Another Dragon update

[Kevy Baby]

I didn't want to dredge up the previous thread (http://www.loungeoftomorrow.com/LoT/showthread.php?t=361) on this topic as this one is a little more upbeat.

We (GusGus and I) seem to have become the Bearded Dragon rescue society. Whenever someone comes in with a special needs dragon, we are the ones to get the call. As of this writing, we are up to eight beardies.

With yesterday's latest two additions, we have:

Gratch - The dragon we've had the longest. He was our second beardie. This is the one some of you have seen in person.
Scarlett - Had just less than Gratch. She and Gratch made some mild attempts at mating this season, but nothing solid - she didn't seem too interested.
Grebo - Actually our oldest dragon - and the largest (he is a rare breed known as "German Giant" - a little longer than the average beardie, but weighs about twice as much). He is a bit of a grouch at times, but we love him. We think he is about eight years old. Dragons have an average life span of eight to ten years.
Eileen - our oldest rescue. She had a front leg (and part of her tail) bitten off as a baby (sometimes when beardies are young, anything that moves is food). While she hasn't grown as fast as her counterparts, she is doing well.
Draco - We aquired him when he was a hatchling that wasn't thriving. He has more than made up for lost time and is now a fat little pig (he eats over a hundred crickets and a baby mouse or two per week). When we put a new female in a cage across from his last night, he went berserk - quote the little horndog. As I write this, two new females (see below) are within his line of sight and he is head-bobbing so aggresively (a sign of dominance and desire to mate - doesn't he know it is not mating season?!?) that he is lifting the front of his body off the ground. He's like a horny 16 year-old!
Unnamed young-un - We picked him up a couple of weeks ago. He had a hatching defect not unlike Crookshanks (http://homepage.mac.com/kelder/.cv/kelder/Sites/.Pictures/DSC00246.JPG-thumb_269_202.jpg), though not as pronounced. Since he isn't really sell-able, the owner asked if we wanted him. We are still working on a name.
Lizzie - One of our two new additions from yesterday. Her former owner couldn't care for her any more and needed to find a new home fast. I'm glad we got her as she looks quite under weight and has been eating up a storm since we acquired her.
Currently unnamed - (Who is actually stretched out on my chest as I write this) When we were in the reptile store yesterday picking up food, we noticed this one was looking underweight. We brought her home to fatten her up so we can take her back to the store so a new family will take her home to care for her. She (hopefully) will only be with us a couple of weeks (not that we don't love her, we just have no place to per put her - our original plan did not pan out).


If anybody is intersted in becoming a Dragon owner (of all the reptiles, beardies really are the most personable - we love 'em), let us know. We would be happy to help you get set up and will be happy to share (we are out of room!!)

[Not Afraid]

Says the person with 6! cats to her loving husband - "You want a Bearded Dragon?" Sweet husband QUICKLY answers, "Not really."

They really are cool animals and I'd love to have one or two (or 6?).

[wendybeth]

Yeah! Draco turned out to be a boy! I'm glad he's doing so well- your dragons are very lucky to have such a great home, KB!

[lizziebith]

Oh a dragon named Lizzie! :D We'd love one, but are trying to cut down on pets right now -- we have 8 tarantulas, 7 toads, 1 chameleon, and 3 snakes. At feeding time the sound of crickets in the apartment can be deafening...for a while! :evil:

[Ghoulish Delight]

Oh a dragon named Lizzie! :D We'd love one, but are trying to cut down on pets right now -- we have 8 tarantulas, 7 toads, 1 chameleon, and 3 snakes.Put 'em all in one cage, that should cut the number down pretty quickly.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Put 'em all in one cage, that should cut the number down pretty quickly.That battle to the death would be pretty cool. :evil:

Kevy, you guys are so sweet. Thanks for the update!

[Kevy Baby]

Says the person with 6! cats to her loving husband - "You want a Bearded Dragon?" Sweet husband QUICKLY answers, "Not really."

They really are cool animals and I'd love to have one or two (or 6?).But a Beardie would provide hours of entertainment for the cats (for viewing purposes only - I know you keep them safely separated). I knkow our cats were deeply enthralled for for the first couple of weeks!

[Kevy Baby]

At feeding time the sound of crickets in the apartment can be deafening...for a while! :evil:We buy anywhere from 400-600 crickets per week (plus other food - but crickets are the favored). Plus another 200 for my co-worker who doesn't have a good cricket source near her. We're odd in that we like to keep our cricket cages in the bedroom. We enjoy the sound of the crickets to lull us to sleep at night.

