What made you want your first beardie :D Writing an essayy!

[Livey]

OK Hi guys!
So im writing an article about pets and what makes people want them and how we came to have them...
Ill start,
I first wanted my beardie, because well.... i actually don't no lol it kinda bounced into my head!.
I had reserved little Nu at garden centre from a breeder who worked there..
She was sad to see her go , but wow if only she could see her now!
Here is a picture of her a couple of months ago!

Shes my Beautiful BIG girl!
..
So mine aint that interesting lol...
But if anyone could chip and help it would be helpful
Any experience would be great, rescues, re-homing and just plain and simply buying one!

 

[Jess]

I had even never thought of owning a beardie, untill little Wink was handed to me! I observe at a vet clinic, and one of the techs gave him to me... If I didnt take him he would have been put down, so I didnt have much of a choice there LOL!
Since Wink passed away, I have to adopt another one because every thing just seems so empty with out a beardie now. I might go and look at some up for adoption today.

 

[fresnowitte]

Okay this sturs up the emotions so please bear with me.

When I was little we use to have lots of hornedtoad lizards in our area...as a small child I'd sit in the field and play with them for hours out of the day during Spring and Summer...taking them treats. Since they have been killed off by insecticides...but anyhow I loved the little spikey dry lizards. Beardies take me back to that time as they kind of remind me of them...I mean the dry, spikey, and the fact that they seemed to like being talked to.

Getting a reptile was nowhere in my thoughts though until....

My husband worked for a guy that was addicted to the reptiles at one point but evidently had lost interest. In this sheet metal shop there were many snakes, skinks, monitors, and this pair of beardies. Well shortly after I first seen them all the female beardie that was house with the male had passed away due to becoming egg bound. I would go to the shop several days a week to put in fresh water, feed, and talk to the male beardie that was left(Rocky) and take him out into the sunlight. He was very thin and looked depressed. I knew nothing of how to care for Rocky but I couldn't bear to see him starve(being fed pinkies once every 2 weeks and maybe an occassional cricket no veggies), living in a dark shop, housed right next to his preditors, with no light as it had burnt out and wasn't replaced. So I got up the nerve went to the shop scooped Rocky up, put him on my chest and held him close. Then I told my husbands boss I was gonna take Rocky home. He looked at me very puzzled for a moment then reluctantly agree to let me have him :shock: as he knew he'd lost interest and it wasn't fair to Rocky. He told me he would be hubby's Christmas bonus though. I said whatever and out the door we went. I can't really say I rescued him as I didn't even know what to do but the obvious give him love, food, heat, UVB. I learned alot from my RockStar (RIP). It's due to him that I spend hours a day trying to help beardies and their owners everywhere. See I made my best little friend ever a promise that I'd learn and share as much about beardies as I possibly could...see that's my way of coping...I still miss him so much that it's really hard to write this even still 4 years later.

I know that we should never take in a beardie on impulse but I'm so glad I did. As now I still have Itty Bitty and Zak-n-Wheezie which he sired to remember him by as well as I have rescued several beardies, kept several of the ones I've hatched, and bought a few...there are 11 beardies in my house total. I have had the experience of bringing these amazing creatures into the world and watching them grow learning and loving it all the way.

All the joy I get from all my beardies started with Rocky my RockStar...:love5:

However not all the beardies in the world could fill the hole left in my heart loosing you Rocky!
But I'll keep trying. :wink:


Nu has beautiful eyes btw.

 

[Livey]

Aww im sorry to hear about Rocky,
we all start with something though which is great.
And im glad you rescued him!
do you thin k if you wouldn't have you would have beardies today??
Its sad to think people get bored of these beautiful creatures
But Rocky sure is Cute! RIP big guy

 

[Livey]

Nu has beautiful eyes btw.

Thank you

 

[fresnowitte]

do you thin k if you wouldn't have you would have beardies today??

Most likely not :roll: and see what I'd be missing out on?
I agree how can you ever get tired or bored of a beardie? IMPOSSIBLE!
As you can tell I can't get enough! :lol:

 

[healthybeardie]

