Taco's window seat

[ChileanTaco]

Taco's window seat. It's so bright that the camera actually adjusted so that Taco appears rather dark.

A ladder to get up there on his own will follow.

 

[xp29]

Taco's window seat. It's so bright that the camera actually adjusted so that Taco appears rather dark.

A ladder to get up there on his own will follow.

I can see heavy equipment in one picture, so lots of moving stuff for him to watch
My guys all love being able to see out the front to the street. They love seeing people walking and cars ect. I bet he does too.

 

[ChileanTaco]

I can see heavy equipment in one picture, so lots of moving stuff for him to watch
My guys all love being able to see out the front to the street. They love seeing people walking and cars ect. I bet he does too.

Yes, there is a new construction site, with bright coloration of a variety of things (warning vests, ribbons). There is a very high crane. Also, there is a military recinto where tanks and other equipment are visible and this equipment is moving often.
Both he can also see from his enclosure and from the balcony (where he is often, but of course supervised only), but from a different angle now from this window.

They love seeing people walking and cars ect. I bet he does too.

For sure. He also likes watching the fisherboats and container ships going by - and if there is something unusual, he quickly realizes it. Marching band practicing is also quite a thing (All of this he can also see from the back window of his enclosure.)
He loves looking out of the window from (nearly) day 1 on, and that's why I got him this opportunity also in another room. This is next to my desk in our small office at home; his enclosure is in another room next to our dining table.

 

[xp29]

Yes, there is a new construction site, with bright coloration of a variety of things (warning vests, ribbons). There is a very high crane. Also, there is a military recinto where tanks and other equipment are visible and this equipment is moving often.
Both he can also see from his enclosure and from the balcony (where he is often, but of course supervised only), but from a different angle now from this window.

For sure. He also likes watching the fisherboats and container ships going by - and if there is something unusual, he quickly realizes it. Marching band practicing is also quite a thing (All of this he can also see from the back window of his enclosure.)
He loves looking out of the window from (nearly) day 1 on, and that's why I got him this opportunity also in another room. This is next to my desk in our small office at home; his enclosure is in another room next to our dining table.

Enrichment is way more important to them than most people realize I think
It's good you give him lots of it.

 

[ChileanTaco]

@xp29

Yes. Still, many people think of them as "dumb robots".
Just last week, meeting colleagues in person at a conference, I casually showed photos of Taco while on the bus during a long trip to an observatory in the mountains. Somebody asked me: "Does it recognize you?"

(So, I'm always happy when somebody asks. Asking is the best thing to learn something I also do not feel offended by such a question. It was just a typical reaction and question I see so often, from people at least assuming reptiles might be without personality, intelligence or whatever.)

 

[xp29]

@xp29

Yes. Still, many people think of them as "dumb robots".
Just last week, meeting colleagues in person at a conference, I casually showed photos of Taco while on the bus during a long trip to an observatory in the mountains. Somebody asked me: "Does it recognize you?"

(So, I'm always happy when somebody asks. Asking is the best thing to learn something I also do not feel offended by such a question. It was just a typical reaction and question I see so often, from people at least assuming reptiles might be without personality, intelligence or whatever.)

I love taking my guys out into public. They always draw attention and questions. I'm always happy to stop and show them off. Especially to kids. It shows people they are not some scary animal that's going to try to eat their face.
Before I lost Chomp, she would happily go right to pretty much anyone and be ok with them. She was a bright citrus hypo with great color. The look of amazement she would bring to people was priceless.

 

[ChileanTaco]

I love taking my guys out into public. They always draw attention and questions. I'm always happy to stop and show them off. Especially to kids. It shows people they are not some scary animal that's going to try to eat their face.
Before I lost Chomp, she would happily go right to pretty much anyone and be ok with them. She was a bright citrus hypo with great color. The look of amazement she would bring to people was priceless.

I'm not doing that, for many reasons. Mostly fearing that Taco, despite being very tame, might run off for any reason. Or that he, introvert guy, wants to hide but it's just not possible right now and we're an hour from home. (Okay, one could bring a sling, pouch or such.)
I might take him on a hike (= not many people around, quiet), or when privately meeting with friends (not many people, at somebody's home), but for sure not e.g. in a store, downtown, to the market or such. I might be able to bring him to my office on campus, and I'm sure my workmates there would be fine with him, but still, what bothers me is whether something might spook him and he runs off (birds, stray dogs).

The look of amazement she would bring to people was priceless.