One of the "joys" we get is the crickets that get loose. We are constantly finding crickets running around the house. Its fun trying to catch them - although the cats are getting pretty good at it!

[BarTopDancer]

Kitty Toys!

[Kevy Baby]

Allow me to make a correction to my OP:

If anyone besides BarTopDancer is interested in becoming a Dragon caretaker...

[BarTopDancer]

Allow me to make a correction to my OP:

If anyone besides BarTopDancer is interested in becoming a Dragon caretaker...


:angel: :p

[tracilicious]

Cool KB! I've been meaning to post about my new green baby, so I hope you don't mind if I put it in your thread.

I got a baby speckled gecko! We were in the pet store to buy our big giant fish some little fish "friends" and the guy was feeding the baby speckled geckos. He had this little guy on his hand with beautiful orange coloring. I totally fell in love. I've always liked reptiles, but never expected to fall in love with one. I didn't want to make an impulse buy though, so I went home and researched and went back the next day to buy one.

He is about three inches long and nine-ish months old. He is really slow moving and loves to jump from hand to hand. He is a fruit eating gecko, so half his diet is tropical fruit, the other half is crickets and such. We named him Gromit.

On a side note, the lady that sold him to me said to be sure to have an area that the crickets can't get to so that they won't attack my lizard. What?!?! Apparently, crickets will bite lizards if they get the chance. I already hated crickets. This doesn't help.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Geckos are so cute! We wants pictures!

Gee, I wonder why crickets want to bite lizards...

[Kevy Baby]

On a side note, the lady that sold him to me said to be sure to have an area that the crickets can't get to so that they won't attack my lizard. What?!?! Apparently, crickets will bite lizards if they get the chance. I already hated crickets. This doesn't help.The basic rule of thumb is to not feed more crickets than they can eat in 20 minutes. If there are any left in the reps environment after about a half hour, they should be removed.

With the number of dragons we have, we are buying from 400-600 crickets per week :eek:
____________________________________

And an update on the update:
The one who came to us not doing well ("Currently unamed") didn't make it. She passed away earlier today.

For all the fostering we do and having faced this many times in the past, you would think that these wouldn't affect me so much. But every time, it breaks my heart. But like Steve Irwin (the Crocodile Hunter) says, "It's nature's way."

[Kevy Baby]

Geckos are so cute! We wants pictures!If you don't mind generic photos:

Leopard Geckos
http://www.natures-image.co.uk/images/T-shirts/Leopard%20Geckos.jpg
http://www.finelineserpents.com/kids/kids/Lgeckoinfo.jpg

Other Geckos:
http://www710.univ-lyon1.fr/~yperret/GECKOS/PROG/ImagesGECKOS/oeil.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/pic-vert/images/geckos1.jpg
http://www.montezumasreptiles.com/pic32.jpg

[Not Afraid]

Awwwwww. They're smiling!

[tracilicious]

Hre's a generic picture of a crested gecko. I'll upload some pics of Gromit later.


http://www.groundgeckofreak.com/Photos/M5_H25_a.JPG


I'm sorry about your dragon, Kevy. At least she had a loving home to pass away in.

Er, I don't really want to catch crickets from his cage. Is there something else I can give him?

[Kevy Baby]

Er, I don't really want to catch crickets from his cage. Is there something else I can give him?Wimp!

In the beginning, feed him a couple/few crickets - an amount you know he can eat. If he polishes them all off quickly (in a couple of minutes), add a couple more. When he starts slowing down on feeding, stop.

If they are anything like dragons, their eating habits will fluctuate. One week, they will eat 20-30 a day. The next, they might eat 2 or 3. I've found the beardies do best with a varied diet; different greens, worms one day, crickets the next, etc.

Also, look around the internet for info and tips - that's where I picked up a lot of info - some good and some bad (there are a lot of people who think that Beardies are solitary animals. Which is complete BS; our happiest and most active dragons are the ones with cage mates. We just have to be careful about males and females together (we currently have a horny "teenager" dragon that is constantly swooning after the female across the room - it is quite humourous).

[tracilicious]

Wimp!

In the beginning, feed him a couple/few crickets - an amount you know he can eat. If he polishes them all off quickly (in a couple of minutes), add a couple more. When he starts slowing down on feeding, stop.

