

[Axil]

He is telling his buddies his hoomans training is coming along nicely

Hey! I stayed strong and didn't give him his after dinner hornworm!

in retaliation he managed to knock the top of his basking platform completely over and was laying across what was left of it when I checked on him after lights out.

I think I'm just gonna leave the top one off. It's still 15in under the uv light and he has pushed that piece around before... never hulked it off the top before though.

He's always so chill when I'm in the room with him, apparently he's just plotting and biding his time until I leave.

 

[xp29]

To funny

 

[Groggyfroggie]

Don’t you just love it when sweet little baby dragons grow into judgmental picky monsters? I really enjoyed reading your journey with Beebz and that carrier looks very practical, gonna get one for my beardie

 

[Axil]

Don’t you just love it when sweet little baby dragons grow into judgmental picky monsters?

Yeah... Dragon parenthood is an awful lot more like human parenthood than I realized

I really enjoyed reading your journey with Beebz and that carrier looks very practical, gonna get one for my beardie

Glad you are you enjoying reading about Beebz (mis)adventures. I really liked reading some of the other threads members posted chronicling thier experiences.

If by any chance you haven't happened across @CooperDragon 's thread about his adventures with Darwin you're missing out by the way. They do way cooler stuff than Beebz and I (boats, beaches, parks), I stayed up way too late one night reading through that thread .

I do like the carrier, it even has pockets and stuff to pack extra paper towels to deal with anything your Dragon leaves behind. The mesh lets most of the light through but is fine enough that I don't have to worry about anything crawling in with him. I worry a little about him managing to get his nails caught in the mesh (because I worry about everything) but I'm not sure another material would be better for that without causing other issues.

*edit* oh! And the top unzips, which should be obvious but I didn't realize and had to fish him out the front at the vets

 

[hdochow]

Yeah... Dragon parenthood is an awful lot more like human parenthood than I realized

freaking FACTS right there!!! i often think of tori at about age 3 when sir henry kicks his antics up into high gear!

the sun has finally come out here, for this week anyway, so being in his window just isn't good enough anymore. he wants to go outside! sorry bro, we graduate in a month. homework comes first. but he's all from the window, to the clock in the living room, to the sunbeam next to it, to the kitchen, to the bathroom, back to the window, rinse and repeat for hours! i swear he took the vet saying his fat pads under his arms are a little too big way to seriously and has implemented his own work out routine to remedy the situation! he's running laps!!!

 

[Axil]

Beebz was agreeable about eating Roaches for breakfast . He also seems pleased with his renovation, he was getting too big for his basking platform the way it was set up before, his modifications allow him to lay across both pieces.

He finally shed his head and his back is quickly following. I love seeing his pretty coloring again, and he looks a lot more comfortable

I love how he's starting to get some orange in his beard.

He's also way more active than I've seen him in weeks, as I type this he is doing a bit of wall surfing.

i swear he took the vet saying his fat pads under his arms are a little too big way to seriously and has implemented his own work out routine to remedy the situation! he's running laps!!!

Lol! Sounds like Sir Henry should be commended for taking his physical fitness seriously

 

[xp29]

I love that last pic, the one of him standing up.