Lost baby beardie!

Yesterday when my fiancé and I got home from picking up his car, we found that our cat had gotten into our baby beardies tank and it's nowhere to be found. We don't know if out cat ate it or if it's hiding in our room somewhere. We're both freaking out, we only got her a couple days ago, she's like 4 inches long. What do we do? There's no body or limbs or anything and out cat has been strictly indoors so he's never hunted or anything. I fear for the worse.

Oh no! I'm sorry your going through this. Hard telling if the cat ate him...hopefully not. You can set up some basking areas inside the house. Keep the cat in the garage or bathroom until your sure the dragon isn't running loose somewhere. Look everywhere, start one room at a time. Once cleared move on to the next one....
I hope you find him...

Oh no =(. Cats can pose quite a danger to dragons. It's a good sign you don't see any blood or signs of violence. Would she have been able to jump out of the tank on her own? Perhaps she is hiding somewhere in the room out of self defence. Try putting a basking light in the room somewhere and a bowl of food and see if that entices her. Check tiny crevices under furniture, in closets, etc and maybe wave a flashlight around dark areas to see if you can catch the reflection in her eyes. Hopefully she was able to escape from the cat.

Just another reason to not like cats.

I have three cats (was 4, but one died) and 23 reptiles. Obviously I like reptiles more than cats. But my cats would never bother most of my reptiles. Many are 3 ft long and hiss and puff up, if they were to get bitten its likely the venom would kill the cats. So my reptiles are more a danger to the cats than the cats are to my reptiles.

It's quite possible it could have jumped out. Our cat used his claws and we had a cover that slid off and on and he slid it off until there was enough space for him and idk if he crawled in or not. We have been searching but we have a lot of stuff so we're gonna have to organize again and again. I really hope we find it. I set out some food and a light and a rock for her and put flour around the food and water bowls and I'm gonna set out some blueberries tonight. We have a one year old dragon too, is it possible we could use him to find it? I just don't see our cat harming our dragon, I think he wanted to play. He's very sweet natured and has never killed anything or hurt anything. He's never had live prey, just chicken or some roast beef at most. Poor baby beardie. I feel horrible.

I doubt the other dragon would encourage a baby out of hiding. Possibly might even eat it. The problem with cats is even if the dragon didn't get eaten they could play with it.
Hope you can find him.

Rankins":2aul84fm said:

I have three cats (was 4, but one died) and 23 reptiles. Obviously I like reptiles more than cats. But my cats would never bother most of my reptiles. Many are 3 ft long and hiss and puff up, if they were to get bitten its likely the venom would kill the cats. So my reptiles are more a danger to the cats than the cats are to my reptiles.

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ONLY A MATTER OF TIME, your cats will eventually attack, maime, torture and perhaps kill some of your lizards , they are hardwired killers and do it even when they are very well fed (not even hungry) simply because they can , and because they like it.

Rankins":27f4jxkx said:

I doubt the other dragon would encourage a baby out of hiding. Possibly might even eat it. The problem with cats is even if the dragon didn't get eaten they could play <<<< torture it by clawing it, impaling it on their claws and throwing and catching it with the fangs and claws >>>> with it.
Hope you can find him.

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Cats are vicious murderous animals and should never live in the same home as lizards and other small animals (birds, frogs, small mammals). Inevitably ends in tears with the small animals being viciously tortured, maimed, and if it doesn't die in the process , it's chances of surviving the nasty bacteria on a cats teeth and claws are minimal.

Umm...dude.
My reptiles are locked up...yes real locks.
I have been keeping reptiles for a very long time. My cats won't even sit near my LOCKED enclosures....they dont care about them.
My cats will never attack my reptiles so it won't be a "matter of time". I am just saying that my cats are in more danger from the reptiles.

Save the lecture please. Let's get back to talking about bearded dragons.

Happileeeverafter":1tycy5ht said:

It's quite possible it could have jumped out. Our cat used his claws and we had a cover that slid off and on and he slid it off until there was enough space for him and idk if he crawled in or not. We have been searching but we have a lot of stuff so we're gonna have to organize again and again. I really hope we find it. I set out some food and a light and a rock for her and put flour around the food and water bowls and I'm gonna set out some blueberries tonight. We have a one year old dragon too, is it possible we could use him to find it? I just don't see our cat harming our dragon, I think he wanted to play. He's very sweet natured and has never killed anything or hurt anything. He's never had live prey, just chicken or some roast beef at most. Poor baby beardie. I feel horrible.

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Same thing happened to the boy next doors' colony of jacky dragons , his sister's pampered cat was left inside and no one thought to close his bedroom door while he was at school and mum and dad and big sister were at work, puss broke into the jacky dragon tank and removed the lizards one at a time , torturing each to death , then came back later and did the same to all but one lizard during the day, when he came home from school he discovered dead and dying horribly maimed jacky dragons all over the house (4 of his 5 jacky dragons were victims of this torturing and murdering spree ....) I hate to think this is what happened to your little defenceless beardie hatchling, but if there is evidence the cat has been in the tank, it's either dead or dying now and you can blame then cat and who ever left the room door open allowing the cat access to the tank and the lizard.

Same cat exterminated all the wild frogs living in my garden, and most the wild delicate and water skinks in one season, as well as most the rosellas and other native birds who had been visiting my yard (and encouraged to do so by me over several years) , it even killed some possums. (It was allowed to roam freely outside 24/7 most days.)

I don't know why so many people think they can have lizards (and other small animals) in the home as pets and not have to take steps to keep the small animals separate from their cat/s when they have a cat or cats living in then house.
I often hear of similar stories where cats have attacked pets , maimed them, even killed them, but rearly to eat them.

Rankins":u7i6bhxp said:

Umm...dude.
My reptiles are locked up...yes real locks.
I have been keeping reptiles for a very long time. My cats won't even sit near my LOCKED enclosures....they dont care about them.
My cats will never attack my reptiles so it won't be a "matter of time". I am just saying that my cats are in more danger from the reptiles.

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Can never convince cat lovers that their cats are anything but cute loving pets who would never harm anything.Give your cats a chance and they will attack the lizards if they have the chance and the moment they think you are not watching.

Ultimately it's your choice and your pets.

I don't let any animal roam my house. I don't take them out of their enclosures unless I'm cage cleaning. When I'm cage cleaning they are locked in an enclosure behind a locked door in my reptile room. I don't even take my Rankins out, I don't do a lot of what other people do on the forum. I keep my animals for a totally different reason.

My cat is 19 yrs old. I have had rats gerbils an hamsters over the 19 years. I guess i have been lucky.
Im guessing it also depends how responsible you are too.