New shed photo shoot

It’s been an interesting week with our reptiles. Bruce has continued to settle in nicely.  He appears to be eating well.  Although I have nothing to compare it to, so, I see him eat what I put in there and figure it is going OK.  He doesn't eat everything in there and leaves a little, so I figure he is at least eating enough.  I have also had the pleasure of having Bruce out of his enclosure and handling him for longer periods.  After showing a little bit of displeasure initially, he has settled down and been pretty comfortable and happy to investigate his surroundings from what I have seen.  JT even had a hold tonight.  He has not put on a defensive display since the first few days that we had him.  All things considered it is going pretty well.

Lacey shed her skin for the first time since she has been with us this week.  Snakes colouration is at it's most vibrant directly after they shed their skin.  Conversely, just before they shed, their colours are at their dullest.  So it has been nice to see Lacey at her best this week.  I took the opportunity to get her out today and take some photos, some of which are in this post.  I found the experience really enjoyable.  Lacey was comfortable and as some of the photos showed, she even came over to check out the camera lens.  The result was some pretty cool photos if I do say so myself.  I included the first photo below, because I think it shows well how I think Lacey will have a lot of yellow in her when she gets her adult colours.  Each shed will see her get closer to her final colouration.  Like opening a Christmas present in some ways.

Interestingly, this shed was literally like opening a present in some ways.  Lacey shed the front half of her body cleanly by herself.  After giving her a day to clear the rest, I had to intervene with a warm bath and a helping hand.  Being winter in Canberra, the humidity is quite low inside with heating on frequently.  Despite having access to water, the low levels of moisture in the air meant that Lacey could not complete the shed unaided.  It was a simple process for me to help.  One that I would prefer not to have to do, but, it is not a big deal at all.

The Dragons are still sleepy heads.  Although I did turn the light/heat on for a couple of hours today as Beau has been quietly out and about and looking like he wants to wake up again.  Lolly has been out to it completely so I am in two minds about setting everything back to normal.  I might seek some advice and see what I can turn up.

I'll just finish by saying, reptiles are awesome pets!

Lunchtime for Bruce

We’ve had Bruce with us for about 2 weeks now.  He seems to be settling in well.  He appears to be a lot more relaxed around us all and doesn’t flare up when I pick him up any more.  He tends to just put on a face of silent resignation when being handled.

I have started feeding him eggs on the advice of a few people more experienced than myself with caring for Shinglebacks.  As you can see from this video, he quite likes them.  My family quite like Bruce as you can tell from my youngest daughter’s entrance into this video.  He has proven to be probably our most popular reptile amongst recent visitors as well.  He is a very attractive critter and seems to have some sort of charismatic appeal!
I’ll be weighing all our reptiles at the start of the month.  It will be interesting to see how Bruce is going under our care.  He is yet to show much interest in veggies, preferring meaty dog food and now eggs.  I hope to expand his diet as he settles in more.

num num num….

Bath time for Beau

After waking up Lolly and Beau after what I thought were signs that it was time to do so, Lolly has proceeded to curl up and go back to sleep!  I was happy enough to let her as she had taken a good drink or two, had something to eat and been to the toilet.  Beau had done all but go to the toilet and has been quite restless for the last day or so.  I haven't wanted to let him return to deep slumber until his digestive system was clear, so I have left daytime light and heat on.

Today, I figured that Beau's restlessness might have been due to a him having a little trouble going potty as it were.  He was a little grumpy as well from what I could tell.  Well....wouldn't you be too??  I have understood for a while that if Beardies are having problems clearing their bowels that a warm bath can be very beneficial.  With that in mind I prepared a suitable container with nice warm water and gave Beau a good soaking this morning.  As you can see from the photo here, he was not fussed with the bath...  Low and behold, around lunchtime it had done the trick!  Beau was a lot more settled and so I turned off the lights after cleaning up.

I'll see how he is tomorrow before I turn on any light or heat sources.  For now, he looks nestled into a nice spot, half buried in the insulating coconut husk that lines the Dragon's Den.  If he is settled and sleeping tomorrow, I will leave the lights out until I see some more definitive signs of stirring for spring.

