Stitch and Sydney- New pics pg 22!!

I rescued a beardie yesterday, and am looking for a little support group overall for the most part, and any advice you have to give... and hopefully to watch this little one progress from pitaful to fat and sassy over the next months!!! For some quick background info...I'm a long time lurker of several bearded dragon forums over the past 7 years, and I've had 2 beardies over the past 6.5 years, but have always been a 1 beardie household (until today). My first I had for 5 years, before he passed from a long term illness, and then I've had a new baby for just over a year.
This one ended up with me yesterday. I'm not entirely sure of all the details, but he ended up with a wildlife rehabber about 3 weeks ago, who has to go through major surgery and who has been trying to get a better home for him since then. He was supposedly bitten by another bearded dragon on the tail base before going to the rehabber, but in my opinion it looks more like a dog bite. He's skinny, and the saddest part is apparently he put on "good weight" over the past 3 weeks - his little hip bones are all sticking out Here is a first picture, but I"m not sure how well the skinniness will come through

At the vet's office we did a full workup - got that scab off and the skin and area cleaned up, bloodwork, xrays, took a biopsy of the wound to make sure the yellow coloration around it isn't yellow fungus , and got him started on antibiotics and pain meds. He never would poo at the office, so no sample to test there (stinker). Here is a pic afterwards, in the 2nd bath of the day

Things look better at that point, and he's lightened up a little bit at least.
I've got lights, etc on order for him, but for now, my tortoise was nice enough to share her UVB light , and we'll shift some lights around to get things up to temp, and then hopefully my next week all my stuff will be in and he'll be set up.
As I mentioned earlier support and advice are welcomed! Luckily my significant other, Matt, loves the beardies too, but doesn't quite understand I know many of you guys will !!! I've already become alarmingly attached to this dude, and have named him Stitch. This is the fastest I've named something in a long time, so hopefully that's not a jinx, but will give him something to aspire too. Figured the name worked...he's a rescue, but still a bit fiesty, and maybe he'll aspire to some mischievousness over time
When I got him home tonight and put him in the 3rd bath of the day (where i finally got poo ) he lightened up the most I'd seen him, so I'm hoping he knows that he's HOME... and that's my anthropomorphizing for the day... (But check out the pics?? What do yall think ?????)

and then snuggling in a towel - he's not sure quite what to make of this I think, but is still snuggled in the towel propped on my leg as I type....

I'll have questions and concerns soon I'm sure, but I wanted to introduce Stitch !!
Carrie

 

[TheAnthropologist]

your tortoise is so adorable!!! WOW. My bro has sliders but they are no where as cute as that tortoise! He is such a sweet heart! Your dragons very cute too!

 

[NCSUCarrie]

oh my goodness...what an awesome story with stitch! so glad you found him, adopted him, and got his health and beardie belly back, the way a beardie should be!!
your thread and photos are wonderful, so so happy about stitch!!!

love the halloween pics too! keep doing an excellent job with the beardies, they look so happy and beautiful!

Thanks for the kind comments I've had fun taking so many pictures of them both and love sharing them with this group

Oh Carrie, I've been away much too long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First and foremost: HAPPY, HAPPY LATE ADOPTION DAY, STITCH!!!
What a wonderful job you've done with him, I remember when you 1st got him, and to see how much he's improved is heartwarming. Where does the time go?

Just love, love, all the pics of the gang, and the captions were killing me, I couldn't stop laughing :laughhard: ..............Stitch with the run aways.........Sprinkles making sure all is well...........Sydney looking like the next top model...............and Jasper camouflaged as a bunny. (no one could tell) :wink:

I really enjoyed it all, thanks!

Glad you enjoyed!!! Can you believe I've had him over a year ? I really can't !! He's so much happier and healthier now :love5:
I'm glad the captions made you laugh !! I was laughing when writing them, but I swear I think they are true :laughing6: I'll pass along your comments to them all .. I'm sure Sydney will appreciate that she is a next top model candidate !
Hope you are doing well and all your kids are snuggling in as this cold weather hits... this is the first blast of COLD stuff this weekend for us... Brrrr!

Stitch's photoshoot is hysterical! luv it! :laughhard: Happy Halloween!!

