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 I weighed everyone this am & great news, Gabriel is now 302g! And he ate 8 or more supers this am, so fast it was hard to count!

Lonzo is now 540g, I'm so happy, he looks really great with the extra weight, not skinny at the tail base anymore!

Rubio is losing but he's still 754 grams. So lots of weight still on him. He's just not got a great appetite lately. If this continues I'll start Carnivore Care with him in August. He exercises all day, so if he doesn't have a good meal, he'll keep losing. I want him fattened up for brumation.

Leo's still a fatty at 522g, so not worried about him!

Didi's gained a bit more, he's now up to 438g! Now to keep that weight on! He can lose amazing amount of weights without even trying!

So all in all, good news. Gabriel is getting more & more comfy here & it's showing. He loves his tank, he uses all the two logs & branches, hardly ever on the cool side. I still haven't got him a hide, he sleeps in a bed on the floor of his tank, covered up in a fleece blankie. There is an old basking platform that he can hide under, but he's never tried it. It's on the cool side so will do as a hide for now, but it looks like he doesn't need it. I'm hoping he won't brumate this winter, but I'll just have to wait & see what he does.
Deb

 

[blondie098]

yay! sounds like everyone is doing great, now to just get that lung functioning right... yay for Gabriel! I hope Rubio's appetite comes back soon, I do the same thing with Crash when he gets persnickity... out comes the babyfood

 

[NeosMom]

Wow Deb! I have missed so much. It took me a half hour to catch up on all the reading from the last two weeks. The pictures are all adorable and I am glad to see Gabriel doing so well. Can't wait to hear how the vet visit goes on the 19th.

Your posts inspired me to buy some impatient and nasturtium seeds. Also, most of the greens here are doing wonderfully. So, hopefully we will have some happy plant nibbling dragons soon.

Trying to get myself back in order after the time off from work and craziness with that. I'll update my own thread soon. Looking forward to more updates about your babies.

Mindi

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Dawn, I'll keep you posted on the lung, it was functioning a bit yesterday, but then stopped again. I sure don't want him to have a collapsed lung for any reason, we'll see what my vet suggests & I'll keep you posted. Saw the pics of Draper, isn't he a cutie! And yes, 5 baths can be a daunting task, it get theirs done before I go to work, plus calcium & food today, but I'm used to it. I have a double sink, so so do two at a time, which helps alot. Also means I make a quick lunch/supper & I get ready in about 10 minutes! Have to with the beardie chores, not to mention having to water my little garden, as we're having great weather now. Nowhere as hot as you , thank goodness, but hot enough for me!

Mindi, I'm so glad you had a great time off with your hubby, must have felt great! And you mentioned that Figment is 300g now? Great for him, sounds like he's getting over the meds fiasco. Hope they enjoy their new garden nibblies. I'll be checking your thread for updates on everyone. Glad that Neo's having a good time, too.

When Eric was born (8 lbs 10 oz & 2 wks early), he had been sitting on my bladder, so had to have it fixed, but docs wouldn't touch it until I decided not to have any more kids. Roger & I tried, but had 2 miscarriages, so that was that. I was in my doc's office & had my tubes cut at the same time, just to be extra sure. I didn't want any kids at 40. Now Eric's 28 & I'm glad I didn't have more kids, I would have had a teenager at 56! I'm just glad to have my babies to take care of, that's more than enough!

I'm off to start beardie chores. Gabriel is doing so well, he really loves his tank, uses the warm side all over the place, he has two small lots with lots of branches & he loves to find positions to lean into & just chill out. I've got fans going as we finally got great weather, so that cools all their tanks a bit, too.
Deb

 

[diamc]

What great weights on all of them Deb. You're doing a fantastic job. Saying that Gabriel is "settled in" is putting it mildly, now he's spoiled like all of the rest of your guy babies. I'm so happy to hear that he is doing so well. You'll have to post another pic of him (or all of them) when you get a chance. :wink:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Diane, I will post more pics. I have a few pics where Gabriel looks positively smug, is that possible? That beardies look smug? He seems happy, loves his tank & he's starting to eat supers for breakfast. Still won't touch real squash, greens, so he still gets babyfood squash but not eating alot of it. Luckily my supers love greens & chow down on them every night, so he at least gets some of that in him!

I've realized that I have cool weather dragons. It's been about 75F lately daily and they're just tuckered out from the heat. I've been having Jake come in much earlier than usual to turn off their lights, they have a cool side & are still eating, but get the majority of their UVB in the am, so turning them off earlier is fine. I'm so looking forward to the weekend so I can get them out on the balcony in the later afternoon so they can cool off!
There's another 2 weeks of really warm weather coming up, which is great. It would be nice if my small apartment would stop holding in the heat, it gets up over 90F in the living room, even with the fan on, on the hottest days. I'm starting to think air conditioning might be a good thing for the summer. Once I get my car all fixed up, I'll look into that next summer.

 

[Nicodemous]

Its good to hear that Gabriel is eating good! I tried baby food a while ago, I think more of it ended up on me then in them. Can't wait to see more pics of yours, they seem to like the camera!


-K-

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Nicodemous, babyfood does tend to end up everywhere which is why they all eat it in their bath, easy clean up :mrgreen: Mr. Gabriel is starting to eat supers for breakfast. He still won't eat any regular greens or squash, so still give him babyfood squash in his bath. He's starting to have a good tummy for digestion, which is great.

