Picture day for Sakura...UPDATE: 11/24/08

[Youkai]

So I had a horrible night, took the day off from work, and what better way to cheer up than post pics of my baby!! :mrgreen:

For reference, this is from her first day at home. (about 3 weeks ago)


That same evening, "ok..I want to go to sleep now please.."


About a week later, she's peeking over her basking branch..


This morning, before feeding.. "I see those worms daddy!!"


After feeding, chilling on her hammock, belly full...


"Ok daddy, enough with the camera already.."


Back to basking, she's had enough of the spotlight..


And now the pancake shot.. haha



I guess she's about 9-10 weeks old now. I've had her for almost 4 weeks.
So far we're building our relationship but it's very slow going, day to day she either tolerates me or seems horribly afraid of me. I don't know what else to do so I'm just keeping on, trying to make her as happy and comfortable as possible, not giving up.
I've posted this a few times already, but here's info on her home:
- 40g breeder
- paper towel substrate
- 100w SB MegaRay (about 12-13 inches from her basking area)
- 100w Halogen spot lamp (for light and to regulate temps)
- 18" ReptiSun 10.0 UVB tube 7 inches from top of bonsai tree (she seems to prefer that spot sometimes, so I turn on the ReptiSun when she's up there)
- Basking temp under MegaRay: 108 mostly (varies with MegaRay, sometimes 106 and sometimes 111)
- Basking temp on bonsai tree: 93-95
- Cool temp: 77-82
- Lights: on at 6:30am, off at 8:30pm...all on timers
- Diet: PW's and some crix, twice a day. Fresh greens twice a day (kale, bok choi, collards, mustard greens, escarole, endive)
- Supplements: Herptivite by Rep-Cal on Sat & Sun, one feeding
- Baths usually every day, might skip a day if she's in her "terrified of me" mood
- Handling: I put my hand next to her at least 2-3 times a day for a few minutes, not touching. I also try to take her out and hold her for at least 10 minutes about twice a day. Sometimes feed her in her viv by hand, sometimes feed her by hand outside the viv. Bath time also, that's about 10 minutes and she's always half on / half off my hand. I never put her back if she's squirming, I wait until she calms down first.
- Misc: I have paper towels around three sides of her viv because she was horrified of her own reflection and literally sat for 9 hours one Saturday arm waving at herself. Even with the paper towels, she still see's her reflection and gets spooked sometimes but only caught her arm waving once or twice.

I'm still worried that she has her "terrified of me" moments/days. :? I don't know how long that should last but I recently read a post where some people said it took a few months before their beardies calmed down and relaxed so that made me feel better.
She's had a single full shed so far, yesterday it looked to me like she was developing some areas on her back legs that were going to shed again soon, but today they look normal. (last time she shed, it started with her back legs)
She hates baths but is getting a little more calm, less frantic, when she goes in the water.
I'm worried about her "cranky" marks under her chin and down her belly. They only ever seem to go away when she's sleeping, when she's in the bath, or when I'm holding her. They get much less pronounced when she's just chilling, but they don't seem to disappear entirely other than those few times I mentioned.
Eating like a horse and pooping like one too!! She usually goes at least twice a day, sometimes three times... ALWAYS right after I put fresh paper towels down for her.. :lol: Little bugger!!
She has one or two spots that she likes and pretty much stays there all the time. A couple of nights a week, she'll run around her viv, going from place to place licking things. This usually happens about 30 minutes before her lights go out. She never seems frantic, just looks like she's exploring.
Loves to crawl under the paper towels to sleep, usually a different spot each night. I've tried putting her under her platform, in her "hide" several times but she's not having it. No matter how long I wait until after she's gone to sleep, if I try to go near her she hisses at me, so trying to get "snuggle" time after lights out just does NOT happen. I tried laying a soft washcloth over her after she picked her "sleeping spot" but before she zonked out one night and she hated it and ran. Won't go near a washcloth now..

