Maybe some of you have seen my panicked posts but i thought id write a little about George and I and how we are getting on.
So when I first got George I was terrified/Scared and thought i was going to do everything wrong, I was on here all the time panicking about pretty much everything- his food, his temps, his substrate EVERYTHING.
The First Night
When we first had him he was just at the end of his shed and so he looked a little scruffy to say the least- I was completely terrified of him and his food- I hated the idea of his being scatty and running off and me not finding him/hurting him etc. So to start with he and I were scared stiff- he literally didnt move much- probs because i scared him half to death!! but he would jerk and id literally jump out my skin... then there was the food, CRICKETS= jumpy i hated them with a passion to start with I had to get my partners little boy shake the container and get them out into his Viv so poor george didnt starve! Then i discovered that not only did i have to feed him but the ones he didnt want i had to get out of his Viv so they didnt bite him- I spend an hour and half on a friday night (yes i should have been out or something!) catching each cricket individually and putting them all into one container- combined with being scared of these tiny creatures munching on me i was a nightmare! On top of that i was worring about his temperatures, that he wasn't going to settle, that he was going to die, that i was turning the wrong light off and he would freeze and the list could go on!
After the first couple days
His first night george ate LOADS- a whole box of crickets! the next few days he didnt eat too much. I also found that his tail was turning a whitish grey colour and i was straight on here asking for advice- I though it might just drop off! With thanks to many of the people on here they told me his tail was shedding and they often shed in stages. I gave george his first bath- filled the bath to the middle of my finger with luke warm water. he hated it he didnt move- probably because i was staring at him the whole time incase he ran off and i couldnt find him (it was a massive thing i thought he might get lost!) although there was no way he could get out! I was worrying that the water was too warm/cold, that he would drown. He was fine, he actually didnt move but on the same page he didnt drown, freeze or boil! I took him out and wrapped him up in a towel, patted him down till he was dry and sat with him. I was still scared he would run but he just stayed where he was and fell asleep.
The beginning of our relationship I felt
After Georges bath i felt more at ease- Id had him for 3 days and he was still alive, I hadnt killed him, he hadnt run away and he was eating and seemed perfectly happy. He feel asleep on me after his first bath which made me think I could actually love a spiky scaly creature (ive always had cats and dogs!) I tried to explain to people at work and members of my family how cute it was that he had fell asleep on me but no-one really got it!! I had to get up an hour early so i could turn on georges UV and feed him before leaving for work and i think people thought i was being a little crazy. I didnt feel scared of George anymore actually, I found that i could get him out of his Viv and he would quite happily sit on my shoulder and tuck his head under my hood although sometimes he would still want to run so i let him run around the sofa- I discovered that he actually couldnt be bothered to move fast so i could always catch him! I love that he winks at me, just is a cutie!
Eating
He was still eating well but i was worried that I wasnt giving him the right foods and so went to a reptile shop- they had no idea what they were talking about and told me to put him on sand and starve him so he would eat crickets!! I decided to come on here and found out that Mealworms are not so good for digestion, morio worms are good but not a staple and locusts are the steak and chips while crickets are the beans on toast of the beardie world- no wonder he wants locusts! Ive used these forums and people have been amazingly helpful- George doesnt much like greens which worried me alot- i thought he might dehydrate or not get enough calcium!
2 weeks on
Well i still worry about him, ive spent more money on George than if I would have bought new clothes and shoes but hes totally worth it, Ive fallen in love with him! Ive invested in a timer- which means i get a few more minutes in bed which can never be bad! I get up, check his temps, sort his greens out and put a few crickets in his viv before work. When i come home from work he picks his head up and waits for me to get him out, i give him a quick cuddle, check his temps and then if he has no crickets left I put some more in. I always give him a few morio worms with calc dust on incase he doesnt eat... well weekdays calc and weekends vits. Im pretty sure hes growing- i need to get him a measuring tape (more ££££!) Ive decided that buying a reptile is a huge journey and although i made sure i did vast amounts of research before i bought George Ive learnt far more since I got him! Its amazing how in 2 weeks I can go from being afraid of a little BD to absolutely loving him! I decided to write all of this down for all of you out there who worry as much as me- Im sure I will never stop worrying about him but Im not half as bad as i was!! Theres some sad stories on here too but i think without the help from everyone i might have been a nervous wreck by now!!