Yes, my whole crew like to get their pics taken, a few even pose for the camera, especially Rubio and Didi. They're all enjoying the sun & warmth we're getting but by mid afternoon they're all tired from the heat & want to sleep. So Jake, my dragonsitter, comes in earlier & turns off their lights. I don't know if they go straight to sleep, but they're all in nod land when I get home. I'm off every Friday for July & August (I'm in my 20th year now so get 25 days off vacation time!), so only have to work 4, sometimes 3 days a week, which is great! Love it, I'm going to do this every summer until I retire. So I get an extra day with them on the weekends, which is great. I'm actually going away next weekend the 20th to visit my cousins & Jake is taking care of them for the weekend. It'll be the first time away from them since 2006, before I had any dragons! I'm so looking forawrd to this little trip, I'll only be gone three days, but it's a first for all of us.
Off to start getting ready; baths, food & getting ready for work.
Deb

 

[fresnowitte]

We are all so lucky that your beardies like their pic's taken...means lots of beautiful pic's.
Only a few of my adults like pic's taken, a few don't mind, and a couple don't like the flashy black box at all. LOL

Hope you are cooler today...we are the worse so far this summer. None of my adult beardies are even moving today.

Hugs & Snuggles!

 

[diamc]

Deb, of course Gabriel can looks "smug" if he wants to. He sounds and looks very happy. Great that he's eating so well, seems like the Benebac may have helped increase his appetite a little more. Isn't that something that he doesn't like fresh squash or greens, even if you try to handfeed him? They sure are set in their ways. At least he's getting some of those foods with the supers eating them.

Seems like you may need to get an AC next year. This house would be unbearable without them because we get the afternoon sun in our livingroom and our bedroom. It has been in the high 80's and 90's here lately with high humidity again. Tuesday it's supposed to be 97. Hopefully we will get some rain on Sunday with the thunderstorm that is forecasted as it is SO extremely dry. We've had to run our sprinkler every night and just keep moving it to a different spot.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Boy, between you & Barbara Diane, you're sure getting nasty hot weather. We're averaging about 80F but my little apartment seems to like keeping the heat in. I'm looking into that next year, but just for my bedroom, not the living room, it gets more air circulation than the bedroom & if it's warm in there, they don't mind but it's hard for me to sleep.

Well Gabriel made a liar out of me, he ate a bunch of real squash. Once I put a piece in his mouth, he ate the rest without any hesitation, but that's all he ate today. Normally I'd give him babyfood, but I want to see how he digests the squash first. His belly is getting bigger by the day but I think he still has parasites & I had to change the vet appointment to Aug 3 due to funds (lent my son $ while he was unemployed & he can't pay me back yet), so I think I'll give him a few more panacur doses in the next few weeks to see if that makes a different. His poop this am stunk through the water, I know that smell, so we'll see if I can give him 3 doses before he sees the vet if it makes a difference. I hope so, it would be nice if they'd just stay away!

I picked up my nieces this am about 11 & went to my folks for the day. My sis-in-law brought my nephews, so we all had a great day. I swam for about 2 hours & feel GREAT! It's been years since I swam, it was so much fun. At one point the kids all got out & Annika & I just lazed around in the pool for 1/2 hr by ourselves. My brother got there just before supper and then, of course, the kids all acted up over supper & after. But it was still a great day.

My folks were very sick on their trip. Everyone picked up this bug at the beginning of the trip, my mom ended up with a lung infection & my dad ended up with a bad cough that lasted almost the whole trip. So they missed alot of excursions & are very tired. It was nice to see them relax while we young adults watched the kids. It was nice to be fed lunch & supper, too & we all cleaned up afterwards. I'm glad my folks are feeling better but they're not travelling at all this fall/winter, guess they'll see how their energy is about travelling next spring, maybe.
Deb

 

[sweetiepie9]

So I put Gabriel on the scale just to check & he's up to 314 g, my eyes just about popped out of my head! I'm so proud of him. He got babyfood today but I think he'd prefer supers, I've just run out but am on my way to get more. What a little trooper he is!

Lonzo's taking the liquid Serrepeptase without any issue every day & every day he gets a good soak. Today he was very active in the bath & soaked up the sun's rays on the balcony, too. I'm just going to let him out while I run out for more errands. He's another one that's gaining weight & he looks so good! I'm so pleased. His lung is still an issue & I had to change the vet visit to August 3, ran out of funds, but another couple of weeks isn't going to make any difference, it might even be good to see if more exercise will make a difference.

Rubio has his own impatient plant now, so he took about five big mouthfuls & told me they were delicious! He's not gaining weight, but I think the heat's affecting him. I'm hoping he'll gain a few more grams before we get to Sept & brumation. I like him to be nice & fat before that.

Didi is the diva, as normal, right now he's outing because I haven't let him out yet, except for a good soak. His brothers get out first, as once they're done they're time out, he gets to be out the rest of the day!

Leo's out on the balcony right now, catching some rays, will need to get him in, then Lonzo gets one more time out, then Didi's out for the day. Hard to make them all happy at the same time! Then later I'm off to Ryder's 6th friend birthday at a local gym, so that should be fun & lots of pics.
Deb

 

[Goonie]

Yay for Gabriel for gaining weight and Lonzo for eating/gaining weight. I'm sure they made you very happy this morning.

 

[beardie parents]

Good news! I'm glad to hear that.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Thanks Gina & Lori, I tell you my jaw dropped when I saw Gabriel's weight & I gave him a big hug for being such a good boy!