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:

 

[diamc]

Hi Deb. Hope you got to take Ryder out today. Loved all your pictures especially the ones of you and Tehya, you both look so happy. You can tell by looking at her that she is a very caring person and has a great personality.

So sorry to hear that Eric & Tara are still playing their games. I just can't understand them treating you like that, SO undeserved. Don't blame you at all for planning on giving them an ultimatum of "Am I in or out?"

All your beardies look great. Sorry to hear that Lonzo has roundworms, hope none of the others do. Hope Didi's cysts can be gone for good very soon.

Gabriel is so funny. He sure can pout when he's in his tank & looks like a different beardie when on the ramp keeping guard. :lol:

You sure have 2 smart beardies hiding their roaches like that so they could have supers! What stinkers they are.

That's a shame that the long term coverage was declined. I imagine the full-time paychecks are a lot better, hope you can hold up ok. How are you feeling?

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Diane,
The large ligament that was shredded when I fell, is now healed, that's made all the difference, I take the stairs now, up and down, no elevator unless I have to. I to up 80 steps on my way to work, nxt challenge is walking up the 3 long flights of stairs to get to work, instead of the elevator. That would be a great workout every morning.

I had a great time with Ryder yesterday, we went to see How to train your Dragon II (I'd already seen it, but it was worth watching the 2nd time. He played with Gabriel and Leo before the movie, then after the moving, then we went to the park across the street for 1/2 an hour, he had a ball, then back to perching Gabriel on his head (I have lots of pics, but have to get to the physio this am, so will post when I get home). And then I got supper when I took him home. My s-i-l gave me the $ for movie, popcorn, M&Ms for Ryder and had $ left for 3 gumball games for him. Then my brother gave me $10 towards gas, which will come in handy. They're so generous with me, but loved having Ryder out of the house for the weekend. So we'll be doing this again, maybe not even a movie, just a picnic and the afternoon at the park if we get more sunny weather in Sept. Teachers are on strike over here so the kids are still not in school & Ryder even said he misses school, his teachers and friends. So we're hoping the strike goes off soon.

So I got the Arcadia lights & the ramp and Leo now have the new lights, too. We'll see after a week, if it makes a difference to Leo, he had the last power sun.

Pictures when I get back!

Lonzo and Didi have an appt with the vet on the 27th and will take a fecal of Lonzo to see if they're ok. That weekend I'll be sending 4 fecals to Kelly, so see how that goes. If not, early Oct will take 4 to the vet. It's just more expensive, so want to try Kelly first.

 

[sweetiepie9]

So here are the pics I took recently:

My "water" dragon, Didi, loves the water, I think he'd stay in the bath all day, if he could:


How could you not love that face?


I put Gabriel in Puff's tank for a minute, as Leo was in Gabriel's tank getting good UVB before I got the bulbs in last night. Doesn't he look like the warrier he is? I think that pose was just to impress Puff, it didn't work, she would ignore him or fast bob him with a black beard :lol:


Puff on her banking log, not sure what she was looking at:


Here is Gabriel and his dish of roaches, they were gone the next day, who knew he was letting them out so they could hide? :roll: He is a character :lol:


"I WANT OUT NOW" :mrgreen:


Puff decided to show Gabriel that SHE was the boss, not him! :lol:


Gabriel decided that being on my head was great fun!


Self portrait, Gabriel was on my head but didn't get him in the photo, oh well! :mrgreen:


Ryder with Gabriel on his head. That lizard loves to be on heads :lol:


"Look Mom I found another head to sit on"


Ryder playing with Leo on the black plane"


This is how I found Gabriel sleeping when I got home last night. He's on top of the black cushion to the left of the ramp, with his head plastered to the balcony window :lol:

 

[Tonja]

I love the pictures of your crew, especially the one of the black plane. Puff is adorable sitting on Gabriel and Didi in the bath with the spigot going is priceless. Gabriel sitting on yours and Ryders <he is so sweet looking> heads are funny as long as they don't pooh on your heads :mrgreen: They all look so happy and content and so healthy looking with bright eyes.

 

[BrendaKay]

Love all the pix!! Ryder is just adorable!! And love all the head shots.

 

[Esther19]

I think my favorite is Didi looking up at you in the bath. The one on the plane is a close second. And that Ryder is a sweetie pie! I'm sorry your long term didn't work out, but thankful that you are well enough to work.

