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]

And she's growing, I can tell

 

[PogoLover]

And she's growing, I can tell

Yes - she feels bigger and her head frills are getting more frilly. LOL. When she chews her worms, she has started to get that standard big dragon smile look with the frills puffed out on the sides. YAY - soon she will be a poopy head teenager. I am scared to think about Pogo as a teenager . . .

 

[sweetiepie9]

She'll be fine, they just get a bit more energy and try to escape constantly. But at this point I don't think she's going to be wanting to stop eating, as some of them do. That's something that's far behind her now If you're able, could you measure her length because she seems to have grown quite alot. I love it when the young ones show their frills on the side when they're eating. Cierra shows hers alot when she leans on her basking spot when she's tired & on her pillow.
And she showed them when trying to climb over the barrier I put between the living room and the balcony :mrgreen:

Of all my beardies, Cierra shows them the most.

 

[PogoLover]

I love that picture. I love it when they do that. Pogo does it when she chews and then what seems like randomly.

She is just shy of 9". She was 6.75" when I got her. Most of the growth has been over the last 6 weeks. She is still way behind a normal dragon her age, so I don't expect her to get full size, but you never know. The idea that she could ever weigh over 250 grams seems crazy to me. Also, she is not gaining as fast now that she is eating bugs, but she poops A LOT more (three times a day, and the first one is always HUMONGOUS). I still have to prod her to eat, so it takes me longer to feed her now than it did when I was feeding her only with the eyedropper. I really believe that she does not know how to pick up bugs anymore - some times she has a hard time keeping them in her mouth as well. I can tell that she gets frustrated when that happens - she chomps and there is nothing there because she pushed the worm out of her mouth.

 

[sweetiepie9]

It's going to take her a while before she "gets" the bug situation in full. She's been dropper fed for all of her life. I can understand her frustration, that's for sure. I guess you don't want to dropper feed her anymore unless it's necessary and the weight gain will come, she's digesting like a baby, which she still is in some ways.

I wouldn't worry about her growth, they're all different. She'll probably be smaller than "normal" dragons but then I've seen some get to regular lengths and weights after 2 years, she still has a long time to go before she's 2.

How much does she weigh now? You'll find after another month that she'll be alot bigger and longer. It just takes time, she's still getting used to digesting new food.

Good luck with your doctor tomorrow, let me know how that goes.

I'm glad you enjoyed Cierra's picture. I was on the balcony repotting plants and she was determined to get in there and get dirty, I kept blocking her and she kept trying to jump out, so I ended putting her on a box on the balcony and she ended up being good. :roll:

 

[PogoLover]

I so want to steal Cierra from you. I have grown to like her just from stories and pictures. Thank you for taking the time to help me with Pogo. It really means more than you know - especially since you can relate to trying to take care of them while in a lot of pain and restricted movement.

 

[sweetiepie9]

You're welcome, helping you with Pogo was as good for me as for you. And sorry, you can't steal my girl, I just love her too much. Wish you lived closer so you could visit and play with her (well if she'd wake up, that is :lol: ) She's taking this brumation stuff way too seriously. She's been sleeping on & off, more on, since mid August! I say enough already!

I put Gabriel on the bars on the knee walker I use to get around the house, he looks so funny!

Another way to get dragons around where I need them to be, he was on his way to his bath.

 

[PogoLover]

LOL. So you're saying I need a scooter!

Dr. says I might have a herniated disc and I have to get an MRI. That will take a couple of weeks (that was the first appointment that the MRI place had).

Is Castiel your most fiesty dragon?

Pogo is definitely getting some attitude. I haven't seen her do a head bob yet, but I am just waiting for the day that she decides she is alpha!

Here is my big furry baby, Rosie:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Awww, sweet Rose, she's beautiful, how does she like Pogo? And yes, she'll start bearing in a month or two, you'll see it when something displeases her.

Nathaniel has been brumating since mid August, he seems to be up now & he was so funny today, he was bearding and waving at Gabriel at the same time. Meanwhile, Gabriel was on my lap, Nathaniel was on the ramp and would continually run down it, run over to the lazy boy, realize he couldn't climb it and run back up the ramp and beard again. It was so funny, Gabriel would beard back, then he climbed up on my shoulder and put his nose in my cheek, maintaining the bobbing all the while. I was in stitches, it was a great comedy skit.

No Castiel is alseep by 2p daily, he's starting to slow down. Leo sleeps all day under his lights, he had a blood test last Friday and his protein levels are normal again, they were very low and his blood vessels were leaking. He's still retaining fluid, I take him back in February when I'm walking and when I have full salary again as should be back to work full time by then. My salary goes down 25% next month after 8 weeks on short-term, not back up again until I'm back to work, which probably won't be until January...that's the problem with having only 1 salary, but then again, I like being on my own.

Jeez, I hope it's not a herniated disk, those are so painful. Glad you'll be getting an MRI within 2 weeks. Up here in Canada it takes longer, took me 5 mo to get one on my ankle 2 years ago.

Cierra is still fast asleep, but she'll be up on Sunday for her biweekly bath, I'm hoping she'll stay up but I never know. I'll be glad when brumation season is over, drives me nuts every winter :roll:

 

[PogoLover]

I am not looking forward to brumation . . . I am sure I will be on here all of the time asking questions then. I am hoping I won't have to face it until next fall when Pogo will be almost fully grown (best guess is she was born/hatched in June this year). I have a space heater in her room and the lights on 13 hours a day to try to keep her from doing it. From what I have read, it usually doesn't happen until their second winter, but it can happen young as well. She has never gone into either of the two "caves" she has. She occasionally goes into a shady spot, but generally stays on her basking ledge or on the ledge on the cool side.

