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).

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!

Ziggy, Before & After

I came across the first picture I ever saw of my boy Ziggy. I found him on a local classified ad for sale for $25. His picture didn't convince anybody else to buy him. But his picture spoke to me.

Look at his tail-- it was SO swollen that the scales weren't even touching each other. :( No wonder he was mad and feisty. He was in major pain. A friend of mine went and picked up Ziggy and brought him to me. His tail had obviously been chomped off by another beardie, was left untreated, and had gotten seriously infected. The tissue was dead.

The original owner of Ziggy had built an outdoor greenhouse and finished it off by adding 6 bearded dragons that he brought up from the Las Vegas area. The six beardies were left largely alone in the greenhouse and soon became over 36 beardies. All the other beardies were sold except Ziggy. No one wanted him and he was the last one to leave.

Ziggy went to my vet where he had just over an inch of his tail amputated. He also had to have a finger removed because it had been bitten off and died. Because Ziggy was basically raised as a wild beardie until he was between a year or two (the owner had no idea how old any of the beardies were because he didn't know when the eggs had hatched), he did not like people. 

To this day, Ziggy is my least friendly beardie. He's not mean at all; he's just very much a loner. He likes his tank where it's at, with all the pieces in the same place, and he doesn't want a blankie or hammock or to be held or pet. I once tried to move him to a tank by a sunny window area. He was so stressed out by the move that I moved him back to his original tank area within 24 hours. 

Ziggy will stay with me for the rest of his life. He wouldn't be an easy one to adopt out since he avoids human interactions. He's fine here, and I don't mind taking care of him. Sometimes I pet his head and he will tolerate it for two or three strokes. After that, he shakes his head or moves away. It's okay. We have an understanding that he needs very little from me to be happy. And I'm totally okay with that. 

Plus, he's pretty adorable, if I do say so myself. :)

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).

Morning Drinks

I teach all my beardies to drink out of their water bowls. 

I set them right by their freshly filled water dish and then I start flicking my finger in the water to make it move. 

Sometimes I have to scoot them so they are halfway in the bowl while I am flicking the water. 

If they don't start drinking, I will put a drop of water on their nose. If they don't lick that off, I will take my fingernail and lightly scratch their lips to trigger a licking response. Then while they are licking, I will put another drop of water on their noses for them to lick off. And then I'll start flicking the water in the bowl again. 

Those few steps are almost always enough to get them to start the tongue flick required for drinking. Their bodies will flatten out into a pancake shape and they will duck their heads. Sometimes I'll gently push their heads into the water if they are trying to drink too high above the bowl. 

Once they are flattened and drinking, they can drink for up to 8 minutes. Their bodies will stay flat and their eyes will half closed. It's adorable! 

It took me over 18 months to train Ziggy how to drink. I kept repeating the process over and over again both with his water dish and in the bath. He finally learned and drinks immediately when he sees me filling up with water dish. 

Usually once you get their tongue flicking triggered, their instinct takes over and they'll drink. The key is moving water. Instinct tells them stagnant water is bad. That's why most beardies will drink in the bath-- because they are moving the water around them. 

Oh and it's very common to see them gasping for air for a couple minutes after they've been drinking. And the next few poops will be very runny. 

And usually my beardies drink good once a week. In the wild, they store up water when they find it. It's okay if you don't see them drinking every day. 

Here's Drake who was a little confused and was trying to drink in the corner of his tank. Silly boy! 

Next time I "teach" a beardie to drink, I'll try to get a video of it. 

Bruminating Beardies

When the seasons change and the days grow shorter and colder, most beardies start to bruminate. Bruminating is a light version of hibernating. For a week to several months, adult beardies will sleep constantly. Some will open their eyes and raise their heads; some will not move at all.

Don't panic. This is normal-- BUT only for beardies over a year. Juvenile beardies who appear to bruminate are actually sick and need bet attention immediately. 

So what about food? I always keep pellet food and water in their tanks. I cut way back on the greens, offering them greens only every couple days and only when I see they are alert and moving around. Most of my boys will pop right up if they see the roach container in my hand still.

Ziggy hasn't moved for 4 days.

For the most part, just let your beardies be. Lights go on and lights go off at normal times. Just let them sleep. It's pretty boring for us, but necessary for them. If you want, you can make them a cozy little box to hide in or a blankie to sleep on. My guys tend to just plop down and nap. The older they get, the longer they bruminate too.

I've been a bit more assertive with Drake as he's starting to bruminate because he's been sickly. So I'll let him sleep, but I'll also check him daily to make sure he's alive and responsive. :) He hates it, but it makes me feel better.

If you notice sunk in eyes or no response at all when you touch them, this could be a problem. Wake them up and give them some water to drink to keep them hydrated.

Read more information HERE about bruminating from a past blog post.

Drinking from a Water Bowl

I have successfully trained all my beardies to drink from the water bowl in their tanks using a trick I learned having chameleons. 

The key? Moving water. 

A friend told me that chameleons will only drink moving water. That makes sense. In the wild, stagnant water is more likely to be bacteria or predator filled. Most bearded dragons will drink in the bath because the water around them moves as they move. 

When I get a new Beardie, I fill up their water dish, set them near it, and then flick my fingers in the water to make it move. The movement catches their eyes and, almost always, they will lick their lips. For some of my stubborn beardies, I will drip water on their lips to help them. 95% of the time, they will start to drink on their own from the bowl. 

It took me almost two years to train Ziggy to drink water from his dish. He was my most stubborn guy. He wouldn't ever drink-- not even in the bath. I finally trained him to drink from a syringe and then transitioned him to his water bowl. Now he drinks on his own whenever I refill his dish. 

A drinking Beardie will flatten himself like a pancake, close his eyes, and slowly drink. In a bath, they will puff up and then flatten. It's all instinct for them. They can drink for a minute to 7 minutes. After they are done, you will often see them breathing heavily with their mouths open. They may even spit up extra water. This is all totally normal. Try not to handle a Beardie that has just drank a lot because they will easily spit out the water. 

I make sure to fill up all my beardies' water bowls once a week with them watching me. That is almost always enough to trigger a drinking reflex. 

Oh, and after drinking water, the next few poops will be very wet and squishy. Totally normal. 

Any other questions? 

Beardie Roll Call

Here's all my current beardies. 

Smaug-

Tiger-

Ziggy- 

Gen- 

Flame- 

Max- 

Remy- 

Milo- 

Dragon- 

Clack-