The tails of Chimaira the Dragon*Shoo go away*

Hello everyone!

I wanted to make one place to post all his crazy adventures! He seams to have them daily (or several times a day) And pictures my daughter loves to take.

Basic story of the mighty Chimera....

My daughers boyfriend took her to a pet store one day and they went to the reptile section and seen the baby beardies she fell in love with the biggest one in the tank. I think once she had him in her little hands it was allll over! I got a phone call telling me she had a suprize for us when she got home. I never in my wildest dreams think it would be something live! Boy was it a learning experance since then. Trying to tell a 15 yr old no you cant hold him after eating you have to wait. Shes lost him at least 4 times one time it took us a hour before we found him. :shock: She fed him 12 mealworms in one sitting because he was so cute eating them out of her hand! Can we say impaction?? (pet store told them it was a safe and better meal than crickets) After that I took over feedings. I found this site! You guys have givin us so much information that I'm sure he wouldnt be as healthy as he is now, with out it! Thank you all! He has a wonderful personality! <-- thats him. hes so happy and courious about everything and anything. He loves to explore he has a wonderful smile too! Hes my partner in crime when everyones gone to work/school. Hes just like one of my children.

His cute smile!

Hes hiding from me so he thinks lol

Wheres the food?(he loves his veggies)

Now this is the life!

More pics and crazy storys to come!

 

[protiemama]

Your western fence lizard looks neat! How blue does he get?

Yes, you will get many dirty looks till you fix that tank problem. Bad slave! :whip: :laughhard:
My hubby had to buy a few new tools to make Bogie's viv. He was sooo dissapointed. Yeah, right. :lol: Tools multiply around here. It keeps him happy.

Sandy h

 

[Freeie]

I dont have the camera to take his belly pic to show his blue. Kiddo took the lizzards off for a weekend trip to her grandmas I miss chimera!
I found this photo online.

Hes not dead , you can flip them over and rub their belly and they go into a trance

 

[protiemama]

Zilla is one cool lizard then! I do love those blue stripes. And DD is going to let him go? aww, shucks, Can't you keep him Mom? :lol: Katherine is going to want one now.

Sandy H

 

[Freeie]

They are a wild lizzard here local they are every where, we have rescued all kinds of lizzards and toads got them healthy n fat and turned them loose , she doesnt want to let him go im working on it cause he actually should be sleeping for the winter and not awake. I think its better for them to be set free so far Zilla is the only one we have left out of the 4 she brought home , they had mites on them took forever to finally get rid of them and set them free before winter hit. You can actually have them as pets but some have problems getting adjusted to being a pet and get week and sick.

This is a picture of Chimera and Zilla , amazing thing is when we brought Chimera home he was the same size as Zilla!

I didnt aprove of this pic my daughter took it when she went outside, they shouldnt be together or near eachother at all. Chimera might want a snack... :shock:

 

[Freeie]

Poor Chimera came home all tuckered out he ate his veggies like a pig and walked over to his placemat that is folded in half he snuggled his nose inbetween it and turned a few circles and crashed lol Im just glad to have him home! I think my hubby is gonna let me get one of my own! Just gonna let Chimera get a bit older so hes not costing $30 a week in crickets , he eats more veggies now anyways woot!

 

[msmaui]

Chimera is a beautiful little dragon and the pictures you took are GREAT. I wish I could take photos as well as you can!

 

[Judah'sHuman]

wow fence lizzards have very pretty colors! zilla is so neat! I love the pic of Chimera under the place mat so cute :love5:

$30 per week on crickets!? You must be buying them from the pet store in samll amounts? You should buy them on line I use reptilefood.com I have been using them for along time now. I have tried many other places on line even the highly reccomended Mulberryfarms, but I have found Reptilefood.com to be better. you can get 1000 for that price with overnight shipping included! You will want to get a big clear plastic bin with a lid (like a rubbermaid bin) to store them. I put out a plastic saucer for food and use ground up organic dog food and a special dry cricket food (reptile also supplies crickets food). But I really liek this place because they tst the crickets every few months for parasites and deaseses. Check um out you'll save a ton!

