Beardies gone WILD!

[northface75]

Sooooo today was a bout of decent weather here in Western New York so I decided to take the girls out to get some natural sun for the first time in their lives. (They were born in September, I've had them since end of sept, so havent had good weather for them to be outside all winter!) So we went out into the courtyard, and sat down in the freshly cut grass for them to enjoy the sunshine. We sat for about...5ish minute, then suddenly, Leela, the Alpha Female, TOOK OFF. now I've seen her run across the floor when I let them out, but I mean she was BOOKING it, full speed. I had to RUN after her to catch her, she went about 20 feet before I could get a hold of her. And when I did get ahold of her, she was PISSED. For the next 10 minutes as we sat there she just glared at me with her mouth wide open, beard black as I've ever seen it. Lyra of course, the good girl she is, barely moved a muscle the 20 minutes we sat outside, just sat there soaking up the sun. Pics...
This is mere seconds before Leela bolted away:

Lyra just chilling out, enjoying life

Leela..Pissed off.

 

[Craiger]

Great pics. Frodo does that when I take him outside. Flares up, black beards and opens his mouth. Sam does to an extent, but not nearly as bad as Frodo.

 

[northface75]

haha! oh wow, okay, glad it isnt just me then. I kinda was relating it to, well, I live on a dairy farm, when you let all the calves out that were born over winter, they've never been able to move more than a couple feet their entire life, so when you let them out into the pasture for the first time they go NUTS. jumping, kicking, running. you just have to let them get it out of their system. next outing, I think will be in some type of enclosure...fenced in area or something lol, I dont need leela to get away from me.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Harness or an enclosed area, top, and sides.
Just my .02
Janie

 

[northface75]

Well Janie I was thinking more like, just outback of my house in a fenced in area, maybe just build something out of 2x4s and plywood, somewhere I can sit and watch them, and they can run around, get some natural sunlight. definitely not something I would leave them unattended in.

 

[zebraflavencs]

You'll want something as a topper... to prevent birds from swooping down for an easy meal..Most likely Leela saw the shadow of a bird, and made her dash.
Janie

 

[northface75]

okay, yea I can probably use some type of netting or something. I was gonna say we dont exactly have a lot of predatory birds around here but now that I think of it..I see hawks ALL the time.

 

[Craiger]

You'll want something as a topper... to prevent birds from swooping down for an easy meal..Most likely Leela saw the shadow of a bird, and made her dash.
Janie

Yeah, I've read horror stories where owners literally saw their beardie getting carried away and nothing they could do about it. Talk about a heartache!

Hawks, owls, falcons, you name it....we have lots of predatory birds in our area.

 

[Stephanie is a Rockstar]

I use a ferret leash when I take Lola out. She spent two hours underneath my house one time when she got spooked and ran away. Thankfully we were able to get her eventually.

The leash works great gives her 6' of roaming room, however she usually climbs up and burrows next to my neck.

 

[staylor]

that is funny

 

[Vesta]

My boys love it outside(Petrie, not as much as the other two.) PLEASE, PLEASE put a topper on that enclosure!!! That is so important. I had Yosh out in the yard and I was only maybe 2 feet away from him painting my front porch!! I heard a sound a bird makes and felt and heard the flutter of wings close by. I looked and Yosh was still there. I turned back around a second later I looked and he was gone!!! I could not find him anywhere. I will tell you the blood ran out of my face and the hair was standing up in my head as I ran everywhere looking for him. Looking up in the trees to see if I could see the bird that took him. Imagining it tearing his stomach open to eat him alive!!! I was getting ready to call the kids and tell them what happened when I decided to look one more time under some low bushes when I spotted a glimps of orange!!! I would never want to relive those moments again!! It was just terrible!!!

 

[northface75]

wow, I can only imagine, that would be terrible if I saw that happen...I'll get my hands on some chicken wire or netting and put over their little outdoor playpen

 

[Vesta]

GOOD!!! Bad things happen for a reason!!! Might save someone from some real heartache!!!