Sidney : I haven't posted in forever.....

Hello all. I'm starting a new thread for my new dragon and will do a memorial thread for my beloved Zilla, who was my first dragon.

We've had Sid for 5 days now, and wow! I can't believe how different of a dragon he his compared to Zilla! I still consider myself new to beardies since I'd never really even heard of them before around two years ago.

We are still in a learning process with Sid to try and figure out his likes and dislikes with foods and temperature etc. The woman I got him from had a toddler and a three week old baby, and wasn't spending the time with him that she wanted to. She didn't give me a whole lot of info except he loved roaches and didn't eat greens like she thought he should. That he was an every other day pooper and usually only on the left side of his tank. Not even positive what his basking temp was because the end of the thermometer hung down halfway in the back of the tank.

But so far so good with him! He ate a roach the first day and three superworms, but then threw up the next day. A piece of carrot either didn't agree with him, or I hadn't gotten his basking high enough. The next day he didn't eat, but I lowered his light and he eventually started gaping. Yesterday I coaxed him into 10 worms, and today he ate 25! That was WAY more than I intended to feed him, but honestly, it had been SO long since I had seen a healthy beardie eat! He even washed it down with some water dripped onto his nose. I snuggled with him a bunch after that, but new he had to bask so didn't keep him out to long. He promptly black bearded and glass danced to come out, so I took him out. Then he crawled up my shoulder and head and hung out and dozed. I put him back after awhile and he basked.

Here's some pix!!

First day!

First day neck snuggles with daddy

Yesterday, checking out Mt. Shoepile

On the couch with his mouth open

Black bearding the back of the couch with his mouth open

Today, very happy to be out of his tank

Black beard fading since he's out of his tank

How we snuggled for awhile after he ate 25 worms

He always touches my cheek or sticks his nose in my ear when he's on my shoulder

He was very lazy/sleepy today

Look at that black beard after I put him back to bask!!

I have NEVER seen a beard so black!! And look at that one spike. Pretty sure it's shedding.

But he's a very pretty color! And I think he's got blue eyes!

 

[BrendaKay]

If he does have a slight one, I wonder if it could have been because his tank here is cooler at night than he's used too. I've been putting the CHE on at night again, especially since he's on meds for pin worms.

Today he got another bath and had a blast swimming around in it. I put a lot more water in. He loved it. And he promptly pooped in it too! Yay!!! Drained it, rinsed him off, and filled it back up.

He also today spent a lot of time looking out the front window again. He seems to enjoy that too. I went to work for a few hours today and when I came home I took him out to snuggle. He hung on me for awhile too. So sweet. I hadn't spent a lot of time with him the last couple days, so I was happy he wasn't mad at me.

And just now I cut his nails. My hands are so scratched up they look terrible. I waited til he was asleep then pulled him out keeping his head covered so he wouldn't wake up. Snipped them all off with the kitty clippers and put him right back.

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm so glad you're keeping him warm at night, that will help the meds work better, too.

And he's a swimmer, that's great! Gabriel and Leo are swimmers, too, just haven't had the energy to fill the tub but I'll do that Tuesday when I don't have anything else on for the day.

I'm really glad he's a snuggler, too, beardie snuggles are so much fun. Just put Gabriel to bed, he was sleeping soundly on my shoulder. I'm in the middle of making my grandmother's recipe for flour buns, been making it as long as I can remember, brings Nanny to our table when we all get together. Tomorrow's my niece's 10th birthday party, will be a lot of fun!

I'd put your ear against his chest to see if you can hear anything strange. I did that to Didi the other day and could hear his heart beating, but you're listening for clicks & pops. If you hear anything get him to a vet asap. RIs come on quickly & get bad quickly, too. Another sign is a lot of mucous in the mouth. At least that's what I've been told. I guess I'm a bit paranoid after losing Titan and with Rubio being so sick & just getting worse every day...don't mind me, it's just stress...

 

[Goonie]

Just being colder at night should not bring on an RI. The humidity in his tank and the room would have to be excessively high AND him being cooler during his awaking hours would be the recipe for an RI. And yes, excess mucous would be a giveaway sign that he has an RI, but at that point it's already pretty bad.
I hope to god that he doesn't have an RI, that he was just being a brat and making noises to get your attention
(sometimes when my babies are stretching their beards/jaws, they'd made clicking sounds too)

I knew he'd love more water in the tub so he could swim. Now we have to see him swim like a fish. :mrgreen:

 

[BrendaKay]

Well, so far so good. Nothing out of the ordinary except a weird looking poop that might have been a little puke again. He ate a couple worms this morning and a couple hours later I got home and saw undigested worm pieces. Not sure what end they came out of..... He was black bearding on the other sides I cleaned it up and took him out. Now he's all happy again.

 

[BrendaKay]

Yesterday snoozing on momma

Today hanging out on momma lookin out the window

Again, how can this be comfortable? I got home around 8:00 to this. Silly boy.

I laid him down on a mattress with a pillow so I could cover up the top of his tank and turn on the CHE without it being so close to his head!

I have not heard a cough again, no clicking or popping, and never any mucous or drool or anything. I did put his chest on my ear and heard his little heartbeat. Nothing else. It sounded like a watch ticking. :lol:

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well that's all good news. As for the undigested worms, maybe he'd do better with dubia (even though I know you don't have your colony anymore) might be worth buying a few to see if he'd digest them better. Seems supers don't do well with him. Maybe you can get some silkworms, hornworms and phoenix worms from Lindasgonebuggy, heard she has good prices, too. Supers can be hard to digest.

