My Spiky Little Baby

When Surfer Pirate and I were first married, we let our love of animals get a little (okay, a LOT) out of control. At one point, we had 3 big dogs, 3 cats, a snake, several mice (we were breeding them for snake food, but our breeding pair got to just be pets), a tarantula, and this adorable little guy.

He's a Bearded Dragon. And he's my baby.

First of all, just the idea of owning a DRAGON is a cool enough thing. But how can you look at one of these little guys as a baby and NOT fall in love with them??

First, a collection of photos of him so you can see just how sweet my little baby is.

Aww! Sweepy widdle baby!

Hungry boy.
(As time passed, I learned that wood chips for bedding and lettuce for eating are not good things for bearded dragons.)

Daredevil Dragon

First Bath - Mmmmm... water...

Big Scary Dragon!
He loves to go outside and be in the sunshine. He will sometimes try to run, so he has to have a leash if he's going to be outside. Just like a little kid, when he wants to be outside playing, the last thing he wants to hear is "Time to go inside." This is him trying to be big and scary so I won't want to pick him up and take him in the house.

Most bearded dragons will brumate in the winter. I had read enough after I got him so I've been prepared for it to happen. Babies don't usually have a brumation period, but as they mature, wintertime means dragons hiding and sleeping - especially when they have regular access to a window so they can see what the weather is like outside.

My boy is very spoiled with his own spot in our big bay window.

Last winter, he slept for a week or two at a time off and on. But I suspected that this year he would probably do a full brumation. Yep. Sure enough, around November, he started sleeping and hiding. It took him a few weeks to get fully settled, but then he settled in under his little fake plant and went to sleep. Loud noises would cause him to open his eyes for a minute, but mostly when I checked on him, he was sound asleep.

This morning, I had a wonderful surprise! He was awake, standing on his basking rock (a flat rock in his tank where he can soak up the rays) spread out and soaking up the sun!

Our little grocery store doesn't carry much in the way of specialty produce. Mustard greens are one of the best kinds of greens for beardies to eat on a daily basis, but I can't buy them for him here. So I've been growing some in a big pot on my windowsill. The plant has gotten big and beautiful while he was sleeping. He also really likes apples. So I made him up a bowl of mustard greens, Braeburn apples, "Dragon Chow" (my dad's term for the food pellets made especially for beardies) and a little dusting of calcium for his bones.


He's now just happily hanging out in his tank, enjoying the sunshine. I need to clean his tank tomorrow. It's full of dust and kitty hair (Brave Bonny thinks his tank looks like the best place for a nap).

I'm just so happy my baby is awake again! I've missed him!

Hi Mom!