Cissy has pneumonia again. Got dragon #5 today. A little Petsmart baby too small to go home with anyone else. 5 inches, 4 grams. She can't be much past a hatchling, but I have no idea of a guess to her age.She has a small tail nip. I think it's a girl, but if it's a boy, he'll be Angus. No clue on girl names.

I'm glad you had a good day with Ryder. Thanks for the pics!

 

[diamc]

Deb, I'm glad to hear that that large ligament has finally healed. Wow, you sure have to do a lot of stair climbing, not sure I could handle that.

Ryder is SO cute, love his smile. How old is he now? That movie How to Train Your Dragon is previous, isn't it? Bet he loved it too. I imagine all your beardies enjoyed the interaction with him especially Gabriel since he could sit on his head. :lol: Sounds like you thoroughly enjoy having him there, that's great for both of you.

Can tell that Didi loves his baths. Loved the head tilt he gave you, so precious.

Gabriel is a riot, Mr. Macho. You sure can read his thoughts especially when he's NOT happy. :roll: He wasn't too sure about her laying on him though, was he? Puff looks very good. Hope she is all done with the eggs now.

Loved the picture of Leo on the plane, not sure who was prouder, Ryder or Leo.

Thanks for sharing all these pictures with us, always love seeing them.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Tonja, Ryder wanted to stay over but my living room is a mess and I'd be afraid he'd get up & get dragons out of their tanks to sleep with! But maybe, one day in the future, he can stay over and sleep with me. I have a Sunday afternoon planned in a couple of weeks, if they're not away & want some time out. We can go to the park across the street, there is a wonderful playground that he played in yesterday, but this would be for a couple of hours, not just 1/2 an hour. He's a handful but we get along wonderfully well. I've been babysitting him since he was really little, so we're used to each other by now.

Hi Esther, a new baby? You'll have to post some pics on here! Congrats! And Cissy is sick again, poor girl, hope she gets over this soon. I'd give her echinacea, 5 drops a day, that's what I gave Titan and Rubio, it seemed to help for awhile. My health shop has it with golden seal & no alcohol, I take it myself, so I know it's safe. It helped my immune system greatly when I was so sick. So try that for her. Electrolytes, too. Tell her I'm praying for her recovery soon.

Ryder is a sweetie but VERY high energy. But because we've been close for so long, he tends to listen to me, but as my brother said, having him 24/7 is wearying. For me, it's ok, it's an afternoon or evening at a time, not all the time. But he's getting easier, I find, as he gets older. I'm just pleased to give his parents time off. His older brother is easy, he's 14 now & loves being on the computer with his friends playing Minecraft, even when he's not, he's not as high energy as Ryder is.

Hi Diane, I had a great time with Ryder.

As for the stairs, it's helping me in a big way, toning my legs, making me stronger, so I persevere and go up and down stairs as much as possible. I went to my physio this am (it was great she was in for the day) and she told me I hadn't strained the old injury too badly & just to exercise the arm as I was doing before. I don't have to go back. Found out the ligament that I frayed is the one around the heal that holds the heal together with the rest of my foot, so that make sense that it took so long to heal.

So now I'm off to clean Bunny and Rocco's tanks and move some roaches into the 10 gallon tank, as it's almost empty and the 20 gallon is being overrun. Then to bed with me!

Thanks for checking the pics, Ryder was so thrilled to play with my dragons, that's all he talks about. He's learning quickly that a tail going around in circles when he picks Leo up, isn't a good thing :mrgreen: And that even though superworms bite (he helped me throw worms at Gabriel yesterday :lol: ) it's just a slight nip and doesn't really hurt. I'll turn him into a beardie slave yet

 

[sweetiepie9]

Esther, how's Cissy doing? And how's your new member. If you want, post pics of your new baby, I would love to see her. And how's Maisie and the boys doing, are they getting ready for the winter sleep yet?

I got a big surprise when I woke up this morning. I say hi to everyone, plus the geckos and what do I find in Bunny's tank but Bunny sleeping on her hide :shock: and two big eggs on the floor. So I got her up & gave her .3 ml of calcium, plus fed her 2ml of Repashy (mind you about 1/2 of it ended up on her and me & the counter LOL. So I even got a picture to show you how big they are. She must have laid them during the night because they were both rock hard:

As you can see, she's lost ALOT of weight and those eggs are huge compared to her, she's only 8-9" long including her tail. So she'll get calcium daily and Repashy by syringe for a few days, plus I'll give her a cricket at night to see if she's wanting to eat.

Bunny before she laid the eggs, you can see the difference in her weight:



So here are the rest of the pics:
Puff decided to have a nap :lol: Guess the TV was boring.