That is so funny that he continues to sleep like that. It's as if he was trying to get out and just conked out :lol: They can be so funny!

 

[BrendaKay]

He actually came with a good sized colony but I've only seen him eat one. I'm trying not to kill them, haha. I did gat an under tank heater for them and I still hear them in there, so I guess so far so good.

I just wish Sid would eat greens. Going to try some 'salad dressing' this week to see if I can entice him that way. Might have to do veggie slurries with him so I know he's getting the calcium and vitamins he needs. So far he's had none with me.

 

[sweetiepie9]

You should get him liquid calcium and liquid vit/min like I give my crew. I buy the Zilla Food Spray Calcium Supplement and Bio Series vit/min liquid. I give .1 ml of the calcium per 100g of weight 2x/wk & .2 of the vit/min liquid once a week. I used to get the Zilla vit/min but my pet shop doesn't carry it anymore. My crew don't eat enough bugs to give them suff calcium and I was finding the calcium & vit/min were expiring way before it was done. So I switched 3 years ago and it works great. So try that. Then you don't have to worry about putting it on bugs or veggies/greens.

I'm not sure what to tell you about his appetite. Even though he's feeling more comfy with you, sometimes the appetite takes awhile to get going. Have you thought about trying different bugs with him? Might be something to look into. I also feed my roaches collard greens, they love it, plus orange quarters, roach chow & water crystals. Keeps them healthy & when they are eaten, some of that good stuff transfers to my dragons. I also have to hand feed them, what I do is take the back end of the roach & push it into their mouths, they start chewing right away, so you might want to try that, if you can handle roaches by hand, that is. Otherwise a slurry may be the only way to get greens into him. Maybe putting roaches in a different tank for a feeding tank and putting him in with them might be another way to get him to eat his bugs. He doesn't need a lot of protein at his age, 35-50 bugs a week is fine. Good luck! If you have some carnivore care, try that with him, it always got mine eating regular good again.

 

[BrendaKay]

Nothing much new to report on Sidney. I sprinkled calcium powder on worms this morning and he ate about 10. He was quite active and alert most of the morning so when I went home at lunch I put his harness on him and we sat outside in the 83 degree sunshine for about 20 minutes!

I'm waiting on a poop so I can test for pinworms to see if I have to give another treatment...... Hopefully when I get home, or in the morning.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Sounds like he's recovering, though, to have eaten that many worms is great! And sunshine! We're getting some here, too, so I've been opening the balcony door to let sunshine in & giving them each about 1/2 hr & Rubio a bit more. Hoping we have a few more days of sun, too.

 

[Tonja]

I love all the new pictures of Sid. Those of him all comfy cozy in your neck are sweet. I miss that, Geico was my snuggler and miss that little butt wiggle of his as he settled in. I will never understand how they are comfortable sleeping all squished up against the glass like that. Sid is so sweet looking and love his colors. Happy he ate 10 worms for you. Emmett is my eater where Emily is my picky eater and has to be hand fed. I have a ton of new pictures up of my 2 if you would care to see them. I still cant get over how much your Sid and my Emily look alike in color. Hope you have a great day, snowing here and has been since late last night, going to turn to rain later today so will make for nice icy conditions. Gonna be a music day for me I think since Im stuck in the house due to weather..restring some instruments and probably sit at the piano for a while while laundry is being done, YAY so much fun lol. Gotta run the vacuum cleaner also and dust.

 

[BrendaKay]

He finally gave me a semi normal looking poop this morning so I could put it under the microscope. Only thing was, he did it as I was walking out the door to get to work. I put it in a zip lock wrapped in paper towel, and left it next to his tank. 12 hours later I got home and took pix from the microscope. I think it's clear. Opinions? And what are those perfectly round, metal looking things? They look like shiny o-rings. They are perfectly circular!

The last test showed pinworm eggs, and a lot of them. (According to the pix I texted to beardeddragon.co), but i dont think I see any of the same thing. He's had two treatments of Panacur.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Haven't a clue, maybe send a pic back to Cheryl to see if it's clear?

 

[BrendaKay]

...let sunshine in & giving them each about 1/2 hr & Rubio a bit more. Hoping we have a few more days of sun, too.

Awww, glad Rubio is getting more sun. I'm watching your thread to keep up with how he's doing!!

I love all the new pictures of Sid. Those of him all comfy cozy in your neck are sweet. I miss that, Geico was my snuggler and miss that little butt wiggle of his as he settled in. I will never understand how they are comfortable sleeping all squished up against the glass like that. Sid is so sweet looking and love his colors. Happy he ate 10 worms for you. Emmett is my eater where Emily is my picky eater and has to be hand fed. I have a ton of new pictures up of my 2 if you would care to see them. I still cant get over how much your Sid and my Emily look alike in color. Hope you have a great day, snowing here and has been since late last night, going to turn to rain later today so will make for nice icy conditions. Gonna be a music day for me I think since Im stuck in the house due to weather..restring some instruments and probably sit at the piano for a while while laundry is being done, YAY so much fun lol. Gotta run the vacuum cleaner also and dust.

Can't believe u r STILL getting snow! We are having spring now, hope it lasts! And yes, him and Emily look a lot alike!
And can you come over and do all your chores in MY house? Please?

 

[BrendaKay]

Haven't a clue, maybe send a pic back to Cheryl to see if it's clear?

Do you think she'd mind?? The only reason I texted a pic before was because I didn't know what medicine to order because I wasn't sure what worm it might have been. I wouldn't be placing an order this time.....