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]

I didn't even notice them the first time I saw them. They are great!

 

[sweetiepie9]

So Dawn, I'll tell him you flew up here & added those to the other box. I was thinking that, too, when I loaded the pic, that must be what it is! He's such funny beardie, always does the most unexpected things!

 

[blondie098]

I hadn't notice them at first, either -- I was looking at beardie, not box decor... Carlye is the one who spotted them, I've drawn my smileys like that since I was in jr. high LOL

 

[sweetiepie9]

So I couldn't resist taking pics today, as it was a very hot day, even with both fans going full blast in the apartment, so had lots of time to play with my very hot dragons:

Gabriel: boy mom, is it ever hot in here!

I put him out on the balcony later on, just to cool down, as the sun was off the balcony and the floor had cooled off.

Rubio: I thought he liked the box because of the smilies, but he liked this spot, too:

Right across from the boxes, couldn't see him at first:
"Hi Mom, it's cool up here!"

I decided to see how Rubio would react to Gabriel, not much reaction, no black beard, no trying to nudge, nothing!

So later, when Didi was out on the ramp, I brought Gabriel into the living room. First he arm waved him, then he jumped down, ran over to Didi & nudged him, so the fight was on. Both had open mouths, back beards & Mom in the middle. I wisked Gabriel away, he was protesting the whole time, wanted to fight Didi. Guess he's not so innocent after all!

And this is how I found Gabriel sleeping, I thought only babies slept this way?

don't you just love that little belly? I'll have to weigh him tomorrow morning before work.
Deb

 

[Zeusmybeardie]

No I think u should just let him and Rubio meet up and him and lonzo

 

[Goonie]

:shock: Wow, I can't believe both Rubio and Gabriel were sitting so close to each other and no one reacted! Holy cow!
Hmmm, Gabriel and Didi doesn't get along, huh? Interesting.

Loved the pics of Gabriel sleeping glued to the glass. And I immediately noticed the little belly on him. Too cute!

 

[blondie098]

I think that "little belly" will keep growing into a nice plump belly soon wow, you're brave... Xena used to totally put Crash in his place... he wanted to mate, and she wasn't interested... so she would headbutt him and try to go for more... one time she went open-mouth after his fat belly... it was always supervised, but after that we kept them on opposite sides of the room, each with a bodyguard. LOL I'm glad no one got a bite of anyone today, bet that got your adrenaline pumping!

 

[sweetiepie9]

I don't think I'll ever put Lonzo, Rubio & Gabriel together, I was just wanting to see what reactions Rubio had. Mind you, Rubio was very hot, sort of melting in his tank, that may be why. I put Rubio outside a bit later to cool off & he headed right for the box beside the smilies :mrgreen:

Gina, isn't that belly just the cutest? He really is doing well, he ate about 10 supers this afternoon & couldn't get them in fast enough. I then offered him a green, but nope, he just closed his eyes & shut his mouth, so maybe one day he'll eat more than babyfood squash. I always feed him babyfood in the am, especially when he's eaten alot of supers, it seems his tummy takes a couple of days to digest them, so only feed them every 2nd day. One day he'll be weaned off the babyfood for good, but not just yet.

I'm looking forward to getting to the vet on July 19, anxious to see if Gabriel is free of those parasites & to also see what can be done about Lonzo's lung. It's again not functioning at all. It's getting a bit worriesome, as this all started in April and now it's July. Having nothing high in his tank has worked, it's been more than 2 months since he last flipped over. I'm so hoping the vet has something positive to do about this, maybe it's time for CPR to that lung or something. I just don't want it to collapse, it seems to be smaller than the one that's breathing, freaking me out

At least Leo, Didi and Rubio are all together & not showing anything wrong. Even the shed at the end of Rubio's tail came off today (yeah, I'd been putting a bit of oil on it every couple of days) so that was good to see. I was hoping it wouldn't have to be amputated, as it seemed to be squeezing that bit of tail. Now that won't happen!
Deb

