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]

Hello, Deb.

We had a good day. My brother took us all out for dinner to a place where to get to go up and choose what you want to eat and how much all for one price. It's good for those of us that like to eat. I ate soo much that I felt I wouldn't need to eat until Tomorrow evening.

I just realized something this week. Lil Squirt's hatch date is my parent's 59th anniversary. If my dad was still alive, they would have been married 60 years on Lil Squirt's first birthday. I like that thought. Lil Squirt hatched on my parent's anniversary. They shared it with Father's day every 7 years.

 

[sweetiepie9]

That's a nice memento Lori. my folks will be married 58 years in Jan, they're going to Hawaii for a month to celebrate. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving Day!

 

[beardie parents]

Hi Deb

I'm glad you parents are able to do that. I don't think my parents would be able to afford that. They got a home loan many years ago to go to England for a couple of weeks with my mother's sister and her husband and another couple that have been friends of the family for years. It was a nice memory time as both my dad and that uncle are gone now. They were able to pay it off before Dad died, tho if I remember correctly.

 

[diamc]

Deb, it's great that your parents have been married for 58 yrs and are able to go to Hawaii for a month, bet they will really enjoy themselves.

Sorry to hear that Lonzo's one lung isn't functioning at all and that he has lost a little wt. Sounds like you figured out a good way to get supers into him and that it works out so well. He should gain the wt back soon & hopefully more wt. bet he enjoys his run around time. It's nice that you can let Didi stay out all day and he behaves himself.

How's Rocco doing with the new tank, is he acting any better? Hope the increased humidity helps him out. Does he let you hold him at all or are you only allowed to pet him?

Happy Birthday on Monday! I know you will enjoy the celebration with your family.

We actually didn't have any pumpkin pie this year, had cherry and chocolate pie instead so neither of them got any pumpkin. Angie sure enjoyed watching us prepare the meal though and a few times I had to hold her near the stove so she could get a closer look. You should have seen her eye the turkey, it was so funny, she was trying to figure out what it was. So, they both enjoyed watching us and had some valuable family time.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm glad you had a great day yesterday, isn't that funny how Angie wants to know everything you're doing. Did she figure out what that big bird was all about? Too bad no pumpkin, oh well, you can always give them a taste with some canned pumpkin one day. Rubio & Didi both love it, haven't tried it on Lonzo, Leo or Gabriel yet.

Rocco, poor thing, still isn't getting this using his sticky pads on the glass too much yet. He's letting me hold him for the first day & daily at this point. I did put alot of crickets into the tank on Tuesday, with cricket food and water crystals, not sure if he's eating any, but he's not as skinny as he was so I'm hoping so. It's just all so new to him. I did find a glass tank that's the same size as the one he used to have with a front opening and I may get it on my next pay. It's on sale for $120 & as I've gained some weight with this sore left leg (pulled the big muscle in the front a month ago, seeing the physio tomorrow) I'm not buying any new clothes. So as I get overtime pay on Dec 7, might just get that for him, means alot more room & a heating pad, then I can turn the heat down in the house, I'm tired of it being 76F all the time. Yes, it's staying much more humid and without the heating pad its 73F in the tank. So I"m really hoping he'll get used to it in time. Guess it would be difficult, he's used his nails to get around his mesh tank for 4 years, would take some time to get used to using only his pads. Poor dear.

Lonzo is doing really well and has already gained weight, even though he doesn't like my method of getting his mouth open. Even Gabriel is eating supers and getting his fat pads back again. Didi is into crickets, he's eating 20 a week, plus whatever white supers I can find. I'm leaving the roaches until the spring, they need a heating pad, too. At least the lights are good until the spring, thank goodness.

I'm looking forward to seeing my family on Sunday at my sister's. My son did call me today out of the blue, but he can't make it on Sunday, he's working Saturday & will be too tired (or so he says). Oh well, that's just life.

