O hai, I'm new here :)

[ShannyBeard]

My name is Shannon and 2011 is my first year having lizards. I've really been missing out on all the fun, haven't I? I didn't think reptiles would show love or be good pets and I was wrong. My sister is in the herp program at MSU and when my husband and I wanted a pet she recommended a bearded dragon. I didn't want one. I wanted a cat. :lol:

So between my husband and I we have 6 beardies, a leopard gecko and 2 anoles. :shock: My first lizard was an anole that we bought in Feb at the Medieval Faire. It was a 'baby dragon' that we bought from the Boy Scouts. It was about 40 degrees outside and I carried this poor freezing creature all over the Faire. I'm surprised she survived. :shock: We were given a little cup of dead bugs and told to cut a hole in the top of the cup and it would feed the anole for 6 months. He said they were easy to keep and only cost a few bucks to care for. Needless to say anoles take a lot more care and I'm still pretty angry with the Boy Scouts over it. Had we not done our research, our little girl wouldn't have survived. $350 later we have Sativa and Jade. Sativa is recovering from little jaw problem so she is skinny but she is getting back to good health.

In June we got Chief who is an amazing guy. Always easy-going and happy, Chief is already 20" at 6 months old. My sister was right, after getting Chief we were hooked. He's a great kid.

We went to a Repti-Con in September and I impulsively bought a leopard gecko, Bella. :silent: She's nocturnal and bent on world exploration. They are so interesting to watch.

Then we got Maya who was hatched on Oct 1st, our wedding anniversary. She is a hypo trans leatherback and is a sassy little girl. She is a Daddy's girl.

Ginger and Scarlet came in November. They are cousins and there was a mix-up with the breeder so we initially got the wrong dragon (Ginger) but kept her and got the right dragon (Scarlet). What a mix-up, disaster, financial hardship and blessing all wrapped up. I love my girls. They hate each other. :lol: :lol:

This is Ginger (Miss Piggy)

And this is Scarlet (The Frog)

Then my husband found our first adult beardie, Beauty. She is a hoglet at over 600 grams and 18" long. We just picked her up on Wednesday so she is trying to settle in. I don't have a pic I can post of her, I'll have to add that later. She is a big, easy-going girl and is adjusting really well.

Then on the same day I broke down and took in a rescue with severe MBD. I named him Papa Smurf because of his dwarf size due to severe malnutrition and the blue dye on his legs from the sand substrate that he was on. Papa Smurf is a fighter and I'm proud of him. Despite everything he has been through at the hands of people he is forgiving and loving. :love5: I can't wait for him to feel better. I've only had him for 48 hours, so give me time to get him fat. :wink:

So far this forum has been a God-send to us. We have had the best advice and my husband has made some good friends here. I finally had to join after hearing about everyone here and how wonderful this place is. It is nice to have a place to spread the love. :mrgreen:

 

[FranktheTank]

Hello and Welcome!! I follow you and your husbands threads for Chief, Maya, Scarlett, and Ginger! It's awesome you're able to take in the rescues. My boyfriend and I have two beardies, a uromastyx, and a new leopard gecko! All of this has happened in the last 4 months, and we have our eye on another beardie at the moment. Anyway I look forward to reading more of your stories and looking at all of the adorable pictures. Your gecko Bella is so cute, How long did it take for her to be totally comfortable with you?

-Kaleen

 

[ShannyBeard]

Hello and Welcome!! I follow you and your husbands threads for Chief, Maya, Scarlett, and Ginger! It's awesome you're able to take in the rescues. My boyfriend and I have two beardies, a uromastyx, and a new leopard gecko! All of this has happened in the last 4 months, and we have our eye on another beardie at the moment. Anyway I look forward to reading more of your stories and looking at all of the adorable pictures. Your gecko Bella is so cute, How long did it take for her to be totally comfortable with you?

-Kaleen

Hi, Kaleen! I would love to have a uromastyx. I think their tails are so cute. Can you handle yours? My Bella is very sensitive to the touch, or she is just being squirly. She doesn't like her tail to be touched and I actually only touch her tail to get her to move. :lol: She will start to try to exit down by back and I can reach around and lightly touch her tail and she will go back to my shoulder. It took me about 3 weeks for her to not try to jump and dart away when I would touch her, but she always has been sweet to just sit on my hand or crawl on my arms and up to my shoulders and neck. She was about 4 months old when I got her and had more spots along her back. She has 3 spots left there now. I handled her every single day and just had a lot of patience with her. Lizards are slow to decide what they want to do and patience works wonders.