When I was 12 years old my parents got me a pet green anole. It was love at first sight. I named him King because I loved to treat him that way -- I went out everyday to hunt bugs for him, let him bask on the screen and he didnt even mind being held. Sometimes he would eat applesauce from a spoon for me for a treat. He lived for about 4 years before passing. Then about 10 years later I bought a beautiful baby green iguana named Spike. This was way before the pet stores educated the care takers on proper UVB lighting and unfortunately he developed MBD and also found out he was a she and became egg bound and had to have surgery to have the eggs removed. He grew over 4 feet long and I had his light fixture and a basking section set up in my dorm room in a house I was renting. My roomies either thought I was crazy or were really amused and loved to visit me (Spike). After having Spike for 3 years he gave up eating and passed a way . It was really hard and a huge void because Spike was there during some tough times for me. I never really lost my interest in lizards but due to living in a small one bedroom apartment, working full time and a social life I got lets say diverted for a little bit. When we would vacation in Florida I loved to watch the anoles wandering all around (childhood memories I never really outgrew). Loved seeing the green iguanas at different places we went maybe Cypress Gardens was the name of it--can't remember. The critters always fascinated me, unlike dogs or cats or the more "traditional or conventional" type pets. Well, after getting married (15 years ago) and having my twin boys, they have had green anoles and house geckos. They don't seem to be interested in sports right now like before. In an attempt to find a hobby for my one son (the other one plays the guitar), we thought we would give him a "bearded dragon" for Christmas. The first two from Petsmart (unfortunately bad experiences due to lack of information). He named the first one "Spike" who was sickly, then the second one "Zeke" who was sickly also. With the information provided us, some books and apparently not enough research, we did our best but unfortunately they both passed away. I not only felt terrible for the losses but especially for my son who I wanted to have a great beardie experience. So the early part of March 2010 I joined this site, researched endlessly (I'm still researching) to find out everything I could about the beardies. We traveled from MD to Philadelphia PA and picked up a "healthy beardie" from a reliable breeder. What a fantastic experience it is to have a healthy pet beardie. My son probably spends more time playing video games than taking care of Luther (aka Loui), however, I am in love with this little creature. Right now as I type this he is cuddling rubbing his head at my neck and clawing at me and I'm freaking out that I may break out in another rash! (I have sensitive skin). The highlight of my day is waking up and looking at the cute sleeping position he is in, turning his lights on, cleaning and analyzing his "poop" , making his salad, checking up on him, feeding him his bugs, checking up on him, talking to him, feeding him more bugs, cleaning more poop, and cuddling with him before the lights go out. I'm hoping my son will have a little more interest some day but that's okay because I'm loving every minute of it right now and am hooked!

 

[Livey]

Woah, So most of the urges to by lizards are from childhood memories...
All i had was a hamster lol

And Barbara i doubt i would change owning dragons for anything either!

 

[Monkey]

Well, I have always loved most kind of animals. Since childhood I have dragged home everything, and if it's remotely cute I like it.
I even find very small critters interesting as in dragonfly's, wasps, and bumblebees (even though I prefer not to interact too much with the two later ones).
Only animals I am very wary of is anything that contain posion or venom, unless it's a bear, wolf or similar predator. I love studying animals, and their behaviors. My mom
always caught snakes, lizards frogs and tadpoles with me as a kid and I have always loved these. When I was 18, I bought a water dragon, Lina sorry to say passed away rather quickly due to having an infectious desease, she had to be handfeed and only lived for about 6 months

After that I didn't have a dragon at all in my life for a few years. However I have always had a couple of rats, a chinchilla, a hamster, two cats and a dog, so Im a frequent visitor in petstores. The only store I truly enjoy shopping in. So one year I had just got my tax return and I decided to run and pick up fun stuff for all my critters. (I love buying pet toys). I walk in, and I see this poor big fat calm beardie that is in a viv that is about a foot long approx his lenght I asked the store owner and someone had traded him in for another lizard (I dont know the english name of) cause he was bored with his beardie. Well his loss my gain. I brought home douglas and a viv that day, and a waterfall (the store owner told me that was a good thing for a beardie to have in his cage and when I asked him, but arent they supose to be in desert climate? He was oh thats no issue he needs the water to drink from he was so eager to sell me more stuff that he didn't care about the health of the animal). Thank god I had friends in another petstore and one girl who was big on reptiles that told me to remove it and so I did after only a week. Me and Douglas had a great summer together, he was with me almost everywhere. In sweden you can bring pets on subways, trains, busses etc so he travelled quite a bit. I also started dating Peter, now Peter had a female who lost her male friend, and he had this enclouser that was 5 feet high, 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep, it was a mansion. The beardies also got along together great so we placed them together, and they hung out, never no fights, no territorial stuff, he never tried to impregnate her or anything, however, Peter tried to impregnate quite a few women so I left him. Problem was he had a mansion and Douglas best friend, I didn't have the heart to take him away from there and despite Peter treating me badly I knew he'd never treat the beardies bad so I let him keep him. He had him for many years and took well care of him so I dont regret it but I did miss him. Since that experience I have always wanted a beardie again, however I didnt have the time and money. Now all my other pets started to grow old too, my chinchill passed on, so did my rats, my two cats, my hamster... I was down to two dogs, one rat and one bird when I meet my american now x husband. I had to rehome one dog, the rat and the bird and brought my old lady with me when I moved countries, and that was no fun. However I could never get the beardie out of my head.. So a little more than two years ago I found a cheap nice viv in a yardsale for 20 bucks, I bought it wit beardie in mind. I went online and found a breeder not far from here, so me and a friend picked up to cluchsibblings, mine was calm from the getgo. I first held the one my friend picked but I put it back down and fell for Herculette and thank god I did. My friend has had nothing but issues with her dragon meanwhile mine has been the calmest there is. I really did a good choice, Herculette is now 2 years and 1 month, she loves to hang out on my shoulde ror run around in the room. She's easy going, good with other animals, sweet and sassy. I don't think I can ever imagine my life without a bearded dragon ever again. They bring a smile to your face. My bf is amazed over how she comunicates, I can look at her and tell exactly what she wants and my bf is just WOW factor over that she LOOKS for attention, food, coming out etc. He never thought a lizard had it in her so to say. So thanks to stumbeling upon that poor big beardie in a way too small tank, I found the perfect reptile for me. Not too big, easy enough to care for ( I hate feeding snakes for example), big personality, just sweethearts. Im in love with the species just for who and what they are and I think you all know what I mean. Douglas still have a special place with me, but at least he had it good and never again did he have to be in a too small viv. They are just the most amazing little reptile there is and I will always have one.

