when is too young to separate siblings M & F ?

[kingofnobbys]

Toothless has gained 6.3g this week, now 20.9g and 1.9x bigger than he was when we brought him home.

Peppa has gained only 5.9g this week, now 24.6g and only 1.77x bigger than she was when we brought her home. (But she had two lots of relocation stress , coming to live with us and then separated in her own rearing tub, + she has been in shed most this week too).

Saw Toothless doing a bit of beard stretching today so I think he is going to shed soon, he's already cut back on the eating in the last couple of days.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Update :

Peppa is now 31.9g (gained 7.3g this week).Didn't eat much yesterday ... think she's in for another shed soon (I remember how it felt like we had shedding happening all the time for about 5 - 6 months with Rex and Puff).

Toothless is now 27.2g (gained 6.3g this week).

Both enjoy a couple of crickets given by hand each morning (bonding exercise).

Both seem to have wormed to me (Toothless kicks up a stink in the evening until I get him out for a little dad time (petting, snuggle and talking to). He's obsessed with the TV and loves watching nature shows.

Even Peppa did the standing up in the corner of her tub , staring at me and scratching with her front claws to get my attention, and then settled immediately (at 2am , yes she was asleep at 8pm and suddenly acted up when I turned off the ***** box to go bed) when I got her out for a little dad time , petting and talking to.
I think she's learnt this behaviour by watching her brother, who learnt it by watching Wriggles the water skink.

Really starting to become very interactive and are demand our attention now..... go my hands full.... .... in a good way.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Peppa is in shed again .... lost old skin off her tail this morning.

Think Toothless is getting ready to shed again too, off his silkworms yesterday (didn't touch them, but he did eat most his crickets and some greens and grated carrot.

 

[AHBD]

Good to hear that the little buggers are doing so well.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Good to hear that the little buggers are doing so well.

I think the breeder did an excellent job with them in their first 5 weeks, we did note that not a single one of the hatchies she had were missing toes, nails or tailtips and only one of her hatchlings was obviously smaller than the rest, she had in a separate tub.

Even Rex seems to have more or less accepted them, only a little bit of headnodding and backbearding when she comes out for her daily roam-about and again at diner time. The BTs don't give a damb and Wriggles just watches me feeding them and has otherwise lost interest in them.

My wife isn't game to handle them yet, they are too little and fast for her, but seem OK with her patting them in their tubs or when I have them out for their crickets handfeed/bonding session.

I've upsized their crickets from "small" to 1/3 size crickets now, and they are now getting silkworms about 2" long (1 - 2 per afternoon feeding).

Peppa and Toothless LOVE their nice toasty heatslabs, they sleep on them every night.

 

[kingofnobbys]

The new little Hubba-Hut was an instant success with Peppa , she LOVES it !!! , she discovered it immediately and spent a load of time basking on top, and has been napping inside it (on the heatslab) after her big feed of crickets).

Toothless discovered his about 3 hours later after hunting down most the crickets and basking on his big bit of bark , and then he got every excited , came over to the corner of the tub and wanted me to look at what he's found in the tub, then did the same to my wife while she was eating lunch. I think he's a smarty , only stopped the behaviour when we both looked at , he ran over and jumped on top and looked up at us , and we told him it's OK and it's his new hide.

The medium hubba-huts are perfect size for them. (Will grow out of them in maybe 3 months).


Just wish Peppa wouldn't do her poos in her food dish , been 4 days running now in the dish .... maybe she's telling me she is not happy with salad ?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Update:

2.5 months old and both seem to be happy and thriving.

Toothless is now 33.7g , gain this week is 6.5g and he's now 3.06x bigger than when we brought them home.

Peppa must be coming up for another shed soon. She is now 37.4g , gain this week is 5.2g and she's now 2.67x bigger.

If Toothless keeps on growing like this and he'll soon overtake Peppa.

Used the last of the silkworms from this batch overnight (one large silkworm each), now have 90 cocoons to hatch moths from and my silkworm supply-lady tells me the next batch of silkworms are still very small (might be another week or so before they are big enough to sell). Looks like I'll be blanching and freezing those two big bags of mulberry leafs I got on Thursday from her (too expensive to let go off or throw out).

I've upped the cricket size for both now from 25 day old size to 1/3 size crickets. Upped the number of crickets from 10 to 16 crickets each per day.

Trying them out with a mealworm pupae today, one each in their food bowl.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Woke to an happy little Peppa waiting for her nurse and feed of crickets, she shed overnight, bits of shed all over the place.

Introduced Peppa and Toothless to 2 new foods today.

Peas , thawed and squashed so then sweet meat inside is available to taste , Peppa loves them, Toothless isn't so sure.

