The Story of Aristotle's Rescue - Pics updated -

[Tallnfrosty]

Hello everyone,

My name is Jon and Im new to this site. I have been browsing and reading alot of the stuff here on the forums, as well as doing a ton of off-site research because I am very seriously considering getting a bearded dragon as a pet to keep me company, and I definitely want to be able to care for it properly if I do. I live alone and am a graduate student, so it would be nice to have someone else around to hang out with when im home.

I have a few questions that im hoping you expert-types can help me with

1) My friend has a bunch of beardies in a very big tank. He says they all kind of live together in harmony and dont hurt each other. There is a dominant male, but he dosent physically bully the others, just kind of intimidates them and they back off. My question is this: Should beardies always be kept/raised by themselves? I was considering the possibility of getting two so that they could hang out with each other and whatnot... but from what ive read here and elsewhere, it seems that they prefer to be solitary, and might attack each other. Thoughts on this?

2) Should I get a baby beardie and raise it myself? Or adopt/rescue a pet that someone else dosent want? I am still on the fence with this, because I would really like to rescue one and give it a good home, but the appeal of raising something that I can connect with over the span of years that it will be hanging out with me for is very strong... Pros/Cons to either approach?

3) Male or female... I would prefer a male beardie, but im unsure of whether one sex is easier to raise/less trouble than the other. Pros/Cons to having males vs females and vice versa?

4) I live in a basement, and have a de-humidifier running fairly regularly to keep the place dry/prevent mold from starting up. Will this help/hinder my future beardie? I dont mind bathing/misting them more if thats what is needed.

Thanks in advance guys! I really want to do this right if I do. Any help or advice you can give me is appreciated!

Jon - Hopeful Future Beardie Owner

 

[Jess]

Hi and welome to BD.org! Beardies are awesome pets... Im sure you will love them!

1. They are solitary animals, and shouldnt be housed together. If a beardie does have a cage mate, it will not see it as a "friend", but as competition. So the dominant beardie will take the best basking spots, most food, ect untill it kills the other beardie. Even if your beardies seem to get along at first, why take the chance? You could wake up to see of them dead or seriously injured.

2. Personally, I prefer adults. I have rescued and raised a baby, but you should know that they are VERY expensive- You can plan on going through at least 300+ crickets a week. I rescued a 2 yr old male in May, and he is alot easier to care for. He eats veggies, a and super worms every other day and he costs about $2-$3 a week to feed, compared to $10-$20 a week for a baby. You can do alot more with an adult too- They are super calm and laid back, love to sit with you or ride around on your shoulder, and you can take them out on a leash too! Babies are super hyper, and they wont have the patience to just sit.
I had lots of fun with the baby I raised, but personally I wont ever get another baby... I really prefer the adults. Whatever you do though, you cant go wrong... Im sure that you will be more than happy with your beardie either way!

3. I dont think that there is much of behavior difference in males and females, but Ive only had males. The only thing that I dont like about females in the egg laying thing... They will lay unfertile eggs, and Im just really paranoid about them becoming egg bound. Males do get REALLY hormonal in the spring though! There are pros and cons to both

4. Beardies shouldnt have high humidity, so that should be fine. Their humidity should stay arounf 30%-50%.

 

[Tallnfrosty]

Thanks for your response! This helps me alot

I think im going to end up adopting an adult beardie and naming him Aristotle.

 

[dwindelen]

ohhhh i love that name!!!

 

[lizardgrrl]

Hi Jon, and welcome to the site! :wave: You are doing what I did 5 1/2 years ago, joining the site, studying and asking questions before finding your first dragon. I got Fibonacci just over five years ago, a male about one year old, given up by a family that didn't realize he would get SO big. He was in good health, and has grown almost another 4 inches since I got him, and is just under 21 inches at six years old. He is my best friend, sitting on my shoulder right now.

1) I am a solid proponent for the solitary beardie theory, and have a care sheet in the works on my website, detailing my arguments for the single beardie. If you are interested, my website is in my signature.

2) I started with a sub-adult, rather than a baby, and we have a very strong connection. There are soooo many on Craigslist in need of homes, but some of these are babies from backyard breeders with their two Petco dragons, possibly siblings, that they are going to make a fortune with. Some may have come from a good source but the owner got horrible information from a local pet shop, and the dragon has MBD/gout/mouth rot/impaction/unhealed injuries from other dragons or various other problems. There are so many of these heartbreaking dragons that deserve better than their lot, and you need to decide whether you are up to that special and often very difficult challenge, or if finding a healthy, beautiful dragon from a reputable source, also very rewarding, is the better path for you.

3) I've dealt with both, and love them all. I think the big question here is how you feel about dealing with the nutritional and other possible challenges of a female when she is laying eggs.

4) The de-humidifier is a good thing, as too much humidity can weaken your beardies resistance to respiratory infections and fungi.

Keep studying, and I hope this helps. When the time is right, the dragon (Aristotle?) will appear! :laughing6:

btw, Aristotle is a great name, this from someone who has both Fibonacci and Galileo! :wink:

 

[Tallnfrosty]

Thanks Lizardgrrl! I am really hoping this works out, and your response and the stuff on your site has been very helpful!

Im supposed to go check out the beardie and the setup ill be getting tomorrow evening. I kind of know what to look for to make sure the bearded dragon im getting is healthy (checking the lips/general level of activity/limbs/etc) but this is all very new to me, so all I can really do is my best heh.

