Tazz and Zeppelin Tales

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[TOPIC AUTO-LOCKED DUE TO INACTIVITY] Its unlocked now!

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 :oops: . 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
tazznzeppelin.jpg

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.
zeppelin1.jpg


This is Tazz in November.
tazz2.jpg


Here's a few of Tazz in december.
Aquarium145.jpg

Aquarium146.jpg

Aquarium140.jpg


And a few of Zep in December.
Aquarium141.jpg

CopyofAquarium138.jpg

Aquarium143.jpg
 

tazznzeppelin

Juvie Member
Original Poster
I was so surprised that she was so scared. It's not like her at all. She usually walks around with such an arrogance about her. It was a new experience for her though. Maybe she will calm down after she's been outside more often. At least I hope so. :roll:
Amy
 

ShannyBeard

Extreme Poster
tazznzeppelin":13z9ojcw said:
Shannon,
Thanks iv'e been working really hard to make sure they are all comfortable and have exactly what they need. If you can take care of
papa then you can take care of anything. Chameleons aren't any harder to take care of than Beardies though they do require different care. Leon has his own little waterfall in his cage because they don't drink standing water. And of course he has heat and uvb. But that's would be easy for you.

I'm so down for a chameleon! The pic of Leon makes me want one even more...maybe after we move. Do you use a ReptiSun 5.0 on him? That's what I use for my anoles. I heard they eat silkworms, is that true? How do you feed him? Does he hunt his feeders on his plants or does he use a dish?

Too many questions? LOL!! I've read a couple of care sheets and as with any internet information, I don't know what to trust.

:silent:
 

tazznzeppelin

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Hey Shannon,
I use the new T-5 arcadia bulbs on my reptiles. Leon's is a 6 percent uvb, and the beardies have the 12 percent uvb. I believe a repti- sun 5 would work just as well for a chameleon. Leon used to hunt crickets in his cage when he was younger. It's really fun to watch. They can stretch their tongues really far! I made the mistake of giving him superworms and now that's all he will eat. He won't even look twice at a cricket now. Spoiled rotten little brat! I'm sure he would eat silkworms, but I've never bought any. I put the supers in a glass dish in the bottom of his cage and he comes down and gobbles them up. It's still pretty cool to watch him stick his tongue to them, just not as cool as when he used to hunt. And it's super easy to give him liquid calcium supplements because every time I put my hand in his cage he gapes and hisses at me so I just squirt it in his mouth. LOL :lol: Poor Leon.
Amy
 

Kalyn876

Sub-Adult Member
. because every time I put my hand in his cage he gapes and hisses at me so I just squirt it in his mouth. LOL Poor Leon

This I absolutely love it made me laugh so hard, I can just imagine his face afterward. Cute Leon
 

ShannyBeard

Extreme Poster
Kalyn876":2hpdaqwo said:
. because every time I put my hand in his cage he gapes and hisses at me so I just squirt it in his mouth. LOL Poor Leon

This I absolutely love it made me laugh so hard, I can just imagine his face afterward. Cute Leon


:lol: I'm normally scared of biting reptiles, I hate to say. I guess I am still not as much of a reptile person as I will be in a few years. We saw Tokay geckos straight from a reptile show yesterday in our local shop. Ben was shaking them out of snake bags and putting them in vivs, and they were HUGE and when they got into the viv from the bag they would scamper around and gape all angry. :angry5: My eyes got HUGE....gulp....they were intimidating. :silent:

Funny though I guess because Chameleons are so slow they just don't really scare me at all. I think the angry face is really cute and funny. Thanks for the infomation on them - I totally see me having one by the end of the year. I just need to prepare for it. I found a great chameleon blog a while back that explained the viv set up really well, so I know it needs to be very tall so they feel safe in there.
 

tazznzeppelin

Juvie Member
Original Poster
I am scared of biting reptiles too! It took me a while to get used to it. When he first started doing it I was shocked.But he's not very fast so over time I realized that I have the upper hand. And he mainly wants to intimidate me so I take my hand out of his cage. It's mostly a big show but if I try to pick him up from the front he WILL bite me. I have to get around behind him to pick him up. Once he's out of his territory he calms right down though. He loves sitting on top of your head. He would sit on my shoulder too but I don't trust him that close to my face anymore. His bite hurt enough on my hand , I don't want to see how it feels on my face! All things considered I think he's a pretty cool reptile and I don't regret getting him. His color changing ability is amazing. I will have to post a pic of his lighter colors. He can turn this really pretty aqua color. And he can turn almost black when he's real mad.
Amy
 

ShannyBeard

Extreme Poster
That makes sense about the top of the head deal, because I read that they feel safest when they are up high, and that means they should be able to get taller than us in their cages. Interesting stuff. I agree, keep him away from the face/ears! When my skink first tried to climb up to my shoulder all I could think of was "There goes my ear....!"