Thanks ! happy Halloween to you as well !

your tortoise is so adorable!!! WOW. My bro has sliders but they are no where as cute as that tortoise! He is such a sweet heart! Your dragons very cute too!

Thanks Tortoises are a lot of fun! And at least in my opinion are easier to take care (No giant tank of water to deal with!!!) and most are more laid back. Sliders can be a lot of fun though

 

[sweetiepie9]

I just read your whole thread & what great pics. Sydney & Stitch are so funny, then you add your cat & what great pics. I'm so amazed that your cat is so friendly with your dragons, so she's a dragon cat, right? :mrgreen: You have a great family, love the tortoise pics, too, lots of noms!

I also wanted to wish you & your family a wonderful 2012 & more pics, please!

Take care,
thanks for the kind words for Sweetie,
Deb

 

[NCSUCarrie]

Hey Deb,
Wow I'm impressed you read the whole thing Glad you enjoyed all the pictures. I've been a terrible slacker over the past couple months both with taking pictures as well as with posting them Life has been insane and I have a couple more weeks of it, so I'll either procrastinate and post more pictures on here and avoid working on all my looming deadlines ( ) or will actually work on stuff and then post later :lol: We'll see what happens ! I have some fun pictures of the dragons in the Christmas Tree again. They have certainly both enjoyed the tree as much as we have ! Lots of fun climbing and lots of long naps !

I adopted my cat about 4 or 5 months after I had gotten my first dragon, so she's always been with one since she's been with me. She gets excited sometimes when they run and will chase after them or try and pounce on a tail...but 98% of the time she gets happy when they are out and goes around them and lays beside them and is really quite gentle. They certainly all get along when there is a sunny spot in her window seat or on the screened in porch and she'll sit for hours with one of the dragons I'm lucky to have a cat that is so great with the dragons ! Makes things much easier and nicer
Thanks for your kind wishes for 2012 I'll get more pictures up soon , promise !!!

 

[beardie osk]

Hi Carrie, :wave:
Don't apologize for "slacking" with the pics, I'm in the same boat...........now everyone is groggy or sleeping and not photogenic..........maybe picture taking will be a little later for my household, hope all is well in your neighborhood!

 

[mistygirl]

Silkworms and hornworms grow XXXtremely fast. I get the ones in the feeder cups from mulberry farms. Coastal silkworms are another place to get silkies because they can be "seasonal" and out of stock sometimes. Forturnately, I have a store near me that sells hornworms. I haven't convinced them yet to get silkies but I am working on it LOL.
Stitch is adorable, thank goodness he was rescued. Sounds like you are a good, responsible, loving owner. Hope he continues to progress & heal. He is a beauty!

 

[NCSUCarrie]

Stitch is adorable, thank goodness he was rescued. Sounds like you are a good, responsible, loving owner. Hope he continues to progress & heal. He is a beauty!

Thanks ! He's doing so good and keeps us all laughing Here are some more fun updates below !

Okay everyone, the insanity in my life *should* have calmed down now. I had 2 huge deadlines that were both due on the same day (Why oh why were they both due the same day? *groan*). But I sent in all my tons of paperwork this past friday - HOORAY So over the weekend the dragons (and the cat, and the DH, and myself) got some much needed attention! For the past couple weeks they've had very basic care - they got food and baths and that's about it. Not spoiled at all ! I'll go ahead and do my weekend dragon adventures now and then go back and put some cute pictures from Christmas up a little later

This was actually from a couple days ago. The dragons had no attention for 2 days. Sydney's been doing her typical half brumation, so she wasn't' eating much of anything except once weekly bugs for weeks now.... WELL the little girl decided it was time to wake up. So I notice on one of my few trips away from my office and computer that Sydney has her super dark colors on, her little beard is dark burnt orange (her cranky beard), she has "rearranged" her house furniture and in doing so pushed her salad bowl to the front and center of the tank and has her head laying on her salad bowl. I went to grab a picture but she picked her head up to glare indignantly at me while I took her picture, so it's not quite as cute as what I saw...

