An Empty Roll Call

My house is empty. My heart still feels a bit empty.

But it is sunny and I have my beardies in the windows and decided to take pics for a roll call. 

Ziggy

Norman

Flame

Max 

Milo 

Noel (will be available for adoption soon!)

Noodle, a foster corn snake 

Raptor (will be available for adoption soon!)

Not pictured (because I'm too lazy to walk around and try to take pics of them! ;) )-- 5 baby chickens, 1 hedgehog, 2 dogs, 4 tortoises (outside), 2 ball pythons, 1 crested gecko, a leopard gecko, and 1 box turtle (outside).

Flame's Boot

I love when older beardies shed because they do it one part at a time. Flame's leg has been shedding and it looks like he's wearing a boot or a knee high stocking. 

Welcome to Hormone Season!

On Sunday, my hubby turned to me and said "The beardies are going crazy today! What is wrong with them?"

Yesterday, my friend, who helps me clean, asked me "Does the vacuum scare the lizards? They are very active today!"

Nope.

It's the start of hormone season.

Oy vay!

Look at these guys-- you can see how alert they are for my pics.

Max

A month ago, all my big boys were slugs. They barely moved, barely ate, barely opened their eyes.

Smaug

All of the sudden, it's like they drink energy drinks every morning and spend the day trashing their tanks and glass dancing.

Neville

Yesterday, I heard the pattering of little feet & claws across my wood floor. Somehow Neville figured out how to escape. Ay yi yi!

Ziggy

Their cages are a disaster. They poop and then finger paint with it. Their food bowls are constantly being shoved against the glass. Their water dishes look more like nasty water troughs in a cattle feed lot.

I have to dump the greens quickly and jerk my hand out of the tank so I don't get bit! They devour the greens within moments of getting them. Their beards are perpetually black and, in their minds, there is *always* something to bob their heads at.

Hormone season starts around now and lasts for a couple months.

Yes, months.

I know. I'm shaking my head too.

Beardies can SMELL each other. And their smells are very strong right now. So even if your beardies can't SEE each other, they know the others are there. This is why I am toast. My house & my tanks will be crazy for awhile and my house will only be quiet at night when it's dark.

Good luck to all of us!

Flame's Tremors

Last year, I posted a picture of Flame (the only bearded dragon fire victim from last April's fire) and how his head tremors and trembles. My vet and I are pretty sure it is a byproduct of sloppy breeding. He's got a lot of "Fancy" genes in him-- translucence and all those other fancy things I never learned-- and I think a lot of those specific genes were mixed by mating beardies who were related too closely to each other. That might not be exactly it, but it's our best guess at this point.

Today, sadly, I noticed the tremors are spreading. Flame's tail is now trembling too. :( And I think the other day I saw some leg tremors. I haven't even had him a year and already the shaking is spreading.

We figured that the neurological causes behind his tremors would most likely shorten his life. I just didn't expect them to spread as fast as they are. :( 

I touched his head to get him to look at my camera and he closed his eyes so I could pet him. Aw, sweet baby boy. I gave him a good head scratch before I took the pic. 

Another example of the bad outcomes of sloppy breeding. Specialty body & eye colors are very trendy and popular in most reptiles, but it significantly limits the gene pool they draw from. A smaller gene pool means that problems get amplified. My last translucent beardie had head tremors too. She only lived 3 years. If you want the healthiest possible beardie, pick a "mutt" beardie that has been been bred from a reputable breeder with a good gene pool. They might not be the brightest or prettiest, but they are more likely to live the longest. 

Reptile Roll Call for January 5, 2017

Here's most of my reptile zoo (minus the 3 ball pythons who didn't want to leave their hides to have their pictures taken; I have Lucy, Sunny, & Bones). Also, Gumby, the MBD leopard gecko didn't want to come out either.

First the Torts. I only have FOUR! That amazes me. 

Georgie, my female Leopard tortoise 

Hermy, my hibernating Desert tortoise

Leo, the happy little Russian tort

Otis, our house tort

And now my beardies-- 

Baby Sawyer, with a little pudgy food belly

Dash, my old man who is shedding

Flame, who is also shedding 

Gen, my big girl who is sorta bruminating

Max, my big boy who is 6 years old

Neville, the latest addition 

Noel, who is looking sickly this morning

Smaug, my big boy who is looking for a home as the ONLY beardie

Tiger, who has been wheezing again :( 

Ziggy, who has pretty much trashed his tank in the last few days 

 And last, but not least, Lady Squinty Dink the Dainty Skink of bluTonguesville!