At first when I read about people having more than one dragon, I thought it was insane (mainly because mine is so hard to care for- I could not handle two Pogos). Now, after hearing your stories, I get it. As long as you don't house them together, they can still entertain each other/interact while they are out and about.

Is Cierra spade or do you just keep the males far enough away that they can't mate with her?

That is another thing I have been wondering about - eggs. I have seen many people talking about dragons laying unfertilized eggs, like chickens. That doesn't happen until they are adult (like I have another year before I have to worry about that), right? I am still not 100% certain that Pogo is a female, but she doesn't have the noticeable femoral pores and she looks to have more of one bump, then a dip with two bumps. I haven't tried the flashlight test, because I am worried it would stress her out too much.

She used to wave at me a lot and even squeaked at me twice (once when I tried to force feed her way back when and once when I was cleaning sticky carnivore care off of her beard). She stopped waving much - now I only get "the hand" when I try to clean her face - she hates it, but I am not leaving sticky worm guts and baby food on her nose and throat. I know it doesn't hurt her because I am very gentle - she just doesn't like it. I think she trusts me - she will let me pick stuff off of her eyes with tweezers (sometimes she flicks her head and gets food on her eyelid - from past experience I know not to let it stay there because she will end up with all sorts of gunk in her eyes from rubbing them trying to get the food off).

Today her beard was very dark when I was feeding her, but she didn't try to run away or hiss - and she wasn't acting sick - she ate a ton of worms and some mix. The room was its normal ambient temp (73-81F, and during feedings I have a lot of basking lights pointed at the area where I feed her so she doesn't drop below 80 while being fed - and if she is fussy while feeding I put her under the basking light to heat her up and then try again). Maybe just frustration from dropping the worms a lot?

When she is getting full, she likes going for a jog around the room. I don't let her do it for a long time, because it is colder on the other side of the room and I know that she needs to have heat to digest.

I have only been feeding her twice a day since she started eating mainly worms. The two times I tried a worm "lunch", she wasn't very interested. I have been trying to follow her lead in terms of schedule - she seems to like being fed about one or two hours after lights on and two to three hours before lights out. She will eat a lot at both feedings if I do thapt schedule, so I am going to stick to it for now. I just ordered 400 large Phoenix worms and 500 small dubia - so there will be plenty of bugs! I still have my small dubia that ordered almost three months ago - almost all of them are too big for her to eat at this point - some of them are almost full grown and then I will heat them and try to get them to mate for a colony.

I just realized that I have typed a book! Will post Halloween pics later or tomorrow!

 

[sweetiepie9]

Twice a day is fine for her, she needs time to digest the large amount of food she's now taking in.

As for eggs, no I don't let Cierra mate and I'm hoping she won't lay eggs next year. Nathaniel did mate with her this past spring, it was my fault. Cierra was out but she'd hidden, I was distracted giving baths and put Nathaniel out and he found her within a minute. So I separated them but the deed was done. Never again. Now I check the tanks to make double sure they're all in there and if not, who's out. That won't happen again.

Sweetie started laying infertiles at 2 yrs old, Issy started at just over a year old but I think it was because of Sweetie. Angel never laid an egg even though she was over 2 years old. So they're all different. Here's hoping Pogo doesn't, ever. I had a friend who had 2 males and a female, all in the same room but Eden, the female, never laid an egg and she died at 10 years old. So it all depends. We'll figure it out if it ever happens as I know what to do to get them back in good health once they start laying.

I'm glad she's still eating. Mine don't like their face being wiped either, seems to be all dragons as I've heard the same from others. So she's definitely normal for that!

As for brumation, Cierra and Nathaniel started at 1 1/2 yrs old, so she's got lots of time. Leo got good results back from his blood test, so I'm only feeding him every 2nd day. The day I don't feed him, I let him sleep at the bottom of his tank but I won't let him go into his hide for a long brumation, day by day for him. Gabriel brumated 2 weeks last year, first time and he was 3 1/2 at the time. He gets sleeping but hasn't brumated yet this year. I think he thinks he'll miss something :lol: He's a very curious dragon

Castiel goes to bed at 2p instead of 4p, so he's slowing down, too, but he's still eating in the am, all the normal routine.

I'm going over to a friend's, she's not feeling well, exhaustion but no cold or anything. She's been coming over every Saturday for the last month, so it's my turn. So I'll talk to you later!

I'll be posting pics of my funny afternoon with Gabriel and Nathaniel later when I get back.

 

[PogoLover]

My son, as little red riding hood:

The one where he has his shoes and his basket is sideways, so I didn't post it.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hope he has fun tonight, great costume. How old is he? Happy Halloween. I'm listening to fireworks, they'll be going on all night, I'm sure. This is the only place I've ever been where they do fireworks on Halloween night.

 

[PogoLover]

I like posting the progress, so here it is. I am not sure that she was 8 weeks when I got her, but the best guess is somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks. I put the "sick" time in red.


8 weeks - 6.75" and 10 grams
9 weeks - 6.75" and 8.5 grams
10 weeks - 6.75" and 11 grams
11 weeks - 6.75" and 11 grams
12 weeks - 6.75" and 9 grams
13 weeks - 6.75" and 10.5 grams
14 weeks - 7" and 13 grams
15 weeks - 7.25" and 15 grams
16 weeks -7.5" 19 grams
17 weeks - 7.75" 22 grams
18 weeks - 7.75" 26 grams
19 weeks - 8.25" 30 grams
20 weeks - 8.5" 33 grams
21 weeks - 8.75" 36 grams
22 weeks - 8.75" 39 grams

 

[sweetiepie9]

Wow, 2 inches and 29 grams, that is pure progress You two are doing so well together! Now to get your back fixed...

By the way, I just checked the calendars that Alex just finished and my Gabriel and Leo both got full pages in Calendar D. I'm so proud!