Plumping Up

The past few days or so we have been having problems with Norbert. When I came home after my couple days out of town for classes, Husband pointed out that Norbert looked skinny. I agreed, he had a feeding frenzy the weekend prior when my parents came down to visit, but the following Thursday when I came back he was very thin. We tried and tried to get him to eat, we gave him baths, I researched why he may not be eating and found it was likely a heating/lighting issue. He was still pooping regularly, but they were watery. Based on my research, watery poop can be do to stress, bad food, over-hydrated, or parasites. I kept a close eye on him, but he wasn't showing any signs of parasites besides the watery poop and the lack of appetite because he was still very active, running around, basking, etc, so I figured it was the temperature.

We decided to put slate tile down in his terrarium since the sand is not recommended but it can take weeks for the silicone curing fumes to dissipate completely and I didn't want Norbert in his temporary tupperware for a couple weeks. This was just all adding to his stress. Good thing with deciding to tile the terrarium though is we got rid of all the crickets that had still been in there hiding.  Since Husband wants to breed the feeder roaches we feed Norbert (Dubia roaches) the adults he had were housed in a 10 gallon terrarium. He wanted to transfer them to a 30 gallon plastic storage container like roach breeders used anyway (like the GIANT plastic containers to put Halloween or Christmas decorations) so we ran to our Dollar General and picked up two tubs. We cleaned out the terrarium (which Husband had a stick-on heating pad underneath) and I made a better temporary home for Norbert with all his things while his 20 gallon dried/cured. We just put newspaper around it (I used the crossword and sudoku puzzles for him to read while he is basking) and newspaper and paper towels on the bottom. The heating pad will help Norbert stay warm, plus since it's a smaller tank the two lamps should heat it up better. Husband gave him 4 small roaches last night and a couple baby crickets. We didn't see him eat anything though and he just went in his cave to go to bed.

This morning when I got up I noticed there weren't any crickets in sight (but they could have been hiding in the cave or under the paper towels) but even better was there were no more roaches in his food dish (they can't escape from it). Norbert still looked very skinny though but was active and basking all day.

When Husband came home from work (since I don't want to touch the bugs, ick) I had him put 5 Dubia roaches in the dish and we placed it in Norbert's terrarium. Norbert attacked the dish and ate all 5 in less than 30 seconds! Hallelujah!! I couldn't tell you how happy that made me. We put 6 more roaches in the dish and walked away to let him eat in peace while we went to get pizza. When we came home about 15 minutes later, there were only 4 roaches left, so Norbert ate a total of 7 roaches tonight. That's the most we have ever see him eat in one sitting. I'm a happy dragon mommy haha. We removed the uneaten roaches and put them back, now Norbert is just basking up on his stick, digesting his dinner.

I took a picture of Norbert basking this morning and one of him just a few minutes ago after he ate. I'm so happy his belly looks full now

Norbert before and after he finally ate, he was unhealthy and skinny, glad to see his belly bigger!

Lessons Learned #3 - Backgrounds

Once Norbert was finally all settled in we noticed he spent a lot of time trying to climb the glass and it looked like he was freaking out. I looked into some terrarium ideas and some people recommended putting up a landscape backdrop which can reduce his stress and not feel overwhelmed by everything going on outside. We went to our most local pet shop (30 miles away) where we got him and they had a nice desert scene. The owner cut it to the size of our tank and we took it home and taped it on. It covers the back and two sides, leaving only the front open. It actually looks really nice as long as there is no backlight on behind it. It's double sided (aquarium underwater Colosseum scene) so the back shows through if another light is on.

After we put it on Norbert ran over to it and put his little hand on it like "my home!" He still spazzes out sometimes but not as much as before. It looks at it longingly sometimes like he wishes he could go back, even though he was bred in captivity.

Here's a link to some bearded dragon history and facts!

Husband's Favorite Buddy

"Daddies mean fun. Mommies mean business" - Honey, I Blew Up The Kid

I can't agree anymore with that line. At least when I was growing up this was true. I feel like this is true for Norbert, Husband, and myself. I feel like I am always the one worried to death about Norbert and wanting to nurture him, and I often talk to him throughout the day if I'm home to ask him how he's doing (Norbert, not Husband haha). When Husband is home, he would prefer to just play with him and not do much as far as worry whether he's healthy and what to do about it. These are just a few pictures what I have found Norbert doing when Daddy is in charge....

On the couch

He wants Dad's attention

Norbert watching TV on Dad's knee

One night I wasn't home, this was the picture Husband sent. He let's him lay on our bed...

Norbert thinks he's a cat

I never thought that bearded dragons could have such big personalities, but it didn't take long for us to see Norbert's little quirks. I took this pictures one morning when I looked over and saw my lizard-cat perched on his branch like a cat perches on a table or a window. I'm used to seeing lizards straddle on their branch and wrap their arms and legs around it... Nope, not my Norbert, he sits upright, like a cat....

Lessons Learned #2 - Feeding Crickets

Since Norbert was sort of picked up on a whim, we didn't get to do much research on taking care of bearded dragons before we got him. I spent more hours the first week we got him researching and compiling information for a comprehensive care guide than I spent in class and doing homework that week.

