Hi,
I have previously owned a bearded dragon when I was younger and despite him living 11 years I have come to realize as I started researching care instructions for my new beardie that I realized I did everything wrong. Our new little guy, Blue, is our family's first pet so I want to make sure I do much better than the first time. Our new guy has been home about two weeks and he has been very skiddish when it comes to handling so we are taking it slow, he often gets very dark and has lots of black lines down his beard and belly which I have read is a sign of stress so I have been giving him his space to adjust. He is in a 40 gallon inclosure, has a repti-sun 10.0 uv light and a 150 watt basking light, its 110 on his basking side and 80 on the cool side. He gets a diet of crickets, Phoenix worms, dubia roaches and dandelion greens. He's not a big fan of greens but he picks at them here and there and it started off with a small appetite but has generally progressed to eating a lot more. My concern is in addition to not wanting to be handled he gets very active at night and starts climbing the rock face background on his inclosure, he often will climb all the way to the screen and try and climb on that. At first I thought maybe he just likes to climb but yesterday he started glass surfing. So I am trying to understand if the two behaviors are related and if so how I can help him? Does he just need more time to settle in? Should I keep doing what I am doing and be patient? At what point should I get worried? There is so much information out there sometimes it can make your head spin so wanted to see what everyone here has to think from actual experience. Thanks in advance for any response.
I have previously owned a bearded dragon when I was younger and despite him living 11 years I have come to realize as I started researching care instructions for my new beardie that I realized I did everything wrong. Our new little guy, Blue, is our family's first pet so I want to make sure I do much better than the first time. Our new guy has been home about two weeks and he has been very skiddish when it comes to handling so we are taking it slow, he often gets very dark and has lots of black lines down his beard and belly which I have read is a sign of stress so I have been giving him his space to adjust. He is in a 40 gallon inclosure, has a repti-sun 10.0 uv light and a 150 watt basking light, its 110 on his basking side and 80 on the cool side. He gets a diet of crickets, Phoenix worms, dubia roaches and dandelion greens. He's not a big fan of greens but he picks at them here and there and it started off with a small appetite but has generally progressed to eating a lot more. My concern is in addition to not wanting to be handled he gets very active at night and starts climbing the rock face background on his inclosure, he often will climb all the way to the screen and try and climb on that. At first I thought maybe he just likes to climb but yesterday he started glass surfing. So I am trying to understand if the two behaviors are related and if so how I can help him? Does he just need more time to settle in? Should I keep doing what I am doing and be patient? At what point should I get worried? There is so much information out there sometimes it can make your head spin so wanted to see what everyone here has to think from actual experience. Thanks in advance for any response.