An Update in Bulk!

Good day everybody, and welcome back!

I'm going to be posting a lot at the moment, as I've unfortunately come down with the chicken pox (we think!). We're not sure yet, but we're heading to the doctors tonight. If I have it, I will be off from college for the next 2 weeks with not a lot to do. So, you lucky fans will be getting triple the number of posts! Hooray!

Before I start, I'd like to apologise for not posting a lot about Rocco and Savannah recently. I'm going to try to do this at least once a fortnight so you can know how they're coming along. The reason behind it is that I've been getting a whole lot more views from the advisory posts. People seem to like these, and it helps my blog to seem professional rather than personal.

I do, however, have a lot to tell you! So in stead of getting little snippets throughout the week, you're going to get news in BULK.

My first piece of news is that I believe Rocco and Savannah may have mated last night.

I've had suspicions about them mating for a few weeks now, due to a lack of crests down Savannah's back. We thought maybe this was just the way her crests had formed, as she's still growing and they may not have fully developed yet.

However, last night I swear they got down and jiggy with it! I heard a little squeaking, shuffling around and bumping during the night, and woke up this morning to find them sleeping together.

I know I said that Rocco and Savannah usually sleep together, but this is not so much the case anymore. Now they're in the bigger vivarium and they've got all that space, they tend to spend less time together and more time exploring. When they had a smaller enclosure, they were basically forced into cuddling!

Here's a quick picture I took of the happy couple (Rocco left, Savannah right) sharing a branch a moment ago. I usually wouldn't allow Rocco to sleep upside-down, but I don't want to disturb them. They look so cozy and cute snuggled up together...

I really hope she becomes gravid! I'm eager for eggs!

Some other news is that the pair of them have been eating impeccably well.

Those of you who followed my previous posts that mainly updated on Rocco and Savannah will know that the pair of them are fussy eaters. Rocco won't eat a lot of foods and won't hunt, and Savannah only eats the wriggliest of live-foods or CGD!

I've been encouraging them to consume mealworms for the past few weeks and it is all they've been eating. I've got Savannah to do a lot of hunting, and Rocco a little bit, and they've munched down at least 3 worms every 2 days. I'm very proud of them, particularly Rocco.

Savannah has also gotten so big!

She's becoming a lot darker with age and she's still not the most sociable of crested geckos, but boy is she growing. I've not caught her shedding yet, although I've had suspicions of her shedding multiple times now.

I'm impressed how such a little thing could have grown so much in such a short time!

Here's a picture of the 'golden girl', clinging onto Mama!

(Sorry for the messy room in the background, haha! I was having a sick day!)

I mentioned in a previous post that we had a little trouble with Rocco and calcium.

I noticed that his tail was slightly crooked and I couldn't get him to open his mouth, so I couldn't check his calcium sacs. I was immediately worried he might be suffering from calcium deficiency, because at the time I was basically starving him until he would eat the live food I offered them.

So, to resolve the issue, I mixed a load of calcium with the water on his favourite 'drinking leaf'. He lapped it all up, and so did Savannah, and in a few days of doing so his beautiful tail was repaired! I don't know if this was coincidental or it was purely down to the extra calcium, but at least I know he was getting what he needed.

I would recommend this method for anybody who has doubts.

Last but not least, I am planning some time soon to have a massive photo shoot!

I've advertised a little bit through the people I know to find a photographer who can help me take some natural pictures of Rocco and Savannah to use in the blog. I'm hoping to catch them eating, drinking, licking their eyes, jumping, climbing - all the natural things they do on a daily basis to use as images on my blog.

When I write posts, it's annoying to have to link the images to their original source, and I feel like I'm cheating to use other people's pictures! It would be good to have a set of my own to use in my advice posts. So this will be occurring soon!

That's pretty much the last of my news at the moment. Other than that, you should know that Rocco and Savannah are doing very well.

I miss them a lot when I'm at college (sad, I know!) so it will be good to spend time with them now I'm home for a while.

I hope you enjoyed the quick update.

I will be posting tomorrow, or perhaps even later today, with an advice post if you're interested.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Elly. x