A Bit About Me, A Bit About My Dragons!
Info on me can wait but the best way to start here is to introduce my babies with a bit about who they are. This is expanded from my 27 August 2008 post on BeardedDragon.org
Fibonacci is my first dragon, almost five years old now. I knew he would tell me his name if I listened closely. The household is very involved with mathematics and teaching, and the patterns on patterns on patterns as I looked at him, Fibonacci, the mathematician who discovered the number sequence of the spirals and patterns in nature, came to mind. Fib said, "yeah, that's real good!" and so he is!
Kang was almost Tang, SO yellow, but he is also a serious cling-on, and Kang was one of the Klingons from StarTrek, so he is Kang, the Cling-on. This photo was taken right after he arrived home, 8 November 2007. A little dark in this photo with relocation stress, you can still see his beautiful yellow that glows almost fluorescent when he is relaxed. Other pictures in his album show how bright he can shine!
Nefertiti and Diver arrived as rescues in December, 2007. I was their fourth home in five months, and, again, from one of my BD.org posts, the story of their arrival.
"I picked up a 48" tank from someone on Craigslist. They weren't sure if it was water tight, and I said that wasn't an issue, it was for one of my bearded dragons. Well, it turns out they had two dragons that a friend left with them because they weren't sure they could handle the care, and the gal with the tank was coming to the same conclusion. Would I take them, please? Two unexpected mouths to feed 
It seems I am the fourth slave in five months for this pair. 
So Monday, I call the vet. I believe one is female, 15 months old, normal, in the middle of shedding, 298 grams, 17 inches long, and an incredible sweetheart. If she could hang out on my arm all day she would. Mellow and VERY observant. I think there is a great intellect at work here. 
The other one is a little male, 7 months old, has a slight underbite, (inbreeding more likely than MBD, I think) and is missing half his tail. He is 8.5 inches, and looks like there should be about another 4 1/2-5 1/2 inches of tail. He is lighter in color, almost a peach color, but both have spent time in red calcisand, and still have some discoloration from it, mostly on their feet. He has a LOT of attitude 
, likes to run and JUMP 
and has already captured the heart of the mildly reptile-phobic housemate!"
As a result of them being housed together by the earlier owners, Diver had already bred with Nef, not something I was expecting from a dragon that young. She dropped a clutch of 23 eggs in February, 14 of which were fertile. I destroyed them, as I am not certain of the relationship between Nef and Diver, possibly siblings from different clutches. In any case, they were both too young to be breeding, babies having babies. At this point, Nef has made a good recovery from her rough childhood, although she has only added one inch to her length with her growth energy being channeled to the eggs, when she should have been growing herself. I am now certain Diver had early stages of MBD, but made up for it by eating up to 150 crickets a day! He is now 22 months old, 12 inches long and 370 grams, although I am guessing he would be 18 inches, if not for his previous accident. He has a slight scoliosis and the underbite, probably the result of his early MBD.
As far as their naming, Nefertiti looked at me, and relayed the circumstances of her regal birth, and I knew Nef was the beautiful God-Queen of the Nile. She is every inch a queen, and do not forget it! She is also an incredible sweetheart, loving to be held and snuggle, gentle with those who have never seen a dragon before, but don't let that get out! Just our secret!
Diver, well, try to hold on to him any length of time, and he will attempt a skydive! Not really named for myths or math, he is a legend in his own mind! Diver will be going to a sixth grade class as a Beardie Ambassador, helping the kids learn about proper beardie care, and showing them what a tough guy he is. He puts up a fierce act, but he really loves to cuddle. I liked being eleven years old and it is a great age to discover the joy of beardies! I think he will do well is his new position! This photo is Diver, declaring his ownership of this cricket tank. He has since shed the red Calci-boots, a vestige of his prior living conditions.
Galileo and Gaia are my Sundial siblings. Wtih a sundial as my guide, I went back to the mathematician and the Goddess of the Earth, and Galileo does have some similarities in personality to Fib. Guess it's the mathematic mind at work! Their father is a large normal dragon named Toadstool, their mother is named Foible, and there is something a little magical about them. Galileo is always plotting something. He never just sits, always moving, always thinking, always anticipating what happens next! Got worms? Galileo leaps first and looks later. The early beardie catches the worm! I call him my spice dragon, with the colors of toasted cinnamon, nutmeg and coffee. Mmmmmmm! And in this photo, just moved into his first tank, Galileo sings!
Gaia shows you some of the orange that comes from her mother's line. She is spunky, and does not suffer fools lightly! Unlike Galileo, she will sit long hours watching you, then decides she must take action. Practicing for the high hurdles, she will randomly jump straight up, just to see where she can go! This photo was taken when she first arrived, and shows her attitude well. With this attitude, she is also the current mascot for the site!
Hob came to me as a wounded baby 5 1/2 inches long, missing her left hand, but with a great spirit. She grew an inch a week in her first month with me, and had to have extra calcium because she was growing SO fast. She then revealed that she, too was a Queen of the Nile, the greatest, Hatshepsut, who dared to become one of Egypt's greatest Pharoahs. Her jealous successors tried to obliterate her from memory, along with the fact that a woman was the god-king, but her story is finally coming to light. She has perservered! 
