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:

 

[Goonie]

Glad to hear that everything's working out with Eric living with you and the grandkids visiting on the weekends. I'm sure the kids are much happier to be out of that toxic home environment.

Are the drops helping Gabriel's eye?

So Imp decided he didn't want to dragon today and stayed in his hide.

LOL!!!! Strangely enough, I had the opposite today, where both Gianna and Squirt were up and about. Gianna had been up for the past 3 days, but Squirt suddenly decided that he'd come out from underneath his blanket. What a happy sight for me to see first thing in the morning.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Awww, that was sweet of Spike to get up, hopefully it's more than just a day?
And Gianna is still up, you think she'd done with sleeping?
I miss my babies! I hate brumation! But can't do anything about it. Even Imp didn't show his face today. So only Gabriel, which was nice and I got a lazy day.

 

[MufasasMomMakayla]

How is Miss Leona settling in? And how is Gabriel doing?

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Makayla
Miss Leona has eaten 2 roaches since she arrived. She loves the coconut hides that I bought, she sleeps in the hide on the warm side. She comes out every night and last night I actually held her fora while. It's hard on the weekends when the kids are here, all I need is for one of them to grab her...ugh...so tonight, being as the kids are back at their mom's, she'll come out for a longer period. And Gabriel is good, he's getting his tumeric with the mix and supers once a week. He's continuing to gain weight, my vet said she could clearly feel the bubble in his belly. So he's getting rounder and I hope he's here for a lot longer. Eric and I will be moving him into my bedroom, so Cierra can move to his spot. That way we get the dining room table to use. (Cierra is on the dining room table.) So that should be interesting. I always said I'd never have a dragon in my room again, but needs must.

How are your two?

 

[MufasasMomMakayla]

Glad to hear! Hopefully you can hold her more soon. Also glad to hear Gabriel is hanging in there, give him a hug for me.
My girls are good, Mufasa is mostly in her hide now, but I pull her out every other day to eat, I'm afraid she'll loose a lot of weight if I don't. I need to give her a bath so she can poop though. Norberta is shedding everywhere, lol! She has been spending more time with me since Mufasa can't, and she is so fun to sit and watch a movie with, she jumps up on the back of the couch or runs away so I mostly watch her not the movie... :roll:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Please just let Mufasa sleep. She's not digesting her poop very well if you let her eat and sleep. So do this poop, let her sleep for a week, then do another bath and basking day. She won't lose much weight if she's left to sleep.

Gabriel climbed from the living room floor to the top of the ramp and stayed there, I was amazed that he could still climb that distance! Then I took him off and put Imp out until I got back from the doc.

 

[PogoLover]

I am soooo glad that Gabriel is still able to enjoy his life (going up and hanging out on the ramp). My husband won't let me move Lucky into the bedroom (or else he would definitely be here with me).

Lucky is now 700g and 21". He has seriously slowed down in eating though - not many bugs at all this week - mainly baby food squash and a few bites of collards a day. He also has started using his cave for the first time in his life this week! So, I am thinking maybe brumation is on the horizon for him.

 

[sweetiepie9]

WOW, he's HUGE, he's 8 mo or thereabouts? Imp is 11 mo old, he'll be a year old on Oct 1, amazing how the days just run by, he was 3 mo old or thereabouts when I brought him home, maybe 4 mo, so he'd already be a year. He's still 19" long and about 420g or less. I'm having a terrible time keeping weight on him. He won't even eat the roaches on his own but he will allow me to force feed them, giving me the stink eye the whole time LOL Then he gets the mix and I also mix tumeric in the mix and give it to Gabriel.

And yes, Gabriel is doing fine, he's slowing down, but then I have 3 that are fast asleep and have been for more than a month. But back to Gabriel, he's walking better than he used to and doesn't seem to be a bulky. Not sure what that means, but he's doing well. He gets serrepeptase every 2 days or so, sometimes daily, depending on how he's doing. And he's also getting drops in his right eye as the lower eyelid is infected inside. So drops twice a day and it's made some difference, but not by alot. I'll keep putting the drops in and see if it doesn't get better. He's still a snuggler, too.