Lonzo stayed out today for over 5 hours, I took the last 2 days off because of the pain in my leg, but had to get out to do some shopping. Was out for 3 hours, but was good & took elevators, no stair climbing, as that starts the leg going again. I've been taking ibuprofen 400ml 3x/day & the pain is much less, but I'm not doing anything, either, which has been very boring. Oh well, hopefully it heals up fast, will know more when I see the physio tomorrow. Lonzo did very well on his own, he wandered the living room, black bearded his brothers and just enjoyed himself. I was afraid he'd flip over, but not at all, which was a great thing to see. I think the Serrepeptase I give him 3x/wk is helping him, too.

Didi is really good about staying around the ramp later in the day, in fact he gets into the pillow behind the ramp & cosies down, so he's always easy to find to put to bed.

Gabriel is ready for bed at like 4p these days, not sure if he'll finally decide to brumate at some point. Rubio is still out like a light, even though he does open his eyes when I offer him water, he looks great, guess he'll be out fora while yet.

 

[morphmom]

What a lovely update. I still sorry about your poor leg. ( How very uncomfortable ) but it was very nice to hear how your boys are doing

 

[beardie parents]

Hello Deb, I hope your leg heals quickly. It's hard to stand and walk with a pain in you leg. It is o.k. if you don't have to walk to and from a bus stop. If you could drive to and from work and not have to walk very far it would be easier to deal with.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well I saw the physio & I'm off work for a week, there is some calcification on the muscle, so we have to get rid of that, that's mainly what's causing the throbbing. So icing 3x/day, a specific exercise every 2 hours (both done on the bed), no steps if I can help it, no long walks, but I can continue with my training but only above the hip. I see the physio again next Saturday, but see my chiro before hand. Was supposed to go out for lunch with a friend, so I've put that off until 2 weeks later if she's free. I have to admit after the 2 days off it felt alot better but throbbing again today. Thanks for the good wishes, hopefully after this is better that's it for muscular problems!

 

[diamc]

Deb, so sorry to hear that your leg is bothering you so badly, good that you went to the Physio though, sounds like you do need to rest it. Did he think it was from a prior injury like maybe your fall in the bathroom or is it unrelated? I thought maybe you chipped a little bone and that's what the calcification is from. Sorry to hear it is throbbing again today, do you think something like Aleve would help more than the Ibuprofen?

Do you think there would be any way that you could put a piece of screen in Rocco's tank, maybe across the back if that's where he used to maneuver the most? Great that he's letting you hold him and it sounds like he's eating well so seems like he's doing better than he was.

It's hard keeping the adults eating and makes us more concerned when they start losing their fat pads. Angie at only 9 mo old decided she would rather pout and not eat when she's not having a "beardie day" so she even lost a little of the fat pads at the base of her tail so I picked up some wax worms and she enjoyed some of those today and also ate 4 large crickets. I have even resorted to feeding her squash & chicken baby food once or twice during the wk. She is still very active though but sure can pout, what a stinker she is!
Digi sure is continuing to eat well.

Does seem like Rubio is in full brumation mode, hopefully he'll continue to take his drinks when you offer them.

You take it real easy and be sure to not put any pressure on that bad leg. Keep us updated on how you're doing.

 

[Hemilover77]

Hello Dear....

You are always there for me and Hemi, I had no idea you were down and out you poor dear! I guess I will just have to stop and check in more often! What even causes calcification on the muscle? I have never even heard of that, but I am sure it is painful. Hopefully it will be gone soon and you can be back in full swing.

I have started a new workout, I am day 5 into. One of the girls that I work with is a work out machine. She showed me something from Brazilian Butts I think is what she called it. Well, just after the 5 days my toosh is a little higher than it use to be...lol But Ny legs and backside or pretty sore! I think we talked about back in the summer hubby and I were running every afternoon and I injured both my knees and was forced to stop. When you work yourself up to something like that and then you have to stop or hold back it is almost like torture. For one thing you know how hard you have worked to get there, and no you have to start back over. Since the weather here is cold now, and I am working so many hours, I haven't been working out until this last week when I started every day. Man it really makes all the difference in the world of how you feel! I was getting pretty lazy. I feel guilty though because I am gone so much during the day, and then so busy in the evenings there isn't enough Mom to go around, so sometimes Hemi will set on my shoulder while I ride the exercise back. She is so funny.

