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I love my babies. I have 2 Beardies right now about 9 months old. They are my first. Before I only had iguanas but my last 2 died last year but I plan to get a couple more babies soon. I can't post any pics of my babies yet here, but I will. In a couple more posts. Post pics of your lizards in this thread.

Here they are this afternoon:

Navigaar, they're gorgeous! Look at friendly and approachable they seem. They look like they have a lot of charisma. Thanks for sharing.

How precious are those cute little babies!

I had an Iquana once, well...he belonged to my son. My son named him Paco. Paco loved his daily salad of lettuce, avacado and shredded carrots. His favorite snack was avacado.

Oh, yes, avocado is actually one of my favorite snacks! That must have been one happy iguana.

He was very happy. My son and I built a huge cage for him, with his tree, hot rock, everything he needed. Once in awhile he would get out and I always found him on the shelf in my closet, snuggled up with sweaters and old teddy bears.

Just this week I gave them avacado and they loved it.

About 3 weeks ago, the male went missing after his bathtime. I tore my house apart looking for him. After a week passed I figured 2 things happened. He either got out the window I leave open a crack OR he jumped in the toilet and I flushed him. After 2 weeks I was resigned to the fact he was gone forever. Then one morning, last Friday, I went to the kitchen and there he was on the floor. This was after almost 3 weeks of no food or water. I thought it was the female that somehow got out of her sleeping tank in my bedroom so I picked him up and went in there, opened the tank and SHE was in there asleep. I was in total shock but so happy and relieved he came out from wherever he was hiding. He had lost some weight and he is about 1/4 of the size the well fed, pampered female is now but he back so Mama is making sure he gets PLENTY to eat.

One of their favourie passtimes is watching the media player lightshow and listening to music on the computer. I prop them up so they are right in front of the screen. Here are some pics of them. They stay there for hours if I let them and try to climb up the screen. It's So cute I just can't stand it.





Here they are watching "Spike" an adult male beardie being fed some hybrid cockroaches. They got all excited and were jumping up and down trying to get a roach. It was just too funny too watch. I was LMAO:



Here they are watching a squirrel. Another one of their fav passtimes.

That is the cutest thing I've ever seen. My husband will be upset that he hasn't let his "out" more often. We have three - two adults - who gave birth to the third. One baby out of about 30 eggs - we are hoping to do better the next time around.

thanks for posting the pictures!

These are fantastic photos! I agree with Lisa and Phyllis -- they are so cute and so charismatic. That must have been too funny watching them trying to figure out how to get the cockroach away from the beardie on-screen!

And Phyllis, how cute that your son's iguana would curl up in the sweaters! Maybe he just had that urge to hide in a warm, comfy place.

Those pictures are so darling, Navigaar. They sure have curious minds. How sweet that you set it up so they could watch the videos.

Navigaar...they are sooo cool! I bought my son an iguana in November for his 14th birthday, he named him SoBe (like the drink, lava lizard) My son was VERY good with him and I "babysat" often and have to say I really enjoyed it SoBe got out a few times but always came back when I called him....kinda cute! Then in February he jumped out of my sons hand into a hole in the wall where the hot water pipes are in the living room and we haven't seen him since. We currently live in a huge old 2 story house....we were really bummed he never showed back up.

The iguana's natural inclination is to "Run and Hide". They are all like that. Beardies don't do that. The male does a little but the female wants be with me ALL the time.

Beardies are know for their friendly, loving behaviour. Even when I would JUST meet one, I was a stranger to them, they were all very snuggley. Once I ppicked them up they didn't want me to put them down

Every, about 30 or so, iguanas I've ever had always hid when they first got here. The longest any of them hid was 3 days then they'd show themselves because they were hungry. I think I have a few pics of my last two. Let me look.

About two years ago, I got up before sunrise (I often do this) and sat with my coffee at the dining table. I had opened the blinds to my patio so I could watch the sun rise. I thought I saw an odd shape on my patio table, but dismissed it because I had cleaned out the storage shed out there the day before and had piled a lot of old clothes on the patio table to sort thru.

As the sun started coming up, this odd shape became more defined and I saw several triangular shaped points sticking up. As I was staring, wondering what they were, they moved and a large Iquana head appeared! I jumped up, turned on the porch light to see better and there sat the largest Iquana I had ever seen in person. It's body was about two feet long and it's tail was at least three feet long. The colors on the Iquana were gorgeous!

It looked quite comfy and warm where it was. I went back into the kitchen and fixed it a large salad with lettuce, tomatoes, avacado and put it on a paper plate. I verrrrrry carefully and slowly opened the patio door and slowly reached out and sat the salad on the table. This Iguana just stared at me. After I went back inside, he started eating and ate the whole salad!

When I knew my neighbor lady was up, I called her and told her "You will not believe what I am sitting here staring at!" Her son had a small Iquana and I knew they would love this one. So, after hearing my story, she sent her son down to adopt the Iquana. He gently put a soft towel over the big guy, who now had a full tummy, and carried him to his new home.

As soon as the Iquana was gone, I really missed him. I visited him a few times and he seemed quite happy in his new home, where he had free roam of the house, since they did not have a cage yet big enough for him.

This is a picture of the last male someone gave me. He was in very poor condition. Dehydrated and malnourished. Once I got him he did improve for a while but a sudden illness took him within a week. Here is what he looked like BEFORE I got him:



Here he is after he was with me for a while:



I miss him so much. He was more like a puppy than an iguana. He used to follow me all over the house and a few times I think he wanted "More", if you know what I mean. :Wink:

He spend his entire life in a wire cage with NO real sunlight. They fed him garbage and CANDY!! He was doomed. They thought lettuce was actually Good for him.

His mate was chewed up so bad from being trapped with him she was very depressed. I kept him away from her once she came here and gave her EXTRA attention and cuddling. When they are in heat the male is Very aggressive and hurts the female. All her spikes were ripped off and she was covered with scars. Her last days were in comfort and love though. She passed away from prolapse. She was the sweetest girl. They were both full grown.

Is lettuce not good for Iguanas? Our Iquana always liked it as long as he had avacado and carrots to go with it. I always used the loose-leaf lettuces. I also gave him mealy worms once in awhile.

I need to know the right things to feed an Iquana or Beardie because I may get one or two some day. I love your little Beardies.

An iguana will eat lettuce exclusively if you let them. The are known as "Lettuce Junkies". Lettuce has no nutritional value is has been called "Crunchy water". They fill up on it and don't get any nutrition from it and won't eat the nutrionally rich foods they should. An iguana with lettuce in it's diet probably will have many diseases and a shorter lifespan because of it.

It's not so bad for Beardies IF you give them it, in very small amounts, mixed with other leafy greens such as kale or chard and sprinkled with ReptiCal powder. At least that's what I have been led to believe from other, longtime Beardie owners. Spike's Dad told me this. The beardie in the video.

Great - that gives me a better idea. My Iguana was quite healthy though. He like spinach leaves. Kale and chard sound like a good idea with the powder supplement. Thanks!

When and if, in the past I ran out of fresh greens for a day or two, I'd go outside and pull up a clump of grass from the yard. They loved that and make quite a mess of the dirt but they usually ate ALL the grass. Also, lizards eat flowers. I gave the beardies daffodil aand a tulip last week and they took big bites of them.

Once, when I had the big boy, I was in the kitchen and he was on the table looking out the window. I had cut a piece of chocolate cake, put it on a plate and put it on the table. I turned my back on it for about a minute and when I turned back around he was all into it. He had vanilla frosting all over his face and some on the top of his head. I LMAO at that. I didn't care. I know they will go after sweets once in a while if left unattended. I let him have it and cut another slice. Later on I came back in and he was LAYING in it. Sooo Funny. I wish I had a pic of that. The things they do are so innocent and comical.

What great stories and photos! I can just picture the little scaly guy jumping into that piece of cake. And Phyllis, I love that image of you fixing a big salad for the wandering iguana and he eats it all. Navigaar is absolutely right about the worthlessness of lettuce. It won't harm a reptile but it won't do any good for it either -- it's like eating a slice of water. Better to give them dark leafy greens like kale and real veggies. If all they get is lettuce, they won't get any nutrients.

True - I did not only give him lettuce, but, leafy greens and veggies. The shredded carrots and avacado were his favorites. Sometimes he liked tomato, but not too often. I tried to give him nutrition, not just greens. I wish I had known then about the powder supplement.

What other vegetables would be good for them? What about fruits?

Oooh, let's see, I'm more of turtle person who doesn't actually own any lizards, so maybe Navigaar will come back and let us know. But my Bearded Dragon book suggests colorful chopped fruits and vegetables and has a photo of those frozen mixed veggies you can get in a bag (corn, carrots, green beans) and thaw. Also suggests in small amounts figs, kiwfruit, apples, berries, green peas, and banana.

The book also says that the babies need live prey: the smallest available crickets (pinhead crickets) dusted in a calcium powder and offered three times a day. It's important to keep the crickets smallest size possible or the babies might have some intestinal / paralysis problems associated with trying to eat something too big.

Hope this helps!

Yes, I always have a bag of frozen mixed veggies in the freezer BUT I don't let them have the carrot cubes BECAUSE they are usually rubbery. I pick them out and just soak the rest in hot water for a few minutes then squish each pea, corn kernal and lima bean between my finger tips so it's easier for them to eat. No point them eating them if they come out whole. I shred them fresh carrot and pile the rest on top. They also like shredded sweet potato.



