Nathaniel, Cierra, Castiel, Freya, Grrl; RIP GABRIEL

We never expected to get another dragon, but our neighbours next door wanted to give away Cleo, as he was called. We'd babysat him before, he's such a sweetheart. We nicknamed him Velcro because when he snuggles he never wants to go back to his viv, he hangs on as if he's made out of velcro.

So here he is. Today was his first day with us. He ate 13 supers and ate some squash, not bad for the first day he was here. He's only in a 30 gallon tank, which will be ok for now. He's 18" long but weighs only 200g. We figure he's probably 2 yrs old. Our neighbours rescued him last fall, they found him and a female (which they named Puff) on Craig's list. They were in a 30 gallon dirty tank, with sand and a huge log that took up 1/2 the space in the tank. Leo was at the bottom, he was sooooo skinny. He's gained weight, but never got the attention he deserved. I took some pics today, but will take more tomorrow. I think he remembers our place as didn't get stressed as I expected. No stress marks at all. When we let him run around the living room, he noticed our girls and immediate black beard, so his hormones are working!

He had a bath this morning, had a big poop, no smell, so not worried about parasites.

So here are a few pics, he's a yellow & dark gray, light gray colour.

Under the communal power sun in the living room:

Discovering there are girls in those tanks up above, he has a great black beard for such a skinny boy:

On the couch, he's got a pretty diamond pattern on his back:

Hope you enjoy
Deb and my six dragons :shock: :shock: :shock: :love5:

 

[beardie parents]

Hi Deb, I'm glad to see pics of Gabriel. In the first pic I saw of him I was reminded of Sweetie. I could be wrong but I think his back pattern looks like Sweetie, or maybe it's just the way he was sitting in that first pic that reminded me of Sweetie.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Lori, I don't know if he reminds me of Sweetie, but he sure loves her pillow, since he found it he hasn't gotten off it, in fact he's on the pillow on top of his basking spot. He loves the tank & everything in it. He even ate a few bites of salad, as I'm not going to hand feed this little guy at all. He'll be one beardie that eats on his own. Roger did a great job spoiling the other 4, they will only eat from my hand, both bugs & salad, which is a pain in the rear when it comes to getting everything done in the am before going to work. So I'll have at least one beardie that won't need hand feeding, I'll just put bugs & salad in his tank & he can eat accordingly. I keep checking on him & he's made his way everywhere in the tank & has licked everything & made it his home already. I'm so glad!

 

[diamc]

Deb, that makes us all so happy that he is adjusting so well. You must be thrilled!

Good to hear that Lonzo's lung issue is improving, poor guy. Also good to hear that Gabriel is nice & healthy except for a few parasites. Hopefully he will take the Panacur easily for you.

Thanks for the great updates, so wonderful to hear. Keep up the great work and give Gabriel an extra cuddle for me. :wink:

 

[slavetoIzzie]

Beardie Guardian Angels strike again!!! Sweetie must have decided you were ready to accept a new dragon. Congratulations, he's a gorgeous boy.

 

[Nicodemous]

Its good to hear that he likes his new home!
I should start a thread for my two little ones, so Im not asking questions in other peoples all the time!!
Hehe

Oh and her uv light is about a month or two old,
So I dont think its that...but you never know.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Thanks Diane, I took a pic of his basking, he won't leave Sweetie's pillow be & now he's sleeping on the pillow, wrapped in her blankie. I really do think I was in the right place at the right time & I feel such a lightness in my heart whenever I look at him, so maybe Sweetie did send him to me. It would be nice to think that her spirit is looking out for me. He just loves his new tank & is snoozing away. I'm hoping he'll eat tomorrow, I have to be out early, so put my alarm on so can wake them all up & get some food in before I have to get going to the physio. I'll leave him some supers tomorrow, seems he likes them & he's definitely able to eat them & I so don't want to get crickets anymore. I did put roaches in his tank for him but he's so far left them untouched, so not sure if he's not interested or just getting used to his new place.

So I did take about 3/4 of the stuffing out of Lonzo's pillow, there is no way he could possibly flip over on it now, it's totally deflated, so left it out & when I get back from the physio I'll let him out to see what he does. Put Sweetie's pic back in & we'll see...I'm just glad his lung is starting to function again.