Here she is happy in her bath She's bigger now so I will have to tak enew pictures!
Swear to God she poses for the camera look how she's looking right into it.

 

[Livey]

Herculette is just a cutie!
shes got some lovely colours!
Thanks guys i love reading all of these! there all different and interesting!

 

[ziggy23]

My first experience with reptiles was with some iguanas that I rescued. I believe they were wild-caught, and combined with horrible mistreatment, quite frankly, they weren't very nice. I managed to nurse them back to health beyond what the vets said was possible. But I could make no progress with their temperament. I tried my best for years to tame them, but to no avail. My last straw was with a large female that seen me as competition for males, human males, specifically my boyfriend at the time. She was so large that I couldn't afford a habitat for her. I let her free roam. After a while I got really tired of being charged at, tail whips and bitten every day. So finally I realized that maybe I wasn't the best match for them. And they would be better off with someone more experienced. I ended up donating them to a reptile center.

Then I went to a friend's house who also does a lot of rescue and rehabilitation. She had a dragon. After years of putting up with high-strung easily stressed out reptiles it was so pleasantly shocking to me to see a reptile so tame it would willing fall asleep on a stranger's shoulder.

One of the things that attracted me to reptiles in the first place is their primitive appearance like modern day dinosaurs. So the spikeiness of them really appealed to me. She told me about them, and I followed up with my own research. They really appealed to me. I bought 2 at the next reptile show. and I have been hooked every since.

There's a lot of reptiles that I love. But I doubt I'd ever own them. I think BD are best suited for my personality and lifestyle. I think it's shocking that some say they're difficult to take care of. dogs seem so much more high maintenance to me.

 

[sluedu09]

I've always loved lizards. When I was about five, I would go outside and catch anoles. Unfortunately I didn't have the knowledge that I do now, but I took very good care of them for a little kid. I would take them into the bathroom, close the door and spend hours in there getting them used to me (I used the bathroom because there was nowhere they could hide). I got away from the Anoles because I got tired of going out to catch grasshoppers all the time. But I still loved lizards. One day I discovered beardies, I think when I was 17. I talked my dad into it and reassured him that they don't get any longer than two feet. I always wanted an iguana but he said they got too big. My step mom went with me to a little pet store. I walked to the tank of baby beardies. There in the front of the tank was a little one glass dancing. I asked to hold it and fell in love. As I was taking Toni home, I remember my little brother saying something about her in the backseat. She was laying on my hand but all of a sudden stood up and gave him the stink eye. I knew then I had picked the best one. She's my baby. :love5:

 

[jenngib]

My baby was my Valentines Day present from my wonderful hubby . I had been wanted a beardie for a long time after doing a lot of research. We have 3 children ages 3, 4, and 11 and I wanted a pet that was friendly, a great companion and different and beardies fit all these qualifications and so much more! Puff was 3 weeks old when we got him and he's been our companion ever sense. My 3 year old daughter always holds him and likes to tell the neighbors about her little baby . If given the choice again I would've gotten a beardie YEARS ago!

 

[Sapphire]

I'd actually never imagined I would own a reptile until about eight months ago. I like snakes and stuff, and I thought maybe I'd have a snake someday but the idea of feeding it mice/hamsters/rats just grossed me out, so I never really pursued the idea. Then, in Septemer of last year, I was walking to my biology class and saw a flyer/sign advertising a "reptile expo"... I saw that flyer twice a week for a while and I was thinking about going, I mentioned it to my sister who also likes reptiles and she wanted to go, so I figured I would go and look around... Then, the thursday before the expo, my biology teacher was talking about reptile expo's and some of the cool things he'd seen at some in the past and I was sold on the idea of going... I honestly didn't even know what a bearded dragon WAS at that point. But I went to this expo, and of all the things I saw there, bearded dragons got my attention the most. Everything was cute, but bearded dragons were ADORABLE. I talked to one of the breeders briefly and decided I really liked bearded dragons, they didn't seem hard to take care of, and they're SO FREAKING CUTE. I went to the next expo, in January, and after handling some more beardies and talking to Tom (TND dragons) I decided I had to have one. SO after tons of research, I went to the expo in April and spent my birthday money to get my adorable little baby, and I love him... He's so cute. He's like my puppy. There's another expo in July and it's a good thing me and my boyfriend don't have a lot of money to throw around, otherwise we would be buying another setup and my boyfriend would be getting his own dragon. For now he'll just have to share the one we have. :lol:

 

[Livey]

Aww all theses a so great!
I loved reading all the stories and how getting a dragon has more or less changed your life.
And how you got them are great!

Thanks guys !
i wrote up the essay and it went down a treat!
so again. thanks!