If they are anything like dragons, their eating habits will fluctuate. One week, they will eat 20-30 a day. The next, they might eat 2 or 3. I've found the beardies do best with a varied diet; different greens, worms one day, crickets the next, etc.



Thanks for the info, Kevy. He's a fruit eating gecko, so he only gets crickets 2-3 times a week. I went to PetCo last night and told the guy what kind of lizard I had and he recommended half a dozen crickets for the week. I gave them to Grommit and he gobbled them all up in fifteen minutes! I guess it's back to the pet store for me tomorrow.

I really hate crickets. The scare me. Last night in the car (coming into the driveway) Michael decides to be funny and tell me that Indi let the crickets loose. I nearly bailed onto the driveway. Husbands! :mad: :p

[Kevy Baby]

Thanks for the info, Kevy. He's a fruit eating gecko, so he only gets crickets 2-3 times a week. I went to PetCo last night and told the guy what kind of lizard I had and he recommended half a dozen crickets for the week. I gave them to Grommit and he gobbled them all up in fifteen minutes! I guess it's back to the pet store for me tomorrow.I'm not a big fan of Petco or Petsmart for crickets: they usually do not keep them well fed. See if you can find a reptile store near where you live (I forget where you do live :( ). If not, make sure you "gut load" the crickets for 24-hours before you feed them to your gecko; basically gotta fatten them up before they get eaten. Get Nature Zone Total Cricket Bites (http://shop.petsmart.com/product/2534374302030047/2534374302030087/845524441781761.htm) (green or orange - and make sure to refrigerate the bottle after you open it) and put three or four cubes in whatever container they are in (one with ventilation of course). Also don't forget to dust the crickets before sending them to the slaughter!
I really hate crickets. The scare me. Last night in the car (coming into the driveway) Michael decides to be funny and tell me that Indi let the crickets loose. I nearly bailed onto the driveway. Husbands! :mad: :p
I actually DID spill a load of crickets in my car. Heard them chirping away happily for a couple of days.

And we are CONSTANTLY finding crickets running around the house. When you buy them in the volume we do, some are bound to get loose.

[Prudence]

I love the sound of crickets chirping. It reminds me of my grandparents' farm.

[Kevy Baby]

I love the sound of crickets chirping. It reminds me of my grandparents' farm.We like the sound too. That's why we keep them in the bedroom. They lull us to sleep at night.

[Kevy Baby]

Well, we are back up to eight, but with more on the way.

We had lost "Currently Unnamed" (she just couldn't make it). We named "Unnamed Young-Un" Bindy and a couple of weeks ago picked up another small one that had a tail problem (his/her name is Nesbit). We suspect that Bindy is a female and Nesbit is male as even though Nesbit is about 1/2 the size of Bindy, Bindy is constantly arm-waving towards Nesbit (a sign that females use to show males that they accept their submission to the male).

On the last re-arrangement of living quarters, we ended up putting Lizzie and Eileen (two females) in a tank together across the room from Draco (a male). Even though Draco came to us because he wasn't thriving intially, he has really made up for lost time and has grown into a very handsome and hearty beardie. And apparantly a horny one! Having two females across the room was driving him bonkers. He was constantly running around his tank, posing for the girls and very aggressively head-bobbing (how male dragons show dominance and is part of their mating ritual). And Lizzie was constantly arm-waving towards Draco.

So we finally put them together (once Lizzie put some weight on). And sure enough, Draco was all over Lizzie.

So, now we have a knocked-up Lizzie (we have since separated them back apart which is making neither of them very happy). That Lizzie is gravid (pregnant) is quite exceptional as this is about as far out of season for dragon mating as you can get. (We are putting three of our older adult dragons into hibernation starting tomorrow.)

Our regular reptile store will take the eggs as soon as Lizzie lays them (we do not have an incubator). We have discussed plans on how to handle this, although I am now freaking out that Lizzie will lay her eggs while we are gone this weekend.

So, we'll keep you posted on the new hatchings.

[wendybeth]

You sure Bindy isn't just trying to knock Nesbit out?;)

Yeah, Draco!!!! Wtg and congrats, Gramps!:snap:

[Fab]

We release the crickets into our gecko's home, which is a large tropical potted plant. They chirp happily, until one by one they are devoured by PEEP. (He's so loud, we couldn't call him Peep). He stickies himself upside-down on a branch, and we hear: "Chirp. Chirp. Chirp. (silence) (silence) (silence) (silence) PEEP!!!" Pets are so cute.