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]

Hi Deb.
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I'm glad you are going to get Puff spayed. I hope it goes well for her and she recovers very well.

It looks like Lil Squirt is going to lay eggs again. She has been digging a lot, mainly outside. We can't be outside with her all day as I work and Bill has a lot of yard work, among other things. Anyway her fat pads aren't as large as they were as she's expending more energy and not eating very much. Sometime she will have one or two small pieces of greens and not supers. She did some digging today but not much as in past days. it's possible she doesn't have the energy she had last week. I know you have some things you give your babies when they need to eat and won't. Lil Squirt will be 3 years old this coming June 18th. We've tried pumpkin on some of our girls in the past and they haven't eaten it. We will try some on Lil Squirt when next we make a pumpkin pie. I went onto the beautifuldragon.com website and they have some Critical care. They also had a note that said they were discontinuing the critical care because Pangea and Repashy both make better meal replacement diets. We were given some carnivore care for Goldie but that has long since expired and we tossed it out. The carnivore care didn't work for Goldie. We believe her kidneys were shutting down. Goldie never laid eggs. So far, out of 7 beardies, only Rosie and Lil Squirt have laid eggs. Rosie seems to be laying less and less every year. The first time Rosie laid eggs it was 22 and then nothing until the following year and from that time it was one egg here, two there all summer long. What we are concerned about concerning Squirt is the lack of fat pads on the top of her head, they aren't sunken in but they are flat. Bill says the side of her head reminds him of Goldie before she died. We need to get her to eat because she's loosing weight again as she didn't gain enough after that first clutch.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Lori, I sure can understand your concern, but Puff has never had any fat pads, instead of being above her head, they're below. I've never understood that, no matter how much weight she gains, her fat pads stay the way they've been since I've had her. She'd never laid any eggs until she came to me. I'm hoping she doesn't have any before the 14th so my vet can go through with the spaying, she's finally up to her regular weight...but I couldn't feel any in her.

So this is the mix I've always made for my dragons, for 9 years now. 1/2 tbsp Carnivore Care, 1 tbsp or more of butternut squash. Remember I make it for 4 dragons, as Leo, Nathaniel and Cierra all find it to be a treat. Then I've been adding 3/4 tsp bee pollen, that you can buy anywhere. It's the human grade, I've just been buying it through www.beardeddragon.co as I can't get powder in Canada, only granules. If you need some, send me your address by PM and I'll mail you some of what I have because I have lots of it. I can send you some Carnivore Care, too, as I just bought a full bag of it from my vet. You just have to get the butternut squash baby food. I don't mind doing that, I can mail it to you on Friday.

Can Bill make the ground where she's digging easier for her to dig in? If he digs it up a bit to make it softer for her, that might help. Puff would never use a dig box, she'll only lay her eggs in her tank. Now Cierra is making eggs, too, so I have to get her a dig box, she can't go outside like Lil Squirt can. So I'm getting her some potting soil without fertilizer (at least I hope to find some) and a box to see if she wants to dig. I find the potting soil softer and moister than sand. Would Lil Squirt use a dig box if you made her up one? Puff is opposite from any other dragon I've had. She lays her eggs a few at a time for 2 weeks, then she digs up her newspaper for a week, then she starts eating again. She laid her last egg on Apr 5, dug up her newspaper for a week & now, on May 3, she's finally at 468g from under 400g when she finished up her eggs. Every other dragon I've ever had, dug for a week or two before laying, laid all their eggs, then started eating again. So I'm hoping that Lil Squirt will get rid of all her eggs soon.

If you want to feed her something right now, get chicken baby food#1, butternut squash and mix them together. That will give her protein and veg together and will give her nutrition while she doesn't want to eat. I'd say start with 1/2 tsp chicken and 1 tsp butternut squash, to see if she likes it first, as she has to eat from a syringe and it has to be thin enough to go into & out of the syringe easily. Add more butternut squash if it's not thin enough. Before I found out about Carnivore Care, I used those 2 baby foods on dragons that wouldn't eat, helped alot.

Hope all that helps you.

 

[beardie parents]

Thanks Deb. PM sent. We printed out your post to keep track of your information better.

 

[Goonie]

Deb, I know exactly how you feel about what happened between Nathaniel and Cierra.
Mistakes and accidents happen, unfortunately.

Let's hope that Cierra will lay those eggs with no trouble and that she'll recover quickly.

Are you going to try to hatch any of the eggs?

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Gina, thanks for the reassurance because I still feel so bad about what happened.

And no, they're brother and sister, so the eggs will be frozen. I wouldn't take the chance of any issues in the babies, on top of not having any room for raising babies. If I did, I would have had Sweetie and Lonzo have a clutch and raised one of theirs. There is a pet shop close by that would have taken their babies but we never did have the $ or room to raise babies.

Cierra is getting bigger and bigger every day and I can feel all of the eggs. She'll eat the occasional white superworm and a few greens, but that's it. I'm going to make up the mix I make for Puff this am & see if she'll eat any. I know if she won't Nathaniel will chow down on it.

I was pleased to see that Puff gained her weight back but yesterday I felt 2 eggs in her abdomen...I called the vet and I'm taking her in on the 12th to check if she can still have the surgery on the 14th. My vet said if she didn't have a belly full, she'd still do the surgery, so fingers crossed she doesn't have alot more in the next week. I'm taking Gabriel in, too, he's got something on his lip that I can't figure out. Plus he's been very miserable lately, but in the last 2 days he seems to be perking up. He still sleeps on Puff's bed every night. She has a different bed in her tank that she likes to sleep in. So that worked out well.

