It's Elektra! Boogie woogie, woogie!

So a month ago to this day (4/09/2015) I'd gotten from PetSmart a new household companion! I was told a bunch of things by the sales associate, such as what to get (Which most of which is not in use because people here pointed out the dangers of them) and even the gender of the barely six inch beast! I was told it was a boy, so my girlfriend and I named him Keegan!

Now, Keegan in Celtic means "A little fire" so we went with it since 'he' is a dragon and dragons breath fire and so forth. (Who could guess I spend to much time in a fantasy world?)
Wrong! Keegan ISN'T a boy, thanks to the help of you wonderful people, I've learned a thing or two. One of which being "How to identify bearded dragons sex." Well I will still love this lil' now 9 inch Beardie with all my heart, as will my girlfriend who actually cried when I was trying to explain the whole gender stuff to her and how she could check herself. I decided to let her get a list of names and we'd go over them together. We decided "Why stray from a good thing" and picked the name meaning "The Fiery Sun" which is a greek name.

Elektra! (Not named after the butt-kickin' Marvel 'hero', but I think my girl will be equally as cool!)

Now I was trying to remember the name of goddess in Darksouls where you'd find notes reading "Amazing Chest Ahead!" but I figured there is no way in hell I'd be allowed to name our pet after a video game character. So Electra it is and I love it all the same. Especially since, as you can see, she has little lightning bolts streaming down her back! They vary in color, from darker to an almost metallic gold. She really is a beautiful girl, and healthy to boot.

Now. Imma be starting this page and every now and again I'll post new things going on in her life. Such as pictures of her growth, and new stuff in her life. I'll start with something simple, that being the new addition to her enclosure! Her Hammock arrived!

Also the way we're judging how rapidly she is growing is her mom puts her on her own chest and measures her in comparison to her chest tattoos. This was a couple weeks back but here, I'll post another tomorrow.

I'll be sure to get more pictures of my baby girl soon.

 

[EarlyUpLate]

Had the pleasure of hand feeding my girl seven silk worms, and left some with some Pheonix Worms in her dish. I know she'll get to them cause I left a butter worm in there before leaving for work, and ever since she's adapted to her new home she's grown one hell of an appetite. She was engulfed in petting this morning, as well as a sink-time bathing which she just stood there for and let us adore her. She used to spaz out in water but she was perfectly still, staring with what I can assume was annoyance at me as I used a rubber tipped syringe to baste her thoroughly.

After bath time came the food which I mentioned, though still no luck with any greens though it is possible to trick her by having sticky silk worm feet cling some before being gobbled up. Endive apparently isn't her go-to greenery so I'll try ordering something else online. Maybe some Prickly pair cacti? Or anyone suggest anything else as for vegetation?

Either way, as promised my girlfriend got another photo to show just how much Elektra has grown in the past month (31 days between photos) and here it is!

She just looks better to me, healthier and bigger. I'm so glad she's eating right because the first week we had her she actually went a solid day without even touching a single cricket. She was also so irregular with her poops and eating that we were worried, though, now we feel there is nothing to worry about. Well, except for Amazon taking their sweet time mailing things we absolutely need such as the hood for the new UVA exposure light we ordered for her. We got the bulb nearly a week ago but as for the light fixture well, three days late is kind of amazing.

So! Here is her current enclosure.

Stuff on the way are;
Hood lamp for new UVA tube light, Background image of Australian outback (Instead of my boring wall), Temp gun, and automatic light timer and heat control. Once those are added I'll get a new image of her lil' home.

Oh and lastly, she started eating her dry food for the first time ever! I'm so happy, though I wonder if it was because I didn't feed her enough before hand and she was just super hungry? Hmmm...

 

[EarlyUpLate]

The site decided to shut down after submitting my first take on this post, but lets try take two!

So Elektra is doing great, eating healthily (As you'll see soon) and even far less skittish than before. We've noticed she just doesn't like loud noises, but if I was a nine and a half inch lizard I don't think I would either. As some may know, if you check out the reptile show thread, there was a Reptile Expo roughly 45 minutes from where I currently live. I only even bothered to look into this because of my beautiful girl Elektra; boy did she lead me to one hell of an event! Check some of the stuff out that I got to witness, and touch with my very own hands!

Totally worth the donation, got to hold this beautiful creature for about a minute. It was a solid minute of effort too, she was so far from light.

Now this guy/girl is honestly what interested me the most, I super want one as my next reptile companion. Their skin felt like cold beads, and the lady said all they want is to snuggle and be held. That's what I hear about Beardies from a lot of people, which is why I got one! I like personable pets but after six dog attacks in my life I decided to give reptiles a try and it's good so far. So! What is this lizard Elektras mommy is holding!?

Not the best picture of 'daisy' I could get, but she was a little too active to get anything better. Took three people to even carry this big girl away. But boy, isn't she pretty!?

Okay so if I ever get the urge to own a dog, or something as big and potentially ferocious, this is the direction I'm going. Maybe not this breed of Monitor Lizard, as I'm thinking Asian Monitor if anything!

I look mesmerized with it haha

Elektras mommy is terrified of snakes, though they were disgusting and just in general unnatural. Or at least, that's what she used to thing. This Expo opened her eyes, and her heart, as thankfully they happened to have a big yellow pastel Boa. In her favorite color, no less!

Now I get this thread is about Elektra and her growing, but I suppose her trek through life is also my growing up as well. This Expo taught me a lot, so in turn, I figured I'd share what it gave me. Er, well not gave me as nothing there was free. Though a lot of it was at least cheaper than normal! :lol: I went there expecting to leave with something new for Elektras tank, and definitely some new feeders. I had my mind set of buying Dubia Roaches, and even starting a farm of them myself. Though it wasn't just roaches I wound up leaving with. Needless to say, I updated her tank. (Already)

It's a BIT of an upgrade, needless to say.

