A New Member of the Family

This week saw the much anticipated arrival of our newest Dragon now named Penny.  Like Lolly and Beau she is a Bearded Dragon.  After going through what was a surprisingly straight forward process of getting licence and import permits sorted, I gratefully took possession of Penny, a 4 week old female hypo (hypomelanistic) Dragon.

Hypomelanism is a recessive genetic mutation in some animals causing malfunctioning melanin (pigment) production or problems with its transport to pigmented cells.  What does this mean in practical terms?  Melanin is the thing that browns us when we tan.  It also makes the patterned markings on Bearded Dragons as well as other things on them dark.  A Dragon that has a genetic mutation that either inhibits the production of melanin or the effective transport of melanin to the parts of the body that it would otherwise darken is said to be hypomelanistic.  Where this is the case, the animal will generally appear lighter all round.

There are some key factors in determining if a Dragon is definitely hypo.  A Dragon can be lighter and indeed almost white, without being hypo.  As this is a genetic trait rather than polymorphism, which is the term describing non genetic colour variation in animals, to be a true hypo key expressions of the trait must be present through generations.  The easiest trait to identify is that true hypos have clear nails on all their toes.  Normal Bearded Dragons have black nails.  If you have a Dragon that has clear nails, then it is a hypo, the traits are genetic and they can be passed on to future generations through selective breeding. Hypomelanism is not the same as Albinism where no melanin is produced at all, which, in Bearded Dragons, is not a terribly desirable trait as it is something that has the potential to severely shorten their life and generally does.  But, that is another discussion.  You can find more information on this and other Bearded Dragon genetic traits on this page - LINKY.

After that little science lesson, what we have day to day is a cute little baby Bearded Dragon.  Her name is Penny, after her namesake on the TV Series, The Big Bang Theory.  As she is so small compared with our other Dragons, she is being kept separately until such time as she can be safely housed together with at least our other girl, Lolly if not all three together.  She came to us in fantastic condition with a nice fat belly having been well cared for.  From day one she has been enthusiastically eating all the live food I have been putting in front of her, both woodies (speckled cockroaches) and crickets.  I will start introducing veggies on the weekend.  I was also very happy to see her drinking very well when I have misted her with water.  To this point, everything is going very well!  In the future, I have plans to breed her with Beau and my mind wonders off at the possibilities down the track with her offspring and Lolly as well.  But for now, she is cute, healthy and a load of fun.

DIY Enclosure Series - Part 3

After many moons between activity on my enclosure project, I have finally managed to make some reasonable progress.  I was motivated mainly by Bruce's temporary home becoming more than temporary given how long he has been in there.  Also by my tendency not to finish projects like this.  With that in mind, I decided to focus on the bottom enclosure that will be Bruce's permanent dwelling.  After all, it would make good practice for the upper enclosure that is a fair bit bigger, which will make it more difficult to manage on my own.  Better to start with something a bit easier to handle.

To get to this point, I have cut the base and backing boards.  These are MDF that I had in the garage that I thought to use rather than running out and buying melamine or similar.  I sealed them with two types of pond sealer. The first is what gives the boards the blue colouration.  It is a think grainy substance that dries in an almost rubbery texture.  Over that is two coats of a clear sealer that is much thinner, more watery in texture.  Both these products are non toxic as they are designed for fish ponds.

I also sourced glass to fit all three other sides.  The front and right side cut to fit fixed and snugly.  The left hand side toughened and bevelled to be hinged as a door.

I have also made a series of flyscreen panels for the top and sides for ventilation.  I am so close to finishing.  I am two pieces short to complete the final panel from the top of the enclosure.  I made three for a couple of reasons.  Firstly it will make it easier to access the top when the lighting is in place as I will not have to remove the whole top to reach in.  Additionally, I made the assumption that smaller panels would provide greater strength to support light fittings as the spans are smaller.  I still have to figure out how I am going to secure the side flyscreen panels.  They fit well enough but are not fixed to the frame as yet.

The part that I have found the trickiest has definitely been the mounting of the glass door.  The glass is cut as per the dimensions provided to me by the frame manufacturer.  It is a very tight fit.  Not having done this before I was looking for some insight as to how to hang the door.  After a visit to my in-laws to look at their TV cabinet, which, just happens to have the exact same hinges, I set to it.  I drilled holes in the aluminium box sections that frame the top and bottom of the door to take the hinge mounts after measuring and marking the right locations and size of hole required.  Then comes problem number 1.  The joints for the framework are solid metal and penetrate a fair way into each span.  Some of them have channels on some of their faces.  Others do not.  The one that penetrates the top span framing the door does not and covered the hole such that I could push in the hinge mount.  Shattered.