So I instantly feel super guilty (even though she hadn't eaten any of the salad offered in the past few weeks..) and feel like a bad mom. so I get her some salad and very shortly thereafter she is munching away llike a happy girl

The rest of these pics are from this weekend, when the dragons were being spoiled a bit to try and make up for their "neglect" over the past couple weeks...
I had Sydney out first, but didn't get many pictures of her, but I'll share the stories
She was digging to get out first thing Sat morning and HOORAY I was avialable to get her out and have fun ! She had a bath and then got put down on the floor to frolic around. She hasn't wanted to do more than sleep since about September, so I was quite amused when she ZOOMED around the house. :mrgreen: " I"M AWAKE MOM! Where have you been the last few days? NOT SLEEPY ANYMORE!" ZOOM. She frolicked into all the rooms not closed off from her and then boogied over into the "animal room" She ran about 3/4 into the room straight towards Stitch's tank. Stitch saw her and as always started going nuts (no shocker there). AND THEN... Sydney.... HEAD BOBBED Stitch ! Not her "hey sexy" head bob... oh no... a full out big time head bob ! Stitch lost his mind, head bobbing, giant black beard, major glass dancing.... it was too funny :lol:

So after Sydney got her turn running around and being silly she seemed to want back into her tank so back she went.

Now it was Stitch's turn.... he comes out and sits with me on the couch. As normal he's not interested in sitting still on me. So off to the back of the couch to play KING OF THE COUCH ! He turns his beard black and head bobs everything in site - the wall, the fish tank, the door to the outside porch... etc etc. He ran on the top of the couch from one side to the other and back again head bobbing us all ! :laughhard:

Sexy profile picture ! (and that's "Stitch's fish tank in the background... he claimed it !)

Oh yea !

More sexy black beard !

My other side? Oh yea you got it !

Stitch says POST MY PICTURES ONLINE ! The world needs more of me Mom ! Thanks ! :roll:

After a while, after the couch has been thoroughly claimed as his, he leaps (and I don't exaggerate - when I say leaps... I mean it, the dragon can almost fly, it's remarkable!) onto the floor.

And off he goes into the animal room... AND SPOTS... the sexy lady (and I mean Sydney of course) up in her tank. He poses... he head bobs... he sticks out that beard... I laugh This is a picture of him looking up at Sydney.. check out that big ole beard

I tried to capture Stitch on the floor and Sydney up in her tank in this pic..

And then a close up of Sydney giving Stitch an interested look... lol

After a while of this I finally stole Stitch away and got him to sit up with me for a minute or two. While he was running around he even turned his belly a speckled black color .. I was trying to capture this w/ my camera, but it didn't come out the best, but at the very least you can see Stitch's little belly soooo poke-able (and I couldn't resist a few pokes) :mrgreen: :wink:

Sooooo cute I love that he has a belly to poke now ! YAY

And a last few pictures. Later yesterday he was chilling on his Christmas couch (you'll see more pictures of this later in the christmas update) , but was just using it as a prop to stand up on... lol

And then today he broke out a sexy couch pose Too cute to resist !

I hope you all enjoyed the new update of pictures ! They are both doing great as you can see, and I'm sorry for not posting anything since Oct.

 

[sweetiepie9]

So looks like Spring Fever has hit your house, isn't it fun? I'm still waiting for my boys to wake up. Leo is the only one up in the am, I now am sure he wakes up just so I can put the TV on, he's so funny. He's right now sleeping on my bed, all covered up. He'll be back in his tank soon, as I open my window to be able to sleep & it gets really cold in my room. I close the door when I do that so the living room stays warm for Rocco, my gecko.

I just loved all your pics. Stitch is so funny, posing for the camera, right side vs left side to show off his beard. He sure looks recovered from his prev owner, you're doing such a great job.

So have fun with the bobbing & black bearding. Stitch sounds like Lonzo, he bobs everything, furniture, curtains, the patio, other tanks, you name it. I call it his security checks. :mrgreen:
Deb

 

[mistygirl]

what a love bug!!

 

[NCSUCarrie]

So looks like Spring Fever has hit your house, isn't it fun? I'm still waiting for my boys to wake up. Leo is the only one up in the am, I now am sure he wakes up just so I can put the TV on, he's so funny. He's right now sleeping on my bed, all covered up. He'll be back in his tank soon, as I open my window to be able to sleep & it gets really cold in my room. I close the door when I do that so the living room stays warm for Rocco, my gecko.

I just loved all your pics. Stitch is so funny, posing for the camera, right side vs left side to show off his beard. He sure looks recovered from his prev owner, you're doing such a great job.

