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]

Wonderful pics, all of them! Goldie likes the Raspberry liquid calcium we got for them. Rosie wasn't real thrilled with it at first but she seems to have become used to it, as long as I give it to them in the morning and not at, say, 2:30 pm as that's close to their wind down go to sleep time.

BTW Deb, I hope you had a good time today with all the plans you mentioned you had with your friends and family.

 

[NeosMom]

Those are wonderful, Deb. Thank you for posting them. Gabriel is looking so much better. Crossing my fingers for a clean fecal on him next. And I love Didi's tantrum and pout. Sounds about like a spoiled dragon to me. :wink: Well, I'm off to give Figgy his Albon. I hope you have a wonderful day.

 

[NeosMom]

Those are wonderful, Deb. Thank you for posting them. Gabriel is looking so much better. Crossing my fingers for a clean fecal on him next. And I love Didi's tantrum and pout. Sounds about like a spoiled dragon to me. :wink: Well, I'm off to give Figgy his Albon. I hope you have a wonderful day.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Thanks Lori and Mindi, Didi is indeed spoiled, he's so funny when one of his brothers is on the ramp, he just goes nuts. He knows he'll be the last out & will stay out until bedtime, but still insists that ramp is HIS and he should be the only one on it, period.

I'm so pleased that Gabriel has so much strenth now. When I first got him, he wouldn't hardly move and now he jumps around in the bath & jumps all over the counter, too. And it was wonderful to see his fat pads start growing in, they're all being weighed this am, see if Lonzo especially gained any weight. He's been steadily losing over the month of April, into May. I'm up early this am so I can really get everything done, they all get calcium & vit/min + they all need a bath & water, so it will be a busy morning. Then leave for gym at 10:30 (training) and then chores, need worms, I'm completely out, so veggie meals today! And have to get to the library, then to my nephews at 3:30 for the evening. Next weekend I have hardly anything to do, thank goodness, I'm going to need to have time, as I need to repot a few flowers that I won't have time today & also bought some beautiful new guinea impatients, bright red, to plant in the horseshoe gardens my girls are buried in. They then to grow outwards, so they'll be beautiful around that garden.

So I'm off to get stuff started, salads,etc. They all have an hour to warm up, so exercise time!
Deb

 

[ShannyBeard]

Gabriel is really looking good, I am so impressed. He looks like he has a cute personality. Love the pic of Lonzo under the newspaper. Wonder what possessed him to go under there anyhow? LOL He looks like he enjoyed being sneaky. :lol:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Shannon, I'm not sure, you never know what Lonzo's thinking. That's the first time he's ever gone underneath the newspaper & he's had newspaper in his tank for years! So it was really funny to watch. Gabriel does look better, his fat pads on his head are growing daily & his tail base is getting larger. He's also got a tiny belly starting. He also had is last dose of panacur, so gets his fecal done next Saturday & hopefully it's clear. Thanks for the compliments, he sure has grown stronger & still loves to cuddle. He also loves to bask, is under his light most of the day, so his poops are great & don't smell at all now. Now to get Lonzo & Gabriel, the oldest & the youngest, to gain weight! That's my focus over the next few months. Rubio, Didi and Leo are all doing well, weight wise. And Leo's urates are getting softer each time, so the bee pollen is great to get them to drink!

So I got weights on everyone today;

Leo: May 4: 482, May 27: 504

Rubio: May 4: 749; May 27: 770

Lonzo: April 15: 530; May 4: 508, May 27: 496 - he keeps losing weight even though I feed him every day, so going forward it's regular food, plus babyfood, bath every day & calcium every day, see if that works to get him more weight.

Didi: May 4: 418, May 27: 422

Gabriel: May 4: 282; May 27: 276, He ate 7 medium sized roaches today, plus calcium w/vit+min; chicken w/veg babyfood, squash babyfood & bee pollen, so I'm hoping he'll gain weight now. He also had his last dose of panacur, after all the food.

