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:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well, here I thought Puff was done eggs, but no, 4 more this am. So now the count is 24. I'm hoping it won't be too expensive an operation to spay her, I'll ask my vet to find out, if I can squeeze the $ together in May I'll try to get her done then. She really needs to stop, the eggs are constant now. She's now laid 108+ eggs since September :shock: and I don't think she's quite done yet. Oh my, poor Puff.

Gabriel continues to shed bits and pieces, some off his side, some of the spikes back of his neck, some of his right eye and I know the left eye has a big shed almost started. He's getting crunchy on his upper chest & I think some of his tail is coming, too...poor guy, it's not just quitting :mrgreen:

 

[JenFid]

Tell Puff to stop that :shock:

 

[sweetiepie9]

I will, Jess, but she doesn't listen to me. I got home and found another egg, so she's up to 25 now. So she must be almost done. I'm still giving her carnivore care every am with bee pollen but ran out of baby food and can't find it in my local store anymore, so I'll check other places on the weekend.
At least she's still eating her greens, even if she's not eating her bugs.

 

[Goonie]

Goodness gracious, Puff. You are stressing out your mommy with all of this egg laying business. CUT IT OUT ALREADY, MISSY!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well, she's digging up her newspaper which means she's either done or almost done. I agree, Gina, GIVE IT UP ALREADY PUFF!

Gabriel shed both his eyes and he's feeling much better. I had him on the computer and he was bobbing away, black bearding, good to see him back to normal

 

[sweetiepie9]

Another egg last night & this am, so she's up to 27 and digging her newspaper up like crazy. I gave her a bath & the carnivore care mix this am, she ate some but not as near as much as I'd like. Tomorrow I start feeding her supers again, she's so skinny, but still has tons of energy. She had a long bath this am, calcium & B complex, drank alot, so that was good. Sat in that bath for over 1/2 hr, did some undewater swimming, too. She's just too funny sometimes.

I weighed the twins, Cierra is up to 317 & that's after a bit poop yesterday. Nathaniel is up to 323, also after 2 big poops. The worms are sure working for him, he's eating steadily and some greens, too. Cierra goes through roaches almost like she was going through crickets!

 

[BlueDragon09]

Glad the twins are gaining and eating.

Puff has 27 eggs...will she ever stop? I hope
you have $ to get her spayed next month it's too much.

Hope you're having a good week so far.

 

[Goonie]

"the twins" :laughing6: That is so cute!

Wow, Cierra is growing up fast! She'll be caught up to her brother in no time.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Kami, I'll find out tomorrow when I take Leo in to the vet how much it will cost for Puff to be spayed, then it's saving until I have the $, hopefully in May. No eggs tonight but she has dug up ALL the newspaper in her tank, so when I get back from the vet, I'll be checking it all. This usually means she's done or almost done.

Hi Gina, yes, dawned on me the other day that they are twins, so that's what they're being called now. And Cierra is now a little fatty, she's an inch shorter than Nathaniel but almost the same weight! I did notice that Nathaniel ate all his worms today, so hopefully that means he's getting a better appetite. He likes worms alot better than he ever liked roaches. Good thing, too, I'd run out otherwise. I also noticed this am that he's starting to get a belly, finally, that was really cute, too. In fact he's gained enough weight that it's hard for him to jump out of his bath :lol:

And I got some bath pics of them today: "So Mom, I want out, k?"

No really, I WANT OUT

What, you're not letting me out? Not fair! :lol:

Cierra doesn't seem to mind being in the bath anymore, even though she does still give me the evil eye :lol:

Gabriel was trying to run through the wall instead of getting his bath, couldn't understand why he couldn't :mrgreen: "So maybe she won't see me & I can get outta here"

"Well I thought I could" :lol: He kept trying, too

Nathaniel, looking like the angel he isn't when he's sleeping

And a couple of pics I took of Carly at her birthday party last Sunday, the cupcakes were wonderful!

Gail passing around those yummy cupcakes, the icing was strawberry puree mixed up as frosting

 

[Esther19]

Deb, you take such great pictures, and the captions are priceless!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Thanks Esther, glad you enjoyed them. I love taking pics of my crew, especially the twins.

 

[sweetiepie9]

So I'm back from the vet, Leo was so good! Got the blood sample, so we'll have results tomorrow or Monday. So surgery for Puff is set for May 14, it's a Thursday, I'm going to see if I can get that day and Friday off, if not (because it's the days before the long weekend in Canada) I'll drop her off Thursday am, bring her home Friday am, then my vet is in on Saturday if I have any questions and I'm then off until the following Wednesday. She'll give me a price when she gives me the results of the blood tests and if I can't pay it on one payment, she'll let me pay the rest in June. So that will be done and I'm so thrilled. No more eggs!!!! I'll know at the end of April if she's going to continue laying eggs, but if so, she'll be done by mid May, that's her schedule so far. I'm so thrilled! My vet has done a spaying on an iguana and a chamelion, plus I sent her the pictures from Shane, the Reptile Doctor when he was showing how to spay a dragon, so I think Puff will be fine. At this point anything to stop the egg laying! Leo is looking really good and she thinks everything will show well on the blood tests, but we'll see.

 

[Goonie]

How had Leo's eye been? Is the swelling still there?

I'm sure that you're relieved that Puff will no longer be troubled with eggs after May. You'll have to let us know if spaying her changes her behavior at all.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I hope she'll just be a regular dragon, no more eggs, no more losing all that weight. It'll be great, once she's recovered. I've been talking to a few people who had their dragons spayed, sounds like how I felt when I had my bladder surgery done. I'm hoping having 4 days off (or 6, depends on availability) will be enough to help her through the first stages of healing. If this surgery wasn't necessary, I'd never have it done, but I lost Sweetie because of egg laying and calcium depletion and I sure don't want to lose Puff. I was pleased, when I had a blood test done on her, that her calcium level is quite high, so even though she's laying all these eggs, she's maintaining her calcium level, which makes me feel so much better.

I took this picture this afternoon, she's in the digging stage, all the newspaper in her tank is ripped up, she's now in her hide, having ripped up the newspaper to cover the entry :lol: This usually means she's done with eggs and will start eating again. My vet won't do the surgery if she hasn't gained her weight back & is at least 470g. I'm hoping that will be the end of the eggs for this season.

Leo's eyes are the same, Gina, still large sockets, so we'll see in the blood sample how he's faring internally. I'm hoping his blood pressure is more normalized now that he's lost all that weight. He was 520g at the vet, she was very pleased with his weight. She'll call me with the results, plus the cost for getting Puff spayed. I love my vet, she takes good care of my babies and is always glad to see us. When I walked in today, she said "it's been awhile" and I said, "thank God for that" :mrgreen:

 

[sweetiepie9]

https://www.facebook.com/shashickatyrehill/photos/a.530784766939953.123171.525132867505143/627188060632956/?type=1

I found this on Facebook and loved it. I have earned every one of my Wisdom Highlights. Thought it would give some of us a big smile