Hi Frances, isn't my new boy just cuteness? I'll have more pics tomorrow to show him off. He's getting a bath daily, as his vent area is pretty dirty, plus the vet agreed that giving him calcium daily for awhile will only do him good. He's got such a long narrow face with such a pointed snout, never seen one like it before...but the vet agreed, too, that he's at least 1 1/2 yrs old if not older, as he has a fully grown head. Just have to get more weight on him, so we'll see how it goes with food in the next week. He did take a few bites of salad, so that was good for his first day.
I'm off to bed, more pics tomorrow afternoon, if photobucket stops freezing, that is
Deb

 

[sweetiepie9]

Gabriel started off really well today, ate 7 supers & 1/2 his salad, so he's a good eater already, not bad for the 2nd day & since he has parasites I was surprised he had such a good appetite. He also pooped, good urate, so he's not dehydrated. I gave him a bath to soak in, he just sits there, maybe that will change one day & he'll be a bit more active. He was all over his tank today, checking out everything, which was good to see, too. So all in all a good day. I won't be in much on the weekend, watching my nephews for my s-i-l as my brother is away & she wants to be at the hospital visiting her dad twice a day. So I'll do what I can. Jake or his mom will come in to turn off the light Sat & Sun night, which is also great.

I had a visit over at Jake's house & met all his snakes & geckos. His male crested gecko is named Dragon & is very friendly, I must had held him for 1/2 an hour. There are two baby cresties & a new baby leo, they are all so cute & very tiny. His female leo has another egg growing & he just got another crestie baby born a couple of days ago. He also has one of his snakes making eggs. He wants to start his own buisness, selling cresties and snakes & I think he'll do a good job, his animals are very well taken care of. He loves my dragons, but too much for him to afford, so he likes to come over & play with them before he turns lights off & gets them to bed. If he can't make it any given night, Cami, his mom, comes over & turns the lights off. So Jake may come over on Tuesday afternoon about feeding them all, so I may be able to take a weekend off in the summer & get away somewhere, which would be very nice!
Deb

 

[Nathan1995]

YAY! Ahh I can't believe you got another one, and as cute as Gabriel at that! I wish I could get more haha :lol:

Glad to see he's doing well and is a cutie, and out of curiosity, in one of the pictures you posted, you mentioned his fat pads on his head were sunken? I didn't know they had fat stores on the head too, could you point out where they are please? Thanks! Awesome Deb! Hugs.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Right on top of their heads, just past their eyes, a bit to the side. When they're really young you can't really tell, as Cyrus gets older you'll see them, they make like a little mound. It just means the beardie is really healthy, as dragons need fat in their bodies to maintain good health. I don't think Gabriel's fat pads will be sunken for long. I haven't gotten him to eat huge amounts of salads, but he sure loves super worms, he's eating 7-10 a day. I'm trying different veggies/greens on him, he'll nibble but not the way he eats those supers, I might try putting supers in his salad to see if that makes a difference. Glad you like him Nathan, I wasn't expecting to buy a new beardie, but he sort of fell into my lap, so what could I do. He loves his new tank & has tried all the furniture & he now has a new power sun, so I just have to get his medicine in to get rid of those parasites & he'll be a nice fat beardie soon enough!

He's in my room until he's clear of parasites, then I just have to clean out his tank. After that he can use the ramp once in awhile & do some more exploring.
Deb

 

[blondie098]

hey Deb, glad that Gabriel is adjusting so well! We do that when ours are being finicky with their salads... the supers get plopped into their salad dish, so to get the super snarfed up, the usually get a mouthful of greens, too that may work! Or maybe figure out if he likes any certain fruit, and maybe chunks of that fave will entice him to dig in the greens a little more? We've noticed lately that ours are totally bored with the collard greens... so if we've only got mustard / collard mix, they don't eat much. But when there are turnip greens and mustards in with other greens, their bowls are usually empty (Lexi eats multiple bowls of greens a day, she's a hog)

 

[diamc]

Hi Deb, great to hear that Gabriel is doing so well. He sure is enjoying the supers, perhaps he never had any before. I'm sure those fat pads will be filling out very quickly now that he has what he needs.

