Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's funny, because last year at this time of the year, I only had one lizard, but on the 23rd of december I adopted my mali uromastyx (who is doing well considering what she came from...she's happy and fat...very very fat). This year, I may be adding another lizard to the collection. Before I adopted Fat Sam (the uro) last year, i was planning on getting my parents to let me get a leopard gecko or two. Today, my mom and I were decorating for christmas when we noticed the 10 gallon tank in the family room. It's been a part of the room since we've been in the house, and at times it has had fish in it, but it has stood vacant for monthes now. My mom asked what I thought we should do with it, and to keep in mind that she didn't want fish anymore. Of course, the first thing I said was we should get a leopard gecko, so to my surprise, she actually answered back "Can they live in that tank?". First I said back "yeah, if you take the water out"...because of course my smart-a** sense of humor got the best of me, but after talking it over for a little bit, she really seems to want to do it.

So we'll go shop around and look at the leopard geckos next week or so, and maybe start getting the tank set up for one (I would think just one right, in a 10 gallon? Two might be pushing it, though I have heard that it's surprising how many leos will comfotably fit in a 10 gallon). I don't want to make the same mistake this time as I did with my beardie (I got him from a reptile place that I later realized wasn't a great place, and he has had parasites up until just last summer), so I'll shop around a lot. Looks like I'll head over to the leo forum and ask some questions there.

Long post for a short thing, but I'm happy. I might be sharing my house with yet another reptile, and I think this is a sign that my mom is starting to really get to like them (she seemed pretty excited when I said a leo would fit in the tank). That would help out a lot if I end up having to go away for college (two years from now). They already said they would take care of the reptiles if I went away, but it's nice knowing she wouldn't actually despise doing it.

I've gotten started on my new 4'x2'x2' cages for the beardie and the uro. Those should be done hopefully by christmas, and they'll be great. I'll finally get to get Sydney (beardie) out of his 36"x18"x25" cage, and Sam (mali uro) out of her 48"x13"x13" cage. It'll be really nice I think.

By the way, both seem to be doing very well. Sydney is now parasite free, though he's still a very fussy eater, so he's just eating rep cal pellets now (specifically the red ones), along with whatever else he accidently grabs, like a piece of greens or something. A couple weeks ago I ran out of repcal pellets for a couple weeks (until we could order a bunch more), and I think in that time period he ate some of his greens, but once the pellets were back, he's back in his old habits. As long as he stays healthy I'm happy.

Hey Ryan,

Have you tried silkworms? I have a beardie that I adopted last year (Spud, some of you might remember her. She was saved by CheriS and DeKeaff [sp?] Exotics and I adopted her from Derek and Kelly) that is a VERY picky eater and she LOVES silkies! I can't really get her to eat anything but silkies and what ever greens happen to stick to the silkworms.

Just a thought.

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Stacey

What a cutie! I just ordered my first batch of silkies. We'll see how they do!

marilee

Well, the problem isn't really with eating crickets. He will eat crickets, though in small quantities now. The main problem I have with him is getting enough veggies and stuff. Over the past year literally all he would eat is crickets because he got spoiled (my fault), and I couldn't get him to eat his veggies or anything. From having such a high protein diet, it got to the point where his calcium and uric acid levels were going way out of wack, and he seemed to be showing very beginning signs of kidney failure. I had to give him about 7-8 mg or gatorade each day to try to flush out some of the uric acid, which worked. The vet I had been going to (which I stopped going to because I didn't like the way they did things) had prescribed that I find this calcium stuff that I was supposed to feed him to get those levels up (because at the time he had low calcium). it turns out the stuff the prescribed was no longer being sold, so I was desperate and decided, for the time being, to give him extra supplements, and sometimes mix it in with his gatorade, and about two weeks after the whole thing started, I took him over to the better vet to get another blood test done, and apparently the extra calcium brought him up and over the normal levels, so a couple of days of normal supplementation, and his levels were normal. The gatorade did do the trick with the uric acid levels though. After that whole incident I needed to do everything I could to get him eating better, and that's when I discovered that he liked the repcal pellets, specifically the red ones. It costs more than usual to buy repcal pellets all of the time and pretty much have to throw away all of the uneaten green and tan ones, but it's worth it, because he's been acting like a normal beardie should, and he's healthy. I try to trick him into eating greens too (by putting them partly over his red pellets), and he will eat crickets when I offer them every now and then (I don't offer them a lot, because the repcal pellets are supposed to basically be a complete meal, so his diet is based around them right now). I wish he would eat like a "normal" beardie, but he doesn't seem to show signs that he ever will, and I have to accept that basically.

So combine that with all of the parasites hes had (more the fault of the place I bought him from), and you can probably see why I really want to try to raise this next lizard right. Right now both my lizards tend to have their strange quarks, but that's what makes them interesting pets to keep I guess.

Ryan, have you tried using acidophalis (sp?) or parazap or the b vitamins for appetite stimulation? That could help.... As for the "throw away" pellets is there a reptile rescue near you that could benefit from them if you saved it up for them? That would even be a tax credit at the end if the year I think....

