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]

Dozer (the Russian tortoise) is doing well. It's amazing how quickly he can get out of sight when he's walking around on the carpet. :lol: The beardies are still trying to figure out exactly what he is. :mrgreen:

:laughhard: I could've told you that! Buddy used to disappear in a blink of the eye, and never made a peep while doing it.
Pookie was the only one who didn't mind Buddy's presence. Digi was cautious, but didn't fear him. MoMo wanted to eat him (I think) :roll:

 

[sweetiepie9]

The reactions to other animals are so funny :lol:

So Cierra seems to be on a daily cricket eating mission. Hasn't missed a day since Friday. She's chasing them now, I guess I put about 70 or so in there. She's a good hunter, that's for sure. I just weighed her & she's up to 271g! She gained 86g in 3 weeks. I've never seen anything like her in all the years I've had dragons! She's also grown 1/2" so she's 15 1/2" now.

So fed alot of roaches to Nathaniel & left the worms in his dish, see if he eats any today.

Puff ate 5 supers so I was pleased with that. She's up another gram to 395, so that's good.

I had a great time with Ryder yesterday watching the SpongeBob Square Pants movie, it was funny and I don't mind cartoons. Cole didn't want to see it, so he & I are going to go to the new Avengers movie when it comes out. I then went for a long hour walk with Annika, Cole and Choco by the Coquitam River, in the Lyon's Park, it was great to get a good walk in, then supper & home. Lovely day

My sister heard from my son, he & family aren't coming to the 60th wedding anniversary for my parents next Saturday night. The dinner is at 6p, but they're saying it's too late. Well, their loss, I'm very disappointed in them, really babies will sleep anywhere! But nothing I can do about their attitude. So who knows when I'll ever see my grandkids. I'm trying not to be negative about it all...

 

[Goonie]

I just weighed her & she's up to 271g! She gained 86g in 3 weeks.

Holy beardie! That could possibly be the fastest weight gain in beardie history! Wowzers! Good job, Cierra!

My sister heard from my son, he & family aren't coming to the 60th wedding anniversary for my parents next Saturday night.

(that's all I'm going to say before I have to ban myself)

 

[sweetiepie9]

You can say whatever you want, Gina, my thought are probably along the same line.

So I got through my 1st day part-time, not too tired but still shaking my head and laughing. I checked everyone when I got home as usual & thought there was something unusual in Nathaniel's food dish & THERE WAS! The little bugger pooped on top of his worms :roll: :lol: I should have just fed him all of them this am like I wanted to. He's never done this before, always beside his hide or on the newspaper, this is something totally new. Do you think he was getting me back from feeding him this morning? He hates it when I feed him but he hardly eats & keeps losing weight He's my brat x 10000 :mrgreen: So his food dish is soaking & I'll clean it out again tomorrow am. At least it wasn't stinky, didn't even know it was there, just saw an odd shadow. Better not do it again! Luckily there wasn't much left in his dish.

On to other news, (well maybe not news anymore) Cierra cleaned up on the crickets again this am, then ate all the worms in her dish (about 30), then ate all her greens (double what I usually give. I guess at this point I'd be surprised if she wasn't eating. Her poops are quite stinky. I have a fecal done on the 21st & it was clear but now it's 3 weeks later and I"m wondering if I should take in another one. Well, even if I could, I don't have an extra cent until April, so I guess it will have to wait until then. She's not acting like she's got an issue, don't they normally stop eating when they're full of parasites, lose weight, get lethargic? She's none of these, but she is eating a ton of crickets and I'm wondering if that's the reason...Always something to worry about with young'uns.

 

[Lindz0518]

I just love that Cierra is a little bug eating machine, just like Thorn! I am so glad she is putting on weight! Nathaniel is such a little stinker! I love his personality though!

 

[Goonie]

That Nathaniel, what a stinker! He definitely wasn't pleased with you feeding him yesterday morning.

I will bet that Cierra's stinky poop is because of all of the crickets that she'd been inhaling.
Question: Do the crickets themselves stink?

 

[BlueDragon09]

You always told me the poop smells because crickets do and usually if someone eats a lot of meat the poop smells more.

