Steven the nocturnal sleeper!

Hey there, another post about the wonderful Steven.
Tonight he's really come out of his shell. Before he would venture around, but never getting further than arms length of me, now he's taken on a whole new bold approach to his surroundings! Today he spent most of the day in his cage(I like to give him a break every now and then considering he is still small.) but two hours before his nights out time I brought him in for a quick hello from the family, and boy was he active, he was jumping, climbing and walking all over us. He even ran up my shirt to climb up my face and in to my hair. Silly littl guy.

Then when I got dinner, he was sitting there staring at me, than began arm waving. I think he wanted some of my cheese burger. But the little guts had already plowed through all his crickets!

He's also been eye popping a lot recently, hope he's going to shed soon.

Not much else to add, besides he's been doing A-OK.
I'll post again in a week or so!

Steven the all mighty Wizard!

This is Steven, you might soon see his wonderful scaly face on the logo of 'Scaly Wizard Productions' a little thing I will be putting together possibly if I can be stuffed to do so. But enough about me and on to the main subject! Steven! He's a wonderful little Bearded dragon, with an amazing Temperment, (Same as all Bearded Dragons of course.) It is hard to believe that I only got him on Wensday 12/10/11, four days ago! Because he is already so comfortable with myself, my family and his enclosure. I still remember his first meal! A dusted baby cricket I was holding for the little guy. The image above was taken the first day we got him, as you can see he was a little skinny then. But he's getting really fat now, (Don't worry I'm not over feeding. He is very healthy.) I brought him from a pet store in Morely, They claim that he is 6 months old, but judging from images I've seen of other Western Bearded Dragons, if he really was 6 months, he must have stunted growth due to either the breeders care or the pet stores care. I noticed him eye popping the other night though, so he might be shedding soon. Any help on judging his age would be greatly appreciated by the way. He measures at around 6 inches from tail to head.

Anyway the purpose of this blog is for a place where I can document his behaviour as my first bearded dragon/reptile for future reference if need be as well as a place for friends to have a look at or even strangers to browse and maybe help them decide if they want to get a Bearded Dragon.

I would like to place a huge note here, and that is that I have no previous experiance in the care of Reptiles, I have handled them before and I have done book shelves worth of research before bringing this guy home. I even now still do research on anything that worries me, (Example, He would hunt for left over crickets late at night, which was odd to me. I spent a good hour looking in to possible nocturnal activity in beardies in captivity, in the end it turns out it was a one off thing. He loves to sleep!) so I am fully prepared for this little guy. He is only small so I've housed him in a 20 Gallon tank which he is confortable in at the moment, he spends most of the day outside with me though. I am making sure he's getting enough UVB as well as enough food, although he only licks food when I try to hand feed it to him as soon as I put it on my leg or something, he leaps for it. So that's something I want to work on. He currently has Recycled newspaper as his substract and has a cave for hiding, basking rock, (That wont absorbe enough heat to harm him, I've tested with with my hand. Happy to say that I have no burns.) dried out wood that has been cleaned and baked in the oven for 20 minutes. He has a water dish and is given Veggies daily. His current encloser is only tempurary of course, in a month I will have enough money to get a good 55-70Gal. (It will house Steven and a little girlfriend for him hopefully.) his current enclose is suited out with a red night light, (always left off though, the light is there just in case I want to check on his at night. I know Dragons can see in the red spectrum, but the light bulb is very dark and does not wake him. I also have a heat pad for cold nights with a UVB light 10.0 as well as a 100watt day time bulb. He is fed busted crickets, never anything bigger than his mouth, and as a treat mealworms. ( I am aware of the impactation possibilities with young beardies and mealworms, they are only fed to him are a treat on rare occasions. He is always monitored closely until he passes a stool as well. Something he seems to be doing daily, which is good.) He is also given lots of salad covered in water always something different. Although I am told not to feed a bearded dragon lettuce, that is only because it has next to no nutrients (as said by some doood.). Although my beardies health is my number one concern his entertainments, emotional needs and happiness is my seconds. He LOVES lettuce there for I still give it too him. I also throw strawberries and pear in the mix, I want to add apple and banana soon as well as different types of veggies.

He is VERY adventurous and loves to explore, but when ever frightened he always runs and leaps to me. I also mist him with water twice a day and try to coach him in to drinking from his water bowl every day when I replace the water by giving him droplets from my fingers tips and splashing around in the water with my fingers. He loves bath time and even fell in to a deep sleep while in the warm water once. I am always sure to have him in my hands when bathing him at the moment due to the fact that he is still young and I do know that if he falls asleep it is possible for him to drown. I ensure to try and make him poop during bath time by rubbing his lower tummy gentally. (He's been known to leap off of his towl and back in to the water when taken out. It's very cute.)

But I think I will wrap this up with a few details on this little guy.

Name: Steven Fribble-frabble-ribble-rabble-dibble-dabble Lenon
Age: 6 Months (According to the pet store.)
Known Problems: Has commitmet issues but besides that, none.
Licenced: Yes
Length: Roughly 6 Inches, tail is longer than head to vent.
Gender: Male (Confirmed by a good hour or three of research.)
Current Location: My shoulder sleeping. (My girlfriend ONLY just got him, he wasn't sleeping in his enclosure for some reason, but he sure is asleep now.
Bearded Dragon Level: 5/15

Bearded Dragon Level is my own little system of measuring how close your dragon is to the wild standard. Bearded Dragon Level system can be used on anything. 0/15 = No simularitys at all. 15/15 = Put that thing down, it's a wild bearded dragon and is probably going to eat you. 5/15 = Looks like a bearded dragon, smells like a bearded dragon, even tastes like one!