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]

Thanks Kami, that's what's great about Gabriel, he does look like a dinosaur dragon :lol: Castiel is really enjoying his new home and the twins are growing by leaps and bounds. I'm sure Leo will be fine, he's had blood tests that showed nothing wrong, I just want the xray to be double sure because I'm protective like we all are with our dragons.

We're really having a rough time over here. The sky has been covered in a smoke haze since early this morning, just because of the wind's direction from the big fire north a few hundred miles. I'm so hoping they'll get it under control. It's high fire hazard season now, alot of local fires, too, that were all put out quickly. I've never seen this in all the 27 years I've lived here. I don't think this has ever happened in the history of B.C.

 

[Goonie]

I'm sure Leo's mysterious weight gain is due to the lumps in his belly.

Given that it'd been so hot lately, I'm sure the kids are needing more hydration than normal, especially the older ones.

 

[sweetiepie9]

They're getting 1/2 hr baths daily, plus I give them electrolytes and water later in the day when I'm home. I don't know what else to do. They get lots of greens that are washed so have lots of water there, too. It's cooler today, we still have yellow skies, smoke from a fire to the north, so only Castiel got sun today. But they all got outside time.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Glad everyone is ok even though it's been hot. Glad it was cooler today. It's cloudy here it's cool here too it's been in 70s and thats a bit hot for us. Must suck to have yellow skies from the fire up north. Hope it is controlled soon if not already.

 

[beardie parents]

The smoke you mentioned brings back memories of the monument fire from 2011. It was over by this time that year. It was the worst fire this area has ever had. The other fires we his in the mountains when over the other side that didn't have any homes. I sympathize with you there. I know the smell is bad. BTW: Deb, I found the rain you guys lost a couple of months ago. We had over 6 inches of rain in this last weekend. It is our monsoon season but we seem to be getting more rain this year then at the same time last year. The Tucson, AZ station that I watch on-line seemed to think that we wouldn't have a lot of rain this week. i found out when I was leaving work that there was a flood advisory until about 6pm so i decided to go home a safer way after I went to a store to get some things we needed for our girls' food (wheat bran for the supers) and other things Bill needed. When I got there it started sprinkling and then rained harder and harder so I sat in my car for probably more than 20 minutes to wait out the rain. I thought I'd come here and demand that you come down to Southern Arizona and take back the rain you sent here. :lol:

 

[CooperDragon]

A meteorologist friend of mine just posted a map of the affected areas from the Alberta fires "causing the beautiful color".

 

[brandymulvaine]

Yikes! I got behind in my reading, glad to hear that your babies are doing well, how's your mum? Fire can be very scary, we were visiting my MIL&FIL in Colorado when the Waldo canyon fires broke out. We left a day early because there was ash dropping in the parking lot. I hope they get them under control quickly. 'Night!

 

[sweetiepie9]

There are always forest fires in northern Canada, all due to shortage of rain, but never here. So I'm hoping that extra rain you found, Lori, makes it's way back up here where it belongs. It's still awful in some areas north of Vancouver, not too bad here where I live, but still, everywhere we're covered with a smoke haze. You can taste it in your mouth, it's just awful. We're hoping getting rain on the weekend, I can only hope we do, but without thunderstorms, as we sure don't need the lightening. I've never seen it like this and we're having record hot days, over 10 C more than usual daily. Not helping.

Hi Brandy, my babies are fine, their lights are off at 2:30p daily now because it gets too hot for them, this way they get to cool down. I've been giving them daily baths, start at 8a with the 2 youngest boys, then Cierra, then the two older boys (they can be left in the sinks by themselves) while I eat breakfast. That's been our morning routine for the last few days. Seems to work, as they all look good & hydrated.

We'll know more about my Mom on the 24th when she gets that scope done. The PET scan hasn't got a date yet, not sure when that will happen. I've talked to my manager so if I need to take a day off, I can work on Saturday. Plus I have some vacation time, too. So between all 4 of us sibs, we'll be taking care of getting Mom where she needs to go and Dad, too, for that matter. Will keep you updated.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hope everything turns out ok.

I have pic or Broly up finally.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well, the skies have cleared up YEAH! and the weather has cooled down (I was able to sleep last night). It's supposed to start raining on Sunday for a few days, so glad to hear that. Haven't looked at the long term weather report yet, hope it's all rain for at least a week, we need it and I sure wouldn't complain!

I'm still going to leave the lights on as is for awhile, just to make sure it doesn't get hot again. I'm finding my crew are still sleepy by 1p, but very energetic in the am before 11. So we'll see how this weather goes before I add more time to the UVB lights.

I'm still having to massage Castiel's tummy for about 10 min or more before he'll poop, doesn't seem normal, but not sure what I can do about it. I'm going to have to ask Sabrina how that is. Maybe once the Panacur is done he'll get better. I know Nathaniel was like that for ages, now he's much better and he's back to eating on his own, so I guess feeding him got on his nerves. He's also not getting hyped up about Castiel anymore, which is good. Guess they've figured out they're about equal in the hierarchy :roll: :lol:

 

[Goonie]

I'm glad that you'll finally have rain again. Hope it'll last awhile to make a difference in the weather.