So that's my Sakura, my baby. I love her to death but she's frustrating the heck out of me... :lol:

 

[amime]

Awwwwww. She is a little cutie! I love her set-up too! cool trees

Have you tried "beardie burrito" yet? Gotta say... my little man LOVES it. He's a little hesitant about me a lot of the time but when I put him on the polar fleece blankie and wrap him up he turns into a total little mellow boy. He'll lay on my chest and fall asleep all bundled up. When I place him back in the pen with the light out and leave him in the blankie he doesn't even twitch. He's usually in the same position in the morning.

It's worth a shot! Has sure helped our bonding

 

[Elora]

Cute!!!! Mine still are a bit skittish of me but they are starting to warm up to me Just be patient. Its been 3 months and I can just now start to hold Stompy with out him puffing up and squirming all around. I tried the beardie burrito but they both hate it lol. Hopefully someday I will be able to cuddle with them!!

 

[Youkai]

Awwwwww. She is a little cutie! I love her set-up too! cool trees

Have you tried "beardie burrito" yet? Gotta say... my little man LOVES it. He's a little hesitant about me a lot of the time but when I put him on the polar fleece blankie and wrap him up he turns into a total little mellow boy. He'll lay on my chest and fall asleep all bundled up. When I place him back in the pen with the light out and leave him in the blankie he doesn't even twitch. He's usually in the same position in the morning.

It's worth a shot! Has sure helped our bonding

Thank you!! :mrgreen: I think she's pretty adorable myself, but I'm biased.. hee hee :lol:

I have tried the burrito, unfortunately, Sakura hates being covered by anything but paper towels it seems! I think because I tried laying a soft washcloth over her one night, and she hated it, she now hates pretty much all fabric. Plus, no matter how sleepy she is, if I go anywhere near her after "lights out" she gets very upset and hisses at me or runs off like lightning. I tried a few times, but she gets so flat against the bottom of the tank when she goes to bed, I can't get under her and I don't want to lift her from above.
Gods how I wish I could get her in a burrito and have her fall asleep on me!!! I just don't see it happening yet..

Cute!!!! Mine still are a bit skittish of me but they are starting to warm up to me Just be patient. Its been 3 months and I can just now start to hold Stompy with out him puffing up and squirming all around. I tried the beardie burrito but they both hate it lol. Hopefully someday I will be able to cuddle with them!!

I'm so selfishly glad to hear you say that!! :lol: (sorry) I was FREAKING out that it's been almost a month and she still hasn't completely gotten to trust me. It's very comforting to know it's taken others a while to bond with their beardies too. :mrgreen:
I hear ya, Sakura is not having the burrito either, and I too just want to cuddle with her someday!!

 

[amime]

Well that's a bummer she's not into the burrito. But I'm sure if you continue with the dedication you've show so far she'll warm up to you soon

You sound like a great daddy

 

[NegativeCreep]

My little girl was scared and restless for several weeks at first. After a few good, long weeks of working together, she has turned around a lot. It's really worth it! I think what you are experiencing is very typical behavior for a little guy. They just have to learn to trust us.. before too long, they are demanding of us!

Hang in there! The thing that seemed to work for me was hand feeding.. well sort of hand feeding.. I only feed her phoenix worms when outside of her cage. I use a paper plate and put two or three on them to grab her attention, then drop one at at time after that. This way, she associates me with food and has to rely on me to get another worm. Now, she looks at me as if to tell me to hurry up!

 

[ArchiesFamily]

I think she's darling!!!

One thing we are doing with our new baby is putting a towel down in the bottom of a dry tub. Sit in the tub (a nice fluffy pillow works wonders under the towel under the old hiney) and hold or sit baby on you somewhere. You can pet and talk sweetly for a while then read a book, close your eyes, or do something else besides pay her attention. In my mind this gives her a chance to explore, sit still, lick, etc... without the stress of being the center of attention. She can't escape unless she jumps from your shoulder to the side of the tub (which is possible with our frog/dragon hybrid ), but hasn't happened yet for us. You can sit for 20-30minutes, or until she's cold, then put her back in her tank maybe offering a worm or dubia as a reward. Ours wont take a treat at that time, but it would reinforce how cool I am if she would. :mrgreen:

 

[Youkai]

Thanks again everyone!! :wink:

....I think what you are experiencing is very typical behavior for a little guy. They just have to learn to trust us.. before too long, they are demanding of us!...