Love that

 

[xp29]

I'm not doing that, for many reasons. Mostly fearing that Taco, despite being very tame, might run off for any reason. Or that he, introvert guy, wants to hide but it's just not possible right now and we're an hour from home. (Okay, one could bring a sling, pouch or such.)
I might take him on a hike (= not many people around, quiet), or when privately meeting with friends (not many people, at somebody's home), but for sure not e.g. in a store, downtown, to the market or such. I might be able to bring him to my office on campus, and I'm sure my workmates there would be fine with him, but still, what bothers me is whether something might spook him and he runs off (birds, stray dogs).


Love that

Yeah if he is shy, going out might be sketchy for him.
Sinatra is my boy to the core, he is not very good with anyone else not even Christina. I don't take him if I have to be out of the car, but he LOVES car rides so if I'm going to pick up fast food, or just a ride over in the national park or something I'll take him.
Ruby was like Chomp, she loved everyone and loved attention I'd take her pretty much anywhere.
My new crew I'm still learning, so when it warms back up I'll see how they each react.
The ones that might become flighty I don't take out of the car without a harness.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Yeah if he is shy, going out might be sketchy for him.
Sinatra is my boy to the core, he is not very good with anyone else not even Christina.

Same is Taco - now somewhat fine-ish with my husband, but not really. Okay, takes insects from him, allows him to pet, but e.g. when I was away for two weeks now, my husband was able to take him out of the enclosure once (he tried daily). Taco allows me to touch everything, checking his underside, doing things like lifting a toe and setting it down, continuing with the next. Taco however backs off when my husband pets more than just the back and maybe a bit the tail.

I don't take him if I have to be out of the car, but he LOVES car rides so if I'm going to pick up fast food, or just a ride over in the national park or something I'll take him.

We do not have a car. (We have a carrier for Taco in case it's necessary. We walk or use public transportation. On rare occasions we might take a taxi. Husband has a bike but that won't be used in combination with Taco.)

The ones that might become flighty I don't take out of the car without a harness.

I would never (!) leave the apartment with Taco without a harness. For sure not. He's not especially flighty but he is an explorer - and then, what he might encounter...
E.g. he sits 1 - 5 minutes on me, then goes exploring at home.
He sat at his window seat even a bit more than 5 minutes, then went exploring.
He might sit a while on my arm when being on the balcony (with harness), then he's going checking out plants, stones I keep there. If I would take him on campus... I bet the most interesting things would be bushes, trees, maybe drain pipes, gutters... And he might not find back to me, or encounter an animal (birds, dogs, also we have lizards there) and then really run off. I'm also sure the rat traps would be his thing to explore... So: no-no.

Regarding shyness:
That window seat. He sits there happily. But only if I literally put him there. So he sits on my hand, and then I gently place him on the wooden piece like he'd be a toy animal, and he stays, moves his head, might adjust his body posture, and is apparently happy. But he still won't step down on it on his own from my hand, or up onto it from the top of the furniture. I'd to place him.
As of a similar setup in his tank, he's used to looking down that height here from the 13th floor, but that thing is new...
That's so typical for him.

 

[xp29]

Same is Taco - now somewhat fine-ish with my husband, but not really. Okay, takes insects from him, allows him to pet, but e.g. when I was away for two weeks now, my husband was able to take him out of the enclosure once (he tried daily). Taco allows me to touch everything, checking his underside, doing things like lifting a toe and setting it down, continuing with the next. Taco however backs off when my husband pets more than just the back and maybe a bit the tail.

We do not have a car. (We have a carrier for Taco in case it's necessary. We walk or use public transportation. On rare occasions we might take a taxi. Husband has a bike but that won't be used in combination with Taco.)


I would never (!) leave the apartment with Taco without a harness. For sure not. He's not especially flighty but he is an explorer - and then, what he might encounter...
E.g. he sits 1 - 5 minutes on me, then goes exploring at home.
He sat at his window seat even a bit more than 5 minutes, then went exploring.
He might sit a while on my arm when being on the balcony (with harness), then he's going checking out plants, stones I keep there. If I would take him on campus... I bet the most interesting things would be bushes, trees, maybe drain pipes, gutters... And he might not find back to me, or encounter an animal (birds, dogs, also we have lizards there) and then really run off. I'm also sure the rat traps would be his thing to explore... So: no-no.

Regarding shyness:
That window seat. He sits there happily. But only if I literally put him there. So he sits on my hand, and then I gently place him on the wooden piece like he'd be a toy animal, and he stays, moves his head, might adjust his body posture, and is apparently happy. But he still won't step down on it on his own from my hand, or up onto it from the top of the furniture. I'd to place him.
As of a similar setup in his tank, he's used to looking down that height here from the 13th floor, but that thing is new...
That's so typical for him.