So Leo is staying with me and Eric for the forseeable future. Tara wants to be free, Eric told her I won't take both, neither will Heather, so Leo with me, Safara between Tara and Heather. That suits me, Leo is easy to care for. And it's so much fun getting close to Leo, getting to know him, understanding his words, helping him pronounce better as time goes by. I live in a peaceful house, so that helps Leo, too. Plus we take the dog on alot of walks, so we're out. I took Leo shopping today by public transport (didn't have his car seat) and he really enjoyed it, so would like to do it again tomorrow to get bandages. He's so cute. Got him new shoes, underwear and socks, all a bit too big, but then what do I know? I'm just guessing at this point LOL

 

[Goonie]

Tara wants to be free

Excuse me?! Tara wants to be "free"?! She should've thought about that before she got pregnant. :silent:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Exactly, so Leo stayed with me this week (we had a great time!) and Safara stayed with her mom. Not sure what's happening for the future, but I think at some point Eric will have custody of the kids (and yes, this will have to be done legally) and no provision to Tara. He won't have to pay her rent or food anymore. Something like that, the expenses of daycare are more than he can afford with paying her house bills. So we'll see how it goes this weekend. I have both kids on Monday. I'm never really asked, but when she wanted me to have both kids, I put my foot down and said Leo only. I can't ever imagine being a mother and wanting to go "find myself". Eric is about done but he still cares for Tara so is trying to get her to see reason. No possible, she needs a professional to assess her. Eric says it all stems to the pain she feels all the time. Not sure. Don't trust her at all. Will keep you updated.

Gabriel is a happy dragon lately, he gets to run around the whole living room, stop to check out the sunshine and keep going, then it's to his tank. Today he had a bath and swam some. Then gave him serrepeptase and he felt even better :lol: So he's just living his life and enjoying it all.

Leo loves my dragons and I'm teaching him how to handle them (not picking up yet). He also met Bunny last night, so that was fun. So I think I have a 3 yr old possible dragon slave candidate. Safara also likes them and is very gentle with them.

Imp is still an issue with eating. Every or every second morning, I fill him full of mid sized roaches. Then the mix if I feel the energy, otherwise his regular supplements. Drives me nuts!
Otherwise, he's Imp, loves to be outside, so I let him bask in the sun, then hide in the shade for awhile before I put him back in his tank. It's hard to have the ramp running with Leo running around what little space we have. So they get out more on the weekends when they're not here.

Sorry, no pictures, haven't figured out what to do about the USB ports. I'll keep you posted, so to speak :mrgreen:

MRI for my hip is scheduled for Oct 24, at 10p, so glad they got me in. So I'm home for the meanwhile and can get through even without Eric's financial help. I just wish Tara would get the help she needs but she seems to be afraid to get better. She goes back and forth on what she wants to do. Eric told her the other day that she has no choice. Neither of the grandmothers can handle both children, they need someone younger, or to be separate, then it's ok.

 

[MufasasMomMakayla]

I really hope everything works out for Eric and the kids, that's so frustrating.
Glad to hear about Gabriel, is he still doing good?
Bratty Imp... tell him I said he needs to eat his roaches.
What happened to your hip?!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Eric and kids will sort themselves out eventually.

Gabriel is doing really well, he walked all over this am in the warm sunshine. Imp was out in the sun, too, but became difficult with the kids up, so put them back in their tanks. Tomorrow is my last day to watch the kids, they'll be back at their mom's, so I'll have time off! You'd never think he has a bubble in his belly!

Imp is Imp, always hilarious in his attitude. He runs the world, after all! I wish I could post pics but my USB ports are still not looked at, haven't had time.

I'm so tired today, have to admit, going to clean up the kitchen in a bit and head to bed!

 

[PogoLover]

How is everything? Just checking in.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Just crazy. I have my 3 year old grandson staying with me until tonight, he came over on Wed because Tara can't handle both kids for any length of time. Oh well, means I get to love him instead! She actually accused me of badmouthing her to the kids, when she doesn't come into the conversation often and when she does, I just tell them they'll talk to her, too, she's at home working. She is a...well can't write that here.

