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Hello again, everybody. As some of you may know, I recently lost my baby beardy Wrex due to unknown causes. He became unresponsive out of the blue and then suffered a seizure and died.
This loss was incredibly saddening, but also enlightening. I've talked with a vet and we narrowed the cause of death down to either a virus, genetics, or his horrible living conditions at PetSmart as a baby. I'm going to try to fight with PetSmart to have them house their beardies better (no sand, no mealworms, decent temps/humidity), but I doubt it'll do much good in the long run and I still won't trust them when buying another lizard.
I still miss Wrex, but I also long to raise a bearded dragon into maturity... Wrex was an adorable little guy, but he was frail from the start and I want to get one a little sturdier. I've contacted a local breeder, who I talked to at length and found to be reputable and enthusiastic about his job. He sent me pictures of the vivs he houses his animals in, his beardies dressed up for Easter (the poor little guys were in felt bunny ear costumes ), and of the little guys eating collard greens. He also seemed very sympathetic about my position with Wrex - he urged me to reserve a dragon and pick it up later instead of just getting a new one, as he knew it would fill the hole Wrex had left but could never replace him. And besides, the baby would be older and stronger at that point.
So I put a reservation payment down on a German Giant hatchling who hatched earlier this month. This is his/her mother Sumo, weighing in at 867 grams:
And his/her father is a high color citrus. I think with this combination, the hatchlings should be sturdy enough. I'm going to pick him/her up in either May or June, when the weather gets better for dragon raising. Besides, by then I think I'll be ready. I wouldn't be able to get another dragon right now if I tried.
The breeder says that they're already used to eating greens and crickets, so feeding him/her won't be a problem. I'll also buy a bigger tank if this guy ends up being as big as his/her mommy. I'm going to clean out the entirety of Wrex's viv with a 10% bleach solution, tile the bottom with slate, and bake the wood at about 300-400 degrees to kill off any bacteria or viruses.
Is there anything else I can do? Losing Wrex was difficult enough... I refuse to do it again. I need to make sure that everything is perfectly set up for when I take my new baby home in a few months.
This loss was incredibly saddening, but also enlightening. I've talked with a vet and we narrowed the cause of death down to either a virus, genetics, or his horrible living conditions at PetSmart as a baby. I'm going to try to fight with PetSmart to have them house their beardies better (no sand, no mealworms, decent temps/humidity), but I doubt it'll do much good in the long run and I still won't trust them when buying another lizard.
I still miss Wrex, but I also long to raise a bearded dragon into maturity... Wrex was an adorable little guy, but he was frail from the start and I want to get one a little sturdier. I've contacted a local breeder, who I talked to at length and found to be reputable and enthusiastic about his job. He sent me pictures of the vivs he houses his animals in, his beardies dressed up for Easter (the poor little guys were in felt bunny ear costumes ), and of the little guys eating collard greens. He also seemed very sympathetic about my position with Wrex - he urged me to reserve a dragon and pick it up later instead of just getting a new one, as he knew it would fill the hole Wrex had left but could never replace him. And besides, the baby would be older and stronger at that point.
So I put a reservation payment down on a German Giant hatchling who hatched earlier this month. This is his/her mother Sumo, weighing in at 867 grams:
And his/her father is a high color citrus. I think with this combination, the hatchlings should be sturdy enough. I'm going to pick him/her up in either May or June, when the weather gets better for dragon raising. Besides, by then I think I'll be ready. I wouldn't be able to get another dragon right now if I tried.
The breeder says that they're already used to eating greens and crickets, so feeding him/her won't be a problem. I'll also buy a bigger tank if this guy ends up being as big as his/her mommy. I'm going to clean out the entirety of Wrex's viv with a 10% bleach solution, tile the bottom with slate, and bake the wood at about 300-400 degrees to kill off any bacteria or viruses.
Is there anything else I can do? Losing Wrex was difficult enough... I refuse to do it again. I need to make sure that everything is perfectly set up for when I take my new baby home in a few months.