The photo is Hob' first shed, about a week after I brought her home. Again, she will have her own album with more pictures.
Galadriel, the Lady of the Light from the Lord of the Rings, was severely neglected when I got her but there was a glow about her, and her former name had been Lightning. She had been very fast once, but could barely walk with severe Metabolic Bone Disease when I got her in March 2008, so a fresh start with a name that showed her inner spirit was critical. She has made me very sensitive to the plight of dragons with uneducated owners. She was four years old, bought at Petco as a juvie, and sitting on CalciSand in a stinking tank full of dead mealworms and crickets. The lady, very well dressed, did not know what UVB was, and thought the dragon was perfectly healthy. I asked who her vet was, and was told she had never seen one, had never needed one, "We've never had any problems with her." When I got her home, she was 19 and a half inches long, 330 grams, a skeleton that should hold over 500 grams. Her beard felt like a sheet of weathered newpaper, and the fat pads on the top of her head and on her tail were non-existant. I gave her a bath right away, and she sat in the water, drinking it up for ten minutes. It seemed she was never going to get enough! Her weight has risen slowly, but her appetite is finally consistent, and she has put on about two thirds of the weight she needs to add. She is beginning to walk and climb more, and even running a bit. The spirit I saw when I first met her has carried her through, and she is magnificent! This picture is taken right after that first bath, about a half hour after I brought her home. As thin as she was, I love the look in her eye, but there will be more recent photos in her photo album showing a plumper Gal!
Astarte was almost named Isis, back to Egyptian myths and history, but in looking into the history of Isis, it seems she was a later, Greek-influenced adaptation of the old Goddess, Astarte, an ancient goddess of fertility, war, peace, wisdom and many other things. Again, as Gaia, a mother-goddess. As I was informed after I bought her that she might be gravid, it seemed appropriate and I have been amazed and delighted by her babies. Her old name was Pumpkin, but she is a much brighter yellow than the pumpkins we grow. This photo is taken about an hour after she laid the first clutch. Bathed and fed, she sank into the sofa, "What? You need to take my picture now?!?"
Seshat was named Eragon by her previous owners, but I did not know the story of Eragon and Saphira yet, and I liked Seshat, She who Scribes, the Egyptian Goddess of Writing and Measurement, and the patron of mathematics. She likes it, too. Her tank is in the corner, surrounded by math books!
When Thoth arrived, he looked (by color, not conformation) like he could be a sibling of Seshat, and Thoth was the male counterpart to Seshat in Egyptian Mythology, scribe, mathematician and scientist, also the heart and voice of Ra, and the judge of the dead. The people I got him from didn't seem to think of him as an indidvidual, and didn't tell me what they had called him. They didn't know what power he has! They did say he was from a Washington State breeder, and described him as a Chris Allen Red x Cawley Red. He shows none of it in his coloring, a very pale gray, almost white.
Spike and Thorn arrived from their previous home with their names in place, and they are not asking for new names, content to be who they are. Spike has health issues that I continue to work with, Metabolic Bone Disease deformities and slow appetite, but Thorn is a glorious picture of health! And believed for the first seven years of her life to be male, she has shattered the myth in no uncertain terms, laying eggs earlier this week at the age of seven and a half, almost eight years old!
Libby came to me from Sheena at SJS Exotics at the end of December, at 3 months old, a sweet little cinnamon roll! Her father is a fire from bearded dragon biz and her mother is a pure fire orange from exotic animals, pictured on the homepage for SJS Exotics, http://www.freewebs.com/sjsexotics/index.htm
As of 13 March 2009, from Astarte's 30 babies, 16 have new homes, including Baby Mac, Isoceles and Vivo. Still at home, Uno and Dos, Monet, Emmy, Nuevo, Cuatro, Olivia, Mercury, Hermes, Shade, Pythagoras, Godzilla, Pi and Tweezie have names, 3-4, and 3-11 so far retaining their egg names. Uno, 1, Dos, 2, as they hatched, but they are both staying, and the names may still evolve. Monet took turns with Baby Mac and Emily in being the largest, (6 3/4 inches at four weeks old 
) but she is female, and in the right light, she appears to have been painted with the impressionist brush. Emmy won the race in biggest baby at this time, being 16 inches at 6 1/2 months old. Tweezie is the late egg, an enormous egg, hatched a week after her clutchmates, smaller than any of her siblings but feisty, (oh, boy! Watch out for Tweezie! She'll get you! 
) and enough yolk still in the egg for another baby. She also had a gash on the back of her head, and a spot on her tail that looks like it was cut out and a piece of a different dragon inserted. When the clutch went to the vets, the conclusion is that she is twins that started to develop, but never separated, the second twin being reabsorbed into her. Twins, two dragons in one, not developed like Zak-n-Wheezie, just one, so Tweezie!
That should be enough for now! I can't believe how many dragons I've ended up with! While Math and Mythology have been my major influences for names, I may also draw on Stargate and Pirates, or other Johnny Depp-related characters for future names. Most of it really depends on the dragon, though! 