If you don't massage Castiel's tummy, would he never go poop? Or had he been straining so hard that you're afraid he'll have a prolapse? Poor baby

That's great that Nathaniel no longer sees Castiel as a threat to his position in the family :laughing6:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Yes, I'm very pleased that Nathaniel is over the pouting and posturing :lol: Makes it easier to handle him.

I contacted Sabrina to see if Castiel was like that with her, too, for now daily baths, his urate is very hard, not sure if it's the heat or not. Cierra's is, too, so is Leo's. I've been giving them liquid electrolytes and acidophilus, lots of greens, extra water and daily baths. I'm hoping that all helps.

Well, back to my last belly massage, if that doesn't work, maybe he'll poop in his tank this afternoon.

We got a 10 minute downpour yesterday, but no rain today. It's overcast & smells like it's going to rain but not so far, at least it's cooler and alot of the fires are out, but still, want more rain, days of it!

 

[sweetiepie9]

The belly massage worked not only on Castiel but on Nathaniel and Cierra. 5 beardies, 5 poops, now they have a day off at least before I bother them again :lol:

Gina, not sure why Castiel takes so long to poop, but the massages and hotter water work for him. I won't let him go more than 3 days because he eats every day and his urates get really hard, which means they block him up. The same with the twins, too. Leo and Gabriel go every time their butts hit the water. :lol:

Today I did something different with Leo and Gabriel. I put them both in the bathtub to get them to swim. Leo hasn't been moving much at all, he's been sleeping more every day (I think because of the heat wave) and gaining weight. So I decided to see how they'd do in the bath (with me watching them every minute and encouraging Leo to swim). Well, they both did so well, swan on and off for 20 minutes and never once a fight or even a bad look (from Gabriel, he's the fighter). So here they are in their epic swim :mrgreen:

Happy boys:

In the tub, then 2nd picture I caught Leo swimming:

Cierra at attention :love5:

Nathaniel and Castiel, they can get along when they want to :lol:

Nathaniel pouting, he was doing this 1st thing in the morning when I got up, silly boy :lol: He seems to be over that now :roll:

And again with the pouting, but not doing that anymore either :lol:

The colours of Nathaniel:
He can get very dark

And then can get very light where he looks like a different dragon:

We didn't get hardly any rain and now we're waiting for what we were supposed to get, still warm but not hot yet. Hopefully rain tomorrow and Tuesday but not holding my breath.

Briana (my cleaning lady) came into today and we both worked hard. She vacuumed the bedroom and living room, washed all the floors. Then she moved the sofa against the dresser (to start getting the furniture moved around pre-surgery). Helped me put up my new desk, looks great and now I have 2 TV tables put away! Plus one beside me to the right to hold my calendars and bills. It's great having all this room! Fit perfectly. She worked with me for 2 1/4 hrs and comes back mid August. I told her she has this part-time job for as long as she wants it. She's a wonderful woman, starting college in film this year (part-time as she got in too late). So I'm glad she's available to help me and earn some $, even though it isn't much. It's great to have a cleaner house! Plus it helps me so much, I get so sore when I try to do housework. Even running the vacuum cleaner hurts my shoulders & I'm sore for days. So she takes the vacuum cleaner back home with her (they have 2 cats) and loves that I let her (I just use my dust buster for clean ups). So works great all around!

 

[Goonie]

You had Leo and Gabriel in the bath together?! And nobody fought anyone?! And Leo swam?! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Happy day!!!

Loved Cierra's photo! Almost looked as if she was posing for someone; you know, being the little flirt that she is :laughing6:

Wowzers!! You had both Nathaniel and his nemesis, Castiel, together for a snuggle? And both had their happy colors on! Did I miss a full moon?

That's great that you have someone to help you with the housework, even if it's on occasion.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Yes and yes, and I guess it was a full moon, but I had Nathaniel and Castiel out again for snuggles this am and they were fine. They have their bath at the same time (separate sinks) and don't bother each other. I was amazed that Gabriel put up with Leo in the bath and never once approached him to fight. :shock: I'm still amazed, so we're going to do that more often.

Having Briana over once a month works great because I can afford it and being as it's only me, it doesn't too dirty in my place. I have a Dirt Devil for spot vacuuming and keep the counters clean. So now that she's vacuumed everywhere and my floors are done, next time is maintenance everywhere and that will be done monthly. I love it. Saves my shoulders from being in constant pain and so worth the funds and she doesn't mind, she just asks me what else she wants me to do!

So got more sticky traps, as caught another mouse and there are more, I think I saw another one in the bedroom last night. It's so weird that I still have mice in July, but I'm not the only one either. Hopefully there aren't as many going forward. Have to just plug around the sink drain in the bathroom, think that's the last place there could be a hole. So will have to get on that.

It was great to have my 3 young ones out in the sun today, it wasn't as hot, so they got 1 hour each. Gabriel and Leo don't like to sit in the sun, so I'll get up a bit earlier tomorrow am and get them out first. (I had the day off so slept in until 9a!) Then the 3 young ones before I head for work. It's so nice that I don't have any plans this weekend (at least so far) so can spend more time with them all.