karmakollector
Member
A few days ago I moved my beardie into his new and improved home (upgraded from 20 gal to 40 gal tank), and he seemed comfortable and content to climb up the (higher) branch and basking area...
He was just chilling and basking until, while I was watching, he took a flying suicide leap off of the branch and into the rear glass wall of the tank, of course then falling straight down the ground! (which has non-adhesive vinyl liner as substrate, which is not a lot of cushioning!)
Of course, I rushed over worried about his well-being, and also baffled why he would do such a thing. Looking from his POV out the rear glass, I realized he could see my fake ivy vines which were hanging on the wall (these were not previously visible from his shorter tank), and I think he was taking a leap of faith because he was hungry for salad!
Anyway... he didn't seem to be hurt (nothing visible, no strange limping or anything, and no sense of pain or discomfort when I later picked him up), but is a lot more "hesitant" or cautious when biting at greens now (I guess he's worried an invisible barrier will smack him in the face.) To be honest, I was shocked he did it because, even without the glass pane, it would have been a risky maneuver, considering the leaf was hanging a good 12" off the ground.
I moved those ivy vines out of sight, but I noticed this morning he was pawing/clawing at one of the glass sides and, once again when I checked it out, he was eyeballing some other fake leaves I had in the room (this is in a classroom, and I have a dinosaur theme, hence sort of a jungle atmosphere)... I had just fed him dubia roaches, but he definitely wanted some greens, so tried to get some of his chopped greens out of the fridge, but they had spoiled (but since he was craving them that much, I made a quick trip to the store and got some collard greens.)
Looks like I will need to either remove all of those fake leaves (he even did it with a small piece of green paper he saw stapled to the wall!), or get a backdrop to surround the rear and side panels of the tank.
He was just chilling and basking until, while I was watching, he took a flying suicide leap off of the branch and into the rear glass wall of the tank, of course then falling straight down the ground! (which has non-adhesive vinyl liner as substrate, which is not a lot of cushioning!)
Of course, I rushed over worried about his well-being, and also baffled why he would do such a thing. Looking from his POV out the rear glass, I realized he could see my fake ivy vines which were hanging on the wall (these were not previously visible from his shorter tank), and I think he was taking a leap of faith because he was hungry for salad!
Anyway... he didn't seem to be hurt (nothing visible, no strange limping or anything, and no sense of pain or discomfort when I later picked him up), but is a lot more "hesitant" or cautious when biting at greens now (I guess he's worried an invisible barrier will smack him in the face.) To be honest, I was shocked he did it because, even without the glass pane, it would have been a risky maneuver, considering the leaf was hanging a good 12" off the ground.
I moved those ivy vines out of sight, but I noticed this morning he was pawing/clawing at one of the glass sides and, once again when I checked it out, he was eyeballing some other fake leaves I had in the room (this is in a classroom, and I have a dinosaur theme, hence sort of a jungle atmosphere)... I had just fed him dubia roaches, but he definitely wanted some greens, so tried to get some of his chopped greens out of the fridge, but they had spoiled (but since he was craving them that much, I made a quick trip to the store and got some collard greens.)
Looks like I will need to either remove all of those fake leaves (he even did it with a small piece of green paper he saw stapled to the wall!), or get a backdrop to surround the rear and side panels of the tank.