Curious but cautious good traits for survival

 

[NickAVD]

Taco's window seat. It's so bright that the camera actually adjusted so that Taco appears rather dark.

A ladder to get up there on his own will follow.

It's nice to see Taco by the window! He's slowly getting over his shyness! Once he gets the hang of it and can climb up there himself, you should make this place safe in the future because he might decide to explore everything around him on this windowsill.
I see a lot of plants on the windowsill, have you managed to grow them in difficult climate conditions? I see something that looks like mint.

 

[ChileanTaco]

It's nice to see Taco by the window! He's slowly getting over his shyness! Once he gets the hang of it and can climb up there himself, you should make this place safe in the future because he might decide to explore everything around him on this windowsill.
I see a lot of plants on the windowsill, have you managed to grow them in difficult climate conditions? I see something that looks like mint.

The place around that is safe for him (also the branch can't fall down). He just can't get up on his own as I had no time for building a ladder yet.
He likes this place obviously as it is very similar to what he has in his enclosure - there he looks out from the same height, and I had intentionally chosen a branch and not something like a cat bed or a flat surface, so he has something that feels like home
I will not let him use it unsupervised when I have my laptop on my desk, as I fear he might climb up the laptop screen. I have seen some of you here in the forum have no problem with having their dragon around the desk, but I won't leave him as this laptop doesn't have one of these more-or-less scratch-resistant "glass screens" but is much softer, like from an (older?) normal computer TFT screen. If he would get up, he would for sure damage my work laptop.

Growing the plants is however not working well, and just this week I had to throw away four plants (which thus aren't in this picture).
From my initially 100 basil seeds, I finally have nothing - had some germinating, of those most died off quickly, the other ones just didn't grow and after a while also dying. There is kale - tiny, struggles to stay alive, and hasn't gotten bigger in the past 2 months (!). I had an oregano with only four little leaves, then nothing happened for 2 months, then these four little leaves fell off and it was gone.

I will use up the remaining seeds, I won't buy new one. For herbs, I now have to admit that I have to do it "fully citizen apartment person" style: Buying a basil, oregano... from the garden center in the hardware store and using it up within a week, which annoys me as I'm in fact very much a "green thumb countryside person". But this stuff just doesn't grow.
In the meanwhile, the succulents grow beautifully, outdoors and indoors. Comparison photos attached. These succulent grow with really minimal care. The leafy plants, however, are what is left after a lot of care and having to throw out many plants. Those two mini kale are the only I have left from 1 package of seeds.

At work, we had a spider plant at the front desk - typical office plant, should be hardy. Had enough light, was watered normally, but I've to say... died off. Plant was there for about 2 months and gradually declined until we had to throw it out yesterday as now the last leaf was gone.

 

[NickAVD]

I will not let him use it unsupervised when I have my laptop on my desk, as I fear he might climb up the laptop screen. I have seen some of you here in the forum have no problem with having their dragon around the desk, but I won't leave him as this laptop doesn't have one of these more-or-less scratch-resistant "glass screens" but is much softer, like from an (older?) normal computer TFT screen. If he would get up, he would for sure damage my work laptop.

Yes, that's true. We let Foxy sit near the laptop or desktop screen. He has never tried to climb on the screen or jump on it. It's like if you put him on a windowsill, he would never climb on the glass in the window, the same with the laptop - he just watches everything that happens on the laptop screen. But if you are not sure about Taco's behavior, then you should not do this, or you should find a protective film for the laptop screen.

 

[ChileanTaco]

But if you are not sure about Taco's behavior, then you should not do this, or you should find a protective film for the laptop screen.

I'm not unsure about his behavior, but I'm very sure about his behavior: He climbs, he also was on screens (of smaller, scratch-proof devices). He jumps very well and is suddenly up on things.
He won't try climbing glass, but for sure sees screens as higher areas to sit on.

 

[NickAVD]

I will use up the remaining seeds, I won't buy new one. For herbs, I now have to admit that I have to do it "fully citizen apartment person" style: Buying a basil, oregano... from the garden center in the hardware store and using it up within a week, which annoys me as I'm in fact very much a "green thumb countryside person". But this stuff just doesn't grow.
In the meanwhile, the succulents grow beautifully, outdoors and indoors. Comparison photos attached. These succulent grow with really minimal care. The leafy plants, however, are what is left after a lot of care and having to throw out many plants. Those two mini kale are the only I have left from 1 package of seeds.

I think it might be the soil and water.
Succulents don't need either to grow. A succulent leaf roots in the air, so it doesn't need as many minerals as garden plants.
Have you tried using mineral supplements? For example, concentrates for hydroponics systems, I think they might work for you as supplements to your water for watering your plants. They should be available at your hardware store.