The night before last
Well... was a complete nightmare, I decided to Clean George out again and change his substrate from paper towels, he has a big peice of cork wood in his viv and I have blocked it up with paper towels so that he cant hide and avoid the UV. So i take the towels out (for the first time) it was like cricket gallore! george decided that he would help me clean up and ate about 20 but they were still running round. I saw that george had had his fill and took him out so i could get everything clean. I banged the wood till i was sure they were all gone and cleaned him out and put him back. I left a couple of crickets in there with him incase he wanted them and as i go to close the viv door one JUMPS out- as you know i HATE them- i had bare feet and couldnt squash it- i couldnt stop watching it because i didnt want it lost in the house and for me to wake up with it in my mouth :-x I quickly grabbed a shoe and squashed it- im sure they are invincible and i proceeded to whack it until it was deffo dead! George i think was just looking at me thinking 'what the hell!' later on I go to go up the stairs to bed and theres another one! I was frantic!.... So lesson learned dont leave viv door open (cant believe i had escappee crickets!)
And this is why you worry and make so much effort
I think people who dont have beardies can never appreciate them and think im crazy for all the effort i make but I do it because hes important to me and he does this... So I get in from a hard day, feed george and watch tv after a while I got him out- It was his bed time so I thought we could have a cuddle- Although George seems happy to be touched sometimes when i first had him he was a little jerky. I get him out and he was still a little active running around- I left him to it- Keeping an eye on him of course. He then has enough he crawls up my front to the side of my neck, goes inside the zip of my jacket, tucks his head under my shirt collar and straight asleep- I might spend alot of time making him happy but this is all he had to do to make it worth it. He stayed there for about an hour and half until i thought he might get cold and put him back in his viv with UV off to sleep (see my worry never ends!)
After all the worry with George- although he was perfectly fine and hasnt caused any problems, or really given me anything to worry about I'm glad we are now all settled and happy. He even appreciates the bath now his chest has a bright orange glow- I hear thats good! Hes eating- Steak and chips (locusts) and sometimes crickets, He cuddles, sleeps and I would guess is completely happy and worry free. Id like to say the same about me- not so worry free and I dont much like locusts
Im glad he has settled and hope that everyone has a beardy thats as awesome as mine! LOVE HIM
So when I first got George I was terrified/Scared and thought i was going to do everything wrong, I was on here all the time panicking about pretty much everything- his food, his temps, his substrate EVERYTHING.
The First Night
When we first had him he was just at the end of his shed and so he looked a little scruffy to say the least- I was completely terrified of him and his food- I hated the idea of his being scatty and running off and me not finding him/hurting him etc. So to start with he and I were scared stiff- he literally didnt move much- probs because i scared him half to death!! but he would jerk and id literally jump out my skin... then there was the food, CRICKETS= jumpy i hated them with a passion to start with I had to get my partners little boy shake the container and get them out into his Viv so poor george didnt starve! Then i discovered that not only did i have to feed him but the ones he didnt want i had to get out of his Viv so they didnt bite him- I spend an hour and half on a friday night (yes i should have been out or something!) catching each cricket individually and putting them all into one container- combined with being scared of these tiny creatures munching on me i was a nightmare! On top of that i was worring about his temperatures, that he wasn't going to settle, that he was going to die, that i was turning the wrong light off and he would freeze and the list could go on!
After the first couple days
His first night george ate LOADS- a whole box of crickets! the next few days he didnt eat too much. I also found that his tail was turning a whitish grey colour and i was straight on here asking for advice- I though it might just drop off! With thanks to many of the people on here they told me his tail was shedding and they often shed in stages. I gave george his first bath- filled the bath to the middle of my finger with luke warm water. he hated it he didnt move- probably because i was staring at him the whole time incase he ran off and i couldnt find him (it was a massive thing i thought he might get lost!) although there was no way he could get out! I was worrying that the water was too warm/cold, that he would drown. He was fine, he actually didnt move but on the same page he didnt drown, freeze or boil! I took him out and wrapped him up in a towel, patted him down till he was dry and sat with him. I was still scared he would run but he just stayed where he was and fell asleep.