As I have mentioned before, reptiles that do sleep for long periods do not hibernate like mammals do.  Reptiles brumate.  This is where their metabolism slows right down to the point where they do not need to eat or drink for months on end.  It is ok to wake them as I have done in the last week or so.  They maintain a high level of conciousness at different times during this period of inactivity.  Disturbing them is not something that should be done regularly.  This cooling period is vital in the production of healthy sperm and eggs in many species of reptiles.  So for people looking to breed their pets, brumation is an important part of the process.  However, others, who have no interest in breeding may in fact, never allow their animals to brumate.  This can be best achieved through limiting interaction with natural indications of season like day-length and maintaining a constant heat and light source throughout the year.  Very small indicators can trigger reptiles into brumation.  Even with full heat and light through artificial means, Lolly still curled up and went back to sleep this week.  Most likely because of the external indicator of natural day-length she would have gained through the sunlight in the room of her enclosure.

Lacey Strikes Again!

Feeding day for Lacey again today.  I managed to capture her striking for both her pinkies today.  Here is what I think is a great video of her striking and then consuming her food.  The video runs for about 3.30.  Amazingly, it takes less than 3 minutes for her to consume the whole mouse once she has grabbed it.  Amazing!  This was her second pinky too.
I managed to take the footage without having to shoot through her enclosure this time so it is a bit clearer.  I still need to work on getting the focussing right.  The other video is probably better, except for most of it being a bit out of focus…..doh!
Still, this video is really good too.  Enjoy!

Lacey strikes back!

Reptile Health Diary–18/07/2011

JT and I cleaned out Lacey's enclosure today as she had pooped.  I took the opportunity to weigh and measure her.  So I'll post this as a catch up to the entry with the other guys.

Weight: 38 grams (+6)
Length: 57.7 cm (+3.4)
Food: Pinkie Mice
Toilet: Yes
Behaviour:  Lacey has been going really well.  We've been taking our time with regards to handling her.  It's important with snakes, particularly young ones, not to stress them.  The first sign of stress is going off their food.  Lacey has eaten everything that we have ever offered her.


We have been feeding Lacey 2 baby 'pinky' mice once a week.  So every Wednesday she gets fed.  By Monday or Tuesday, every time we go near the enclosure she starts scouting us for food, thinking that it is feed time.  She is certainly good on the tooth as it were.


Whilst I am not an expert on growth rates, the fact that Lacey is eating and has put on some size as indicated above is very encouraging.  Diamond Pythons are a slow growing snake and I understand that the health of the snake can suffer if people try to rush their growth through food.  So I am very mindful at this stage to avoid over feeding her and to keep her lean and muscular.


If you click and enlarge the photo above, you will see how I measure Lacey.  You may notice a white line running down her spine and a number up in the top left hand corner.  These are from a program called Snake Measure.  Using this application and a photo with a length to reference (eg a ruler) you can accurately measure the length of a snake, even if it is not straight.  You simply calibrate length by placing two points on the reference marker and defining how far they are apart.  Then you progressively mark dots on the animal's spine that are joined automatically and the distance between them is measured against the scale you input to begin with.  The length is then displayed in the top corner.  Easy as joining the dots!  Best of all it is a free program made available to all at http://www.serpwidgets.com.

JT’s Updates Return!

WOW!!  4 pets now.  It's awesome!

We took Bruce the bobtail to the vet for a check up.  It took a long time to get there.  Dad and I had a nice time together.  We found out that Bruce needs some good feeding.  The vet said that he was ok.  I enjoyed the trip to the vet.

Bruce eats dog food and chicken mince.  He is very shy and quiet.

Lacey is also going well.  We think she is a girl.  She eats baby mice as you all know.  She is so quick when she grabs her food.  Lacey likes to eat her food head first.  I think she squeezes her food so she doesn't have something moving in her stomach.

Here is a picture of me holding Lacey.

I LOVE MY PETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reptile Health Diary–10/07/2011

I’ve renamed weigh in posts from Dragon Diary to Reptile Health Diary, as in the months since the last time I posted one, our reptile family has not only grown in number but in species as well.  We are no longer sharing with only Bearded Dragons, we have a Diamond Python and a Shingleback as well!