So a few pictures:

I was out shopping on the weekend so I bought Cierra a new towel, bigger than the one she had & bright pink. She likes it, too.

And Rocco came out to visit, he'd gotten his paws wet because I put too much water in his "lake" (water dish) and it overflowed. So I picked him up & put him on this old towel...well he loved it! And it got him dry again so he could climb the walls in his tank

He liked it so much that I put it in his tank for awhile

My crew got some sunshine over the last 3 days, which was great as it's raining and yucky out today.
Here are Cierra (on top) and Puff (at the bottom)

Gabriel was out yesterday for over an hour, did him so much good. Nathaniel also got his time out. Only Leo didn't get out, but he's first on the next sunny morning.

Cierra was on my shoulder on the weekend, I was cutting up oranges for the roaches when she tried to climb down my back. So I grabbed her & put her in the small frying pan I keep on the stove:

Pictures of them all, they all turned out so well:
Leo

I've run out of time, will put the rest of the pics up tomorrow.

 

[JenFid]

Love the pics of everyone! It's so nice when the sun is out. We've waited too long for it out here.

You know I made the exact same mistake with Scully and Sarth too I think that's part of the reason she laid 4 clutches last year, and I know at least the first clutch was fertile. When people hear the dragons lay eggs they always want to know if I hatch them...don't have the time or $$ for that!

Puff is making more eggs eh, why is that not surprising :roll: hopefully she produces them slow enough that she can still get spayed. Boy does she ever need it!

 

[sweetiepie9]

I sure agree with you Jen, and I'm hoping Cierra doesn't have more than the one, she's getting huge and I can feel all the bumps.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Wow, I just love geckos! Rocco is so cute and beautiful.

Cierra and her towel is cute too!

So, Nathaniel done the deed huh? That's a shame. Nathaniel! She's your sister that is nasty! She can't
be having your babies! Oh well, whats done is done. Going to freeze them? I understand what you have to do.

Hi Leo, love your picture baby boy.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Glad you enjoyed the photos, especially Rocco, he really enjoyed that towel session :lol:

And yes, the eggs will be frozen. I have to out after lunch & get some potting soil for her lay box. Right now she's out in the last of the sunshine on the balcony, she can't get enough sunshine.

Then it's home to play & relax. Have to get fertilized soil on the weekend, have 5 plans to re-pot. Keep me busy! And Kami, I'm off to see the Avengers 2 on Sat night with my brother, 2 nieces and 2 nephews. It's my treat, I got 4 free tickets and we're having supper at the Spaghetti Warehouse before the movie, will be a huge success. I like being a good auntie & sister!

 

[BlueDragon09]

Oh yeah Avengers was awesome you'll like it I did!

I have 8 fish so Im always busy. Plus Broly's food and everything else he needs. I also still have Thor so I understand the busyness. After giving up two kissing gouramis to my friend I got 2 more fish..2 female bettas.
My first female barely cares.

I enjoy all pictures!

I had an aunt like you...she doesn't do that stuff anymore though. She's like 67 and she gets too tired for things she used to do with us.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well I'm 59 and I work hard to stay in good health. I get free tickets from points through my pharmacy, so it makes me feel good to do this for them. Especially for my brother, he's my car mentor and has helped me so much.

Well I got a great deal on potting soil without fertilizer today. Got 6 big bags at $2.50 each!! So Cierra has more than enough for her dig box, which I'm going to put together right now so she can dig. She's already started digging in her tank and she's been leaving small poops behind. I'm giving her a bit more calcium, but her urate today was orange, which means she's getting too much, so I'll give her extra after she's laid her eggs.

 

[Goonie]

Wow, what amazing photos of Rocco! Now that you know how much he likes that towel, perhaps you could take him out more often.

Cierra looked too cute sitting in the frying pan
Had she always been a white supers kind of girl, or is this something she just started because she has eggs in her belly? I ask because this is how Digi is when she's "pregnant", where she'll only eat white supers, but when she's normal, she'll eat the regular supers.

Even if Puff has more than a few eggs in her, why would that prevent the vet from spading her?

 

[sweetiepie9]

Glad you liked the photos, Gina and yes, only whites since she's carrying eggs, otherwise she mainly was eating roaches and the occasional super. So I go through the bin every am to find white supers and today she wouldn't eat them, but she did eat lot of the mix I made up.

I'm not sure why it would make a difference with Puff, but I'll find out on Tuesday when I take her in. Hope all goes well for Thursday!

 

[beardie parents]

Hi Deb. Lil Squirt ate more today than she has been eating. She hates the syringe. I'm wondering if I can put the calcium in with the baby food. She ate some for Bill with a spoon. She fought me with the syringe yesterday and when I looked over at her on her basking spot she looked at me with fear as if worried that I was going to come to her with "that detesting plastic thingy" She ate one white super today and about 1/4 of a small tea type spoon we have the Bill uses to stir up his protein, she also ate some greens and drank a tiny bit of water. Bill is worried that her fat pads are more sunken today then they were yesterday, even though she ate more today then yesterday. I've read a lot about this problem here so I figure she will be o.k. as long as she lays those eggs soon and picks up her eating again. She started eating more after her first laying but not enough, in my opinion and it didn't seem to last very long. I hope she doesn't start laying like your Sweetie did and some other's I've read about.

 

[sweetiepie9]

You can feed her by spoon, too, just add the calcium to the mix. I'm mailing it out to you either tomorrow or Saturday.