Mealworm lavae , one each , Peppa disappeared her's as soon I put it in her food bowl, Toothless left his until later.

So Peppa and Toothless now have the following foods in their diet,
insects :
silkworm lavae, crickets, mealworm lavae , pupae and beetles , and calcigent flies (they were a hit too but wont be buying them again),

greens and veg :
grated carrot, buk choy greens (cut up), kale (cut up) , peas, dandelion greens, nasturtium flowers and greens

fruit :
blueberries, grapes (green seedless), blackberries, raspberries, strawberry pieces

suppliments:
softened repcal juvi beardie pellets mixed with softened vetafarm lizard pellets.

Back to 2 feeds a day of crickets (no more silkworms until I get my next batch), now 2 lots of 12-14 x 1/3 sized crickets each per day + salad and greens + pellets.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Both shedding !

Doen't seem to be impacting in their appetites though.

Forgot how often little hatchlings shed ..... Toothless was a bit grumpy this morning but still nearly took my fingers off when I offer him his customary 3 medium crickets by hand.... gimme ! gimme ! gimme !

Both got a rare treat this afternoon - a spare male silkworm moth each with their afternoon feed of crickets.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Loving their small/med (up to mealworm size) silkworms ( 8 each per day as their second meal ).

Toothless was in shed overnight and today.

Finally OK with being picked up and nursed by my wife and me, she isn't game to take them out their tubs when hand-nursing yet. Especially after Toothless' little escapade and run about on the lounge room floor under coffee table when he left out of my hand when I was about to hand feed him his two bonding crickets (Momentary lapse of concentration and not having a good grip on his tail and he was onto the chair and then onto the carpet before I could grab him.... quick little guys !)
Managed to recapture him easily enough, luckily he is too big now to slip under the lounge and I managed to corner him and pick him up.

Peppa is back to being a real Miss Piggy , loves her food , loves her crickets, silkworm lavae and moths and her greens and vegs. Hardly leaves a thing to the removed next morning. She's had a huge growth spurt this week , up 14.6g to 51.4g ( she keeps this up she'll be a BIG girl ).

Toothless is less than impressed with silkworm moths (eats some) , but still eats most the stuff and doesn't leave many crickets or silkworm lavae for me rescue next day. He's grown OK this week, despite coming for another shed , gained 5.2g to 38.9g this week.

 

[CooperDragon]

Sounds like an eventful day. You certainly have your hands full with them. I'm glad to hear they're doing well and have good appetites. They are quick little ones aren't they? My new guy has started darting all over the place so I just baby proofed the house and let him do his thing for the most part.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Brakethroughs with Peppa and Toothless today.

Peppa seemed to really enjoy her snuggle in my hand and then on my chest this afternoon, coloured up very nicely and even had a nap. Think she likes me.

Also had a breakthrough with my little livewire and very stroppy little boy Toothless tonight. I waited until about 30 minutes before lights out , and while he was up high and basking and lifted him out for a snuggle on my chest inside my cupped hand, for the first time he stayed put for more than 5 minutes without wanting to leap and run about. He actually seemed to enjoy the warmth and being petted while he was snuggling in my hand and stayed for nearly 15 minutes before he dosed off and woke suddenly with a start.... just like you do when you drop off and wake immediately and are startled by the experience.
I think that's real progress ....
I wont go as far as saying he's decided he likes me or enjoys being cuddled yet, but he is starting to trust me and tolerate my attention. I think we're getting there ....slowly.

Forgot how sharp a little hatchling beardie's nails are, 20 razer sharp little needles each, really starting to scratch up my chest now they are getting bigger and lots stronger, no more cuddles of Peppa and Toothless without a T-shirt on....

 

[CooperDragon]

That is good progress! I miss the days when they are small enough to fit into a cupped hand to fall asleep =). I used to be able to do that with Cooper when he was a baby.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I really miss my long cuddles and snuggles from Wriggles , who even though full grown , easily fit in my open cupped hand.....

UPDATE.

Peppa and Toothless are both 3 months old today (near as I can reckon it).

Peppa has had a huge almost all in one go shed overnight and this morning, found her old skin laying in "pile" on her heatslab near her little Hubbahut.
She's only gained 9.2g this week (she's now 60.6g) and is now 4.36x bigger than when we brought her home.
Big breakthrough for Peppa and my wife today, she allowed my wife to nurse her (while I was dealing with looking for any left over crickets from yesterday). No crickets to be found .... going to have to up her ration of crickets.

Toothless had a growth spurt this week and has gained 12.2g (he's now 51.1g) and is now 4.65x bigger than when we brought him home. He's gone dark in the body so I think he's got his next shed coming this week.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Latest photos of the babies.... growing fast and getting more and more curious and inquisitive.

Peppa at 3 months

Toothless at 3 months