My little River

So here's the story.

I work at PetSmart IN CANADA - please don't bash, because we have very different policies than the states and the store I work in has very dedicated pet care staff who go above and beyond the call of duty. River was a non-eater that we were caring for and, at one point, very carefully force feeding (taking special care to avoid aspiration). I was the first person she started eating for on her own and after that I simply fell in love - the more crickets I could get into her, the happier I was. When she started actively hunting them, I decided that I just had to take her home, now knowing that she was going to make it.

My major concern is her size - is it common for non-eaters to be very small? Looking at images and measurements, she's closer to the size of a 5-6 week old, but she's at least 10 weeks (we had her in our isolation room for almost 2 months). Will she catch up or is there a chance that she'll end up being a smaller dragon?

I'm also curious about what size phoenix worms would be best? I've been reading a LOT about them and they seem like a really good option for feeding, will probably do a mix of worms and crickets, because she seems kind of bored if her food isn't highly active (she ignores crickets if they aren't running around, and showed little interest in worms at the store.)

I'm so in love, this is so much fun ^.^

 

[william488]

welcome to the forum, glad you are loving your little one so much. Not all pet stores are bad, I am sure there are some out there that really care for their pets. I have a pet smart near me that I was shopping and overheard the clerk tell a customer that they should research more before they buy the pet they were looking at, that the questions she was asking them they could not answer and she said she would be glad to sell them one when they were ready. I talked to her later, and she said that they did not know what they were getting into and would not do that animal justice. good for her. as for the worm size, I cannot help, just wanted to say welcome to the group.

 

[Faenaria]

Some photos of my cutie:

Random scary sleeping position that worried me the first night:

 

[Faenaria]

Got an auto timer - I do shift work so my schedule moves around, very happy to get it sorted.
I've seen a variety of times suggested, so I'm trying 12 hrs from 8-8 but I might switch it to 7-7 because she does seem to be awake when I get up for earlier shifts.

 

[SpitFyre]

Awwww, what a cutie!!! :love5:

Welcome to BeardedDragon.org, Faenaria! I think you'll really like it here

That is an awesome pet store story- my local Petco and Petsmart don't do the best job. They wouldn't be willing to force feed an animal. (I once saw a little boy there with his dad buying a beardie, and the pet store employee was telling him all the wrong things )

Well, anyway, that timer will make your life a breeze. Mine work very well, and I'm glad I can sleep in without worrying about Yoshi's lights!
Good luck!

 

[Faenaria]

Going to take more pictures of River today - I didn't realize how skinny she still was when I took those pictures, looking at her pudgy little belly today and just bursting with pride.
She's picked up a habit of blacking her beard at the crickets before she attacks them, but it doesn't seem to be a stress or fear thing, just a "I'm going to get you NOM" thing. She's an absolutely voracious eater, but still has no interest in anything that doesn't move, so I'm trying to figure out where to go from here as far as getting salad in her.

 

[Beardiesforthewin72]

For salad she's still so young I wouldn't worry to much. But hand feed her or when she's gapping stick a piece of salad in there. Make sure to keep a dish with fresh salad in it so she gets use to. Also another way is to put wax worms at the bottom of the salad so it makes the salad move! I hope this helps!

 

[Faenaria]

Picture heavy post!

And a couple pics of my baby corn snake a year and a half ago when I brought her home and she slept on her suction cups.

 

[Faenaria]

I'm thinking she's a sandfire at this point... the top shot is the best one of her colours, though the uvb light makes everything look blue-ish.

 

[ohmybandit]

Aw what a pretty little lady! I wish all the Petsmarts out here were that "pet friendly" I got into an argument with one lady about mealworms and bearded dragons, lol. How's she doing? Has she grown ?

 

[Faenaria]

River had a growth spurt! And got fat! She's def female, no seperation in her tail bulge, just a little lump by the vent.
Took photos with my real camera and actually tried this time instead of mucking around with instagram or my iphone. Photography school was expensive, better use what I know!

 

[jezwolf175]

Beautiful dragon! :love5:

 

[Faenaria]

Does anybody have any idea what morph she might be? She came in as a fancy leather back, and she seems kind of leather-backy, but is she maybe a sandfire morph?

 

[Faenaria]

Ok so she's hypo-something - her nails are perfectly clear, no black lines which was mentioned offhand in a video I watched, which led to research! Right now it's a tossup between a hypo-sandfire or a hypo-orange citrus. She could go either way at this point and the babies of each look very similar. I'm disappointed with how small she still is at four-five months.

 

[Faenaria]

So now it's possible that River is a hypo citrus tiger, because she's starting to develop striping on either side of her spine in that lavender-y colour. As I said, she's definitely hypo because she has the transluscent nails.