Lonzo decided to be more comfortable while watching the show on the floor (Gabriel constantly displaying to Puff)


Gabriel, posing his beard:


Puff while wandering around the living room, guess she was getting an eyeful of Lonzo (he still has it, my old man :mrgreen: )


Gabriel keeping an eye on Puff while she was on her "outside time", she just ignored him :mrgreen:


I told Todd I'd take pics of the dragons with a box of the Arcadia light, guess I have to do this differently and have the dragon BESIDE the box. This didn't turn out as well as I expected :lol:


Gabriel sleeping on the pillow next to the ramp, waiting for me to come home after work.


Close up:


Leo and Lonzo normally can be in the sunshine together (in my living room) without incident. Today Lonzo decided he didn't want Leo to get any sun. No fighting, just laying on top of him. He's never done this before.


Here's the little spider that moved onto my balcony. He keeps my plants bug free all summer.


Didi showing off all his reflections. It's strange that none of my dragons are bothered by their reflections when so many other dragons are:


Gabriel playing King of the Ramp - does this look good enough for the calendar? Guess I'd have to move the stuff away from the balcony behind him, though.


Introspective Puff


Lonzo relaxing, love that yellow colour that comes out when he's relaxed


Leo's close up, he's getting ready for brumation, already! But he's up today


Didi smiling, my sweet boy!


A few pictures of Rocco:
"Hey MOM, where's the crickets??"


"So, what's taking so long???"


What he looks like underneath, after he's eaten his crickets :mrgreen:


And in all his splendor, you can see how gold he gets:

 

[Esther19]

Hi Deb,

So Bunny left you a present? She makes pretty eggs. I hope she plumps up for you soon. Wonderful pictures of your crew, as usual. Puff is sure a beauty, and Lonzo just keeps on ticking. I think he just wanted to give Leo a hug, not steal his sunshine. Please give him a special snuggle from me.

Cissy is improving. Those doxycycline shots really help, along with the nightly nebulizing. Thanks for asking. Our new baby, Stella, is doing well. In 6 days she gained 2 grams and 1/2 inch, which puts her at 6 g and 5 1/2 inches. She has already decided she's not that fond of crickets, but does like her collard/yellow squash salad. Such tiny pieces to make! Reptiworms have been ordered. Any idea how old she would have been at 4g and 5 inches when I got her?

Buster is showing signs of slowing down more than Fred. I don't know about Maisy's brumation habits, but she's never moved around much, anyway. I guess I'll know when she doesn't want to wake up. Buster has always been my sleepy boy. One year he was down 8 months, before I knew that was too long. I do wake them for hydration, though.

I'm not good at posting pictures, but I'll try to email you some of Stella from my phone. But I have a different phone, which I can sometimes figure out, sometimes not.

Have a great week!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Esther, I'm very glad to hear that Cissy is doing so much better. Give her a bit hug from us all.

As for Stella, I'd say 3 weeks at the most? Could be as little as 2 weeks, depends on how long she was when she was hatched. I'm so glad she's doing so well and already loves her salad. Well done Stella! That's the same salad I used to give my Rubio and Issy when they were babies and then gave to the rest, who all loved them (and ate from a dish, too). Now they're all hand fed, even Puff when it comes to squash. She'll eat her collard greens from her dish and has given up protein, so how I'm hand feeding her roaches, too. Never ending!

I will give Lonzo an extra hug from you and let him know that he's your favourite. He's not allowed to brumate at all, hasn't since he lost the use of his lung. The first winter he didn't like it, but he got used to it and now he's up every morning no matter what the time of year, in the winter he just takes a longer snooze.

I thought Bunny would still be weak tonight but she slept well after I gave her that calcium this am and Repashy and now she's just eaten 7 crickets, dusted with Repashy as usual. I'll give her more calcium in the am (she licks it up better when she's 1/2 asleep) and more Repashy, it will help her gain back the huge amount of weight that she lost. Tonight she was her usual cream colours, too, which bodes well.

So Buster is the sleeper? So is Joanne's Twiggy. Mine do what I call popcorn brumation, up and down, up and down, all winter long. I never know when they'll be sleeping or awake. That's Didi and Leo. Gabriel has never brumated and he'll be 4 in April. As for Puff, her owner told me she brumated in the winter, but since she spend last winter/spring laying eggs, this year might be different. We'll have to see.

