The Culprit

I have been trying to figure out why my seedlings are laying flat. I thought that they were too wet, not wet enough, too little sun, wrong soil.

This afternoon I was repotting my seedlings and noticed many were broken. Even more curious.

Then Draco, my bearded dragon, jumped off his perch, ran up to the tray of seedlings I was working on, bit a seedling sunflower and ate it.

Mystery solved. Draco has been grazing on my seedlings. I didn't realize it, because I had all the trays elevated. But he's an excellent climber and I underestimated his determination to reach the buffet. He isn't satisfied eating them, he likes to sit on them too.

I grow collards for him, and two of the destroyed sets of seedlings are Choy Sum (Rape) and romaine, and those are some of his favorites. I grow plants for my lizard. :) He just assumed this was lunch in another form.

I repotted everything and moved all the seedlings. Poor Draco had to stay the afternoon in his tank. Hopefully everything is out of his reach and I have learned a lesson.

I'm sorry to hear about your damaged seedlings, but glad you finally figured out the problem. Interesting pet, how big is he?

I will plant some more seeds, so it will be okay. I am learning. He just a surprised me.

It is my fault. He has free run of the screened porch, but he usually sits on his perch, in his supper dish or climbs on my cacti with no damage. He is generally very well behaved, harmless and a bit unambitious, so I was really surprised he would make the effort. I figure he must have been hungry, so I have gave a bowl of collards and mixed greens with apple as a treat. He is 9" from nose to bottom and 11 more inches for his tail. The absolute best beginner lizard -- small, non-aggressive, easy to feed and pretty hearty.

In the picture below he has climbed up to perch at the top of one of my plant shelves. He usually sits on the shelf below, but sometimes he likes a better view. I thinking he's inching closer to my Nepenthes.

LOL! Most of us have problems with our dogs and/or cats getting in our plants so this is a new twist! When my golden retriever, Lakota, was about three months old, we let her run in the yard to play. We were eating breakfast when I saw her with something pretty large in her mouth. I went to the window for a closer look--it was one of my prized azaleas that had gotten to about 3 feet tall--she had pulled it up and was having a ball with it! We made a trip to Jackson that day and got what we needed and our electric fence went up around the flowerbeds the very next day. We also bought her lots more toys to play with :-}

At 3 months pulling up an azalea. Wow!

My kitties frequently nibble my plants, and Draco ate half a Stevia plant. But I had no idea he was lounging in the seedlings. :) I have a great picture of my kitty, Moonshine, curled up in one of my pots. Poor plant under her.

Sounds like Draco has a sweet tooth! My cats like to curl up in my plants too so I put pine cones around the base of every pot so it won't be quite as comfy for them.

Oh, that's a clever idea. :) Pinecones in the pots. Hmmm . . . I also put cayenne pepper on the plants to make them less tasty. Probably wouldn't slow Draco down, but the cats and squirrels don't like it much.

Draco absolutely has a sweet tooth. Took a while to figure out if it was the cats or Draco, but the cuts on the Stevia leaves were serrated, which matches Draco's teeth. The plant has rebounded with incredible vigor.

Guess Draco has the "gardener's touch." LOL--he can't have a green thumb, can he! My cats are indoor/outdoor so they get all the green grass they want outside and have never bothered my houseplants, thank goodness. I had to put pine cones in them while my daughter was living with me. Her cat was bad about eating houseplants and he wasn't choosy. He seemed to shop around a lot and sampled all of them :-{

Draco and the cats nibble everything too. It's like a big buffett for them. That's the reason I had the seedlings elevated. I guess not enough. :)

I had a pet pygmy billy goat and forgot he was in the house. He destroyed a lot of my houseplants and knocked all the pots over. Big mess! I made sure I didn't let him back in after that. Soon after I realized billy goats are not good city pets and I gave Mr. Billy Clinton to a friend who had a lot more land.

I bet he was really cute though. :)

My ferrets are masters of taking all the soil out of pots and spreading it out as far as possible. Esepcially Rascal, he has escavated many pots. They love digging.

oh this made me laugh !

and the azalea / dog story - What a RIOT!!!! When I was growing up, we would fence off the veggie garden to keep our dog out, but at the end of the season when everything was done for, we'd open it up. Our dog would rip out each and every corn stalk... giving each one a good run around the yard before dropping it and pulling up the next. Crackerdogs! It was hysterically funny, wish we had videotaped it.

I bet that was a funny sight to see. I try to put up a fence to keep my dog out. He can jump right over it, but at least it's a 'mental' boundry for him. He still doesn't seem to understand why the cat is allowed in it but he's not....the cat doesn't listen very well lol

cats are notorious for being bad listeners, well that or they just don't care!

I would say "Just don't care." :)

I tell people ferrets are sociopaths. They know the rules. They just choose not to follow them. :)

After we put up the electric fence around all the flowerbeds, the dogs each took their turns getting their noses zapped. They stood in absolute amazement watching all the cats slip in and out of that fence without getting "bit" but not the first dog would go back for another try at getting through :-} I wish I had videoed that scene! Critters are hilarious.