- Messages
- 9
Hey guys, just introducing myself and my new Beardie to the scene. But first a little bit of background story.
My birthday was on the 21st of December. Since I was a little kid, I always wanted a lizard pet, but my parents would never budge.
Anywhoo, I turned 27 this December, and my sister got me a bearded dragon which I was NOT expecting. Unfortunately, the one she got me was really sluggish from the start and soon fell ill, I decided to take it back to Pets Smart so that they could properly care for it, I took my refund and went to Petco and picked up this guy the day before yesterday.
The people at Petco told me they had the same problem with the "Fancy Bearded Dragons" they had received, and had already lost a couple. So I'm guessing Petsmart and Petco have the same supplier, and am praying it was nothing I did to the poor little guy.
But on to happy news....
Since there were absolutely no other stores in the area that carried the "fancy" type, I took the generic kind; which doesn't bother me all that much, since this guy has a LOT of personality, and that's all that counts
I named him Randall, and I'm sure all of you will get the Monsters Inc. reference.
Randall has been in my care 2 days now, and he seems to be doing fine. He is drinking, eating, basking, and giving me the evil eye as I type this. He shed his entire coat last night, which was pretty amazing, I left for the gym at 8, I came back at 10:30 and he looked like he had exploded. I read that a warm bath could help him out, but I felt it unwise to bathe him that late, since I was to turn the lights off soon. But he did a pretty good job of it on his own, scraping against the bark in his log.
He ate ten crickets this morning, and I am wondering if that was because I had run out of crickets last night and was only able to feed him 8 throughout the whole day. So my first question would be: About how many crickets should my beardie this size be eating per sitting; provided that I put in veggies in the morning [noting that he really isn't touching his carrot/squash/bell pepper mix at all], and feed crickets twice daily?
My second question: About gut-feeding crickets. What is a good, inexpensive, hassle-free way to gut-feed these little suckers? Right now I'm working with mushed up wheat cereal and a moist cotton ball.
Third Question: He seems to be very scared of me. I've read you should handle your beardie regularly, to get him used to people and whatnot, but since he is EXTREMELY skittish, and only been in his new surroundings for two days, I don't want to overstress him right now. Any input?
Anyways, sorry for the wall-of-text, but I am a new owner, and there is a LOT of information out there that doesn't always add up. I decided it was wise to just give you guys my information, so I could get feedback that pertains to my situation better.
And now on to the fun stuff, PICTURES!!
Curious Randall
Upset he got caught
Giving the camera the old stink-eye!
Sorry for the bad pictures, but my digicam broke, I have to settle for cell phone pictures, for now.
My birthday was on the 21st of December. Since I was a little kid, I always wanted a lizard pet, but my parents would never budge.
Anywhoo, I turned 27 this December, and my sister got me a bearded dragon which I was NOT expecting. Unfortunately, the one she got me was really sluggish from the start and soon fell ill, I decided to take it back to Pets Smart so that they could properly care for it, I took my refund and went to Petco and picked up this guy the day before yesterday.
The people at Petco told me they had the same problem with the "Fancy Bearded Dragons" they had received, and had already lost a couple. So I'm guessing Petsmart and Petco have the same supplier, and am praying it was nothing I did to the poor little guy.
But on to happy news....
Since there were absolutely no other stores in the area that carried the "fancy" type, I took the generic kind; which doesn't bother me all that much, since this guy has a LOT of personality, and that's all that counts
I named him Randall, and I'm sure all of you will get the Monsters Inc. reference. Randall has been in my care 2 days now, and he seems to be doing fine. He is drinking, eating, basking, and giving me the evil eye as I type this. He shed his entire coat last night, which was pretty amazing, I left for the gym at 8, I came back at 10:30 and he looked like he had exploded. I read that a warm bath could help him out, but I felt it unwise to bathe him that late, since I was to turn the lights off soon. But he did a pretty good job of it on his own, scraping against the bark in his log.
He ate ten crickets this morning, and I am wondering if that was because I had run out of crickets last night and was only able to feed him 8 throughout the whole day. So my first question would be: About how many crickets should my beardie this size be eating per sitting; provided that I put in veggies in the morning [noting that he really isn't touching his carrot/squash/bell pepper mix at all], and feed crickets twice daily?
My second question: About gut-feeding crickets. What is a good, inexpensive, hassle-free way to gut-feed these little suckers? Right now I'm working with mushed up wheat cereal and a moist cotton ball.
Third Question: He seems to be very scared of me. I've read you should handle your beardie regularly, to get him used to people and whatnot, but since he is EXTREMELY skittish, and only been in his new surroundings for two days, I don't want to overstress him right now. Any input?
Anyways, sorry for the wall-of-text, but I am a new owner, and there is a LOT of information out there that doesn't always add up. I decided it was wise to just give you guys my information, so I could get feedback that pertains to my situation better.
And now on to the fun stuff, PICTURES!!
Curious Randall
Upset he got caught
Giving the camera the old stink-eye!
Sorry for the bad pictures, but my digicam broke, I have to settle for cell phone pictures, for now.
