Tazz and Zeppelin Tales

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OK so I've been a member here for a few months now and I only have my 2 little cuties in Introductions.
I think it's about time I made them their own real thread.
I'll give you a little background if you never saw them in introductions.
I got a male and female dragon from Cheryl at Rio Reptiles on October 18th 2011. Little did I know then
that these two would soon take over my life. I decided to name the female Tazz because she was so full
of energy and spunky. I named the male Zeppelin mostly because that is my favorite band, but also he's
very laid back. For the first few weeks I had them they were housed together and had a coil uvb bulb.
I didn't know any better at that time . Zeppy was very shy and hid alot then. He didn't eat much
either. About 3 weeks after I got them I joined this forum and learned of my mistakes. I promptly
separated them and got them the correct uvb bulbs. They currently have the new t-5 arcadias.

I work at a hydro supply store and the plan when I got Tazz and Zeppelin was to have them live here
at the store. I didn't realize how attached I would get to lizards. We already have a Veiled Chameleon
and anoles and two water turtles that live at the store and I really have no problem leaving them here.
Our chameleon as beautiful as he is has an extremely bad attitude! I feed him and take care of him and
he still hates me. He's a look but don't you even think about touching me type of lizard.

So after I moved Zeppy to his own cage he was still really skittish and didn't eat very well. I decided to
take him home to live with me. After the initial shock of moving him wore off he stared to do a little
better. He ate more, and his stress marks weren't as dark. But he was still very skittish and tried to
hide every time someone walked by his cage. I have 2 kids, 10 yrs. old and 13 yrs. old, 3 dogs, a cat
and 2 tortoises at my house so it's not exactly quiet there. I then decided to move him to my bedroom
since it was much quieter and I could close the door and keep the cat out of there while at work.

I kept him in my room for about a month, maybe a little longer. But he wasn't getting any better. If
anything he seemed worse. He was terrified every time someone would come in the room. He'd
suck in the sides of his body as if to mimic being a stick.I felt so bad for him! I decided I was just
making him worse by locking him away in the quiet all day so I moved him back out in the living room.
And he slowly started coming around. He would even sit and watch us and the other animals sometimes.
About 3 weeks ago I bought him a bigger enclosure, it's a 36x18x17 reptile tank with a screen top and
vents on the sides. I also made him and Tazz their own custom cave/ basking spot out of foam and
grout. After the initial shock of being moved AGAIN I think he's finally turned a corner. He basks with
us in the room now instead of running and hiding. and when me or my daughter hold him he has no
stress marks! He still only eats when he feels like it though, so he's not that big. He's about 5 months
old now and only weighs 53 grams and 10 in.

Tazz an the other hand has done nothing but grow since I got her. She's full of personality and demands
my undivided attention. She comes home with me every week-end right now. Her light cycle during the
winter turns off at 5:30 so she goes to sleep as soon as I leave to go home from work at night. I probably
won't leave her here during the summer, i'll want to take her home to play with her in the evenings
when she's still awake. I guess i'll cross that bridge when I come to it. She's 5 1/2 months old now and
weighs in at 165 grams and 14 inches. It's hard to believe that she was only a couple grams more than
Zeppy when I got them.

Here they are the day I got them housed together in a 10 gallon tank

Tazz is a citrus hypo and Zeppelin is a hypo trans leatherback. She's in the front of the pic.

Here's Zeppelin in November, when he still lived at the store.

This is Tazz in November.

Here's a few of Tazz in december.

And a few of Zep in December.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Cheryl will definitely know the history of your baby, too, which may help to figure it out. What a mystery!

 

[tazznzeppelin]

I never heard back from Cheryl (the breeder) but my vet did some research and gave a name to what he thinks is wrong with Tera's arm. He thinks it's Panosteitis, the treatment is just to slow down on her feeders and see if that helps her "catch up" with her bone growth. She had a re-check this morning and already seems to have a better range of motion. She has another re-check next week. Hopefully she will continue to recover without medication. If she doesn't then the vet will have to give her steroid injections in her arm.
Everyone else is doing great and growing like dragons.
Amy

 

[sweetiepie9]

I'm glad your vet was able to figure out what was wrong and hopefully she'll recover full use without any medications!

Mine are all doing well, Titan, though, has parasites and is off to the vet come Saturday am, taking Leo in, too, to see how his mouth rot is faring. It seems to take forever to get rid of this mouth infection. Otherwise they're all well, too. Glad your crew is doing well, too, and all growing!