I had some baby iguana vitamin pellets left over from when I had the iguanas, I bought a case, and the pellets are very tiny and the beardies just gobble them up. I tasted some and they actually taste very good.

Here they are when I first brought them home. They were about 6 weeks old and I hadn't even given them names yet. I wanted to live with them for a while before I named them:



That is a piece of fake fur on top of a heating pad. Baby lizards just LOVE it. They scoot around on it like little motor boats then fall alseep. Must be something in their genetics with fur. I used to use real fur but try washing lizard poop out of that. Plus the heating pad destroys real skins after a while. It just disintegrates so fake fur is much better and it's washable.



You can see she is only about 6 1/2 inches long at 6 or 7 weeks. I haven't measured them since. I will do that tomorrow just for my own curiosity but they have grown quite a bit.

Here they are kissing in a bed of bean sprouts in the sun. Soooo cute.

They are sooo awesome!

My son always felt bad and like I said before, he was very good with his iguana (the one that jumped into the hot water pipes in the wall) but he couldn't leave his out like you do, it would always scurry away. He would love to see this and how you are with yours for sure.

Wonderful "Baby Pictures" !!!

I've got quite a few.

Do you think that makes it easier, having more than one? And what do you do when they get five feet long? Beardies don't get quite as long as the iguanas, right?

A full grown Beardie is less than a foot long.

I love it the bigger they are. They are a lot of fun when they get HUGE. More like a puppy. I had one once, it was kind of odd, he grew to 7 feet. No one believed me at the petstore so I brought him in and they measured him, 7 feet 2 inches. They said "What are you feeding him?" Hahahaha. "Whatever he wants." I told them. This was the one that loved cake. He didn't have it too often but if he knew there was CAKE in the house he just waited for me to get some then he'd come AMoochin.

The really big ones sleep with me. I have a big bed so they have their own side with little pillows I make them, their heating pads and wrapped up in flannel, baby blankets. I DO have a very, large tank if things get crazy, someone HAS to go if they don't settle down. Once they go to sleep for the night they don't move and usually will sleep 10 to 12 hours. Unless of course it's a male and he's horny. Hahahahaha. I had one, the same big one that liked cake, he'd crawl up on my chest, do push-ups and start sneezing up my nose to wake me up. I thought that was hysterical. I never got mad at him, he was just so cute and comical. I'd just get up and give him some food and water then go back to bed. He'd sit in the sunny window and watched cartoons til I got up.

Here is my little male watching Sesame Street. I often find him just standing there for hours. He is so intrigued:



Is that NOT the cutest thing you've ever seen??

Here they are in their morning tank in their water watching T.V. watching Curious George or Word Girl, I think. Or Barney, Hahahahahahahaaaa:



All Lizards just love picture books too, especially dinosaurs. I have a couple pop-up books, Freaks them Right Out. It's just too funny.

Navigaar, thank you so much for the photos and the anecdotes! I am just totally charmed by these little scaly guys. Who would have thought that they liked tv? Or picture books? You can just see the intelligence and personality on the little beardie's face who is standing up in the photo, watching his tv program.

And those iguanas are gorgeous in the photo -- the two having their salad. And seven feet long -- wow! That's getting kind of like the Komodo dragon in our local zoo. I'll bet that would be fascinating having him lumbering around, eating cake!

Thanks again! You're teaching me a lot about lizards!

When I was little girl I travelled to an island off the coast of Africa with my Dad. We visited a friend of his who had a home in the jungle. More like a plantation actually. This man had a Komodo Dragon INSIDE his house. When we first entered the room it was laying across the back of a sofa. Then it moved. I wasn't expecting it was alive. He had it since it was a baby and it was relatively tame. We spent some time with it. I think that's when I really started to appeciate reptiles. But man his breath!! WHOA!!! I wasn't afraid of it but he did warn us to be careful. He was actually very friendly and well fed. I wish I could remember it's name. It'll come to me probably in the middle of the night. It was over 20 years ago.

What a cutie, aye? He looks like a juvenile. At full grown they are about 10 feet.

I think just about anything they want. If I have it, they have it. I often catch them eyeballing me if I'm eating something they want to try, so I give them some. The female really loves my pasta sauce. I put some on the tip of my finger and she goes to town. I usually do give them a separate little plate of cut up fresh fruit along with their plate of veggies and their water dish is full of chopped greens. Try cutting a grape into 20 separate pieces. Their mouths are so tiny, they'd wrestle with a whole grape and never get any.



Tomatoes aren't really recommended for iguanas. I have a list of the best and worst veggies and fruits for iguanas, according to the Calcium/Phosphorus/Magnesium ratios, around here somewhere. My vet gave it to me. She is a reptile specialist. If I can find it I'll just copy it in a post for you.