I truly appreciate that you guys have responded to my post thanks a ton!

Hopefully tomorrow goes well, and Aristotle will be settled down in my apartment very soon! He will be my scaly pal, and we will have adventures together!

 

[lizardgrrl]

Keep me posted, say hello to Aristotle, :wave: and remember, EVERYONE here loves pics! :wink: :laughing6:

 

[Jess]

Good luck!

Not every adult dragon that is up for adoption is sick though- Ive seen some great looking dragons on CL (not too often though...) and alot of pet stores and reptile stores will rehome unwanted beardies. Thats how I got my male: He was previously used as a breeder, but his preggo owner couldnt care for him anymore, so he was dropped off at the reptile shop. The vet said he is one of the chubbiest beardies theyve ever seen!
Just dont think that all unwanted adults are sick, but be aware that it does happen.

 

[Tallnfrosty]

Pictures of Aristotle for the curious!

I found him on craigslist. A woman had bought him for her 7 year old son as a pet, but the kid turned out to be afraid of him, so the mom decided to try and get him to a caring home.

I will take very good care of him, and he will be my scaly pal, and we shall have adventures together!

 

[Jess]

Hes so cute!!

What on earth are they keeping him on though?! It looks like wood shavings or something..? Ew.
Read this for some different substrate ideas http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=132151

 

[Tallnfrosty]

Yea, the setup they have for him is really sparse, and the substrate looks kinda bleh...

I will likely go with a slate tile substrate because 1) it looks cool, 2) its easy to clean, and 3) no risk of him ingesting it. Also, I plan on buying him a couple neat little basking/climbing items in the very near future once ive replaced the substrate.

 

[Jess]

Sounds awesome! Remember to post pics when your finished! :mrgreen:

 

[Tallnfrosty]

Right... So heres the story.

I went out with my friend Sarah to pick up Aristotle and bring him(her?) home. We got to the person's house and found it to be disgusting. Not only was Aristotle's substrate made up of something akin to small woodchips/sawdust, but it looked like it had NEVER BEEN CLEANED! Also, they had a large dog in their kitchen in a crate that was only just bigger than the dog itself. Needless to say, these people were very neglectful of their pets, so I was instantly proud to be rescuing one of them and bringing it home to care for it.

My new little beardie was so lethargic at first. The lady I rescued him(her?) (keep saying both because while the person said he was male, from what I could see upon inspecting her, he seemed like a she, but im no expert, so meh) from said that he(she?) had been very ill-tempered lately, biting people when they were trying to feed him(her?), sleeping alot and not moving around much. But they had the lights off, and she was clearly neglecting her dragon. I got the feeling that when they "fed" him(her?), all they did was toss a handful of crickets into the terrarium and forget about it.

Anyways, I drove Aristotle home and promptly removed him(her?) from the disgusting terrarium, which got its contents of soiled woodchips/sawdust emptied into the garbage, a full cleaning with all-natural disinfectant spray and then water to ensure there were no chemicals left inside, and a new substrate of slate tiles put in, along with a big basking rock I bought and a little climbing branch. Then, I gave the very lethargic (no kidding, they were not feeding him(her?) well and had the frickin lights off!) Aristotle a much-needed bath, turned on the lights over the newly-cleaned living space, and left a nice salad of mixed greens and cucumbers in the feeding dish.

This is Aristotle after the ordeal, clearly enjoying his(her?) new living space and basking rock.

Upon further contemplation, I decided to move the feeding dish with the fresh greens closer to the basking rock and basking light, and voila! My new beardie began to OM NOM NOM NOM voraciously! Made me very happy to watch

And finally, my friend and I were relaxing after dinner by watching some Firefly (love the series like nothing else), so I decided that Aristotle might like to join us!

After that, I put my exhausted beardie friend back in the terrarium. Talk about a long day! I am very proud to have successfully rescued this dragon, and plan on taking excellent care of Aristotle, my new scaly pal, with whom many adventures shall be had!

 

[nair88]

aww, poor thing. it's so nice to see him in a much better home one thing you will want to get though is a better thermometer - one with a probe that you can put directly on the basking spot.

 

[lizardgrrl]

Welcome Home, Aristotle!!!!!


I am so glad you got Aristotle! :laughing6: Sounds like he/she was in the wrong place before, and it's so good you got him/her out of there and cleaned up. Do you know the age? Ari looks small, I'm guessing four to six months old, so you may be able to catch his growth up to where he should be without too much problem. I hope they didn't have him very long, because it may just mean he's just a little hungry, not suffering from severe starvation, and will be back on a normal growth curve in no time. He looks thin, but not as thin as some I've seen. :roll: While it is excellent news that he loves his veggies, you want to be sure he is getting sufficient protein and calcium to fuel his potential growth. If you haven't seen it already, the Beautiful Dragons nutrition list is the best on the web, http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html and should be a good help in getting Ari back up to speed. He may not be a consistent eater, not used to a steady supply, but I like the way he's perked up with you so quickly. :wink:

You may see some relocation stress, just adjusting to the changes over the next two weeks to a month, and you want to make sure he is pooping normally, but so far, it looks like you are both off to a good start! As Ari gains a little weight, the sex question will be easier to answer, too. Congratulation to you both!!!!! :love5: :wave:

btw, Firefly! Don't feed any fireflies to Ari, :shock: but it is a really GREAT tv series! :laughing6: