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:

 

[BlueDragon09]

Yay Ariel that is another nice name.

 

[Tonja]

I love the name Ariel. You chose a nice name for your little girl. Going to take a while to get over Casteil and get used to Ariel.

 

[beardie parents]

I notice you now have 2 females. I am glad she's still a precious girl. I, also, hope she doesn't lay a lot of eggs like Puff has. It's worrysome when they do.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Thanks Lindz, Tonja, Kami and Lori. I kept checking to see those boy bumps but that girl bump just wouldn't go away. Then I noticed that she wasn't holding her arms the way a boy does, like a U. So Nathaniel will stay in the living room, (he likes to bug Gabriel) and Ariel will be in the dining room. I'm going to block off the part of Gabriel's tank that she can see in, as he's very intimidating. Leo's so laid back he's not even noticed that there's another dragon in Didi's tank :lol: That's my Leo, so involved in watching the dragon in the glass & getting around his tank. Gotta love him :love5: At least I don't have to worry about eggs for her for a couple of years I hope. She's gained 10g since I got her on Monday, she's eating really well.

Nathaniel was a very good boy today, I was in and out all day, so left him on the ramp. He's stay there, then run over to Gabriel's tank, bob him, then run back & did that every time I came home. I was counting out Joanne's supers (we share a 1000 when we order thru Jake) and he'd run over, I'd throw him a smaller super and he'd chase it and eat it, then run back to the ramp, watch some cartoons, run back for another super. We did this for an hour and he ate 4, plus a few this morning. I put more roaches and some small supers in his dish. He ate a bunch of mustard greens, too, today. I'm very pleased. So now I have 2 types of greens for everyone. Yeah, had no idea!

 

[Lindz0518]

Does Leo have the big tank that Rubio used to have? I bet it was funny to watch Nathaniel on the ramp! I am so glad to hear that Ariel is gaining weight and they are both doing good. Now hopefully Puff will quit laying!

 

[Goonie]

Sorry the boy bumps weren't there. (also sorry that I jinxed you by asking the question)
Ariel is such a pretty name. I'm sure she'll get used to being called that in no time

Wow, Nathaniel stayed out on the ramp all day?! What a good boy! Was Gabriel going nuts the whole time, seeing that that's HIS ramp?

 

[Esther19]

Oh Deb. A girl. I had a student named Ariel last year. Pretty name. Pretty dragon, too. How fun it must have been to watch Nathaniel today. You have quite a crew!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Lindz, when Rubio died I had his tank destroyed, I couldn't bear to see it, I destroyed all his belongings, too, he had dermal fungus and he had a huge grape vine. Since all the others had their own tanks with their own belongings, I didn't keep anything. I was still freaked out about Titan and Rubio's passing just broke me. Took me so long to recover from their loss, but especially Rubio, he was my big baby, I'd had him since he was 3 mo old and he was just 6. I feel better now but it took me over 6 mo to be able to look at a picture of him without bursting out crying. So everyone is in 40 gallon tanks now, because they get outside time almost every day, it's enough room for them.

No Gina, you didn't jinx anything. I just didn't even check when I was at the rescue. But now it all makes sense, she's so different from Nathaniel. And yes, Gabriel went nuts all day. It's fun to watch the interaction between the two of them. They seem to be having lots of fun!

Hi Esther, yes, he and Gabriel bug each other all day. Gabriel goes nuts in his tank (I'll have to video him one day, he's incredible, the energy he has) and Nathaniel does this all day, runs underneath his tank, bobs, stamps, has a constant black beard, then runs back to the ramp, watches some cartoons, then back again. He does a bob at Puff as he runs past her tank, but it's just a courtesy bob, he & Gabriel are mainly playing together, it's so fun to watch. I'm going to miss this when I go back to work full-time Mar 2.

Ariel just came to mind when I realized what type of bump I was looking at. I'm glad she's eating, she seems to feel comfortable with me now. :love5: I didn't want a girl, but now that I have one, I'm glad she's here. Wait until I tell Val :mrgreen: She'll be very surprised! Wonder if the dragon with the foster mom is a male or female? Will have to ask her.

 

[getgab92]

Aww Deb! Ariel is a beautiful name and she is sooo cute! I loved those pics too you sure have ur hands full! No empty tanks allowed I love it!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Thanks and I love having my hands full. I can't stand to see an empty tank, it just eats at me.

So I did put paper along the side of Gabriel's tank that Ariel can see, hopefully that makes her feel more comfortable. Now to get feeding every one.

Puff laid another egg, so that's #15.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I've taken a few pictures the last few days:

Rocco sitting on the wet earth under his fig tree, he likes to do this when he gets too hot.

The view of Gabriel from the side that I blocked off for Ariel, my stud

Puff enjoying some sunshine in the living room, plus she couldn't figure out what this frame was all about :mrgreen:

Nathaniel decided, after his bath, to jump on the food processor, guess he wanted to get a higher view :lol:

Ariel and her cricket belly.

Close up of Ariel's eye, but kind of blurry

She ate a ton of crickets, then a few worms; her side bars on her face are so dark and go across her eyes, So pretty :love5:

 

[Goonie]

That's a good belly on Ariel.
Does she like to be held? (forgive my ignorance if you had already told us this)

Oh my, Puff is so skinny. Tell her that Auntie Gina is demanding that she stop it with the eggs and start putting weight back on.

 

[Lindz0518]

Awww I loved the pictures! So glad Ariel ate some crickets for you, she has some catching up to her brother to do! Hopefully Puff gets done with eggs she will put weight on!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Gina, I will tell Puff that tomorrow am. I did manage to stuff 2 supers into her face this am, the Queen Bee was not amused :lol: but she ate them.

Hi Lindz, Ariel is back to being a cricket vacuum cleaner, so I ordered another 500 to be picked up on Sunday (the petshop sells 500 crickets for $20, good deal!). So she'd better eat what's left before the weekend or I won't have room for the 500 on Sunday LOL. Puff always gets hungry when she's done laying, but it takes 2 weeks for her to finish laying, then she digs for a few days, then I can start stuffing her full of food again. I'm just hoping that with this 4th clutch, she's done laying until the fall, and she'll be spayed by then, so no more eggs!

Ariel & I spent alot of time together this am, snuggling, me keeping an eye on her when she was out (she wasn't bothered by the two boys making fools of themselves over her), finding her when she disappeared (she'd gone down the ramp, behind the big blue pillow to the balcony window and was staring outside). She ate tons of crickets, at least 40 or more, then ate 20 mini worms. So she had a good day today. No greens, didn't have time to get those into her tank as ran out of time. I did introduce Puff to her, she wasn't impressed at all, just wanted to watch the boys being *****s :lol:

I'm really going to have to get a video of Gabriel and Nathaniel when they get going when Puff or Ariel are out, they are just too funny, so entertaining :mrgreen:

So I get home tonight, check on all of them as I usually do & can't find Nathaniel :shock: He had somehow jumped into Gabriel's tank and was sound asleep upright along the glass that separates them. So I've reconfigured the large barriers that are between the tanks & I've added 9" to the top of the tanks. I sure had a heart attack when I coudn't find him, though, because he was in his tank when I left for work at 1:30p. So he shouldn't be able to do that again, but Gabriel is out every day going forward. That's the last thing I need is to come home to a dead Nathaniel I'm just glad that if he had to get into another tank, it was an empty one and not Puff's. :roll: He's old enough to know what to do with a female, that's for sure, little brat :evil:

So that was enough excitement for tonight. I have to be up at 7a tomorrow, have to get to an 8:30 breathing test, then xrays. Then home and to work, depending on what time I get home. So busy long day tomorrow. At least I can sleep in some on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Then full time next week. That will be so much different than the last 2 months!

I did get a picture of Ariel on the ramp, though, didn't have time to load it until now:

And I did cut her nails, so no more needles for awhile.

 

[Goonie]

WHAT?! What was he thinking in jumping into Gabriel's tank?! And how did he even do that? Thank goodness he didn't end up jumping onto the living room floor. EEK!