I caught a little of that "demanding" attitude this morning when I was feeding her. I take the PW's out of their cup and put them in a tiny container to let the packing stuff dry out and fall off them, and I've been doing this while sitting on my bed, where she can see me. Well this morning she leaped off her platform and started pacing back and forth at the front of her tank. She was eyeballin' those worms sumthin' fierce!! :mrgreen: "GIMME GIMME GIMME GIMME"
I so want to think her behavior is typical but it kinda hurts sometimes when I read about all these people who say "yeah, got my beardie home today and within 10 minutes it was sleeping on my shoulder, chillin out..." or something, ya know? I want that too!! :lol:

I think she's darling!!!

One thing we are doing with our new baby is putting a towel down in the bottom of a dry tub. Sit in the tub (a nice fluffy pillow works wonders under the towel under the old hiney) and hold or sit baby on you somewhere. You can pet and talk sweetly for a while then read a book, close your eyes, or do something else besides pay her attention. In my mind this gives her a chance to explore, sit still, lick, etc... without the stress of being the center of attention. She can't escape unless she jumps from your shoulder to the side of the tub (which is possible with our frog/dragon hybrid ), but hasn't happened yet for us. You can sit for 20-30minutes, or until she's cold, then put her back in her tank maybe offering a worm or dubia as a reward. Ours wont take a treat at that time, but it would reinforce how cool I am if she would. :mrgreen:

Thanks!
I thought of that suggestion after I read it in another post you made. I think my bathtub is too cold though, I'd hate for her to be freezing. But that made me think, I had made a "pen" for my sister's hamster years and years ago, out of old scraps of wood laying around and I was thinking I could try something similar for Sakura. I've had her on my bed a few times, just roaming, but she's too darn fast sometimes and if she gets off the bed there are far too many places she could crawl under and hide. If I made her some type of enclosed pen I could drop down on the floor, I could sit with her inside it and we could hang out like you said.
I dunno, we'll have to see.

Thanks again for all the comments!! They are SO welcome. Any advice is always welcome, so feel free to share! :mrgreen:

 

[ArchiesFamily]

Our tub was a bit cold today too. I think tomorrow I will put the space heater in for a few minutes before we go in. She still seemed to enjoy running up and down my leg and she even sat on my shoulder for about 5 minutes!! That is huge for her. I gave her a quick bath in the sink afterwards; she seems to like that.

 

[mcdavis77]

The beardie burrito is definitely an aquired taste. I thought we had it down but my girl is refusing as we speak, haha. It took me until about a month ago (so about 3 and a half months) to get her to go for it at all. Usually she's into it but not tonight. Just keep trying the burrito thing, trust me, you didn't ruin her on fabric for life. But I would drop trying to mess with her after her lights go out bc she doesn't seem to like that. When they are little they're scared (I got my fair share of hisses). Even though beardies get domesticated, they don't come that way (like puppies and kittens ). Hang in there it will happen!

 

[Youkai]

I think Sakura is feeling blue today, she's shedding again.
I had to get some pics of the crazy things she was doing tonight though....

Can I get a Large McWorms value meal??


Are you seriously gonna watch me take a bath? PERV!!


Ok, if I promise not to poop on my basking platform, will you stop taking it away??


AHHHH MUCH better!!! Thank you Daddy!!


Hey, I've never seen this wall before, when did you put it up?? :shock:


I'm getting tall Daddy!!! YAY!!! :mrgreen:



Hope you all enjoy them!!

 

[amime]

AHHHH MUCH better!!! Thank you Daddy!!

-squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel-

So CUTE! It seriously looks like she's thinking that.

Love the bath one too

 

[Youkai]

hahaha thanks :mrgreen:

she was so happy after she got her platform back, she just had to smile at me.. :lol:

 

[jacqui778]

I have tried the burrito, unfortunately, Sakura hates being covered by anything but paper towels it seems!

Well, then, why don't you try doing the burrito idea with paper towels? LOL. :lol: Then again, maybe that may work. She's used to being on paper towels in her viv, and if she's comfortable on those.... hmm....