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Cupid

     Cupid- According to Webster's dictionary ... Rom. Myth. The god of love --n.{c-} a representation of Cupid as a winged boy with bow and arrow.

     Our beloved Cupid passed on suddenly on the morning of January 26th, 2000. As you will likely see and read below Cupid came to us with quite severe snout damage, and while there was no infection at the time of his arrival, a fall from the top shelf in the vivarium in Dec. 1998 started an infection in his front lower jaw that we treated for all of 1999. He had just been declared 100% healthy in mid Dec. 1999 and he was eating better than he ever had for us, and looking absolutely gorgeous. However, in that last week of January he took a sudden turn and after three days of not doing very well and us not being able to secure a vet appointment for him (although we did draw some blood and took it to the vets for testing when we couldn't get fit in for an appt.), we awoke to him not looking very well at all on the morning of Jan. 26th and he passed away in the car on the way to an emergency vet appt.. Our vet decided to do an autopsy (necroscopy) in order to find out why he had died. So far (Feb. 18th) no definitive results have come back from the pathologists office. His organs appeared to be quite healthy and he had a nice fat layer (but not overly fat and no fatty liver disease). We thought perhaps after being on antibiotics for almost a year in total that his kidneys had been damaged and failed but his kidneys were fine. We are very puzzled and very saddened by his passing. Puff is our remaining dragon now. May she be the magic dragon.

     I didn't name him. He came to us in June '97 already named, but his name certainly suites him! He had been living the bachelor life as a single male dragon in Ithica New York for approximately one and a half years ... then he came to live with us ... and if Cupid doesn't mind me speaking for him, he was absolutely thrilled to see that he would be living with 4 female dragons! (Hubba hubba! Bob, bob, bob, bob, tail twitch and the chase was on!)

Vital Statistics

• Name: Cupid

• Sex: Male

       I'm in Canada and Cupid was shipped to us by air by a friend in New York. On the day that he was sent he was packed into a shipping container at approx. 6 am. He then took two airplane flights to get to Toronto and arrived in the cargo pick up area at approx. 4 pm. I arrived at the airport at approx. 4:30 pm but between filling out paperwork and then waiting for my husband to come and pick us up we didn't start on our way home until about 6:30 pm. Cupid had been boxed up all this time- 12.5 hours!

       I felt sorry for the poor dragon and opened up his box in the car and while leaving him in his pillow case let him sit on my lap for the remainder of the ride home. During the ride I took the opportunity to feel his alien male dragon body- remember the rest of my dragons are female! I can tell you that a male feels and looks quite different from a female! His head is huge! 2.5 inches across from jaw to jaw, much of that being the fleshy jowls! (My largest females head is only about 1 long jaw to jaw) His head is approximately 1.5 inches in length from snout to parietal eye! His body is triangular with the narrowest portion being near the spikes on his back ... where as my females are rounder, more pear shaped. His tail is also very high and triangular in shape ... where as the females tails are thick and more rounded.

       We finally arrived home with our new male at 7:30 pm. We promptly drew him a nice lukewarm bath and took him out of his pillow case for the first time! Holy Smokes- was he ever big and very different looking from my females. He was actually a bit intimidating looking ... but when you get to know him he's just a big wus! He'd been packaged up for about 11.5 hours so we let him have 30 minutes in the tub. Then we let him meet the females for the first time!

       Within half an hour of getting out of the tub he was mating for the first time in our home (8:30 pm). I guess the flight and travelling didn't stress him out too much when he saw what was waiting for him! :)

•      Nicknames: Cuppie, Lover Boy, Thunder Dragon (you should hear him jump around the viv! Makes a lot of noise for 1.5 lb of flesh!), and of course- Couch Potato!

•      Country of Origin: Unknown but he's definitely WC so probably Vietnam ...

•      Age: Unknown, but probably around 3.5 years (Nov. 97)

•      Length: 8.25" svl, 28" stl (He still has about a foot to grow before attaining a mature male size ... He should be approx. 36" when he's 5 years old).

• Favourite Pastimes:
  •       His number one favourite thing to do is to try to catch a female and mate with her. Typical! He usually waits until he's allowed out of the vivarium and then pursues one of the first females to come out. This seems to give the females a better chance to get away ... but I don't mind that he doesn't harass them inside the vivarium as there is much more chance of injury if he were to chase them inside the vivarium!

         This is Cupids idea of flirting! He uses his tail and front legs to lift his lower body off the ground ... several times in a row. I wonder if this is the equivalent of human males showing off their biceps etc..

  •      Other than chasing females his next favourite thing to do is to hang out ... mainly on the couch! But sometimes on the cricket bin too! :)

  •       When not eating, sleeping, or pursuing females Cupid can usually be found in the vivarium in one of his favourite areas ... usually on the upper shelf with Rogue, The middle branch, or the lower shelf.

  •       Cupid is a big push over ... the girls are all over him!

  •       Climbing to the lower shelf!

  •       Cupid on the lower shelf ... probably eying one of the females....

Water Dragon Books

Green Water Dragons, Sailfin Lizards and Basilisks (General Care and Maintenance of Series) by Philippe De Vosjoli

      Basic but detailed information about the care, diet, and health of green water dragons, sailfin lizards and basilisks.

Anoles, Basilisks and Water Dragons : A Complete Pet Care Manual (More Complete Pet Owner's Manuals) by Richard D. Bartlett, Patricia P. Bartlett (Contributor)

     Discussion of the general care of many species of anole, basilisks and water dragons. Excellent information regarding enclosures, cage building, and insect care and breeding.

Eat This Bug : A Guide to Invertebrate Live Foods for Reptiles and Amphibians by Lynn Davis

      This book is a guide for owners of reptiles and amphibians who feed insects and other live foods to their pets. Advice is offered for selecting , ordering and raising your own supply of live invertebrate foods. More than a dozen species of live foods are discussed. The book includes instructions on keeping cultures of insects, and recipes & diets for insects.