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Dawn, we were posting at the same time. Yep, my adrenaline sure had a workout when I saw what Gabriel was intending with Didi. He went from arm waving to jumping off the chair & rushing at Didi to snout push & then mouth open, black puffed up beard & ATTACK. Mind you Didi was waiting for him, he's never had any issue with fighting any of them, he even tried to take on Rubio one day, he's very fierce. Here I thought little Gabriel was afraid of the big ones, guess I was wrong, guess he's feeling right at home lately! I don't think I'll be experimenting any more with any of them. I'm afraid I won't be fast enough to separate them. It's been interesting to see how Gabriel's been reacting to them all, but don't want to take any chances. He'd be a good mouthful for any of the others, I mean he's hardly 200g! Feather light compared to even Didi, who's my smallest at 430g!
Deb

 

[blondie098]

yeah, Draco (our visitor this week) is only around 300 so he's the little guy... fits right in with attitude, but he'd be a snack for Psycho or Crash LOL... won't let that happen, Draco is a sweetie he's still sitting there in the dark waiting for Lexi to come back LOL I'll try and get his crazy antics on video tomorrow after Carl's doc appt

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hope the doc appt goes well for Carl, is he feeling any better? Let me know. He's been so much in the last few weeks, poor guy.

 

[blondie098]

the muscle impingement is still bad, but not nearly what it was... just gotta keep working it... Have taught the kids how to lay him on the LR floor and stretch his legs like a physical therapist would... I am so grateful for all the medical knowledge I gained from mom doing what she did... she worked for the head orthopaedic doc in our town when I was in high school, helped setup a complete doc office in a neighboring town, plus being a massotherapist with additional training... I have put this working knowledge to use SO many times in my adult life. I figure we still have a couple more weeks to get his muscles back to normal, as long as we don't get news tomorrow that something new is wrong with his hip.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'll be praying that there is nothing new wrong, your poor husband has enough wrong with his back/hips, he's sure lucky that he has you to help him with his issues. Glad the muscle problem is starting to calm down. What a few weeks you've all had.

 

[fresnowitte]

Morning Deb!

I have to say I love all the new pic's you have posted of you crew. :love5:
I am still amazed that you can have 2 boys together...I can not do that with any of mine male or female.
Rubio is so darn handsome!
An I so love the one of Gabriel's little belly sleeping up against the glass. BTW...he thinks he is a baby. :wink:

Well I'm off to fight with PB myself before it gets so hot that I melt. We are expecting 105* today and maybe 110* by the middle of the week. YUK!

Hugs and Snuggles!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Barbara,
Glad you got on the computer, I know you've been having issues with it. I'm sorry to hear about your weather, we got up to mid 80's yestearday afternoon, it was 80 in the living room, way too hot. Had 2 fans going, one in the living room, one in the bedroom, it was 1a before I was able to get to sleep, but cooled off by 5a, so then had to put a blanket over me! Now it's nice & crispy, but I'm sure it will get hot b4 the end of the day, so I'll put the fans on before I leave. I'll still leave the curtains open, and have Jake come in a bit early if it gets too hot, turn off their lights a bit earlier. Yesterday they all looked as if they were going to melt.

Rubio was realy hot when I put Gabriel in his tank and it was only for an instant, so if they were together any longer I"m sure Rubio would have said "hey look at the snack" & tried to eat him!

Leo wouldn't even wait that long, so they'll never be out together. And it was interesting to find that Gabriel wanted to fight with Didi, but wanted to make friends with Lonzo. So that was just a one-time experiment & won't happen again. Gabriel's finally realized that he likes to fight, he's so cute!

Hope you don't melt today & I'm so looking forward to new pics of the babies, whether they're shedding or not. I bet once they've done with this shed they'll be even more brilliantly coloured!
Hugs 'n snuggles, I'm off to feed the crew & get ready for work,
Deb