LOL
 

TheAnthropologist

Hatchling Member
love your pics! You have such gorgeous beardies and really nice chameleon. My brother has two RES too, he just had to switch them to a 120 gall because they are getting pretty big :wink:
 

tazznzeppelin

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Thanks! Olivia the RES has probably tripled in size since we got her. Soon she will need a larger tank also. I have lots of new pics that I need to download soon. Hopefully by the end of the week end I will get them on here.
Amy
 

tazznzeppelin

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Ok so I finally got around to downloading some more pics of my cuties. First up is Zeppelin, He is weighing in at a whopping 84 grams and 11 1/2 inches long now. He's been eating much better since we got rid of his pinworms. Around 35-40 dubia a day now and all of his greens. Yay!
lizards008.jpg

Here he is in the tub. I love his little beard!
lizards001.jpg

In his dark tiger stripes he has a "bubble" pattern. Can you see it?
lizards007.jpg

Get my good side mom!
lizards002.jpg

And now he's in pre-shed poor baby.
lizards011.jpg

lizards010.jpg

My son took this pic a few weeks ago of me, my cat Tinkerbell and Zeppelin Snuggling on the couch. This is our nightly ritual. Pretty funny huh?
lizards009.jpg


And now Tazz. She went through some major relocation stress after I moved her to a bigger viv. She ate barely anything for 2 weeks. She didn't lose any weight though. She's still a fatty. She's finally ok with her new house. She weighs 230 grams and is almost 16 inches long now.
lizards006.jpg

The lights kind of wash her color out.
lizards003.jpg

This one is better. Her legs are turning white though, I think she's going into shed too.
tazz002.jpg

Can you see how she has her mouth kinda open? She does that a lot lately. I'm a little worried about it, but not sure what it could be. I know it's not MBD, she's had the right lights and supplements since day 1.
tazz003.jpg

Look at those beardie boobies!
tazz001.jpg
 

Claudiusx

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Wow you sure have quite the colorful gang! :mrgreen:

Zeppelin looks such much like kiki when she was younger!

-Brandon
 

tazznzeppelin

Juvie Member
Original Poster
Thanks Brandon, I was thinking the same thing when I looked at Kiki's thread.
Thank you too Antropologist. I think they are pretty gorgeous myself.
Any thoughts on why Tazz has been holding her mouth open like that? Or am I just being a nervous mom?
Amy
 

tazznzeppelin

Juvie Member
Original Poster
So it's been a hectic last few weeks. Both my kids were off school last week for spring break and we all went to six flags this past week-end. We had a blast! But that meant I had to get a sitter for all my animals. I was really nervous to leave my beardies for the first time. But I left them in the capable hands of my very good friend and she enjoyed taking care of them. Zeppelin was in the middle of a shed when I left so when I came back I was happy to see his head and half his back were done shedding and his colors are even brighter! The markings on his face are almost flourescent orange now. The squiggly marks down his back that were orange are red now. The only parts he has left to shed now are his front legs and his tail. Last night I was sitting on the couch and he was sitting in my leg. My dog Coco walked over and stood in front of us and her back was about the same height as my leg and Zeppy walked right onto her back. Coco started walking in circles really fast and staring at this lizard on her back like get it off! Get it off! When I stopped laughing at poor Coco I got him off of her. She gave him a few feet of space for the rest of the night.
Poor Tazzy is still in pre-shed. Almost her whole body is bright white except for her tail and part of her side. I'm not sure why that little patch on her side isn't white yet but she looks pretty silly. She's not in a very good mood either. I've gotten more stinkeye from her this week than I have her whole life. Poor girl, she must be pretty miserable.
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