Thanks again for the pic of you and your beautiful boys, it is so great to put a face with the name! I will send you one sometime too! Take care, try not to rush your healing process even though its hard not too, you will be better off in the long run to not rush it. Have a good weekend.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi Diane & Hemi's mom, thanks for the encouragement. I'm not quite sure what calcification is, but I know it makes a muscle hard & crunchy, nothing serious though. The physio was really good, told me have to put ice on the spot that's throbbing 3x/day for 2 mo with my leg bent and lying on the bed. Then I have an exercise to do every 2 hrs for 20 seconds. Then I see her next Saturday after I see the chiro. So between the two of them I should be fit to go back to work next Monday. Until then I'm sort of stuck. I did work out today, we did the whole hour, chose everything I could do without bending my legs, so I got a great workout from the butt up. I won't give that up & my trainer gave me alot of stretches to do during the week that don't involve bending my knee. It's funny but even after working out for an hour I don't have that throb, but that's just because I'm being careful. I'm still going to my sisters for my b-day party tomorrow, even though it means climbing 2 flights of stairs, but 1 day of that won't do alot of damage. I still have 7 days to rest up again. I'm sure looking forward to that.

I got an invite to visit my nephews on Xmas morning for a couple of hours, will add some Xmas cheer to my day. Then my sis-in-law is giving Xmas dinner later that day. So that will be wonderful. I have Xmas day & the next day off. Then I'm off from Dec 31 to Jan 10, can't wait, hope my leg is back to normal before then. The physio I used to see has retired, so Alison is new to me. Hope she's as good as Teresa was. So I'm off to put ice on my leg, Lonzo is out & I put Gabriel in Lonzo's tank for awhile so he could enjoy making faces at Lonzo. It's good that he gets out as often as possible.

Rocco seems to be doing ok, but I think he's starting a body shed, so right now he's hiding in his log. At least he has coco fibres as a substrate now, which keeps his tank more humid than before. He's still letting me hold him but not for very long which means he wants to be on how own & he's getting the hang of climbing the glass. If I decide to get him the bigger thank, there is cork board all across the back, which should help him out even more, plus it's the same size as the prev mesh tank so I can put his little water dish back in, more humidity for him.

 

[Zeusmybeardie]

Wow deb sounds like your parents will have a really good Time out their I'm sure your boys would love to go to Hawaii for a month to lol and sounds like u will be having a fun time on Christmas would love to see some more pics and I found out what I'm getting Zeus for Christmas a nice big 21" log he's gonna love that thing that's what I'm thinking maybe a hammock though I think he would love that to guess well see

Mike

 

[sweetiepie9]

One day I'll get to Hawaii, but it would be difficult to get their tanks on the plane :lol: I can just see it now!
My folks always try to get away for their anniversary, I think it's great that they're still travelling at their age. We're all really proud of them!

Rocco's been getting up on the glass for often, which is great, plus I know he's eating crickets again, he's gaining weight.

The boys all had a good day, they all got to run around alot. Leo was the last awake so we watched Madagascar 3 together; I'm still a kid, I really love animated movies, caught the bug from my nephews!

 

[FranktheTank]

Deb, I really hope your leg heals quickly and you can get back to enjoying the things you like to do. Are the exercises making it more sore, or are they relieving the pain? I hope you have a fantastic birthday party tomorrow, and you have a blast celebrating with your family. So Happy Birthday!! Maybe someone should carry the birthday girl up those flights of stairs?!?! :lol: :lol: I read that you were watching Madagascar 3 with Leo, I love animated movies too! My favorite movie to watch, and Frank gets so excited every time it's on, is Megamind. It's a hilarious movie, always puts me in a good mood. Sunny really loves watching Despicable Me, she sits in my lap with her brightest happy colors on.

-Kaleen

 

[Hemilover77]

Happy Birthday Sweetness!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you have a wonderful day full of all of God's immense blessings!

Hemi an I send birthday hugs to you!