Ever since we got him he hasn't been a big eater. We were told he should be able to eat about a dozen crickets a day but many online resources state you should continue to feed him as much as he wants to eat in a 5-10 minute time period. Our first couple days we figured he wouldn't want to eat because of the stress of being in a new environment, but we also dumped the whole dozen or two (we bought a few dozen crickets since the store we bought them from is 30 miles away) in his terrarium all at once. Up until recently, he has basically been rooming with all these crickets the whole time because when the feeding time is up, whatever crickets he didn't eat should be removed, they could cause added stress hopping around in there all the time. But they are very difficult to catch by hand. Last night we removed all the sand to replace the flooring so that has been the first time since we got him that he won't be surrounded by crickets all the time.

Norbert and all his "roommates" coated in calcium dust (that's why they are white)

Lesson Learned? Take out the crickets your bearded dragon doesn't eat!

Lessons Learned #1 - Lighting

After purchasing Norbert, we felt pretty comfortable taking care of him. The owner of the pet store told us some basic care info and gave us a care sheet to take home. For the first week or so it's best to leave your dragon in his new home without handling him so he can get used to it. So for the first week we just watched him explore his new terrarium. This post is mostly about our lighting lessons.

Timer set 7am-7pm

DO NOT remove the third prong like pictured

We were told that we need to keep the lamps on for 12 hours and off for 12 hours. Instead of worrying about remembering to turn them on and off, we went out and bought a timer. Since the closest Walmart is 30 miles
away, we had to go on base to the exchange to pick one up. They only had one kind with room for one plug but we thought that was fine because we had a 3-way adapter, so we could plug in both lamps to the one timer. Well when we got home we realized that our adapter had the ground plug, while the timer did not (have the slot for it). So what happens? Husband pulls out the ground plug from the adapter and forces it to fit. DO NOT do that at home. Since our apartment has limited number of outlets, we used a power strip with a surge protector (the ONLY surge protector in the place is in the bathroom). We end up setting the
timer so that it turns on at 7am and off at 7pm.

A couple days later, Husband was fiddling with the lamps and the UVB bulb went out. There are three theories why this could have happened.

1. The 3-way adapter pooped out (the third prong was removed remember)
2. Husband touched the UVB bulb with his hands
3. It was just a bad bulb (we are learning that not everything from the pet shop was great)

Whatever the reason, we needed a new UVB bulb ASAP. He ordered one online (he gets everything on eBay) so we were without a UVB bulb for a while, but Norbert's got one now.

Since Husband thinks it burnt out because he touched it with his bare hands I tried to do a little research and I couldn't find anything right away to support his claim. I just think it was because of the adapter. In any case, we went and bought a second timer. They do make timers with two plugs however since we already had one, we only needed one more.

UVB light is important for the dragons to synthesis vitamin D. Like us, dragons get their vitamin D from the sun but since they are kept in captivity they need an extra "sun" source and that's where the UVB bulb comes into play. Bearded dragons are very susceptible to Metabolic Bone Disease if they do not receive the proper amounts of D3 and Calcium (these can be supplemented as powders you shake on their food). 

Lessons learned? Do not alter electrical plugs and be very careful with your UVB bulbs

Welcome!

First of all, let me just say welcome! It has been a long time since I have ever blogged about anything but because of all the recent changes in my life I thought this might be a good project.

A little bit about myself first. I am a full time student and will (finally!) graduate in the spring with a Kinesiology B.S.. I switched majors so it has taken longer than expected, not to mention my school is so impacted it's nearly impossible to get classes, but that could be a blog all in itself. I recently got married, my husband is enlisted in the Marine Corps. Between transferring to a new base, continuing school, preparing for nursing school, and waiting around to be moved again in the next 6-9 months or so, and trying to figure out how to get around our apartment's "No Pets" policy, my husband and I picked up a baby bearded dragon from a (somewhat) local reptile & fish pet shop. Our dragon is the reason for this blog

We brought him home November 9, 2013. The day before my husband's birthday, the day before the Marine Corps birthday, and the day before the Marine Corps Ball. I knew my husband really wanted a pet, and we hadn't planned on going to the pet store, but they had one little guy left and he had taken quite comfortable to Husband's hand while one of the employees showed us around the shop, explaining what we would need if we bought him. Since it was Husband's birthday weekend, the the lizard was really cute, when Husband gave me the puppydog look asking if he could get him I told him that was fine (as long as I got 75% dibs on naming him). They put together a starter kit for us which included: 20 gallon long glass terrarium, 2 bags of red calci-sand (digestible sand for the bottom of the tank, however can actually pose a danger to the beardies; I'll explain that in another post), a hidey-cave, food and water dishes, two lamps, a heat bulb, and a UVB bulb. We also grabbed some crickets and Dubia roaches for him to eat. We were told he was about 3 months old. And technically, we don't know if it's a he or a she because it's too young to tell yet.

I decided to name him Norbert. I gave Husband a list of names I liked, and while he liked Rex the best (it was one of the first names I thought of since I love dinosaurs), once I thought of Norbert, like in Harry Potter, Hagrid's Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, I couldn't let it go. Husband didn't like it, so for a while he called him Rex just because he thought he could convince me.

Here are a couple of photos from the day we brought him home. He was half way through shedding so he jumped in the water to help get off some skin.