Hiss update

I didn't realize how long it has been since I last posted.  Hiss has been with me for almost 3 weeks now. 

This has been a fascinating time of discovery for me.  I've read every book the library had on the care of Bearded Dragons. 

Hiss is doing very well, at least it seems that way.  He's eating good, pooping as he should, sleeping like the baby that he is, and starting to grow!  His shed the skin from the top of his head last week, and shed his tail over the weekend.  I'm expecting to see the body skin come off anytime now.  Shedding is a good thing - it means growth.  On the weekends, I give him a "bath" in the sink, with a small amount of warm water.   It helps to keep him clean, and also helps with the shedding process.  Some dragons even enjoy the bath.  At this point, I don't think he cares about water.  He stands there while I splash him, then after a couple of minutes he scrambles to get out of the sink.

Young Dragons should be eating about 80% protein (live crickets/mealworms) and 20% salad (most fruits and dark greens).  I've tried broccoli, apple, carrot, parsley and kale.  He accepted the parsley, but he really liked the kale I brought him yesterday. 

Buying and maintaining live food has been a learning process all it's own.  Until this week, I've been buying the crickets at the local pet supply store, 50 at a time.  Mind you, these aren't the big crickets you see around your house, these are baby "pinhead" crickets - so 50 isn't as bad as it sounds.  As Hiss grows, so does his appetite.  I started him with 6-7 crickets a day, but he'll easily eat up to 15 if I offer them.  I think I'm averaging about 10 right now, in two feedings during the day.  Because of his appetite, and the price the local supplier charges, I'm trying mail-order bulk crickets.  I know - ick.  My husband was more than a little shocked when I told him that 500 crickets would be showing up at the door tomorrow.   But again, these are pinhead size crickets ...

Here are a few pictures of Hiss that I took last week.  This weekend I'm going to shoot some video of him enjoying his breakfast, and eating salad if I can capture that.  It's harder to predict when he's going to eat his greens.  He surprised me last night when he jumped off his perch, ran to his food bowl, and wolfed down a 1/2" piece of kale.