He woke up!

[riddick07]

Beardie has come out of burmation it seems. So I disinfected his cage and scrubbed it down. Then he threw around his veggies in his nice clean cage so I retaliated with a bath:54:



Getting Grumpy

 

[Terry57]

Wow, Beardie is awesome! How long have you had him?

 

[riddick07]

My aunt bought him for my uncle as christmas present. When my uncle passed away my grandmother took him. She had no idea how to care for him and we could not convince her to give up one of her links to her son. She went bat **** crazy about year ago (well she was obviously down sliding longer than we realized) and in one of her moments of lucidity I was able to convince her to give him up voluntarily to me. We had to forcefully take away all her cats and move her to PA so I wasn't sure if she would just give him to me but I think she had a moment of clarity and realized he was better off in my care.

There was sooo many sand fleas in his tank I'm not sure how he didn't lose his mind from all the crawling all over him they were doing. I freaked when I reached my hand in the cage and came out with a million sand fleas on my arm! Was not expecting that:11: And there was crickets loose in the cage that were chewing on a couple scales. Plus, he wasn't getting any fresh veggies and didn't have a UVB bulb or heat. Except for under tank heat I doubt he could really utilize. He seemed so thankful when he came to me and I immediatly ditched everything but his cage and set him up properly. Silkworms, hornworms, greens, UVB, heat....he would go to sleep in my sweatshirt for awhile and just seemed so grateful I felt bad I didn't get my hands on him earlier.

ANYWAY I've had him about a year now and he seems totally different than the almost black beardie I inherited! I still have his orginial cage and it is really too small for him but don't want to replace it until we move somewhere bigger and I can get him a huge cage to run around in. He is a big mover He is about 5 years old now and should be 6 in about half a year.

 

[Girl4Jesus83]

awe look at the face! Beardies are just awesome!

 

[Terry57]

He is amazing. So happy that your Grandmother gave him to you
He looks amazing, I know that took a lot of hard work and dedication. Do you have any photos from when you first got him?
I had an older green iguana several years ago that I just adored. He was 5.5 ft. long and loved to ride around in the car with me, sitting on the passenger seat. Unfortunately, someone broke into my house and stole him (and nothing else). I still miss him sometimes

 

[riddick07]

Thank you!

Took a little while but found two. We had him for a little while here (maybe 6 months) and he had gained a bit of weight and was looking much better since he was getting food to bulk him up. Couldn't find any from when he first got home! I'm actually not sure we took any. If I did it was on the phone I slammed into the cement when I went to Ireland...the memory card was not happy with me.



I can't believe someone stole your iguana! I'm surprised he didn't whip the people with his tail for trying to pick him up. I've seen pictures of my moms iguana from when she was a kid and he was such a pretty green

Oh and I've had him a year and a half....who knew...lol time flies apparently!

 

[RavensGryf]

I had an older green iguana several years ago that I just adored. He was 5.5 ft. long and loved to ride around in the car with me, sitting on the passenger seat. Unfortunately, someone broke into my house and stole him (and nothing else). I still miss him sometimes

How awful and sad Terry! you have NO idea who did it?

 

[RavensGryf]

Those pics are great. Thanks for sharing I had no idea they got that big!
Well now he is one pampered Bearded Dragon! I bet not all reptiles get cared for and fed properly. Lucky guy!

What is the lifespan?

 

[Kisota]

That is a hefty dragon!! What a cutie!

That's great that you were able to take him in. Look at how cute and chunky he is. <333

 

[riddick07]

The average is anywhere from 5 to 10 years depending on how you take care of them. They can live 12 to 14 years but its not as common. It used to be 5 years was around the expected lifespan but thats changed now that we know more about the care they require! I'm hoping he will live close to 10. I'm assuming my uncle took good care of him before my grandmother got him but he only had him about a year (since he only had a slight bend to his spine I think this is a good guess on his level of care back then). I guess we will see how long he lives

 

[riddick07]

Thanks Kisota! I actually think he lost a little weight this burmation but if he is really up I can order him some silkworms.

 

[Terry57]

That is an amazing difference in your before and after pics! I can only imagine what he looked like when you first got him Did you lose pictures of Ireland as well when your memory card broke?

@RavensGryf - I had my suspicions about who broke in, but no way to prove it. I always hoped I was wrong and that someone actually kept him. If it was who I thought, they would have just taken him to hurt me and let him go somewhere

 

[Megapixel]

Minor correction, it's brumation not burmation

How long does he brumate? I had a pair of russian tortoises for about a decade and I brumated them in the fridge for 4-5 months every winter.

 

[riddick07]

lol I didn't even notice I was putting the r in the wrong spot! Relying on spellchecker too much

He brumates as long as he wants to I don't force the issue. I even keep him in his cage I know others move them to different cages like a shoebox while they brumate. I think he has been asleep since October. I don't really notice...I just change the way I take care of him automatically without much thought. I've had bearded dragons before him so it wasn't a surprise for me or something unusual. He does the sleep/awake thing where he gets up for a few hours but isn't really awake and then goes back to sleep again. For about a month in there he was down for the count and wasn't getting up at all. He definitely brumated much deeper than his first one with me. The first one was very off and on but this one he is sleeping for much longer period of times. He seems wide awake now and I don't think he will be going back to sleep again.

Terry, I lost about two or three pictures from Ireland but I bought a camera specifically for my Europe trip so pretty much all my pictures were on that camera not my phone. I would actually upload all my pictures to my computer then my portable hard drive every night incase someone stole my camera or computer. A girl had her backpack stolen and she would take both her computer and hard drive with her plus her phone so she lost everything. I felt bad but also felt like asking why exactly she was dragging everything around with her instead of leaving most of it on the ship...

 

[Terry57]

Thank goodness you thought ahead and didn't lose all your pictures! That poor girl - but I also wonder why she didn't leave some of that behind

 

[RavensGryf]

@RavensGryf - I had my suspicions about who broke in, but no way to prove it. I always hoped I was wrong and that someone actually kept him. If it was who I thought, they would have just taken him to hurt me and let him go somewhere

Oh how very sad Terry Just give your birdies a big hug!

 

[Allee]

Beardie is beautiful. What a remarkable difference in the before and after photos. It was so kind of you to give him a good home and happier environment.

Terry, that's such an awful thing for someone to do. I'm so sorry.

 

[Kiwibird]

Aw, he's so beautiful. Makes me tear up a bit missing our beautiful Tiffany (RIP). Beardies are such docile animals. We got Tiffany at the end of her life (vet estimated 12-14 years old), but we enjoyed the couple years we had her. Good luck with him and glad he found a home where he's getting the care he needs!