My Adventure with Riley, Phantom and Quill

Okay so I am starting a new thread to put all of my soon to come memories with me new little beardie!! I am also creating a blog if anyone is interested (I have never blogged before so we will see how it turns out :mrgreen: ) I know I have a few people who wanted me to start a new thread for this so here it is!!


I will start out by sharing Parker's old tank that is cleaned and ready for its new friend!


Here also is a link to my new friend that should be arriving in the next few days!
http://beardeddragons.co/shop/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=205

Anyone have any name suggestions?? I was thinking about the name Riley but I will have to see if the personality fits lol.

 

[DixieLonestar20x]

He looks great! congratulations! look forward to hearing of the stories to come with you and your new best friend!!

It only gets better from here!

Also the basking platform looks really good, so we wont judge you on your 3 hours :wink:

 

[getgab92]

Lol thanks! I had to remake it a bunch of times so it got faster after the the second rime.

 

[getgab92]

Well its definitely been a while since I gave an update about my little guy. He is doing just amazing and eating me out of house and home! I can't wait until I get my dubia colony up and running because that will save me a lot of money! It's been almost a month since I purchased my adults so hopefully there will be babies soon!

Riley had a vet appointment today and got a big ol' bill of health! He is a big heathy dragon that weights in at 185 grams today! Last week when I weighted him he was only 163g. He has been gaining weight like that every week for me! He had a body shed at the beginning of the month and his legs also shed and he is just finishing a tail shed today. I bet it won't be long before that starts all over again! I told the vet that I was dusting his dubia with calcium everyday and with multi-vit 5 times a week. He told me that I should only be doing the multi-vit once a week and a very little but. And that its better not to give calcium with D3 in it and if I do then do regular calcium and the with the D3 once a week. This doesn't sound right to me. It almost goes against everything that I was told. If anyone can help me clarify that I would really appreciate it.

I did end up getting slate tiles for Riley's enclosure and WOW what a difference with his nails! No more scratches on mama He is such an active and happy dragon and loves getting cuddles. I have some really good pictures that I will have to post when I get a chance. I have one where I let Riley run around my room and he found his way onto Bandit's back (my black lab) and Bandit was just looking at him like "Ma this isn't supposed to be here..." lol. So funny!

Well there is a little update for you guys. OH! And Riley is measuring in at about 13 and a half inches now! That's a lot of growing in about a month period!!!

Hope you guys have a nice Thanksgiving!

 

[sweetiepie9]

So let's get the calcium vit/min cleared up first. Calcium with Vit D3 5x/wk at his age, 2x/wk for vit/min, dusting just one meal. Then when he's a year old, you reduce the Calcium to 3x/wk and vit/min to 1x/wk. Sorry, but some vets just aren't up to date on what dragons need to grow.

I'm so glad he got a good bill of health and that he's growing so well for you. I was always amazed at how he ate his greens, lucky you, I would give a lot to have my boys eat their greens, they'll eat about 3 pieces of collard greens but only when hand fed, so I try to offer It to them every day. They also like squash, but also when hand fed, it's a pain but they won't eat out of a bowl, just toss it all around & play with it. Lucky you!

I love the enclosure, the platform is great, Riley must have a riot in his home.

Oh and as for his beard, he's just stretching it, which is what mine do every morning. As his beard gets bigger and he gets older, he'll start to realize that he can black beard and then he just won't stop. It's quite hilarious to watch, especially if he tries to see it. Rubio started black bearding at 5 mo old & he tried to look at it, went cross eyed and fell off his log. If a beardie can be embarrassed, he was, he was looking around to see if we caught him fall off :lol: They can be very funny sometimes and always cute. Beardie snuggles are also great.

That's funny that he climbed up on your lab's back, I can just imagine the look on your lab's face :mrgreen:

 

[Esther19]

Yes, he is practicing his bearding. Isn't it cute?

 

[getgab92]

Okay. Thanks for that clarification Deb. I need it. I was doing calcium/D3 7 days a week and doing multivit 5x a week but I see I definitely need to cut that back.

Yes I got very lucky that he likes his greens. Not into fruits or veggies but he sticks to the same stuff all the time. I did try to give his greens on a dish once and he never touched them but he like the reptical bowl I had them in before.

