peera
Sub-Adult Member
So Monday we came home with yet another dragon who is much younger and perhaps slightly more "special needs" than our other 2 (Gibby is 8, Dora is three, and I've had both less than a year, so I've never dealt with a baby before). I had to bring her home because I've never seen such horrible stress marks, which have nearly disappeared now.
The girl who had her swears up and down she is 9 months old, but she's only about 9 1/2 inches and 40 grams. She says she got her when she was 3 months old, so I'm wondering if she misunderstood and she was actually 3 WEEKS, but even at 6-7 months, she's still very small, isn't she? Will she keep growing if I feed her or could her growth be permanently stunted? She seems perfectly healthy and very alert and aware, the fact that she's tiny is the only physical thing I can see that seems wrong.
She's been fed crickets and greens every day (but the cage has a gap the crickets can escape from, so I'm thinking she probably only gave her a few at a time so they didn't escape, and letting 3-4 crickets at a time lose would get old fast, I imagine. I have a seperate feeding tank.) Monday night she ate about 15 for me. Tuesday morning she had 8, and I wasn't able to get her to eat any that evening. I haven't tried yet this morning. They've all been calcium/vitamin dusted. Her salad is always availible to her, atm it's collard greens and squash, but I haven't seen her display any real interest in it.
She's currently without a UVB bulb because she came with a coil UVB and I decided it was probably better to take it out while we waited for the ReptiSun I ordered to arrive. I seem to recall that no/bad UVB can stunt growth too, so will getting the right tube in help her grow?
There's also a smaller issue with the fact that she really hasn't been handled that often, and has never been handled outside of her tank, so picking her up and holding her is a huge ordeal that completely stresses her out. When I pick her up, I put my hand in the tank and hold it at her eye level so she doesn't feel like I'm "swooping" in at her, and then pet her head for a minute or two until she seems to relax, but then I go to pick her up and she's halfway across the tank so fast it makes my head spin, lol. Should I just give up on holding her for a few days and concentrate on petting and hand-feeding to show her I'm not going to hurt her? My other thought was to try holding her in the morning before she's had time to warm up and become more active. I'd really like to give her a bath, but as long as she's next to impossible to hold I don't think that's such a hot idea.
Any advice you've got will be very welcome! I don't mind a tiny dragon as I have no intentions of breeding her, but if there's anything I can do to help her live up to her potential, I'd love to know so I can do it. Thanks!
Oh, and I do intend on taking her to the vet, but the closest herp vet I trust is a 3 hour drive so it'll be at least next week.
And she is not currently being kept in the same area of the house as our other 2, you actually have to go outside to get from one place to another so there aren't even doors connecting the areas, so they wouldn't be causing her any extra stress, I wouldn't think.
The girl who had her swears up and down she is 9 months old, but she's only about 9 1/2 inches and 40 grams. She says she got her when she was 3 months old, so I'm wondering if she misunderstood and she was actually 3 WEEKS, but even at 6-7 months, she's still very small, isn't she? Will she keep growing if I feed her or could her growth be permanently stunted? She seems perfectly healthy and very alert and aware, the fact that she's tiny is the only physical thing I can see that seems wrong.
She's been fed crickets and greens every day (but the cage has a gap the crickets can escape from, so I'm thinking she probably only gave her a few at a time so they didn't escape, and letting 3-4 crickets at a time lose would get old fast, I imagine. I have a seperate feeding tank.) Monday night she ate about 15 for me. Tuesday morning she had 8, and I wasn't able to get her to eat any that evening. I haven't tried yet this morning. They've all been calcium/vitamin dusted. Her salad is always availible to her, atm it's collard greens and squash, but I haven't seen her display any real interest in it.
She's currently without a UVB bulb because she came with a coil UVB and I decided it was probably better to take it out while we waited for the ReptiSun I ordered to arrive. I seem to recall that no/bad UVB can stunt growth too, so will getting the right tube in help her grow?
There's also a smaller issue with the fact that she really hasn't been handled that often, and has never been handled outside of her tank, so picking her up and holding her is a huge ordeal that completely stresses her out. When I pick her up, I put my hand in the tank and hold it at her eye level so she doesn't feel like I'm "swooping" in at her, and then pet her head for a minute or two until she seems to relax, but then I go to pick her up and she's halfway across the tank so fast it makes my head spin, lol. Should I just give up on holding her for a few days and concentrate on petting and hand-feeding to show her I'm not going to hurt her? My other thought was to try holding her in the morning before she's had time to warm up and become more active. I'd really like to give her a bath, but as long as she's next to impossible to hold I don't think that's such a hot idea.
Any advice you've got will be very welcome! I don't mind a tiny dragon as I have no intentions of breeding her, but if there's anything I can do to help her live up to her potential, I'd love to know so I can do it. Thanks!
Oh, and I do intend on taking her to the vet, but the closest herp vet I trust is a 3 hour drive so it'll be at least next week.
And she is not currently being kept in the same area of the house as our other 2, you actually have to go outside to get from one place to another so there aren't even doors connecting the areas, so they wouldn't be causing her any extra stress, I wouldn't think.