Today, the girl was doing some kind of little jig in the middle of the floor. I was watching her. She was running in circles and kicking her back legs out sideways. I watched for a minute or two then decided to pick her up and see what's shakin. Hahahaha. I held her up so I could see her underside. Half her body was shedding. She looked like an old man peeling off his thermal underware. Hahahahaha. I helped her along by doing some peeling. Right down her belly to the tips of both back legs. She was fine after that. When they shed they get a bit cranky, even the male does. I am guessing they MUST itch something awful. Frequent soaks and misting facilitate the sheds. In the wild they'd be rubbing up against rocks and trees to get the dead skin off. All the branches I have for them have been stripped of the bark for cleanliness reasons.

Beardies seem to shed in much larger sections than iguanas do. Their sheds are more of patches here and there.

Look at those little scaly guys swarming over their salad! Thanks for posting this spectacular photo. They really look excited to get their veggies.

That whole shedding thing sounds like a lot for them to put up with -- kind of like pet birds molting. I'll bet it makes them cranky. That's good that you can help them out. I would guess they'd like to soak in water, too, for a soothing effect.

My sister and I saw a very tiny lizard, about a 2 inch long body and the tail about 2 inches, way out in the desert the other day. It was so cute and boy! could that little guy move fast. He did linger awhile just for us to take some pictures though. If my sister sends them to me, I will get them on here.

Hi, Phyllis, I'd love to see a photo of him! I wonder if he was one of those little blue-tail lizards we get in the southwest? Or a horned toad -- they're very cute.

Oops, I guess the horned toads get a little bigger than 2 inches, so it probably wasn't one of those!

Well, bad news or maybe not. My little male has gone missing AGAIN for the second time in as many months, 2. Last time he was missing for 2 weeks and 5 days then all of a sudden, There he was. This time he has been gone now since Monday, today is Friday. Going so long without food isn't good. SHE doubled in size last time and he shrunk. He keeps this up and he's going to die. WHY he keeps disappearing is beyond me. He MUST realize he has hit the Lizard Lottery here with me. But Noooo, he'd rather go live behind a radiator for a few weeks. DUH. To say they are Stupid is an understatement. Longest any baby iguana did this was 3 days, Many times. NEVER longer than 3 days!!!

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about your male missing, I hope he shows up very soon. I had never even thought a lizard could be such a wonderful pet.

My little female is such a mama's girl. She always wants to be with me. The other afternoon I layed down for a quick nap and she was laying on my shoulder. I must have rolled once I fell asleep because when I woke up most of her was sleeping ON my nose. Hahahaha. Now THAT'S Love. Not that I have a big nose now either. She is just so tiny AND she Loves me.

I am hoping he will turn up again and SOON. I worry about him. Last time I thought for sure he went out a window or jumped in the toilet and I flushed him. Last week he disapeared for a few hours but found him sitting on the RemoteBoat. Males, Yeesh. Them and their control issues. Hahahahahahaaaa.

It could have been a blue-tailed. If I remember right, he was a medium gray with light freckles and maybe some blue, very pale, on his tail. I hope the pictures turn out so I can show you. It was dark and overcast off and on that day. It could have been a side-blotched lizard. I am not too familiar with the different varieties.

Yes, when you mentioned the part about him moving along very fast, I thought of the blue-tailed lizards. It's amazing how fast they can scamper along for their tiny size!

I don't actually have any lizards, but I know that when my turtles go missing in the back yard, I can sometimes get them to reappear by putting out their favorite food (strawberries). Their sense of smell lures them in. They can smell water from miles away. Any chance you could do this with your little male?

Side bloched lizard. Pretty little guy, isn't he?


Nevada Reptiles

He is pretty - with all that blue and orange. No, it did not look like this though. I will just have to wait till I get the picture and put it on here, then maybe you can identify it for me.

from:

Nevada Desert Lizards

General Description: These are the common little (5-6 in. total length) gray or tan lizards in sagebrush and mountainous areas with light dorsal stripes and blue bellies. These are "spiny lizards" and look similar to Western Fence Lizards,:



It looked similar to this little guy but was very slender, maybe a baby.

Maybe it was a skinny, baby Spiny? OR an iguana?

Are Iquanas ever that tiny? This was about the length of my little finger (2 inches) with a 2 - 3 inch tail and not much fatter than a pencil.

Newborns aren't this big. This little guy is probably a few weeks old:

What a cutie!

Go to any pet store that sells them. You will see how tiny the babies are. I usually took the one or two that were getting beat on the most. Terror is a big selling point for me. Poor little things.

Yesterday:

Such cute beardies. I'm sorry you went through this terrible thing of having lost him. But you found her, so thats good. more pics!

LOVE all the pics! Check out mine at www.reptilefreak.com/ under "Mark"