So have fun with the bobbing & black bearding. Stitch sounds like Lonzo, he bobs everything, furniture, curtains, the patio, other tanks, you name it. I call it his security checks. :mrgreen:
Deb

I am definitely excited about Spring Fever. It came a bit earlier that I expected. Hopefully your boys will start to wake up more soon Glad you enjoyed the pictures - he certainly seems to ham for the camera :mrgreen: :roll: He's well recovered from his previous ordeal thankfully. As lean as he is, he's a fatty compared to when I first got him ! His tail is fully healed, just has the scar. And that scar sheds funny and with that white color he has the shed gets a funky yellow color (which always makes me worry about yellow fungus from my last dragon) but seems to be normal for him.
My first male dragon was so laid back he almost never head bobbed anything ever. And Stitch is the exact opposite so even after a year it still amuses me to no end when he gallops around and head bobs us all and everything ! He and Lonzo must be cut from the same cloth :mrgreen: Makes for fun times !!!

what a love bug!!

Thanks !!

 

[sweetiepie9]

I woke up everyone today (except Leo, he was already awake & in TV watching position :mrgreen: ) Gave them all water & a chance to run around in the living room, so it was a little like Spring Fever, lots of black beards & bobbing going on. Lonzo gave up early, went back into his hide, so I won't see him again for a couple of weeks when they all get up for water. I'm not feeding them this time around, as I don't want anything in their digestive system when they sleep. Even though I've had 3 years of brumation I'm still learning what to do. I was going to let them sleep for the winter, but last winter they all got very dehydrated, so I"m giving them water every 2 weeks this time & a bit of liquid calcium, too. Lonzo was sweet enough to leave a small poop on top of the living room ramp, along with a sperm packet (it looks really strange). Now they're all back to sleep, but I expect Leo to be up again tomorrow am.

I'm so glad Stitch is doing so well & I can see that his wound has really healed up well. As for the colour of the shed, it's probably because there's scar tissue there. If one of your beardies had yellow fungus, I can understand your concern, just keep checking after the shed is off. He's quite a character, your Stitch and it's because of your good care that he's able to be a foot stomping, black bearding, bobbing beardie!

Hope to see more pics soon.
Deb

 

[beardie osk]

Those are great pics, Carrie,...........I've always enjoyed Stitch's feisty behavior, love them both!

 

[reptilegyrl]

ive been away too long! luv the new pics and update!!

 

[NCSUCarrie]

New Post ... New Post...
Everyone here is doing well. We are seeing a warm spell right now so the dragons spent some time outside and on the screened in porch today. I think we all enjoyed that! Luckily the warm day was on my day off so I could let them enjoy it !

First a random picture of Sydney sleeping

Here is Stitch after he ran off of Matt and onto the side table...

And now from today....
It's WARM out here - 80 F

So happy and Smiley

Sydney on the ground pretending to be a leaf

We'd been out there for about 30 min at this point and they were getting toasty

Hey where's the shade ?

OHHH found some... ahhh relief ! Sydney ran until she got this spot of shade and then stopped

I figured I'd take them inside and let them cool off. I dropped Sydney on the couch and put Stitch on the floor....
Sydney chills out

Stitch.... well Stitch hauled boogie and immediately stuffed himself under my aquarium stand....
Butt

Face

All together now

I let him be as he seemed happy enough in that super comfy looking spot :roll:
Sydney was sporting her cranky girl beard that she's had the last few weeks...

But is still so cute

I always block off several doors when I let the dragons down to limit possible hiding spots....they both get super excited to go into these rooms when the opportunity arises...

THANKS SPRINKLES (the cat) !

No Prob....

Sydney zooms inside *I hope mom isn't watching... :twisted: Keep watch for me Sprinkles *

After her forray into the "forbidden room" (ie guest room) she moseys to the screened in porch for some relaxation

While Sydney was having fun... Stitch was... well... he was... umm... doing whatever it was he was doing back there... :lol: Being comfortable certainly must have been on the list... :wink:

 

[beardie osk]

Carrie, the pics were a riot and so cute, Sprinkles the watch dog for crime, and I loved the captions. Thanks for sharing. I don't know if you used photobucket to post your pics because I couldn't last night, but I'll try again, love your kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!