I really need to get some pics up for you guys. I had tile cut and put that in his cage as well as on top of his basking area because he poops there usually so I can just clean it right off now. He runs around his cage. Sometimes I find his plants out of place and I need to put them back lol. I find that he waits up for me sometimes when I get home from work and his lights had already been off for a while and he will be llaying down but his eyes are open. So I normally take him out and put him in my bed until I get done changing and we have some cuddles before bed

He is so cute and getting so big and fat so fast its crazy. That is so funny about rubio and falling off his log. I definitely lol there haha.

Well I need to get ready for work now. I think I have a long night tonight so better get moving!

 

[getgab92]

WOW GUYS! I just had to share this with you because i thought it was totally unbelievable!
Okay, so I told you guys that I took Riley to the vet last Wednesday and he weighed 185g. Well I just weighed him now and he is up to 209g!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

OH! AND i just measured him and well the last time I measured him he was only 13 1/2 inches and wasn't really moving from there. NOW he is 15''! OHMIGOSH! I just can't believe it lol. The amount of time that he grew is mind blowing to me. Is this normal for him? Should he be growing at this rate? Do you think its too fast, too slow or normal in all your opinions? I wouldn't know because my last beardie was a sickling so he never had the chance to grow and strive.

I will get those pictures ready right now and get them posted tonight!

 

[getgab92]

Look at how big I am getting!!


This was as I was posting these lol:


This was so cute. He feel asleep on my pillow in bed:


So I tucked him in for a little while longer before tucking him in his bed:


This was a while ago but this is how he gets tucked in at night


This is a before and after today picture. I added a few things when I cleaned his cage today but he seems to like it


This was a good over head view of Riley and gives a good look at the new tiles I bought him


That's the last one for now. Hope you liked them!

 

[sweetiepie9]

He sure is growing, get he is eating you out of house & home :lol: Love his home, you sure have it set up nicely, and he has a little alcove to sleep in, too. It's really nice, loved all the pictures & it was nice to meet you, too!

 

[getgab92]

Lol thanks Deb! Yes he sure is eating a lot. Hopefully my dubia will start having babies soon
I can't wait to see just how big he will get when he is older

 

[sweetiepie9]

Dubia females have 40 live babies every 40 days, so you have to make sure you have at least 1 male per 3 females to get a good colony going. You'd need 10 males and 30 females, do you have at least that many? I wish I could give you some, I have tons. What are you feeding them, oranges get them breeding, so I always have an orange quartered in their tank, plus collard greens, a good roach chow from Lance on this site (He's twobeardieguy in the For Sale topic) and white water crystals. That seems to keep them very healthy & growing and seriously, I have TONS of babies & every other size going.

Riley is just the cutest and growing so fast!

 

[getgab92]

Well my colony is not very big. I have about 10 females and 4-5 males. The lot came with 10 and 10 but i just didn't put them all together. I have a few large nymphs in there that should molt into adults soon so we will see what happens with them. I do feed them oranges and I make my own roach chow that they really seems to enjoy. I also feed them bee pollen occasionally. I use the water gels too and put collards in the tank this morning. I have an under tank heater on the side with the egg crates and do my best not to bother them. It has been a little over a month since I bought them so hopefully I will start seeing results soon.

I have a tall dresser that has 2 shelves inside and I keep my 20 gallon tank with all my feeders on the top and the 10 gallon tank with my breeders on the bottom. My feeders are molting like crazy so that must mean that the environment is right for the breeders too. I still have a decent amount of feeders left but it would be nice to get them breeding still.

 

[sweetiepie9]

The dubia babies take 6 months to become adults, so if you have a bit of $ check out Lance (twobeardieguy) on For Sale, he sells separate dubia and get a bunch. His prices are very good, I buy my roach chow from him, too. Check it out.

 

[getgab92]

Yeah I have looked at his stuff before. Money is a bit tight right now so if I don't need to buy things than I really don't want to spend the money right now. I have spent a lot on Riley so far lol. I'm sure you all can relate. Especially everyone who has multiple beardies.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I can relate big time and I can't buy roaches as I live in Canada. I was lucky to meet someone here who was getting rid of her roach colony, which was huge, and it cost me $60 for over 1000 roaches or more. So with that I helped a friend start one. I'd send you lots but I can't get them over the border. So when $s less tight, plump you your females and a few extra males to get more going.