Friday, September 20, 2013

Volcano, rescue number 25

Volcano was bought by a family a couple weeks ago who quickly learned that he was not as "friendly" and "nice" as the previous owners said he was. That did not go over well with the little kids in his family. His hissing and spitting and black beard freaked them out.

So after many discussions, I traded Apollo for "Cano."

I brought him home and got him out of his 20 gallon sand tank and into a, you guessed it, 40 gallon tank with astroturf. :) Can you tell what my favorite tank set up is?


He is a 2 to 3 year old male and he is TINY for his age! He's definitely going to take some work to get him friendly again, and he's already learning that when he puffs out his beard, I don't shrink back.

"Uh huh, Tough Stuff, what else you got?" is how I respond.

Beardies can be like dogs (or kids)-- if they learn that a certain behavior gets them left alone, they'll do it over and over again. Volcano's previous "mom" spent at least 20 minutes getting him out of the tank. Nope, not here. I've been bitten, scratched, whipped with a tail, pooped on, hissed out, head thumped at, poked. It just doesn't phase me anymore.


Here he is in his nice new cage-- I don't even think he knows what to do with so much space! He's a bit spooked out so we'll give him a couple days to adjust before I start really training him. Before he knows it, he'll be thrilled to go on car rides and be the center of attention after school. :)