RIP Sweet Pogo; Welcome Home Happy Go LUCKY

Has anyone used/had problems with the magic mushroom basking ledge? It attaches to the cage with magnets and can be used as a platform for basking.

There is something wrong with my beardie. I have ruled out just about everything, so now I am checking particular cage furniture. Pogo goes back to the vet on Tuesday (and I am surprised I have been able to keep her alive this long). She has serious eating problems and now she has eye problems too. No signs of respiratory infection, though - like no mouth opening, weird breathing, crusties, mucous, etc. (I use a Reptisun 10.0 T8 Tube - not coil, so that should not be the problem.) I actually turned off the UVB today to see if it would help her eyes - it seemed to help at first, but now tonight, they seem worse again. Her temps are right. I have had two reptile vets (and people here) tell me that my husbandry is fine, but I am taking her back to the vet on Tuesday with multiple stool samples to see if maybe parasites just aren't showing up in every poop, but are there. And now the eye problem, which I thought was just shedding at first but seems to be getting worse . . .

 

[sweetiepie9]

Awww, he loves his mom, too, I can tell. They're so fun when they're healthy, aren't they. How big is he now because he looks alot bigger than the last pictures. I love his black eyes and I can't get over how beautiful his colours are, even though they're muted from real life.

Imp is now eating bugs. He didn't eat alot of crickets this am but found some dubia and super worms missing from his bug dish, which thrills me to no end. I'll weigh him on the weekend. I took this picture (hope you don't mind if I post it here). He's not as bright as Lucky but alot brigher than he was. And he's growing tiny fat pads on his head!

Thanks so much for sharing Lucky with me...he's just beautiful!

 

[diamc]

WOW, Lucky has gotten big. Glad to hear he is doing so well and is so active. His colors are just stunning!

 

[PogoLover]

I tried to post earlier but caught in the new security net! I believe that it is fixed now.

I spent a lot of time with Lucky yesterday and today (cleaning his room up, and his bugs' cages). Now I have to clean his cage tomorrow - there is so much shed in there, it looks like a stuffed animal blew up stuffing everywhere.

In that picture, you can see the shed as well as his stuffie (it looks like a bearded dragon and he sits on top of it a lot - not sure if it is because it is soft or because he is trying to dominate it!) in the background. He is just relaxing and getting ready for breakfast here.

And in the one below, he shows that he is still just a baby/juvie:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Awww, glad that got sorted. He's so beautiful with his big black eyes. And I love the sexy legging. I have to figure out something better for Imp's tank. A friend of mine made a beardie bench, I just got it tonight (I have USA stuff shipped to her house, she's in a townhouse, I'm in an apartment & always have to get it at the post office where I have to pay border fees to pick it up! Crazy, I know...) so will see what Imp thinks of it tomorrow. The log I have in his tank is very old and has knots in it that he's started pooping into (yuck). It was Angel's to begin with, we rescued her in 2009 and she died in 2010 just after we got Leo, so he inherited it. Now it's just not a good log for a little guy like Imp. Plus I have to get everything lower in his tank as he's starting jumping on everything. I use mercury vapour lights in a lampstand (bulb UVB, heat and light together) and don't use tank tops, so have to figure something out to extend on the top of his tank to prevent him from jumping out. He's never figured out that he could and I hope he doesn't, but have to put my think tank on to figure something out before he does realize he could easily jump out. I'd never find him if he did...

Thanks for sharing pics of Lucky. I finally get a day home tomorrow, until 4:30p at least when I'm going to my nephews for supper and my s-i-l is taking me to a movie as a late birthday present! I'm looking forward to that!

 

[PogoLover]

SO, we had our first accident today. My daughter had to pick me up off the floor from hysterical crying. Lucky is OK. However, the end of his tail got squished. I know that I have to watch it to make sure that it doesn't start tail rot. It got caught in the viv door. I ALWAYS watch when I close the door to make sure his tail is not in the way. ALWAYS. Somehow, I missed it and squished the end of his tail in the door. I hate myself right now. Lucky doesn't seem to care - he is completely normal and running around like usual. I am like - dude, do you see what I did to your tail - and he doesn't seem to notice it. There is no blood or broken skin that I can see - but it is squished, so I don't understand that. My mom locked my finger in a steel door when I was three and it didn't break - so maybe I will get lucky with Lucky on this injury. I generally love this viv, except for that space at the edge where the tails can get caught.

My leg is completely messed up and I am in so much pain AGAIN, which is probably why I missed it - I was too caught up in my own self-centeredness, so I forgot to do my normal checks when I put him back in. UGH.

I am just relieved that he is not freaking out about it. He still climbs up on my hand and didn't even black beard or hiss at me when I tried to pick him up right after it happened. I am trying to calm myself down by just reminding myself to keep an eye on it for any broken skin or sign of infection. If something bad happens to Lucky because of my negligence . . . I don't know what I would do.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Accidents happen, you weren't being negligent or self-centered. You were in pain & missed that his tail was in that small part of the door. He's fine and now you have to take care of your leg. And just keep an eye on the tail but it will probably be fine. As long as some circulation get there, it'll be fine. If not, it might turn black and drop off, that's what happened to Sweetie and she was just fine.

