Another Dragon update

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

Allow me to make a correction to my OP:

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

:angel:

[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]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

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
____________________________________

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]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Geckos are so cute! We wants pictures!

If you don't mind generic photos:

Leopard Geckos



Other Geckos:

[Not Afraid]

Awwwwww. They're smiling!

[tracilicious]

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





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]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

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]

Originally Posted by Kevy Baby

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!

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by tracilicious

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 (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!

Originally Posted by tracilicious

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!

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.