 

[Freeie]

Im gonna have to check those places out ! Yep we buy $5 worth at a time and they only last a few days, Im really lucky that Chimera loves his veggies at such a young age. Wow 1000 crickets at once that sounds like alot! Do they make alot of noise?

 

[Judah'sHuman]

well judging by the size of Chimera, you will prolly want to order the 1/4" crickets. They grow fast so dont order them any larger because they need to fit between the space between his eyes. (you prolly already knew that)

They dont start making noise untill they are about 3/4" or 3-4 weeks old (or when they develop wings). But he should be going through at least 50-60+ crickets per day, so hell go through them fast. 1000 usually last about 1 month at that age. Yes its alot of crickets! It is also sorta creepy if you dont like buggs. EWWW! But yeah youll need to get a big bin to keep them in otherwise they will die really fast if they are too cramped. Also, you'll want to stock up on some egg cartons and put a few in the bin for them to have room.

 

[protiemama]

I use a 10 gal aquarium with egg cartons in it.(and a screen lid :lol: ) I feed them salad scraps and apple wedges and chuncks of raw potato. I have very few die offs that way. Keep the tank cleen or they will stink. I kept mine in the shade on the porch all summer. Bogie quit crix just as the weather turned so I haven't had them in the house. Good luck.

Sandy H

 

[Judah'sHuman]

The first time I ordered 1000 I was so unprepaired, I only had one samll crickets keeper. My BF had done most of the research before I brought Judah Home (he bought him for me for Christmas, so he did all the research prior) I totallt freake dwhen I cut open the box and all these crickets started jummping out! I slamed it shut and taped it back up. I called him and said what am I goign to do with all these crickets. It was a nightmare, I really hate buggs and the thought of trying to get them out of this lil box into containers was over whelming. I had left them in the box on top of the viv till I figured out what i was going to put them in. That night as I was tring to sleep the could here them in the box skeerying around. Then I heard tink tink tink! I turned on the light and a bunch were escaping the box. I freaked out and grabed the tape and practically taped the intier box! I then threw the box and started to cry. :laughhard: I called my BF the next day and he said well we can have them shipped to my house and I can take care of gettign them out of the box and stuff for you. :lol: :lol: The next day I had 3 people trying to help me get them into ziploc containers and so forth, they were jumping out all over the kitchen. A few weeks later I read about the big rubbermade bins. I thought to myself well duh. Anyways, I soon had to face my fear and get over it. Obviously if I was going to own a Beardie I had to learn to cope, I felt like I was on Fear Factor for a while there.

Well good luck!

 

[protiemama]

:laughhard: :laughhard: I can so see the entire event!! Poor Judah must have been crying large dragon tears at the thought of all the training his new slave would need. :laughhard: :laughhard: I needed a good laugh today, thanks!

Sandy h

 

[Judah'sHuman]

yeah it makes me laugh now too looking back at it, it was so rediculose. Makes for a good story, I love sharing that one can you just see someone with like 8 of those gladlock containers all over their place full of crickets? :lol: thats is boarderline cookoo. If I walked into soemone house and saw that, I'd be like "yeah I gotta go." :lol:

Have a lovely evening all!

 

[Freeie]

Oh boy its sheading time again so hes a grumpy young man... hes refusing his veggies and will only eat his crickets atm.. whatta brat! I picked him up some squash and apple blueberry baby food to try and cheer him up. (water added to the veg/fruit only) hes gonna need lots of nice warm baths and lots of love its gonna be a bumpy ride!

 

[Freeie]

I took a picture of Zilla on his tree (sprinkler he claimed as *his*) he will stay in that same spot for hours and hours you actually forget hes there sometimes.

Chimera in the back ground going *hello im down here what are you doing with the camera?*