To get her out of her tank I just wait until she wants out. She will come out at some point in the early evening and glass dance and drink water, and then go back into her hide for a few hours. Later on she will get on top of her favorite hide and 'star gaze' - just staring up waiting for THE HAND. I put my hand in there and make it so she can easily climb up my hand/arm and I wait....she will sit there and loooook and my hand and looook up at me and think and think and think and then she makes the DECISION. :roll: :lol: :lol: And she climbs up my hand and my arm. I never snatch her or grab her to get her out. It's not for me that I take her out. I take her out because she wants out. I think that's key with her. She is the only Leo I have had and I am a newbie to reptiles so I just came up with this way of handling her and it works.

I'm excited to get on these board and read about everyone's cold-blooded kids. I hope you have threads for yours!!!

 

[KatieKat]

Hi there Welcome to the site! Your animals are beautiful! I've got two little babies of my own!

 

[ShannyBeard]

Hi there Welcome to the site! Your animals are beautiful! I've got two little babies of my own!

Thank you! If you have threads for them, I will check them out. I really like looking at other people's dragons and seeing what tricks and fun things they do that I can do with mine.

 

[KatieKat]

Hi there Welcome to the site! Your animals are beautiful! I've got two little babies of my own!

Thank you! If you have threads for them, I will check them out. I really like looking at other people's dragons and seeing what tricks and fun things they do that I can do with mine.

I do, pics are under 'Meet Kovu and Meet Zuri' I love looking at pictures too, its neat to see how many variations and types of dragons there are ^^

 

[FranktheTank]

Thank you for the info on Bella!! My leopard Gecko's name is Lulu!! She lives in my bedroom right next to my bed! She shed for the first time today since I've had her, I've only had her about one week. She's 2 years old, and super sweet. I don't touch her tail unless i'm getting her to move as well!! I've been holding her for about 5-10 minutes every day since she came home, and it seems she's getting more and more comfortable with me. It was awesome watching her shed, it's so much different than how my beardies do. We had to help her out a bit tonight though cause it was stuck on a few of her toes, so we gave her a soak and were able to get it off. It was interesting, after we helped her she seemed to instantly lose whatever shyness or fear of us she had. In a matter of literally 20 minutes she has zero fear left, she came right to me when I went to see her in her cage later and even walked right into my hand. Pretty cool!
Our uro Doug is awesome. He is a mali and that is the best breed for beginners. They are very social and extremely friendly. We take Doug out for playtime everyday and he runs all over the place just like the beardies do! He's so sweet, loves to run all over me and when he tires out he sits in my hand and licks me, then looks up at me, then licks me again, so I give him a little kiss on his head and then he nestles in my hand and chills out for a while!! I can't vouch for all uros, but our Doug is pretty rad! If you're in the market for one, I highly recommend Deer Fern Farms, Dr. Dix is amazing and only produces healthy captive born and bred uros. Most uros you see in pet stores are wild caught, and hence the reason for skittishness and not being able to handle them.

-Kaleen

 

[ShannyBeard]

Thank you for the info on Bella!! My leopard Gecko's name is Lulu!! She lives in my bedroom right next to my bed! She shed for the first time today since I've had her, I've only had her about one week. She's 2 years old, and super sweet. I don't touch her tail unless i'm getting her to move as well!! I've been holding her for about 5-10 minutes every day since she came home, and it seems she's getting more and more comfortable with me. It was awesome watching her shed, it's so much different than how my beardies do. We had to help her out a bit tonight though cause it was stuck on a few of her toes, so we gave her a soak and were able to get it off. It was interesting, after we helped her she seemed to instantly lose whatever shyness or fear of us she had. In a matter of literally 20 minutes she has zero fear left, she came right to me when I went to see her in her cage later and even walked right into my hand. Pretty cool!
Our uro Doug is awesome. He is a mali and that is the best breed for beginners. They are very social and extremely friendly. We take Doug out for playtime everyday and he runs all over the place just like the beardies do! He's so sweet, loves to run all over me and when he tires out he sits in my hand and licks me, then looks up at me, then licks me again, so I give him a little kiss on his head and then he nestles in my hand and chills out for a while!! I can't vouch for all uros, but our Doug is pretty rad! If you're in the market for one, I highly recommend Deer Fern Farms, Dr. Dix is amazing and only produces healthy captive born and bred uros. Most uros you see in pet stores are wild caught, and hence the reason for skittishness and not being able to handle them.