She seemed to like it, and now we can put everything inside without it feeling too cramped. Only problem is, what the hell do we use as a bottom? For now we're gonna just use a tower I guess, but I don't want to get messy sand that could kill her down the road. Impaction is my biggest fear, I've never been so happy to see poop in my life when it comes. For now, anyway, she seems to be doing well in her new tank. I just want to make sure she has all the proper amenities to keep her healthy and happy.

So, Elektra is 9.3 inches and 32 grams. Here are a couple pictures of her after filling her belly with Dubia Roaches.

"W-wait. I can't have anymore?" Of course you can, sweet dragon.

And she seems to be enjoying her hammock now that it's an official basking spot.

Anyway, needless to say, she's hanging in there BD.org!

Lastly, as a treat for everyone, here is a video of her eating her very first Dubia Roaches! Mommy is still too scared to hand feed her, so she just held the fresh container up and this is what happened!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KKcsQ03_eM

 

[EarlyUpLate]

Been a bit, guess it's time to do an update.

So firstly I'll start with the fact she is LOVING roaches. So much so she got picky when it comes to, well, basically all else. She gets gets roaches in a shoe box top, and crickets in her old tank, and we're doing this because crickets can jump out and start moving around where I don't want her to risk eating. This would be her new substrate, crushed and rounded walnut shells.

I know, danger danger! Well I also was reading up about toe deformity and leg problems if I were to keep her on hardwood floor, or tile. I could give her a digging area, sure, but I realized that would be same as just making her whole tank covered in the stuff while giving her a designated to eating and drinking. I also have a side of the shoe box protected with some kind of hay bridge stuff so she can't get sand in there when she's moving in to nosh. Imma get another one for the other side to make damn sure her box stays shell free, so she wont eat any by mistake.

I'm confident she doesn't go around stuffing her face in shells and trying to eat those because she isn't really much of a licker of things that isn't moving, so I'm sure she'll be fine. I know it's a risk, but I also want to make sure she's happy with no risk of bone/toe problems. If worst comes to worst, I'll take her to be helped at the vet and get rid of it, but I wont know without trying. I do know once she's 16+ inches I'm switching her to play sand, as I saw suggested elsewhere.

Do you have any other suggestion for a sand like substrate that she could dig her toes in that is totally harmless to eat? I wish there was like, dusted try greens or something that she could just eat as food, but alas, no such thing exists from what I can see.

Anywho, she's gotten huge. Maybe three times what she used to be? She's 60 grams, I'm not sure her length cause, again, she's a spazz so she never holds still. Amazed I could get her weight.

Well, without further ado, here is Elektra and some other stuff!

She is so photogenic, love her so much.

Her tank set up now, with succulents (Which I looked up, totally fine to nosh on), straw bridge (I think?) and walnut sand. A shoe box lid for nosh time.

Mommy with our daughter. Before anyone freaks about about these pictures, she posts these on her Instagram and she is totally fine showing a lil' skin, especially her chest, since she doesn't view (Like myself) breasts as a sexual organ. Also she has a nice tat she loves to show off Haha ANYWAY! Look how much bigger she is from when we first got her!

 

[EarlyUpLate]

Nothing exceptionally important in my girls life, I guess she's finally warmed up to myself and others but she is still a huge spazz. ESPECIALLY when it comes to food. I have a clear glass container (Food storage) for gathering and dusting roaches in, and well I put the little thing with about five roaches on the ground in front of her tank and went to grab the dust, when I came back she was licking and attacking the wall of the glass as if she was trying to get the roaches. First time she's left her tank of her own accord, guess she was hungry. Whole time I was just laughing and going "Nooo baby no" while taking the container, dusting her roaches, and then putting them individually in her shoe box lid so she could go to town on them and the others that soon followed. She had a LOT, it's amazing how many she can stuff in herself.

Hoping she'll wanna start eating her fruits and veggies soon, but for now it's a very occasional thing. She noshes on her succulents though, which is super cute to watch cause she'll chomp on the same place until a hunk is removed and then just chews for a bit before calling it good. I think it's a great source of water for her, especially because they regrow what they lost REALLY fast! I suggest succulents in all dragon tanks, easily.

 

[EarlyUpLate]

It's been a year!

But I'm back! And with updates on my beautiful, happy girl Elektra!

I honestly miss posting here too, and reading everyone's stories and progress. Don't know why I stopped coming? Maybe it was the move, and month without internet? Who knows, this isn't about that, this is about my girl. I'll post some pics underneath since she's gotten SO BIG! Eighteen inches.

Proud stance in the sun

Sleepy Pancake can't give up her old baby trees, even if we got her a hammock to rest in.

At the old apartment she could hang on the screen. This was maybe five months ago? I'd find here here now and then, she loved climbing up the screens but it always freaked me out. She's fallen from worse though, I swear she's indestructible.

Our new place is great because the windows are floor to ceiling height, which means antics like this can be seen. We like to leave her tank open during the day.

Our cat, Apple, is just so fascinated.

And call me weird, but as of late we've been taking her out for our hikes. She for the most part is still the entire time, occasionally shifting and moving but the backpack is a decent perch for her. She really goes wild when she needs to be let down to go potty though, but once we learned that's why she's been good for walks. Unlike the cat, which I refuse to ever take out again. Talk about dead weight. :roll:

Anyway, that's it. Maybe I'm updating this to keep whoever cares in the loop? Maybe I'm doing it to look back on a year from now as a reminder of how far she has grown and how far I've come as a reptile owner? Who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