Lilly and Lyla

I finally got my new baby today! She has done great so far. Other than a dark belly she has shown no signs of relocation stress. At 6 months and 104 gm, she ate a meal that would have rivaled my boyfriends 10 month old, 314 gm dragon. She had hornworms, butterworms, and crickets. We actually had to cut her off on cricket because I stupidly bought some that were way to big (we picked out the littlest ones). I have already taken several pictures so I just have to share. I will be updating this post periodically with more pictures and stories. (I have to add my funny cricket story here. Yesterday I went to feeder's supply to get crickets because I won't be able to get bulk until monday. A girl in her 20s or so was helping me. She had jeans on with torn knees. As she was almost done with my crickets she says "Oh my gosh". "What?" I asked. "A cricket just crawled into my pants." She hurried off to go take care of it and another worker came to finish my cricket order. I found it hilarious).
On to pictures:
Basking

Setup

Close-up

Mommy tried to get a picture of me as a burrito but wasn't fast enough

One more basking shot

Would have been a great bath pic if mommy paid attention to the focus

Whole body bath shot

Thanks for looking,
Sara

 

[spurlee01]

Hey all! I need a little bit of help-
Lilly and I are doing a science lesson for 8th grade on Friday. I'm having a lot of trouble coming up with the biology part. I can tell all about set-ups, behavior, and how loving beardies are, but feel like I'm probably being brought in more for the biology. I was going to talk a bit about colors and how they help beardies in the wild, then how they have changed in captivity through selective breeding as well as how their behaviors (such as puffing up) help them in the wild. I'd also like to talk some about why reptiles need heat to digest, but don't really know the whys, just that they DO. Anyway, do you all have any more thoughts??
Thanks in advance!
Sara

 

[Goonie]

They need external heat for proper digestion because they are cold blooded, and cold blooded creatures cannot properly break down the foods they'd eaten without heat to start up the digestive organs/juices.

You can also explain why their "pee" is not liquid, but a semi-solid mass, and what the different colored urates mean.

 

[polardragon]

They need external heat for proper digestion because they are cold blooded, and cold blooded creatures cannot properly break down the foods they'd eaten without heat to start up the digestive organs/juices.

*deja vu from bio course*

The enzymes required in digestion (for anybody) only work in a certain temperature/pH range. If they aren't in the right conditions, then they don't work, and you end up with digestion problems.

You could bring up the fact that since we're warm blooded, we don't have to worry about thermoregulation. But bring up the fact that fevers and hypothermia can be problematic for us since they alter how the enzymes work.

 

[spurlee01]

So I want to update on the science lesson! The kids were great, they were all very interested in Lilly. Well almost all. I only talked for like 5 minutes and the rest of the time was filled up with them asking questions and getting to know Lilly. They had a lot of questions about caring for beardies. Several mentioned that they were interested in one as a pet, I told them they had to come to this site and do their research first! Most of the kids ended up sitting on the floor as I let Lilly roam around on her leash. Well Lil decided she did not like her leash one single bit and started puffing up (I've never seen her puff so big) and fighting the harness! She was rubbin her head on the ground and scratching at it so I finally gave in and let her off the leash. She settled right next to the girl who the kids voted least likely to touch the lizard. She ended up petting Lil almost the entire time I talked and was the first one to ask to hold Lilly! All in all it went very well!

 

[vickson420]

No biblical discussions on evil serpents? :wink:

 

[spurlee01]

No, but I did have one kid ask if he could step on her tail :roll:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Sara,

I'm so glad Lilly had a good time, so funny about the leash, wouldn't you know she'd do that in front of the class, that way you'd have to let her free roam. :mrgreen: Lilly's a hoot! And just like a cat, she settled herself beside the girl least wanting to touch a lizard and had her petting her in no time. She's a wonder that she'd feel that comfy with that little girl. What a sweetie Lilly can be. I'll bet the kids were glad when you took her leash off! Give Lilly a hug from us, she's such a good girl.

HUGS
Deb

P.S. we're moving tomorrow, so wish us luck

 

[FaaFaa]

Hey Sara! I'm glad to hear that you and Lilly had a good time with all the kids. Just like a child, Lilly had to be a littl show-off. "I'm in front of people and mommie will let me do whatever I want" It's funny that Lilly wanted to make friends with that one little girl, I'm glad that the girl warmed up to Lilly though.

 

[spurlee01]

Good luck Deb!
It was funny because I actually moved her away from the girl on a couple of occasions and Lilly walked right back over to her. All of her classmates were talking about how shocked they were that she loved on Lilly!

 

[Goonie]

You only got to talk for 5 minutes? Bummer! You probably had an hour's worth of beardie bio planned, huh?

Though it was odd that Lilly took fancy to the one girl that everyone swore would never get anywhere near her, deep down inside both the girl and Lilly knew better. Just like dogs and cats, beardies could also sense good from bad. Obviously that girl was extra good for Lilly to settle next to, and Lilly was also extra good for the girl to pet her and ask to hold her.

Did you get asked to go back again for another class?

 

[spurlee01]

Well I didn't get asked back yet but it's the end of their school year. Honestly, I would rather have the kids learning about what they WANT to know than just sitting and listening to me blab on!

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Sara, it sounds like you and Lilly had a great time with the kids. That is too funny that a boy wanted to step on her tail...kids!!! :roll:
I used to take Rex to Aaron's elementary school all the time and the questions the kids would ask never ceased to amaze me, LOL
Who knows.. maybe that girl, who loved on Lilly, will end up getting a beardie one day:wink:

 

[spurlee01]

She said she's gonna ask her grandma for one lol. I had like 5 kids swearing they were going to get beardies. I directed them to the site. I worry that I made beardies look too good lol, but my dad said I made it very clear that they were not easy or cheap pets, though. He took his lunch break to come watch me present. My brother was carrying Lil around in the hallways and was absolutely mobbed with kids asking "what is that?!" and "can I touch it?".

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Sara, sounds like the presentation went well! I knew the kids would love Lilly! Kids are fascinated by beardies because of how they interact and because of their personalities. It's very cool that several of the kids want a beardie, but encouraging them to do the research was a good thing. There very well could be some future herpers in that group, thanks to you and Lilly! It's amazing isn't it, that even kids/people who are "freaked out" by lizards and snakes just can't resist a bearded dragon!

 

[fez09]

Sara, that's awesome that you got to do something like that! My oldest son is in 8th grade and we've done some "extra credit" projects on his Corn Snakes, Leopard Geckos and I think one on Red Tail Boas but he's lost interest in school and animals and has taken a liking to girls instead! We have asked to take the dragons in but the school said no because they had a bad experience at one time. I think it's great to get to share some knowledge on how to properly care for beardies!!