-Kaleen

Kudos on helping your leo with her shed! I truly believe animals know when we are helping them and it's a sure way to win their hearts and their trust. I had that experience with an abused horse once.

You've encouraged me with your info on your uro. I'm definitely going to avoid a wild caught uro! There is supposedly a lady in our area who breeds them and our local reptile store store sells her babies. I would want them to prove to me that they are hand-tamed first, though. At least that is what I would want as I am thinking about it now, since my time is pretty wrapped up with my current lizards. Then again, maybe I will find one that is 'unwanted.' I see them on Craigslist every so often.

 

[FranktheTank]

Hi Shannybeard!
I'm sorry to highjack your thread, but I have a question for you about geckos real quick. I can't seem to find an answer anywhere, and since you have Bella maybe you could help me. Do you know if it's okay to feed geckos super worms? Lulu is 2 years old, so I think she could handle one.
How's your crew, everyone doing okay? Is Beauty settling in okay? Papa Smurf is looking awesome, great job on bringing him back to health, I believe he'll get there!!!

-Kaleen

 

[ShannyBeard]

Hi Shannybeard!
I'm sorry to highjack your thread, but I have a question for you about geckos real quick. I can't seem to find an answer anywhere, and since you have Bella maybe you could help me. Do you know if it's okay to feed geckos super worms? Lulu is 2 years old, so I think she could handle one.
How's your crew, everyone doing okay? Is Beauty settling in okay? Papa Smurf is looking awesome, great job on bringing him back to health, I believe he'll get there!!!

-Kaleen

There is absolutely no concept of thread hijacking with me. I love sharing information, stories, fun, joking, anything with others. BRING IT! :lol:

Now, Bella is my first gecko, so I am not an authority. I do a lot of research - must be something I am catching from Otto since he is the King of Research. I swear he researched bearded dragons for 2 years before we got one. :lol:

The consensus that I have found (and people will argue this to death..) is not to feed supers to leos that are less than 40-45g in weight, or 12 months old. I'm sure the weight/size is what matters. I haven't weighed Bella yet (bad Mommy!) but I am sure she is too small still. She is 7 months old.

Superworms CAN bite. For leos it is a one-at-a-time treat to make sure they don't suffer a bite. It's not like there are leos getting bitten every day :lol: but it CAN happen so I'd just be careful with that.

geckosunlimited.com is a decent forum if you have questions or need to do any research. They have some good moderators who will come in and answer questions. There is one mod on there that monitors the ER section that kinda reminds me of our Tracie. :love5:

 

[ShannyBeard]

Do you know if it's okay to feed geckos super worms? Lulu is 2 years old, so I think she could handle one.
-Kaleen

Hey - I found this link which is very well-written, and maybe it would help you with your choice of feeders for your leo. http://www.geckodan.com/articles/Pros and Cons of Mealworms.pdf

I feed crickets as primary, mealies as another choice. I've tried to feed her Repti-worms but she really wasn't interested.

When I feed my anoles, I buy the mini-mealworms and the smalls. Even though the minis are very very tiny, they will still eat them! They are not pigs like beardies who seem to want things as big as we will give them. :lol: :lol:

 

[FranktheTank]

Thank you so much! I opted not to give them to her, she's doing just fine with crickets and mealworms. I don't want to run the risk of her getting bit.

-Kaleen

 

[ShannyBeard]

You're welcome! I love my leo, just wish she was as cool as a beardie. I see people with their giant huge leos just sitting in their hands like a big rubber fake lizard and I have this explorer on my hands who would rather carefully inspect every corner of the room. I see a super giant in my future.... :mrgreen:

 

[FranktheTank]

I know exactly what you mean!! Lulu likes to run all over the bed, and hide in the pillows. She does okay when I hold her, but she'd rather be where she can see me and everything else in the room. What's a super giant?

-Kaleen

 

[ShannyBeard]

What's a super giant?

-Kaleen

http://www.geckosetc.com/htm/available_trempergiant.htm

11 inches and 170 gram Leopard Gecko! Are you kidding me?!? But look at the prices. I can't afford that. :shock: :shock: :shock: Maybe if I sell my car. My car is worth about what a super giant costs. HAHAHAHA :lol: :lol: :lol:

Anyhow.... :lol: :lol: :lol: I still want one.