You sure have a full house now with 5 beardies, just like me! I know you went back to school already. The teachers are on strike up here since mid June & haven't gone back yet. So all the kids are missing a week, now two weeks of school and there's talk of the strike lasting until end September. The government leader we have right now is a joke, teacher's go on strike sometimes up here but there has always been an agreement hammered out within a couple of weeks. This is the 1st time it's gone on past the summertime. They have a very strong union up here & were given the right to strike, which I feel is wrong, being as this is in the public schools and they are "public servants" and we pay their salaries out of our tax $. But then again, I've never agreed on teachers being able to strike anyway. So hopefully it's done soon. My niece Emily and my nephew Cole were to start high school this year, they're probably not going to have March break and have longer days to make up for what they'll have missed. I'm so glad I don't have kids in school...

Yes, please send me pics when you can, I'd love to see them. I'm glad you're getting worms for Stella, she'll enjoy them. Do you have a roach colony? Baby roaches are wonderful for baby beardies. Can't say I blame her for not liking crickets that much, I don't like keeping them, smelly things. I have 2 big roach colonies and I feed 4 of them from there. I tried to get my geckos to eat them, but no go, they still get crickets.

 

[protiemama]

All those pictures were a delight. Such a great way to start my day. Your nephew is a real rascal I bet. Such a cutie.

Sandy H :mrgreen:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Sandy, I love my nieces and nephew but especially Ryder because he loves my dragons so much. He even handled the super worms to feed Gabriel when he was here. It was hysterical, he'd drop the worm because he kept saying it bit, but I told him it was just a small nip and to not worry about it. He became quite proficient and we had alot of fun with that! I'm hoping to get him over again soon. The teachers are on strike over here in BC, since mid-June and neither side is moving on their stand, so the kids are missing already 1/2 of the month of September and no end in site. So he doesn't have alot to do on the weekends unless they go away. I'm going to get in touch with my s-i-l and see if he's busy on Sunday afternoon, I promised we'd go to the big park across the street, it has a great playground that he'll play in for hours. We'll see...keeps my mind off my grandson when I'm with Ryder. He's so much fun, so much energy, drives his parents crazy :lol:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Update on Bunny, it's been a week and she's gained alot of weight, which is good. She's eating really well, so I haven't given her any more calcium, as it's in the Repashy that I dust her crickets with. She's been eating 5-6 crickets every night without fail, so another week and she should be at her regular weight again.
I almost had a heart attack. I'd opened her door to give her some crickets, the phone rang, I forgot to close the door, came back and she was GONE :shock: So I searched and searched and found her on the wall across the living room, hiding behind the curtains. That's more than 10 feet away from her tank, so she can travel very well, too, which is a good thing to know. She was put back in her tank right away & fed her crickets and she ate them all, even gave her a few extra.

Lonzo is starting to fail even more, he's choking when he eats now, so he's refusing bugs, just eating a bit of collard green every day. I made him up some carnivore care, acidophilus and chicken baby food + water to thin it out and he only ate a few licks when he stopped breathing. So got him breathing again and into his tank and will try again tomorrow. Meanwhile it was time to give Puff her calcium/vit-min liquid and I realized she's stopped eating protein, so offered her the mix I'd made and she ate it all, 15ml altogether (minus what dribbled out). So she's a very full beardie!

Rocco decided to run out of his tank and I picked him up and got a picture, it's so rare I handle him that I kept him in my hand for quite awhile. And he stayed in my hand, because of the warmth, I'm sure.

So here are a few more pictures, if any of you want to check to see if any of them are calendar worthy, please let me know. They're only pics of Gabriel, Lonzo and Didi, will take more of Leo and Puff later.

Rocco, seems to look comfy in my hand :lol:


So here are the pictures I took yesterday, most in the sun:
Gabriel
1:

2:

3:

Lonzo:


Didi:
1:

2:

I took others, but they weren't clear enough. Have to work on clarity when getting closeups.

So here are a few with my crew in the bath, under running water:

Leo:


Lonzo: (he wasn't so thrilled)


Puff:


Gabriel:


Didi:


They were taken for a "warm water challenge" to raise funds on a rescue site. Except for Lonzo, they didn't seem to mind the running water :mrgreen:

 

[Goonie]

Both Bunny and Rocco ran out of their tanks?! Bad geckos! :laughing6:

It breaks my heart to hear that Lonzo's health is declining still Does he do better when he's standing upright as opposed to lying flat?

I like #2 for Gabriel. #3 is a tad too washed out (too much like colors).
#2 for Didi came out really nice. How is his mouth doing? Better?