My other pets

My Dog Emmy (named after the Emmy Awards) A Doberman/Hound Mix:





My Female Guinea Pigs Asher (the Grey one) and Toadwart (we call her Toadie, named after my favorite Gummi Bears Character):



My Bearded Dragon Rainier (But I never call him that, I call him Mista Lizad Man, spelled just like that or MLM):



My Eastern Box Turtle Greta:



and my two Betta Fish (Firefly (the green) and Firedrake (red)):



I also have 3 Albino Corydora Catfish named Shady, Lacey and Inky, but don't have pics of them

I love your pets. Emmy looks like a sweetheart.

Are you working on an outdoor enclosure for Greta? Box turtles really do poorly inside. I can't tell the size of the cage there, but I'm willing to bet it's much too small since it's very difficult to provide the space they need inside.

The rocks? concrete? will scrape up the plastron, the water dish is too small, and turtles can't really eat from bowls. Feed from a large terra cotta saucer or a smooth flagstone - this will also keep the beak worn down.

If you want plenty of turtle information, just use the search function and search this section for "turtles", there are a couple of threads, including one I started, with a lot of care information. Baring that, I can point you to a very very good forum just for box turtles. The regulars are breeders, experienced keepers, and even a couple professionals (biologists/herpetologists) that post occasionally.

Emmy looks rather comfortable, I love lizards and turtles

What an awesome bunch of babies you have!

I always used to hike with my dogs but I never thought about them having their very own hiking boots! Did you make them or do they actually sell them? Emmy is a very lucky dog to have such a nice provider and caretaker (as do the rest of your menagerie.)

Emmy looks like a sweetheart

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she IS a sweetheart she is my best friend and soulmate, I think I worship her just as much as she does me

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Are you working on an outdoor enclosure for Greta? Box turtles really do poorly inside. I can't tell the size of the cage there, but I'm willing to bet it's much too small since it's very difficult to provide the space they need inside.

The rocks? concrete? will scrape up the plastron, the water dish is too small, and turtles can't really eat from bowls. Feed from a large terra cotta saucer or a smooth flagstone - this will also keep the beak worn down.

If you want plenty of turtle information, just use the search function and search this section for "turtles", there are a couple of threads, including one I started, with a lot of care information. Baring that, I can point you to a very very good forum just for box turtles. The regulars are breeders, experienced keepers, and even a couple professionals (biologists/herpetologists) that post occasionally.

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I do have a plan to eventually make an outdoor Enclosure for her, right now she is in a rubbermaid type bin. Unfortuantely, I am reliant on my BF for help with the enclosure and I can't get him to find time for this (not on his list of top priorities grr..) and I have been asking since the beginning of summer, especially since for materials needed he will be providing the majority of the monetary support. The brick pieces have not hurt her yet and are very easy to climb over and she seems to do fine eating from the dish I have in there especially since I tilt it for easy access (she likes to sleep in it too sometimes, she is a piggy). She has a large rock-like looking bowl (pictured) that when I fill upcovers the majority of her shell, then she poops in it, then I have to clean it up again. She IS pretty active and eats a lot so I wish my BF would get time faster.

I am looking to become a wildlife biologist (in school now) and whenever I get a new pet I do a ton of research (in fact when I don't have a certain animal I love researching care and whatnot, just sit there for hours doing that) and I myself don't appreciate when people don't provide adequate care to an animal out of ignorance. So, while I am knowledgable, I am in a rut at the moment. I also am on a turtle forum, which I joined very soon after acquiring her. So I am actually glad that you are making sure I know my stuff

Maybe if I cannot make an outdoor one for any reason, I can have an nice indoor one made or something. But with just getting a new job it might be difficult for some time. Maybe some of that money can go towards my xmas gift.

I always used to hike with my dogs but I never thought about them having their very own hiking boots! Did you make them or do they actually sell them?

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I bought them. they sell them online or in the pet store. She is such a "fragile" thing with princess feet and when she runs around to hard she tears her pads so if we go on long hikes we put her "booties" (as my BF calls them) on

Wow, your pet family is fab, I love Mr Lizad man and a great name.x

Try freecycle, sometimes people will give away various landscaping and building supplies.

I made a temp enclosure for my hatchlings (which they're not anymore! ) years ago from plywood and 2"x4"s (plus made lids). It didn't cost that much and I ended up putting a large amount of it together myself. I knew they'd out grow it so I didn't build it with permanence in mind.

At the very least take her outside a few times a week for some fresh air and sun.