I think you're right on the signs of parasites being lethargic, not hungry and lose weight. I'm sure she's fine try not to worry too much about it. I know you can't help it but she can wait till April.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well, you've reassured me, all of you, and Gina, they really stink when they die, so goes to reason if she has alot of dead ones in her tummy, that might be the reason. Because she hasn't stopped eating anything I put in front of her since I got her. I put the last of the small supers in her dish, came home to them all gone. So now it's crickets until my latest order of 500 small supers comes in.

And no, Nathaniel ate out of his food dish & all his greens, but there are still lots of roaches, should last until the worms come in.

Puff ate 9 supers this am and alot of her greens, she's looking & feeling better, too. So I'm very happy about that!

Leo is still very laid back, Cierra is not vexed that she can see him all the time, he just ignores her, which makes her happy.

And Gabriel is back to his normal self & always glad that I leave him out for the day until I get home.

So 2 days down full-time and feeling well, so glad...

 

[Goonie]

Glad to hear that you survived your first 2 days back to work.

When does Leo go to the vet to check on his eye?

Hooray for Puff eating again!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Leo goes March 21st for checkup and blood test, see what the results are this time. Fingers crossed it's nothing to be worried about but something that can be fixed.

Off to feed Puff!

 

[sweetiepie9]

So I get home last night, no Gabriel, who I left out as usual. Looked everywhere and finally found him sound asleep beside the TV, OVER THE BIG BARRIER So he's in his tank today & I'm not sure he'll be allowed out for awhile.

This this morning I discovered that Rocco can't climb the walls in his tank. So I held him for about 1/2 an hour, tried to feed him some calcium, then Repashy & finally left him on the earth in his fig tree, sleeping. Left some Repashy out for him, too, will see how he is tonight. This is never a good thing for a gecko, to not be able to use the pads in his feet. There were also every cricket I've put in his tank for the last 2 weeks. So I took them all out, cleaned out his tank, put his tree and one hide back in and see how he is tonight. Sweet Rocco, I hope he'll feel better this eve. I also sprayed him with warm water.

And then I weighed Puff and she's up to 425g I'm so happy! Hopefully she'll be back up to normal weight soon!

Cierra didn't eat hardly anything yesterday but cleaned up a bunch of crickets this am. Can't wait for the small supers to get in, hopefully on the weekend.

I've started coughing again, so making sure I'm using my puffer, not sure what's wrong again. But still getting through my day at work, not taking any time off except for appointments...it seems this cough can linger, so maybe that's what it is. Darned nuisance

 

[Goonie]

Bad Gabriel! You'd think he'd learned by now that if he runs off, he gets timeout.

What would cause Rocco to not be able to climb his tank walls? What health issue affects the pads of their feet?

Hooray for Puff for being 425 grams!!!

 

[sweetiepie9]

I have no idea Gina, even posted on the internet but there wasn't anything anyone could come up with. So I put a log that Gabriel had in his tank into Rocco's tank. It's perfect as it's got sort of prongs at the bottom that hold it up & he can climb it & jump from there to the mesh top where he can warm up under his black light. So that's been keeping him warm. He then jumps down to the fig tree (live) that he has in his tank. He's tried to climb the walls, but he squeezes his paws together instead of having them flat out like normal. I'm just stumped. I don't know anyone who has a golden and my vet has taken care of leos but never a golden. So I might ask if he can come with Leo but he's very difficult to handle and I'm afraid I'd lose him. So I'll see.

And yes, Gabriel had a long time out, he wasn't pleased to be in his tank all that time but I'm not willing for him to get behind the TV again. I have to cut the partition so it goes right against the wall and then I can put the curtain behind it. So until that's done, Gabriel is grounded, at least when I got to work!

I'm so pleased with Puff, hoping she'll gain that extra 50g to get to her normal weight. At least now she has a belly!

 

[Oki05]

Hi Deb I thought a blast from the past would make you happy. How is everything, I see I have missed a lot you are going to need to update me on the big details. Ridley is doing good I need to update her topic now I guess but I can't it's locked lol guess that's what happens when your gone for 2 yrs. I'll try and see if I can make a new one or ask someone to unlock hers. A lot has happened to me and Ridley but she still the same ball of fun and spikes I love lol.

 

[BlueDragon09]

Hey Matt glad you're back bro!

I hope Rocco is ok, Deb that is concerning.


Aw, Gabriel you're the one mom could trust. What happened.

Good luck with everything Deb, I hope it all turns out well.
I wish leo the best of luck and Rocco too.