Couldn't get the lighting right for a good pic 

We also have two dogs (Belle & Teddy) and a hedgehog (Pixie).

Remember Flame?

Flame was the only Beardie pulled out of the house fire in April. I honestly wasn't sure he'd ever make it. 

He was very skinny and very lethargic. 

Despite a neurological problem that leaves his head shaking frequently, Flame has done great. 

He went from 185 grams to 467 grams! 

He's not much of a snuggler, but he *loves* sunny Windows. 

He will stay here with me until the day he dies. Flame or "Flamey" or "Flame Mingnon" is our Beardie. My whole family adores him. 

Snuggling with Flame

My daughter found Flame trying to escape today and picked him up. She brought him to me and was able to pet him for over 5 minutes!! He has never ever snuggled that long! 

He was so adorable! After his snuggling moment passed, he woke up and shook her hand off. Back to his normal self. 

Flame's head tremors are so bad everyday. It makes my heart hurt. :( They don't seem to bother him at all, but it makes him look so sad. 

. 

Flame at the Vet

Flame is the only reptile of the 11 Fire Victims that I'm choosing to keep. He did test positive for adenovirus and, in the last three months, he's had problems with head tremors.

I talked to my vet about it last  month and he recommended we test Flame's calcium levels to rule out tremors caused by calcium deficiency. Since I was taking the two chams in today, I brought Flame along for the ride.

While he was at the vet, I was able to take a video of his head tremors. This is moderate for him-- so sometimes it's less noticeable and sometimes it's worse.

The calcium levels are right on track and so the vet tested the phosphorus levels (which can indicate kidney disease which also causes tremors). The phosphorus levels were right on track too. That leaves us with our original guess-- that he has a neurological issue due to inbreeding.

It is VERY common for "Fancy" bearded dragons to end up with genetic problems because of too much inbreeding. When you want a specific trait (like a leatherback or translucence or red coloring), you must use a specific set of genes to get it. There's not as much variation in the gene pool for these traits. With "Normal" colors, there are hundreds of thousands of beardies to chose from and there are far fewer problems that manifest. Silkies (what you get sometimes when you breed two leatherbacks) are, in my opinion, the most genetically messed up beardies. They have the most problems and difficulties.

So Flame is not fixable and, based on my previous experience with translucents with tremors, is not likely to have a long life. He will be loved and cared for while he is here. I won't adopt him out because of how valuable he would be as a breeder. It would be absolutely WRONG to breed him since he's already genetically messed up. To make sure that never happens to him, he's staying with me. Plus, I finally got him to let me pet his head without him biting me. I can't pet anywhere else, but I can give him loves on his head.

Checklist for Head Tremors-- 
1- rule out Metabolic Bone Disease caused by calcium deficiency (blood test)
2- rule out phosphorous deficiency caused by kidney disease (blood test)
3- conduct an overall blood panel test to make sure there are not other underlying issues
4- look at genetics

Benign head tremors are really only a problem when they are unable to control their heads enough to eat. If this happens, the beardie will have to be assisted with its food (like crickets on tongs) or tube fed.

Beardie Roll Call

Here's all my current beardies. 

Smaug-

Tiger-

Ziggy- 

Gen- 

Flame- 

Max- 

Remy- 

Milo- 

Dragon- 

Clack- 

Fecal Testing

When I get a new beardie in, I don't test for parasites right away. A couple weeks of clean tanks and good food usually clear up any parasite infections on their own.

Lately it seems that all my guys are having stinky, runny poops so I've decided to run a test on everyone. 

I pick up the poop with the float kit and fill it full of a special liquid. Then it sits for 15 minutes with a slide cover on top. 

Then I put the slide cover, with the poopy liquid on it, onto a glass slide. 

Then I look at it under 400 X magnification with my microscope that I got on Amazon. 

Yesterday I tested Dex and have never seen so many pinworms in one test! No wonder her belly is bloated! Flame is being treated for coccidia. 

Then I have a list of treatment dates by the meds so I don't forget. 

If you're interested in doing fecal tests on your own, you can get all your supplies and instructions from 

www.beautifuldragons.com

Read about Do-It-Yourself Fecal Testing HERE