Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok so last juneish my wife and I went to a show in NH. We bought a nice looking female dragon. The lady said that the dragon might be a sandfire, as she couldn't tell the dragons apart. I paid a good penny for the dragon but she was pretty big and was gonna be ready this year. Well she has been ready at 500 grams all season after brumating. I have got 1-3 clutches from my other 4 females. She just doesn't like my boys. Oh well the story isn't about her anyway. At the same show near the end of the show we stumbled by a gay that had a table with mostly snakes. He had one little dragon and an adult female. the female he was asking $125 for, it was supposedly washed up at 4-5 years old. The dragon was visibly beat. It had a nipped tail. Its front right foot was missing all of its toes, and the leg/wrist had been broken. The leg/wrist healed 180 degrees out of place, like if we were to break a leg and end up walking on the top of our feet instead. One of the back feet were missing a few toes. To top it off she had healed up nose rub. My wife offered the guy $100 for her. I was game. He said sure, and told us all she ate was pinky mice and had produced only one clutch and then no more. We still took her, actually was kinda funny at the show Kevin from NERD laughed at us, like it wasn't a female. But it was. So we bring her home get her going only eating pinkies and veggies. After a month or so got her to take crickets and worms. In July she laid a clutch of 20 eggs. They all hatched. We were happy when we wholesaled those babies out, coincidently to Kevin, she paid for herself and the other female we bought that day. Well this year we were hoping for a clutch or two out of luck from our now 5-6 year old dragon. Well she laid the second clutch of the season 24 eggs, 3 slugs and 1 that died soon there after. About a month later she laid a clutch of 32. Cool. All good, all hatch, they are all still living with me. ARGH!!! 60 baby dragons lots of hungry mouths. Then today she pops out another clutch, another 32. So from a washed up dragon we have gotten 104 eggs that seem good. Shows what good husbandry will do for a dragon, things other than pinky mice. Just thought some would enjoy reading my little story. So I still have 4 females that have or should produce this year. I have 2 juvie females that I hope might go through a growth spurt and pop out a few clutches before brumation time comes. Would be nice to produce some dragons in December. Hope you enjoy my little rant.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

np
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~David - KDRKreatures
1.2 Bearded dragons (Ralph, Artemis, Cheech)
1.0 Veiled Chameleon (Chiquito)

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