Given the events of the past week, I have decided to reinstate weigh in records and general health observations for reference and record keeping.  Probably just monthly at this stage.  I wish I had taken measurements before Lolly and Beau went to sleep for the colder months (mind you it is still the middle of winter), but, I will still have a record of how they fare from here on.  With Bruce joining us and needing to put some weight on, this will be a particularly useful exercise.  Finally, Lacey being so young and along with Bruce a new species to me, I am going to record her progress as well.  Although I do have more detailed records of Lacey’s feeding and health more generally in a spreadsheet that I will look to put up as a page here at some point.

Lolly

Weight: 417 grams
Length: see image
Food: Kingworms
Toilet: not yet
Behaviour:  Lolly seems to have dropped back into her typical bright personality.  She is very keen on food as always and has even coloured up nicely.  I am amazed at her weight.  The last time I weighed her was in what I think was the early stages of being gravid.  Even with a couple of months of no food or water she has put on 80+ grams since then.  So I can only imagine what she weighed before going into brumation.  She had a good drink after I woke her up and had a few kingworms.  No sign of eating any veggies yet or any bowel movement, but, it has only been a couple of days.  I might try giving her a pinkie mouse on the weekend.

Beau

Weight: 280 grams
Length: see image
Food: Kingworms
Toilet: not yet
Behaviour:  Without having any point of reference, my first impressions of Beau are that he is pretty easy going.  Despite having been the one to draw me into waking the Dragons up through his restlessness, he seems to be more happy to laze about.  No veggies for him yet either.  I’ll pop out and pick up some crickets tomorrow if at all possible and see how he goes on them.  He has some good thickness to the base of his tail, but, I am surprised at just how much bigger Lolly is.  That does of course auger well for breeding this year.  I just need to be confident that Beau is in good nick too!

Bruce

Weight: 222 grams
Length: see image (for what it’s worth cheeky)
Food: chicken mince, dog food
Toilet: not yet
Behaviour: Look at the cheecky bugger making it hard to measure him.  It’s also amazing to see his size given that he would be lucky to be half Beau and Lolly’s age.  Bruce is a very nervous little guy.  Although if handled correctly, he seems happy enough.  He put a wonderful display of bluff on after this image was taken.  Mouth open, tongue flared.  Awesome!  When I picked him up shortly after, he was happy enough to be handled again and only plodded rather than rushed away when I returned him to his enclosure.  I have been very very pleased to see evidence without witnessing the act itself, of eating both chicken mince and dog food (the meaty kind).  Both are recommended foods for Shinglebacks, but not as core staple foods.  I need to get Bruce onto his veggies.  I am happy to report he is looking a little brighter already.

Lacey

I will add information about Lacey next month when I can synchronise her weigh and measure schedule.  I have her currently as 32 grams and 54 cms a couple of weeks ago.  She is feeding sensationally well and is actually keen to eat and hunting on the days leading up to when we feed her.  I could not be happier with her progress to this point.

Meet Bruce the Bobtail

We have a new, unexpected arrival in our family.  On Monday I received a PM (private message) on an internet forum that I frequent that is full of very helpful people and a wealth of information about reptile keeping with a strong focus on Bearded Dragons.  If you get a chance, check out the Australian Bearded Dragon Forum.  Follow that link or the one here in the links section.  But I digress.

I received a message with a request for help.  It was in relation to a young Shingleback Lizard (Tiliqua rugosa) in the care of someone on the forum who was not in a position to give it the required attention once its original owner had moved overseas and passed it on to him.  He’d had it for about 4 days and it had arrived to him obviously in need of some TLC as it looked under fed and was quite irritable, most likely through a long period of less than ideal care.  He asked if I could take and care for the lizard as he did not feel like he could give it the attention it needed to come back to proper health.