This is probably one of the best sites for care, and likewise Tess is a very knowledgeable (and an easy to get a hold of person). She also posts a lot on the kingsnake.com forums - which I suggest you go to if not there. You will get better advice there than I've seen on many turtle forums - mostly because turtle forums are usually more water turtle oriented or are lacking in mature adults.


There was another person on here that got a bit annoyed when I told them they had to stop feeding their boxie a strictly commercial diet of pellets, premade canned food, and canned dog/cat food. They later popped up on a reptile forum and shared pictures of that poor turtle. The beak and claws were grossly overgrown and the carapace so misshapen from a high protein diet that it didn't even really resemble a turtle. There was also some deformity in the legs from improper supplementation. She got mad when I again told she desperately needed change the care and take the turtle to a vet.

It just bothers me, and I've seen it a few times here, that people will take wonderful care of every other animal they have but turtle care ends up being drastically slacking.
Still, change the feeding dish. If you get a couple terra cotta dishes you can have a spare one clean at all times. If you want any other tips and have any food related questions, please PM me! I have several years experience and 9 very healthy boxies to prove it.

Yea, I know how you feel Strange. Greta gets a mix of salads, with different types of leaves in them, and tomatos, strawberrys and other fruits when we have them during the week, occasionally I pick pesky dandelion which grows in our yard well (we don't use pesticides) and give them to her, my gpigs and beardie. she gets calcium sources (more especially around june and september when she seems to lay eggs) and she gets commercial box turtle pellets and commercial freezedried grasshoppers, crickets and mealworms (i just can't seem to do the real thing, and she won't eat earthworms either :-/ the only live thing I have seen her eat is pheonix worms and they are just so tiny)

I am wondering if I can recruit a handy dandy person to build me an indoor something or other or find something on a site like CL.

@Ruthy- don't ask me how that name came up cus I don;t know lol. I just said it to him one day and it stuck I write stories with my animals as characters in them, and he is the Bouncer for my gpig Asher's Nightclub and helps my other gpig Toadie bounce unwanted guests out of her famous japanese steakhouse

I'm just going to send you a PM rather than clutter this up.

Your pets are so cute!!!

Can I ask what happened to mr lizard mans tail?

Mista Lizad Man's story is a bit complicated, but the situation with his tail is quite common for bearded dragons.

I got MLM from my friend who got him from her BIO dept. at her college. The story was, when he was younger he was with two other BDs (a no no as they start to reach maturity) one was a male the other was a female. I don't know what happened to the other male, but him and the other male got in a fight, and the result was the loss of his tale. He had a few homes after that including my friend (appearantly he bit someone so hard the person had to go to the hospital). So he was named Stitch, due to his varying personalities like the movie character. My friend asked if I could care for him while she was at school since her dorm didn't allow reptiles any longer. So him and his 20g long tank came to vacation with me. A few months later, she calls me and tells me she isn't able to commit to caring for him anymore and she was going to post him for adoption on CL or something so she wanted to ask me first if I wanted him since he was already with me. I automatically said yes and vowed to myself that he was never going to leave my home cus he has been shuffled around way too much. I upgraded his 20g Long to a 120g and spent a few months fighting, with help from the vet, a massive pinworm infestation due to being fed unhealthy crickets. I had to syringe feed him daily cus he wouldn't eat, etc. Recently I downgraded his tank to a 40g Breeder since in our new house for some reason he was always cold with that amount of space and wasn't all that active. As soon as I did he perked up and has been loving life.

I changed his name to Rainier (after the latin for ruler) and cus his favorite decoration in his 20g long was the cliff like mountain thing (you can see it in the pic) and cus of the mountain Rainier, I thought of him as the ruler, or dragon of the mountain, kinda silly, but i thought it was cute. I hated Stitch.

I love this dude so much, he totally is psychic, wise like Yoda I swear, he acts like he doesn't but knows EVERYTHING I can touch him all over and around his mouth and face and he won't bite and when I let him out when he gets tired sometimes he has come and jumped on me and snuggled for warmth while sleeping.

Can you see his Bug Belly? (as I called it):



upgraded 120g:



And his new 40g breeder and more svelte appearance (appperantly he still is fat according to the vet though :-/ ):



sorry for the long post, I got very involved in the storytelling process LOL.

wow at the bettas.

especially the green one. my my.

Originally Posted by c1atsite

wow at the bettas.

especially the green one. my my.

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I decorated each of their tanks to match their coloring's and named them accordingly too Firefly (the green) has a spring themed tank. And Firedrake (which is a synonym for dragon) has an autumn themed tank.

Wow quite a wonderful pet family you have! I love the photos of Emmy. Such a ladylike girl huh? And I can't believe the dog bone bedsheets!

yea, she is a princess. The bedsheets I actually got from a human catalog