Also if your beardie is still small there is a new type of mealworm that I've been using and I can't believe the feeding response. I had a little female that just wasn't eating alot. Clean fecals and no signs of any other illnesses she was just a poor eater. These new mealies went into the cage and she went absolutely NUTS!!! She went into such a frenzy that she was eating everything that moved including the crix she had refused about an hour earlier. I know all about the "chitin shell" of mealies being a risk for impaction in beardies and have been watching very close and have noticed "shells" in the poopy but the pipes are working great still! I can't say with 100% certainty that they won't cause any problems yet but after a week of feeding these to my 6.5" female she has already started a growth spurt and her belly is finally filling out.

You can check them out at www.minimealworms.com and see if they might work for you... If you use sand they would really be a waste for you as they will burrow into the sand immediately after hitting the surface.

They move FAST!!!

Later,
Robert
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson

What form can I get the b vitamins in, and where? I have thought about getting parazap, but I'm a little uncertain as, as far as I've seen, it isn't really available at big name reptile suppliers...so it's sort of just me not trusting the internet, especially with the health of my pets.

I don't think there are any reptile rescues around here, but I could look around. That would probably be a nice thing to do with the green and tan pellets. I mean, it would be a lot of sorting, but I might get something out of it, if nothing else, a little piece of mind that it's going to a good cause. Plus, I pay like $12 for a 4.5 pound bag of repcal pellets now, compared to the $8 I used to pay for the little 8 ounce ones, and there's more red ones in this batch, so $12 for a couple pounds of redpellets ain't bad.

I'll have to look around and see if there are any rescues around here that I could work out a deal with.

Umm, if I remeber right, Tracey at www.beardiecrazy.com cariies parazap... you can get some good ideas for the b vitamins from www.beautifuldragons.com

Later,
Robert
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson

s ago!! Good to see you!!! Aren't silkies the SHIZNIT????? I('m so glad Rob Talkington got me started using them.......

I MISS THAT CRAZY ASS TOO!!!!!!

Don't go running off again you!

Later,
Robert Wood
Tulsa, OK
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson

Hahhahaha ! Been hiding out, I see ya here and there in Skinky places LOL

Glad to see you and SPUDS he looks great !
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Eve / PHEve

School has been CRAZY! I have missed my lizardy talks! So I thought I would pop back in and see how things were going.

Eve, I saw Goblet on your website... HE'S A MONSTER! You have done such an amazing job with him. With all of your critters actually.

Robert, silkies are the bomb! No more loose crickets driving me crazy all night, no more nasty cricket smell. I will never go back to crickets! Robert T. bought one of my BTS babies. Last I heard he was doing well and working a lot.
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Stacey

Hey Stacey! It's been a awhile since I've been around here too. I'm gonna try to pop in more often. Bulldog, my BTS, is doing great. That guy is a little pig! Anyway, glad the silkies are doing well for you.
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Rob Talkington

I am so glad he is doing well for you. The whole litter was full of little piggies. They know how to eat!
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Stacey

>>I am so glad he is doing well for you. The whole litter was full of little piggies. They know how to eat!
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>>Stacey

They sure do. They are definitely a unique animal! I named him Bulldog because for the first few times I picked him up he sounded exactly like a bulldog with all the puffing and snorting he was doing. It was so funny!! Thanks again for holding on to him for me, I'm so glad I've got him!

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Rob Talkington

its funny you mentioned that...my parents (specifically my dad) when i lived in the house and had a green iguana i was about 14 and he "acted" like he hated it and would always make comments like "why you always playing with that "critter" or "that damn lizard is just a pain" but then when he got MBD or whatever (totally my fault as a 14 year old i didnt know what i was getting into at all) and he was dying my dad took him to a vet and almost paid 50$ a day for them to try and nurse him back to health but when we decided to try and save him ourselves and had to hand feed him with an eye dropper he was the one staying up late trying to get him to eat the baby food.

then i had anoles and he acted the same way, then i got a batch of crics that had one that wasnt "sound free" or whatever and it kept im up for like 3 days while i was away lol and he went nuts but then when my anoles had a baby? he was the one that checked the temps for it and checked to see if it had hatched every day lol and he even came up witht he name for it...

now i have my beardie but dont live at home anymore (being 21) and i took it home for thankgiving bc im a very proud daddy now and wanted to show him off, my dad says in the classic manner "why are you so damn obsessed with reptiles, get a dog" LOL but everytime i walked into the room with the cage he was sitting there staring into the cage like some 10 year old looking at the lions at the zoo, i swear he just watched it for like 10 hours this holiday weekend...he was the same way with the other lizards you would always catch him just watching like it was the national geographic channel or something, and he always asks questions, then i had to come home for saturday to work but am going back home tomarow and he says "are you going to leave achilles (my dragon that he actuallly used its name, thats a first, hell he still calls me "boy" here tonight? and was all excited to have my beardie all for himself. lol, i think its funny how parents usually come into the relationship with your lizards in a negative view...parents with no herp experience of course, but then they always come around and appreciate our pets

sorry it was so long just a revelation i had LOL

Pat