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]

Awww, thanks so much. I do have a continuous soap opera (in a good way :lol: ) going on every day. The way the 3 youngest start at each other, there is continuous bobbing, foot stamping, black bearding but that stops by noon. Then it's "where can I hide where Mom won't find me & put me back in my tank?" time. Right now it's Castiel, he's hiding somewhere in the living room (yes I remembered to put the partition up :mrgreen: ) So now it's find the beardie, as he could be in quite a few places. For a bit beardie, he can make himself very small :roll:

I'm enjoying being able to walk in my boot and use only 1 crutch, it makes shopping so much easier. Being on crutches for 6 weeks has really worked my upper body, it's much stronger. I had 6 bags of groceries this am & got them upstairs, no problem. So I feel so much more independent now. Mind you, by the time I get home after shopping & helping my cleaner this an, I'm bushed. Time for lunch and snuggle with Gabriel, he's waiting for me :love5: He loves snuggling with me all afternoon, but does protest when I put him back in his tank for night time :laughing6: the look he gives me is not a glare, more like he's being abandoned.

Hope Pogo likes the dandelion greens, they're so good for her!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Wow 500 pages, who would have thought my "journal" would have gotten this long.

So I did something different today, never thought I'd see this! Mind you had to supervise closely, but this is what happened.

I had Castiel on the carpet in the sunshine, Gabriel on the beardie sofa and Cierra on the ramp! All at the same time, for about 1/2 hr. Had to continually put Castiel back in his place as he 1: tried to do the dirty with Cierra and 2: tried to fight Gabriel. Cierra and Gabriel never moved, it was all Castiel's doing, little brat :lol:

I tried to take a pic of all 3 but couldn't get it right, can only see Castiel & Gabriel

Cierra on the ramp:

Castiel on the carpet, with his back to the sun, Mr Innocent :roll:

Gabriel on the sofa, pancaked out :mrgreen:

After I'd had enough of moving Castiel back into the sunshine, I put everyone else back in their tanks so Castiel could finish out his outside time. Nathaniel had already had his. Leo and Cierra had already had their time in the sunshine earlier.

Cierra, lovely stink eye :lol:

Gabriel and his reflection:

Leo sound asleep

Nathaniel and his lovely yellow colouring

Castiel finishing off his outside time, on the way to the ramp

Gabriel slept on me for hours yesterday, so he had his Mommy time for sure.

I'm sure going to miss my babies when I go back to work in January, it's just not going to be the same at all.

 

[PogoLover]

500 pages - WOW!

Castiel is a handsome devil. You better keep your eye on him. Mr. Sly.

I can't get over how big the tails on adults are. I have watched little Pogo's go from a rat tail to much thicker, but adults tails are HUGE. I don't know how they lift them!

I am lucky that I work from home on most days. I too would be sad if I had to be away all day. On the bright side, at least you are getting this time.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I am, I won't be going back until January as, even though my ankle is healing, it's a long winded affair. I can't go back to work until I can walk 2 blocks without pain in my ankle, which means when I try to walk in shoes (beg of December), I'll still be using a crutch for support until I can walk a bit, then a bit more. 2 blocks is a long walk when starting, so will have to have crutch with me until I can walk that long but that means walking back, too. I refuse to go back until I am pain free, as that can mean I have to start all over again. And I sure don't want that to happen, so still some time at home. When I work I'm gone altogether almost 11 hours with travel time, so my time with them is all in the am. I wish I could work from home, but not possible. I also wish I could retire at full pension tomorrow, but again, not possible.

Pogo will get there, she may be petite like Cierra (and yes, she's a petite dragon compaired to the rest LOL). We'll know in 2 years!

 

[Goonie]

Castiel is such a little troublemaker. Guess the only time he can be out with anyone else is when he's sleeping :laughing6:

Did Gabriel know that Cierra was on the top of the ramp? I can't believe that he didn't go after her.

Leo sleeps with his head up, too?

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Gina, Castiel is all about breeding or fighting, so yes, he can only be out when he's sleeping, then he's fine. :mrgreen: Right now he's in his hide and has been since last night. I was out all day, went to the chiro's and took Tara with me. Went very well and say my grandkids again YEAH!

Gabriel did know she was there and just stayed in the sunshine basking. He's such a good boy :lol:

And yes, Leo sleeps with his head up, puts it down when his lights go off. He's like this every day, it's his way of brumating. I still need to make sure he gets enough bugs during the week and greens, so he gets a bit of food, then sleeps under his light. Guess that's what you do when you get older and have had some issues :mrgreen: I'm not comfortable with him sleeping in his hide yet.

So I left Nathaniel out this am, didn't realize I'd be this late getting home. He was sound asleep behind the roach tank, silly boy. Now he's asleep in his tank.