Gabriel is still doing well, even though his belly is now huge. He does what he can, his poops are fine but I think he's having issues with bugs, he hardly ate when I offered them and refused the roaches (spit the first one out...good indication :mrgreen: That's my Gabriel, he'll always tell me what he wants and what he wants now is the mix with the Tumeric, he'll take down 4 ml every 2 days and digests that well. He still shows beautiful beard every day and when he's dark it's because he can see Imp. He loves that he's sharing a tank with his brumating sister (she'll be out for 6 no, if she does the same thing as last year), so I took out her hide, put Gabriel's in and two thick blankets, so he can rest his hiney on them while basking. I put him on the air mattress to sit in the sunshine and he jumped down on his own and climbed up to the ramp, so that's where he stayed for awhile.

Imp is Imp, still loses weight if I don't force feed him every day. Otherwise he's slept for a couple of days but he's still being fed and I don't want him to brumate this year, so we'll see how that goes.

The cresties are all doing well, finally eating the Repashy I give them. Still don't see Selene very often but I try to bring Camilla out every night, even if it's just a few minutes. Same with Bunny, who's now 45g, so she's finally eating. I give both of them syringes every once in awhile, too, if I find they've lost some weight.

Miss Leona is settling in quite nicely. She's lost 5g, so is 95g and I'm giving her supers every 2nd day but sometimes she'll just eat once a week. I have to make sure the dining room light is off so she can see the worm and chase it down. So I've learned that they need much less light to function than the cresties do.

It's been hectic but fun to hand my grandkids to myself every week, well Eric takes care of them, I play with them. Sometimes I have Leo, my 3 yr old grandson over for a few days during the week, it always works out well, as I can handle him much better than his sister, who's into everything, doesn't like the work NO and continues on as she wants or has a complete screaming temper tantrums. So have to work on that!

How Lucky doing?

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well it took my 16 yr old nephew to show me that I had another place to plug in my USB cord, so I was finally able to post pictures!

First I got some cute pics of Leo holding Gabriel and Imp:

He loves my "giant dragons" and when he's sitting down, they are indeed sort of gigantic :mrgreen:

Imp conquering Ella the Elephant, again

and again!

After Gabriel climbed up on the ramp, Bella laid back on the mattress (double air mattress is the living room bed) and guarded The Dragon. She loves to do that with any dragon that's out. Unfortunately, only Gabriel is awake right now. The other 4 are all sound asleep. I'm letting Imp sleep until the weekend (his 2nd time brumating this winter). I want to see if he loses any weight from being asleep a week, if he hasn't, I'll let him sleep a bit longer after bath.

Gabriel is still doing well, it's still day by day. His belly is much bigger than it was, my vet and I could feel the bubble in his belly and we're hopeful it will be awhile before anything happens, I'm hoping years! When I let him out in the sunshine, he always climbs the blocks to get up on the ramp and will sit there, watching TV.

Safara fell asleep over her supper one night after playing with my sister and I for a couple of hours at the park. She's such a cutie

Took a selfie with Leo eating blueberries and yoghurt.

This is my new leo, Miss Leona. She's doing well and has lost 5g already. She's a bit overweight LOL. She's such a sweetie, loves to be out but not for long. I figured out why she wasn't eating, because I didn't have the room dark enough. She gets 3 supers a week because she still has some weight to lose and she's doing really well. She's so soft

and her new home, in a 10 gallon tank:

she really loves her coconut hide but there really was only room for 1, so took the other one out. She's already shed twice in the time I've had her. I watch out for shed on her feet, it doesn't always come off well.

And here's a picture of all my cresties: Seline, Camilla and Bunny. She changed her colours for a week or so, then went back to her usual colours. Never seen Bunny do that before.

And a couple more of the kids:
Safara, finally laughing:

And Leo looking so grown up

It sure is a very quiet house when the kids are at their mom's or their other grandma's and 4 out of 5 of my dragons are asleep. Kind of nice for a change. Those 2 kids generate ALOT of energy!