I'm going to post later, Imp was a little piggy today, ate crickets twice, 2 ml of mix and cleaned out his bug bowl of super worms and dubia, had to refill it. I also changed his tank around a bit and he seems to love it. I had to get rid of that long log he had, it had knots in it and he was using those to poop in....so log is gone.

Lucky will be just fine, he has a wonderful family that care for him, what more could a dragon want?

 

[PogoLover]

Lucky is rapidly growing. He reached 64 g and 11 inches today. He chewed on some collards today, but didn't eat them.

Here he is looking at a growth chart I made for him:

And here he is looking pretty (photo was faded out so I upped the contrast a bit; while he has nice color, he is not day-glo orange!):

 

[sweetiepie9]

How old is Lucky, do you know? He's almost as big as Imp, who's over 4 mo old. Imp is 12" and 91g today (after poop and before eating). He's really growing fast.

Lucky gets more colourful after shedding and I'm so glad he's so active. Has he tried to fly off things yet.

So how is your leg and how's the end of Lucky's tail doing?

I just posted pics of Imp gaping, first time I saw him do that was yesterday.

 

[PogoLover]

Lucky is about 4 1/2 months old - they are close in age.

His tail is still attached and not turning black or swelling or looking infected. It just has a crimp in it. It doesn't seem to bother him when I touch it.

My leg is a little better - I go back to the dr tomorrow. Still hurts.

He is getting more and more friendly. Never hisses anymore (not even in the morning when he first wakes up - he used to be a grumpo first thing in the morning). If he beards in his cage, he will stop when I take him out and play with him. He did the beardie cuddle/waddle on me tonight to go to sleep - that is the first time he made himself comfortable on my chest and snuggled in (without being put there).

He is doing really well - and I love him to pieces already.

He has flown off a bench and he has tried to fly off a couple of other things! Not me yet, thank God!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Yes, they're very close in age because I think Imp is older than I thought. He's probably close to 5 1/2 mo old, even 6 and still very small for his age. But he's like Lucky, he also has a crimp in his tail that was there when I bought him (so glad there's nothing to worry about with that) and he loves to fly. He flew off the counter when I wasn't looking but didn't like landing on the ceramic tile floor, though. He was shocked & off food for a couple of days and just wanted to sit on my shoulder. Luckily I still feed him the mix so he at least ate that the two days he refused bugs.

I'm so glad Lucky loves you back now and is snuggling on you and sleeping. There's not a better feeling in the world, I don't think, when they trust and love us so completely :love5:

 

[PogoLover]

New pics:

"I am a bulldog" ~

"I keep sitting here in this funky position even though I am too hot. And my human brother thinks it's because I want to be able to see what those people are doing on the floor with the worms . . . I can't see them if I move back." ~

 

[sweetiepie9]

Awww, he is so cute and of course he doesn't want to miss any action, especially if it concerns worms :lol:

 

[PogoLover]

Working a lot, and now doing physical therapy for my hip. BUT I wanted to stop in and post some new Lucky pics. He is up to 85g and almost 12". He is a bottomless pit, and starting to get a little pudgy! While he won't eat greens on his own, I have done the "put the dubia on the collards" trick and he has been eating a couple of bites of collards each morning by accident. LOL. He also will drink from an eye dropper, so I don't have to worry about that.

What a pretty face~

Lounging after filling my belly~

Looking out the window and getting a black beard (maybe all of the crows out there)~

Try to find a place under me to sleep while I moved the large/adult dubia into their new tub~

He is doing really well so far. He will be 5 months old soon.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm so glad he's doing well. So he must be a month younger than Imp and they're about the same. I just measured Imp on the weekend and he's 13" long and 104g. I've decided to not measure or weigh him until Sundays now. And his new thing is to sleep in his hide every night. Our babies are growing up :love5:

I just loved the picture of him looking outside, black bearding with legs splayed out, too cute!

 

[PogoLover]

QUESTION:

Lucky has had a black goatee (the stripe of black rather than the full black all of the way up the chin) a lot lately and sometimes a more full black beard (but not puffed out or hissing or anything else). He has also had more stress marks than usual. Initially I attributed this to the fact that he is shedding his head (had the shed-plugged nose thing going on) and has been rubbing his face all over the scratchy stuff in his viv. Plus his legs are now all white, so they are next on the shed parade.

Today I noticed that his tail crimp (from the injury a couple of weeks ago) was more than a crimp. The end of the tail was bent at an angle. Upon close inspection, I realized that the last inch of his tail right where it got crimped was likely going to fall off pretty soon. I ran some soap and water over it, because I could see a tiny spec of red flesh (I think that his last tail shed just came off on that part so now I can see the injury), and then I put unpasteurized honey on it. I also made him soak in his bath for 10 minutes (just plain water - I only put the soapy water on the end of his tail after his bath, to clean out the crimp). There is no swelling and no blackness moving up his tail. He also doesn't have a bad reaction if you touch the tail below or above the crimp. There is no way that I will be able to get him to the vet in the next few days due to the holiday. He is completely normal (eating like a pig, running around like a psycho, sleeping at normal times) other than the goatee. Do you think that the "keep the wound clean and protected" method is OK for now as long as he is acting normal and there is no swelling or blackness? I also checked for a bad smell at the injury site since infections can smell - there was no smell.

I am hoping that the end of the tail will just fall off naturally and then heal up, but I don't know if that is just being ridiculous.