The beginning of our relationship I felt
After Georges bath i felt more at ease- Id had him for 3 days and he was still alive, I hadnt killed him, he hadnt run away and he was eating and seemed perfectly happy. He feel asleep on me after his first bath which made me think I could actually love a spiky scaly creature (ive always had cats and dogs!) I tried to explain to people at work and members of my family how cute it was that he had fell asleep on me but no-one really got it!! I had to get up an hour early so i could turn on georges UV and feed him before leaving for work and i think people thought i was being a little crazy. I didnt feel scared of George anymore actually, I found that i could get him out of his Viv and he would quite happily sit on my shoulder and tuck his head under my hood although sometimes he would still want to run so i let him run around the sofa- I discovered that he actually couldnt be bothered to move fast so i could always catch him! I love that he winks at me, just is a cutie!
Eating
He was still eating well but i was worried that I wasnt giving him the right foods and so went to a reptile shop- they had no idea what they were talking about and told me to put him on sand and starve him so he would eat crickets!! I decided to come on here and found out that Mealworms are not so good for digestion, morio worms are good but not a staple and locusts are the steak and chips while crickets are the beans on toast of the beardie world- no wonder he wants locusts! Ive used these forums and people have been amazingly helpful- George doesnt much like greens which worried me alot- i thought he might dehydrate or not get enough calcium!
2 weeks on
Well i still worry about him, ive spent more money on George than if I would have bought new clothes and shoes but hes totally worth it, Ive fallen in love with him! Ive invested in a timer- which means i get a few more minutes in bed which can never be bad! I get up, check his temps, sort his greens out and put a few crickets in his viv before work. When i come home from work he picks his head up and waits for me to get him out, i give him a quick cuddle, check his temps and then if he has no crickets left I put some more in. I always give him a few morio worms with calc dust on incase he doesnt eat... well weekdays calc and weekends vits. Im pretty sure hes growing- i need to get him a measuring tape (more ££££!) Ive decided that buying a reptile is a huge journey and although i made sure i did vast amounts of research before i bought George Ive learnt far more since I got him! Its amazing how in 2 weeks I can go from being afraid of a little BD to absolutely loving him! I decided to write all of this down for all of you out there who worry as much as me- Im sure I will never stop worrying about him but Im not half as bad as i was!! Theres some sad stories on here too but i think without the help from everyone i might have been a nervous wreck by now!!
The night before last
Well... was a complete nightmare, I decided to Clean George out again and change his substrate from paper towels, he has a big peice of cork wood in his viv and I have blocked it up with paper towels so that he cant hide and avoid the UV. So i take the towels out (for the first time) it was like cricket gallore! george decided that he would help me clean up and ate about 20 but they were still running round. I saw that george had had his fill and took him out so i could get everything clean. I banged the wood till i was sure they were all gone and cleaned him out and put him back. I left a couple of crickets in there with him incase he wanted them and as i go to close the viv door one JUMPS out- as you know i HATE them- i had bare feet and couldnt squash it- i couldnt stop watching it because i didnt want it lost in the house and for me to wake up with it in my mouth :-x I quickly grabbed a shoe and squashed it- im sure they are invincible and i proceeded to whack it until it was deffo dead! George i think was just looking at me thinking 'what the hell!' later on I go to go up the stairs to bed and theres another one! I was frantic!.... So lesson learned dont leave viv door open (cant believe i had escappee crickets!)
And this is why you worry and make so much effort
I think people who dont have beardies can never appreciate them and think im crazy for all the effort i make but I do it because hes important to me and he does this... So I get in from a hard day, feed george and watch tv after a while I got him out- It was his bed time so I thought we could have a cuddle- Although George seems happy to be touched sometimes when i first had him he was a little jerky. I get him out and he was still a little active running around- I left him to it- Keeping an eye on him of course. He then has enough he crawls up my front to the side of my neck, goes inside the zip of my jacket, tucks his head under my shirt collar and straight asleep- I might spend alot of time making him happy but this is all he had to do to make it worth it. He stayed there for about an hour and half until i thought he might get cold and put him back in his viv with UV off to sleep (see my worry never ends!)
After all the worry with George- although he was perfectly fine and hasnt caused any problems, or really given me anything to worry about I'm glad we are now all settled and happy. He even appreciates the bath now his chest has a bright orange glow- I hear thats good! Hes eating- Steak and chips (locusts) and sometimes crickets, He cuddles, sleeps and I would guess is completely happy and worry free. Id like to say the same about me- not so worry free and I dont much like locusts
Im glad he has settled and hope that everyone has a beardy thats as awesome as mine! LOVE HIM