I was very pleased to be asked and also just very pleased to help!  Yesterday, I met Dylan , or Fractal man as he is known on the forum who, with the care of the animal in mind had contacted me.  We spoke briefly about the beautiful looking Shingleback and then I brought him home.  These fantastic creatures are also sometimes called Bobtails amongst other nicknames and are a species of blue-tongued lizard.  Blue-tongues are actually skinks, but are grouped into the lizards.  After a brief discussion amongst the family, he is now affectionately known as Bruce the Bobtail.  You can see him here on the right with his tongue just on the way back into his mouth.  I just missed it!

I am pleased to report that Bruce had a really good drink yesterday.  The moment I put him into what has now become the hospital tank again, he ran straight for the hide and disappeared for several hours.  Late in the day, I pulled out the hide and started dropping water on his head, which, he started taking straight away.  After a few minutes of him licking water off the glass side of the enclosure, I put in the big water dish that you see in the picture and placed his front half in.  Shortly after he began one of several long drinks and then moved off to bask a little under the light\heat source, not before coming over to poke his nose out of the front of the open enclosure to check me out and offer a look as if to say ‘Thanks’.

Today, I put in some chicken mince to go with the veggies that I left in there for him yesterday.  Whilst Bruce did not take any from the food dish, he did take 3 pieces from outside the door of the hide.  Small, but pleasing progress.  I also took Bruce to a wonderful local vet to get a health check and I am exceptionally pleased to report that besides needing some TLC, sustained attention to his eating and putting on weight, Bruce is in good health.  No mites or other parasites or respiratory infection that can be quite common in the species.

So there you have it.  That is the story of how Bruce the Bobtail came to be with us.  I am not sure how long he will be here.  It will hopefully be at least as long as it takes to ensure he is in tip top condition.  The hospital tank is not a suitable long term home for him as it is not big enough.  He is appears to be less than a year old and most likely from this season’s litter.  All going to plan he will regain good health and be ready for something bigger in the coming months.  In between now and then I will have to build something more suitable for him, or find a welcoming home.  Although I am not sure I will be able to give him up at that point!

It saddens me somewhat to think that his original ‘owner’ could lose interest in something so beautiful in such a short time as it would have taken for Bruce, given his age, to go from new and fascinating pet, to discarded and malnourished burden.  Thankfully someone like Dylan had care enough for Bruce to ask for help even if it meant giving up such a wonderful creature so new to him.  For now, Bruce has a home for as long as he needs and has already won the hearts of his new adopted family.

Read All About It!

A while ago I subscribed to Scales & Tails magazine to help with my general knowledge of all things keeping reptiles.  I also wrote them a letter about my experiences with our Beardies.  When my most recent copy of the magazine arrived last week, I was thrilled to see that my letter and the photos that I sent in had been published as the ‘Publishers Pick’!  Below is the letter that I wrote along with a scan of the page that it appeared on in the magazine.  I’ll see if I can get a better scan this week.  But, as you can see, they even published a couple of my pictures as well!

Howdy Scales & Tails,

I thought it might be interesting to share the experiences of someone relatively new to the hobby, who has just lived through their first year of reptile keeping.

We live in the ACT and have very limited options when it comes to entering into the hobby of reptile keeping.  This time last year we brought home our first reptiles, a pair of Bearded Dragons, one of only 4 species available to first time keepers in Canberra.  They were not our first species of choice, but, we have since been converted to fantastic nature and personalities of Beardies.

Without knowing for sure, we were fortunate enough to acquire a male and female, which was confirmed during this year's breeding season.  Our young pair produced 24 beautiful eggs that we chose to incubate at home as a family project.  23 of these porcelain like gems hatched for us a couple of months later, and I was able to capture a few photos that I thought were worth sharing.

The experience of keeping, breeding and generally enjoying our Dragons has been something irreplaceable.  My kids have seen, touched and experienced first hand, what they would have otherwise had to view on a screen or still images on a page.  I am someone that enjoys sharing with people when I am on to a good thing and this has been no exception.  I am happy to say that I have started opening the eyes of my friends and colleagues to world of keeping reptiles and along with dispelling some myths, a few have even begun on the journey themselves.

Thank you for the opportunity to continue to share my enthusiasm.

 

Cool huh!