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!

Dreaming of Spring

The high today in Utah was over 60 degrees!!! It was fantastic! My zoo & I are so anxious for Spring and sunshine and warmer temps.

I opened the back door for awhile to let the warm air in. Otis stared longingly into the backyard.

Then Teddy joined him in admiring the snow free backyard.

Teddy decided to go out while Otis wasn't quite ready to try it out. 

Because it was warm enough, I took Smaug with me to go run a couple of "pet friendly" errands. I took a picture of him on my shoulder when I stopped at a stoplight. He stayed very mellow and looked all around him. 

At the vet, he attracted quite a bit of attention. 

Then I ran in to get some frozen feeder rats at my local pet store (my local feeder rat supplier had a virus wipe out their entire colony and I'm anxiously waiting for them to start selling feeders again!). He got a few odd looks. 

I can't wait for Spring! Warm temps! Walks to school! Tortoises pooping outside instead of on the kitchen floor! Woo hoo! 

Hammocks!

My friend Mary has been sewing hammocks for me to sell in my Etsy shop and they are SO soft. Today I added two more hammocks to my tanks-- one for Smaug and one for Neville. Dash & Noel have their hammocks already.

 Smaug on his chevron print:

Neville on his brown hammock:

Dash hardly moves out of his. He's been very happy to lounge on his all day & all night.

I think I'm going to try giving one to Max and Tiger too. They are super soft and machine washable. It's one of the best things in my shop.

Click HERE for more info.

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).

Smaug, rescue 115.2

Smaug came back last night. Which is good and bad. For local people, I give them a 3 month window to "foster" a beardie before they finalize adoption so they can be positive that they want to commit to a beardie. Smaug was a little bit too much responsibility for his family and they brought him back. But, since he's always been one of my favorites, I was happy to have him back. :)

I think he wants my Jelly Bellies 

Smaug is a BIG boy and can be very aggressive when he sees other beardies. But by himself, he is a sweetheart who loves to be held. I'll keep him away from other beardies and hope he stays mellow and calm. He'll eventually be adopted out again to a home with no other bearded dragons or lizards.

A Blank Space

This one is a bittersweet "blank space." Smaug, my gentle giant, found an amazing foster-to-adopt family tonight. He will get so much more attention now, but I'll miss my "Smoggin" boy. 

Beardie Roll Call

Here's all my current beardies. 

Smaug-

Tiger-

Ziggy- 

Gen- 

Flame- 

Max- 

Remy- 

Milo- 

Dragon- 

Clack- 

Random Phone Pics

My ridiculously photogenic dog, Teddy. 

My new frog tank. I've never had tree frogs and, since I had all the supplies to set up a good tank, I bought 3 green tree frogs. 

Our axolotl, a creepy cute fish thing. 

My daughter's beardie Tiger. He's almost 2 and "pocket-sized." 

Found a box big enough for Heidi and Derp so they could share. Sadly, Heidi still pushed Derp out sometime in the middle of the night. 

Dragon looking like a beach ball because he hasn't pooped for 3 days. He pooped this morning and looks fine now. 

I've been taking Smaug upstairs to work with me. He likes to run around and explore. It's the only area without another beardie for him to freak out over. He has been trying to intimidate Junie, the grumpy iguana, but it's not working. 

Smaug is a very sweet (and BIG) beardie. I'm looking for a home for him where he can be the ONLY beardie now and for the rest of his life. Other beardies make him too crazy & aggressive. By himself, he is gentle and mellow. 

And a random funny photo saved to my phone.