So all in all, just Lonzo & Gabriel need to gain weight now. I'm not sure if Gabriel will decide to brumate, if so he has to gain TONS of weight before I'll be comfortable with that. The same with Lonzo, he needs to get back to 540 before I'll allow him to brumate. We'll see how the summer goes. Off to get laundry, then gym, then shopping, then home for about an hour, just enough time to take shower/wash hair, then off to babysit my nephews, always a joy

 

[sweetiepie9]

My sis-in-law just called to say the eve has been cancelled & I just got a call from my son that he wants me to come over, so once I'm off the phone with Annika, I'll call Eric back & go over to their place, so will be able to spend some time there.
Deb

 

[sweetiepie9]

Update on Gabriel, he ate 7 smaller than medium sized roaches & then ate 8 supers! Plus he ate babyfood chicken & squash this am. It's the most he's eaten since I got him I'm hoping it continues, but it's more difficult during the week as he seems to get hungry in the early afternoon again, so we'll see how this week goes. It was nice to see a bigger belly on him this afternoon.
Deb

 

[Goonie]

Yahoo! I'm sure you had a smile from ear to ear.

 

[beardie parents]

Good! I'm glad He's doing soo much better.

 

[blondie098]

Gabriel is looking great, Deb! I'll bet you are thrilled Give your whole crew hugs from Ohio... Lonzo is such a goofball.

Coco does the in-between thing -- everytime I change her viv, I have to do one part of her blankie side with two or three layers. She gets mad and will pout on the other side of her tank if she doesn't have layers to hide between. Can't count how many times I've gone to get her and play "where's the dragon"... she just likes to play hide-n-seek.

Lexi has learned how to become one with her branch. I swear she was missing the other day, I just about panicked. But went to her viv and she was like slinky'd over the branch, had curled her tail to hide it, and her head and shoulders were nearly UNDER the branch. What a brat, giving me a heart attack like that!

We've found Psycho perched in some of the weirdest positions, so she must have gotten a message to Gabriel -- I can see the headline of the email: How to Cling Fearlessly to your Branch in Gravity Defying Positions... Psycho isn't a "little" dragon anymore... and yet she'll get to the tippy-top of her longest branch and hug it. Haven't a clue how she doesn't fall off

 

[beardie parents]

Boy, Dawn, your beardies have a way to make you worry yet make you and us laugh at the same time.

 

[blondie098]

Boy, Dawn, your beardies have a way to make you worry yet make you and us laugh at the same time.

yeah, Lori, we get a lot of laughs here, between the human kids and the scaley kids... but what is live without love and laughter? It still makes me crazy when someone is flipped out by my dragons. I love the looks when we walk into the petstore with someone perched on us... "OMG is that thing real?!?!?" ... uh, "yeah, but it won't suck your eyeballs out... its just a sweet bearded dragon."

I told you guys my neighbor, the big burly cop, is totally freaked out by them... poor guy nearly wets himself if he sees a loose dragon on me. I love the guy, he's a great neighbor... its just funny.

 

[beardie parents]

:lol: He must be a macho male. For some reason, most macho males are afraid of beardies.

I like that statement you have for those that say "I didn't think that was real until it moved" type of statement. That's a good one. I will share that with Bill, he'll love it.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Dawn &Lori, glad you enjoyed the pics & Gabriel is definitely improving, even though he's not gaining weight, he's losing, but I'll get him stuffed up soon. At least he likes roaches, they were about 3/4" long & he ate 8 of them, then ate 8 supers, so I'm glad to see the improvement. I'll see how much he eats this am, but will leave food in his tank. So far, he's like the rest, wants to be hand fed everything. So I'll see if I can break that habit!

You should get some pics of Lexo and Psyco & put them into the "weird sleeping" position thread, I'll get the link:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=141955&p=1373071#p1373071
Some of the sleeping positions are so funny!

I'm off to start the feeding, calcium time, so have a great day & thanks for looking. I did spend the eve with my Eric & Tara & Bella (my grandpuppy) and her mom Maureen & her little dog Coco were there, too, so it was a fun evening. I don't see them all often enough, but was glad to spend the evening.
Deb