 

[Goonie]

That's funny that Leo would sleep with his head up if the lights are on, but would put it down when the lights are off.
MoMo would sleep sitting up (not just her head being up) regardless of the lights being on or off. I tried flattening her down once, but she bounced right back up.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Oh that's hilarious about MoMo, Leo is sitting in the sunshine right now but he's not moving much & I think it's because he's so sleepy. Well it's a day with only dragon/bug chores for me today, thank goodness, they all need to get food replaced (bugs) and tanks cleaned out (bugs).

Castiel must still be mad at me or interfering with him getting to Cierra or Gabriel because he's still in his hide. Either way, he'll be out as it's bath day.

 

[diamc]

Loved all the pictures Deb. Castiel was trying his best to look innocent on the carpet. :mrgreen: He sure has some amazing coloring, Nathaniel does too.

Leo is just too precious with the way he sleeps, head up when lights on & head down when they go off. He looks tired but very good.

Guess Gabriel was admiring himself in the glass. :lol: What a character. Love his sofa.

Boy, what a look Cierra is giving you, if looks could kill.

Congratulations for your 500 pages.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Diane. I was wondering if you think I should let Leo sleep (with lights on so he stays warm) or brumate without feeding him until weekends? I'm going to send the same question to my vet. It seems unfair to wake him up, he's so sound asleep, hardly opens his eyes lately. He normally brumates for 2 months but I've been afraid to let him go without his bugs.

 

[diamc]

I tend to think it's best to do what you are doing so you can keep a close eye on him. The lights don't seem to bother him, right? What you could do is lay a blanket or small towel loosely over his head to completely block the lights but then just keeping them on as you have been.

When Gizmo wasn't doing well & I was uneasy, I always left his lights on during the day even when he was semi-brumating as I was afraid to totally let him go to sleep. I just put a small pillow or fuzzy towel under him so he could lay his head down and used a small blanket loosely over his head to block the lighting. I just felt better doing it that way and would offer him food in the mornings if he was aawake enough & sometimes he would eat & then digest for a little while with his eyes open.

 

[sweetiepie9]

That's what I'm doing, I've put a light facecloth over him for today, but tomorrow, after he warms up, I'll feed him his food, give him his bath & then leave him for another couple of days to sleep.
I never did send an email to my vet, will do that over the weekend, see what she thinks.

 

[Tonja]

Hi Deb! I love all the pictures of your crew. I hope you are getting on better with your ankle. I think about you but just cannot get on often as I get headaches now with my eye if on much. I see the surgeon on the 14th to have my eye measured for my new lense. After that we will schedule the cataract surgery finally. I just cannot see out of my right eye anymore so its time to remove the cataract. My left eye is compensating for my right so I get headaches from it being overworked. My right eye is my dominate one. Anyway I will be glad when this is all over with.
This is why I have not been keeping up to much. I will have my surgery at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, 2 hours away. It wont cost us anything since its a military hospital which is good. I hate going that far though ughhh.
Anyway I really hope you are doing better. I know you will be happy to be pain free and back to work. Need to feed my babies now and then putting up my tree. I need to get it up in case I have surgery before Christmas, after surgery they wont let me do much for a month since I will have an open incision in my eye, no stitches and strain can cause damage to it. Please keep me informed on your progress on may page if you like. I miss all of yall and think about yall a lot. I have not abandoned the forum...I just cant see it to well.

 

[sweetiepie9]

My dad just had cataract surgery, so I know what it was like for him. Good luck with your surgery, it doesn't take long for that new lens to clear up and voila, you have an eye that works!

I'm doing really well, Tonja, thanks for asking. I'm no longer using the knee walker, so will be taking that back soon. I'm able to walk on my boot (with my orthodic inside) at home without any support. Outside I use 1 crutch. So I can get all my own grocery shopping done, can get wash done, can get garbage out, all the dragon chores, plus playing with them, but tend to get tired and nap in the afternoon.

I'm going today to get my membership at my gym reactivated so I can use the stationary bike to help my really small left calf to re-generate muscles. I also found a lump in my left heel, so see a physio on Friday, not my usual one but booked with her in 2 weeks. So we'll see what that's about. When I put my foot on the floor without the boot, that lump hurts, so going to physio 1st to see if they can fix it, if not, then let surgeon know and go to my own doc. We'll see how that presents itself.

Babies are doing really well. Even though Cierra has been awake from brumation for 2 weeks, she still wants to hide all the time or try to get Castiel to have beardie sex. Not sure what's up with her, but she sleeps with me in the afternoons when I have my naps. Seems to reassure her. I haven't changed the timers from the daylight savings time, so have to do that & push forward their morning lights going on from 5:30 to 7p, will leave the lights going off at 4p. That should be a better cycle for them in the winter as they go to sleep early now.

So healing as surgeon said my ankle would. Not hardly ever taking pain pills anymore unless I really overdo on the walking part.

Hope everything goes as plans with your surgery, Tonja!

 

[Goonie]

A lump on your left heel?! Oh no, that's not good. Hope it's nothing and it'll go away on its own.