Meet Pascal

Hey guys! I just got a little beardie about a week an a half ago! I’m in love with him/her (too small to tell her) but at the same time it’s been a challenge! This may be a novel, but I’m really curious about a lot of things!

I have a few questions to ask and would love any and all feedback!
So, to begin, Pascal was purchased at a pet store in my local area. I have done a lot of reading as I am one of those people who want to provide the very best for their animal, but I get a lot of contradicting answers. I know beardies are all different but I feel like mine is an odd one out! So here we go!

1) Stress Marks: Pascal has had them from the time I brought it home a week and a half ago. They do not go away when sleeping either. I have read that it may not be stress but rather curiousity or interest in things. I have a 40 gallon tank and that has a desert side and a cooler side. I have a basking lamp and temps are anywhere from 85-100, I adjust as needed. I have a UVB lamp that Pascal hangs out under all the time also. I will post a picture of everything for feedback. Humidity has stayed in the range of 40 or below except when I turn the lamps off for the night. Then they get to 60ish. Temps stay 80 or above during this time also.

2) Bathing: Absolutely hates it. Will not for the life of me let me put him in any water. The one exception was when he was having a full shed, he fought with me for a bit, but I got him to stay maybe 4 or 5 minutes in it. I take water and drip it all over him at times and he doesn’t seem to mind that. I have a pool in his setup but he hasn’t got interested in it yet.

3) Doesn’t like to be handled much at all. Tries to scurry away a lot. Seems to be easier when he is tired though. Doesn’t mind being pet here and there but sometimes runs away from me when I try to pet him. Other times when he lets me pet him he closes his eyes. Not sure if he wants me to go away or actually likes it.

4) I have cats...3 to be exact. They like to stare him down any chance they get. They are finally starting to get bored of him, but from time to time I find them watching him intently. He just sits there and watches them and sometimes will jump down from his tree and try to attack them. And will sit there and stare them down for a good while.

5) Food: when I first got him I was feeding him crickets and mealworms. They were a little on the big side, so I switched to smaller ones. He has been passing stools fine and almost daily. I spray them with calcium before I give them also. Recently he has declined every insect I have tried to feed him other than crickets. No complaints but I just like giving a variety. I feed the crickets calcium food and calcium water thinkers. I offer a salad during the day when I’m gone at work which contains romaine lettuce, tomato, green pepper, strawberries, and occasionally carrots. I spray this with calcium also. It is all cut up rather fine also. I have only seen him eat the lettuce though.

That’s all I can think of at the moment, thanks for any and all responses! Oh and I don’t use substrate, just the reptile green mat stuff!

Welcome to the forum! I'll do my best to address your questions but feel free to ask more if you'd like.

1) The term stress marks is a bit deceptive. The little guys show the belly lines when they darken. This is often just related to them basking and trying to absorb heat/light and not an indicator of mood or stress. Dark colors can indicate stress but more often than not this is basking related and is quite common with young dragons. Please do post some photos of your setup and I'll be glad to review it to make sure everything is just right.

2) If he hates baths don't offer them. They aren't worth the stress if they don't like it and some don't. That's OK. Reserve bathing just for when they really need it (run through poop etc). They do just fine without baths.

3) It sounds like he is more energetic and curious which has a lot to do with running off. This is again pretty common with young dragons. If you have a safe place for him to explore go ahead and let him run around a bit. Just keep a very close eye on him so he doesn't get hidden too easily. If he backs off when you try to pet him I'd let him be. If he closes his eyes he is tolerating it. I'm not sure if it indicates relaxation or annoyance. Maybe both =). You'll get a better handle on his moods and body language as time goes on.

4) Be very careful with him around cats. Ignore my advice above about letting him roam freely if the cats are anywhere nearby. They can sometimes just be curious about them but they can turn on them and cause some real harm if they want to so it's not worth the risk to let them get anywhere near eachother. It's good to take extra steps to secure the entrance to the enclosure so they can't get into it when you aren't around.

5) It's good that you are trying to offer a variety of bugs. He may be losing interest in food during a shed which is common and should return to normal when the shed is done. They also go through picky phases sometimes and prefer one feeder over another so it's good to have a variety. Small crickets and roaches are good as are silk worms and black soldier fly larvae. I'd keep those all on regular rotation. For salads, it's also good to offer variety but he may not be interested in favor of bugs which is OK. He needs protein to support growth spurts. It's good to offer a daily salad though so he is used to it as an available food source. As he reaches full size his metabolism will slow and he should start eating more veges than bugs so it's good to introduce him to veges early. I like to reference this list for ideas and use 2-3 items in each salad on a rotating basis depending on what looks fresh at the store http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

If you'd like to share photos of your new buddy and his setup, you can upload them here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your threads using the XIMG button when you reply.

It's showing me that I attached photos, but maybe they don't show. I'll take a few more and upload them tomorrow so you can see what's going on! Don't mind the name Kalameet on the tank...that was his name at first, but it didn't stick!

1) Awesome! Thank you so much! I get so worried over the little things and just want to make sure he's well taken care of!

2) I figured he would like them as when I had a shallow dish in there with water he would always poop in it. Maybe he was just stressed out from having a shed and I will try again later when he's settled and if he doesn't like it, then so be it! I was just excited to install a pool into his home haha.

3) Sounds good! He seems to be more relaxed the longer I have him. Instead of trying to hold him still this evening, I let him wander around a bit. He didn't run away from us and hide, but kept close-ish and was checking out new things. He likes to taste lots of things with his tongue, which kind of worries me as I have carpet and don't want him ingesting anything and of course, cats track around cat litter every so often. So I like to keep a close eye on him, but he's all spunk right now. Doesn't hiss or puff up at all so I think I'm doing "ok," according to him.

4) Pascal has his own little room to himself. The cats aren't allowed in there if me or my fiance isn't around so no worries on that! They are closely monitored!

5) I can't wait until he eats veggies more than bugs. I absolutely hate bugs so I'm hoping to get him accustomed to them young in the hopes he isn't too picky when he grows up. I have tried offering wax worms a couple times as a treat or days when he doesn't eat much (leading up to a shed...) but he isn't interested. I'm thinking about dubia roaches, but goodness, do all of these things freak me out. I feed him with a feeding tongs...he's really lazy. He does not like to chase his food at all. He sits and waits until it is right in front of him...That's why I switched to the tongs as I felt like he wasn't eating enough because he's a lazy one haha, but loves to run around when I want to hold him...

6) I tried putting a background on his tank so he wouldn't see his reflection that much, but when I did it, I could see reflection just as much or more. I mean he doesn't really attack his reflection much at all, but I figured it would help with his "stress" levels as I thought that was what his markings were. I plan on switching to tile when I can instead of reptile carpet as it is easier to clean also. Another thing I forgot to mention. He seems to be spending more time in his UVB light than his basking area (UVA). Is that something I should worry about? The temp is a little under 100 degrees in his tank at the moment (not sure what that would make the basking area). It's hot where I live today. I keep adjusting it to cool it down, but it's picky today.

It's good that he is curious and wandering around. Ingesting small things is a concern that needs to be addressed regularly. I also have carpet and understand. Just need to vacuum regularly to make sure the carpet is as clean as possible. Part of their investigations include licking everything to find out more so it's just something to keep in mind. Totally normal behavior for them.

If he is under his UVB light a lot, he probably needs lots of UVB. The UVB light should be over the basking area right next to the basking light so the heat and strongest UVB are spread over the basking area together (as closely as possible).