How did the antibiotic go? Did he take it ok?

Have you tried him with squash yet? Misty & Judas have been fussy with their greens lately too even though I've given turnip, mustard, kale, and collards. I'm gonna try escarole and endive this wk to see if that will help spark their interest.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Diane, I don't know what it is with these guys, they hardly eat any veggies or greens. Gabriel at 20 supers today & some of his greens, I start the panacur tomorrow, as Sunday am is the best morning to give it to him, I"m always home Sunday am, but not always home Sat am. So they all get their calcium, baths, veggies/greens tomorrow am. I'll make sure. Didn't have alot of time today, am off to my nephews for the night but back home as soon as I"m up tomorrow am. I'm off to shower, talk to you later. I did get Gabriel & Didi new power suns, and they've been basking most of the day. Lonzo's been out on the floor for about 1 1/2 hrs, so that will do him good. Leo's going nuts because Lonzo is out, but he had his turn. Once I leave, Didi comes out for the rest of the day & Jake or him mom will be over later to turn the lights off & get them to bed. They'll do the same tomorrow night as I"m back to my nephews. I don't mind, my sis-in-law needs to spend every day with her dad & she has the evening shift, her sis goes over in the morning or afternoon, so he has both of his daughters with him twice a day. The brother lives about 4 hours away, but he did come down for a couple of days, it's difficult for him to get time off work. So I'll have more pics of the crew tomorrow.
Deb

 

[blondie098]

I was thinking butternut squash -- mango -- cantaloupe -- strawberry -- maybe one of those will entice him to go to his food dish Mine love all those, but my strawberries were getting ready to turn, and my mango was just looking a little pathetic, so I chopped 'em all up and made smoothies for the humans so the fruit didn't rot... my family annihilated the smoothies, btw LOL

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Dawn & Diane, Gabriel ate 20 supers today & some bok choy. I'll make a better salad tomorrow, will try to put supers in with salad, too, boy he sure loves those supers. Luckily I bought 200 today as well as a new power sun for Didi & Gabriel. I think it's time for Didi to stop spending all his time on the ramp! He'd live there if he could! And the Sweetie pillow worked for Lonzo, he dragged it around the living room for quite awhile. He did manage to take a tumble at one point, rolled right over and righted himself before I could get to him, so had another talk with him & gave him royal you know what, but it wasn't because of the pillow this time, he tried to jump out of the dump truck beside the ramp; stubborn beardie, he really thinks he's a juvie. Rubio stayed in his tank, he's the only beardie I have that prefers his tank to running around in the living room. He also loves his pillow, Dawn, slept on it again last night & after he was on the power sun for awhile, went back to the bed & back on the pillow (he has a Reptisun 10.0 on the cool side, he's in a big 75 gallon tank, so thought that would be good for him). Also found out that Rocco's UVB light is out, so turned it off. He's nocturnal, not supposed to need UVB, yet he spends all day under it, so will need to be replaced but not until next pay. I have to get new orthodics (sp?) and had to put that $ away, they're not cheap, almost $500 + visit cost. So between Gabriel, the power suns & the funds put away there goes my income tax refund, but at least it was there, without it I wouldn't have Gabriel & he is a sweetie.

Guess I shouldn't let him eat so many supers, he sure scarfed them down today, but he spent the rest of the day under the power sun, on the pillow, of course. Dawn I can't tell you how much they like their blankies and pillows, even Lonzo and Didi use theirs. Only Leo doesn't care, but he's so hyper he doesn't calm down at all during the day. I put newspaper in his tank to replace the stinky worn out carpeting and he spends most of his time shredding it on his sleep side & he sleeps on the shredded newspaper, it's so funny to watch. He's the only one that's ever done that, except Issy, she used to shred the newspaper in her hide only. They're all so different!

Lonzo's lung is starting to function again, which is good to see, so hopefully by the end of May it will be fully functional. I'm hoping not to have to take him to the vet again for awhile.
Deb

 

[fresnowitte]

Congratulations Deb on the new boy!
He's very handsome...an I'm glad that he's a good eater.

It's good to hear that Lonzo is doing better each day. Snuggles!

Hope you are having fun with the nephews! :love5:

Hugs & Snuggles!