I decided to cut my losses and drill a second hole at a point past where the joint pieces penetrate the span.  This will leave me with a somewhat unsightly surplus hole in the span, but, at least the door will mount.  After drilling the second hole and mounting the door in it's hinges, physics gets in the way.  Physics or geometry or something.  As the hinge is further along the span of glass, their is part of the glass pane protruding out the back of the hinge.  Originally I had planned to have the hinges mounted right up in the corner as I had seen on the TV cabinet.  This means that the glass panel essentially opens in place.  With the hinge place further along the span, the part of the glass behind the hinge starts to protrude in the opposite direction.  Problem being that the glass panel is such a tight fit that as I tried to open the door, the edge trying to move into the enclosure straight away gets caught on the aluminium frame and cannot get past it.  So the door will not open.  There in we have problem number 2...

This story does have a happy ending as you can see in the photo above.  With some belated lateral thinking, I decided to drill a hole in the metal joint, just deep enough to take the hinge mount in its original location.  With a little fiddling I got this right and low and behold we have a working door!  Having said that, there is no way that the handle and locking mechanism I was supplied will fit as the glass is cut just too snug.  Good for no escaping animals.  Bad for fitting a lock.  I am going to see what other options I can come up with, but, for now a small piece of the plastic beading used to mount the other glass panes will do just fine as a temporary way to secure the door and leave it possible to open it easy enough.  Of course I still have a somewhat unsightly hole surplus to my needs from the door mounting experience.  But, the outcome is otherwise satisfactory.

So there you have it.  A little work left to do on this one this week should see Bruce installed very soon.  From there it will essentially be rinse and repeat on a bigger scale and hopefully without the same mistakes!

Baby Time!

I dropped home at lunch today and checked on the incubator as I have been doing with increasing frequency as my expected date for the first clutch of Lolly and Beau's eggs to hatch approached.  Today my quick check came with a nice surprise.  Hatching eggs 2 days early!  2 days ahead of my calculated date at least.  Not too bad for a novice I guess.

Here are some pictures that I quickly snapped.  As of tonight there are about half a dozen that are completely out of their shells.  4 of which I have put into a separate open container on the shelves that I have set up for them.  I will leave them in there without any substrate just to dry out and lose any of the vermiculite that has clung to them.  Vermiculite is the medium I use that the eggs sit on while they incubate.  It is the grey, pebbly looking stuff in these photos.  The babies come out covered in fluid and the vermiculite tends to stick to them.  So a day in an empty tub to dry out and clean up is in order.

After a day, they will go into the 120 litre tubs that I have set up with light, heat and UV ready for them.  I have 2 tubs set up for the moment with plans for up to another 3.  Bruce is in the sixth tub at the moment while I build his new enclosure.  That leaves 5 tubs for the clutches that Lolly and Beau produce this season.  Dividing the babies up will mean the loss of less toes and tails between the siblings.  I plan to keep each clutch for around a month to make sure that when I move them on they are healthy and also to see if there are any little gems in amongst them.

For now it's time to enjoy the new arrivals!

DIY Enclosure Series - Part 2

As stated in the first post in this series, the aluminium box framing for the enclosure that I am building arrived a couple of weeks ago.  I have not progressed too much since then for one reason or another.  I am please to report however, that things should pick up from here.

Here is a picture of the bottom enclosure loosely assembled.  You can see the framework goes together nicely with the combination of different joints and profiles of metal going together rather like a jigsaw.  The only bit that takes any time is making sure that you have the right piece in the right place.  Again, much like a jigsaw, they only go one way if everything is to come together correctly.  If you enlarge the photo, you can see the pieces of dark black PVC beading that will secure the glass panels when they arrive.

Speaking of glass panels, they should arrive this week.  After a bit of too a fro with different suppliers, a friend of mine who works for a window manufacturer has come through with the goods as it were.  As far as construction materials go, they form the last big pieces.  I will have to get hold of a little more fly screen building materials, but, they are just consumables as I have all the tools that I need and will be quick to lay hands on.

This second picture here is of all the framework loosely assembled, just to see if I had all the pieces and that everything was in order.  Good thing I went through this process as I not only found out how careful you need to be putting the right pieces in the right places, but, also that there were some components missing from my shipment.  An email or two sorted that and I received the required materials in a second postal delivery.

So now what I need is a little time to start the construction elements of the project.  I have cut one of the base pieces for the enclosures out of MDF that I had in the garage for another purpose that is no longer required.  Due to the nature of the profile of the tube that takes the MDF, it is the only material for the panels of the enclosures that must be in place prior to knocking everything together.  Once I have all the pieces I can firmly fit everything and then mount the glass and fly screen panels later.

I was very happy with the first base piece that I cut and it fit well.  The second one I managed to cut a little narrow and I will have to redo it.  Fortunately I have enough material on hand to be able to do that without having to purchase more.

Overall, the process is progressing.  Just slowly.  I hope to pick up the pace now.  So stay tuned!