Last October, I took in a beardie. We got it off of Craigslist, from someone else. I'm not sure what exactly counts as a "rescue" beardie, but it was obviously pretty neglected and super unhealthy (I don't want to go into too many details, but it was really bad). We've been working really hard to make sure it's getting better, but we don't know much. We were told it was born around December 2017 and is a boy. However, I've done research and I'm pretty sure she's a girl. We haven't taken her to a vet yet (there aren't any inexpensive ones near us, and my dad doesn't think she needs it), so I'm not exactly sure how much her former owner lied about.
The problem is, recently she's been freaking out. Since we got here, she was super lethargic and her back legs basically didn't work. Recently, however, she's been running around everywhere and being a little bit of a tiny disaster. She's climbed up curtains, hung off of a bed, and jumped off of desks, beds, couches, you name it (they're never dangerous heights and we usually catch her). She doesn't exactly glass-surf, but she does ram her head into the glass and run around the outer edge of her tank a lot. I thought taking her out would make her less antsy, but the opposite is happening.
There are a lot of plausible sources for what's going on. I'm pretty sure her temps are OK for a normal beardie, but I know she usually likes colder temps so she might be upset because of the heat. I can't turn off her heat lamp, however, because then she gets too cold. I've also been opening the curtains recently - usually whenever we put her in front of a window she calms down and sits there happily for hours, but today she jumped off of my desk and into the window (she's not hurt in any way). There haven't been any major changes in her tank recently, but to be honest her tank is pretty boring and doesn't have a lot of stuff in it because she gets stressed out by new things. Also, I noticed today that the scales on her front legs are getting ready to shed, so that might be a problem (I don't remember if she got so antsy the last time she shed). She might be trying to communicate with us what she wants, but if so we don't get it at all. Once again, we're not exactly sure if she's a girl or a boy (girl is more plausible), so this may just be a normal lizard thing, or maybe she's egg-bearing (I don't think so, though). It's also getting warmer where we live, so maybe emotions just change with the seasons.
She's in a 40-gallon tank with a bulb UVB, basking light, and heat lamp. She eats dried mealworms, crickets, and grasshoppers, along with garden-grown collard greens and thawed green beans. She sleeps from around 9 PM to 7 AM, and I tuck her in every night. Her substrate is a rubber shelf liner (that she pulls up whenever she runs around). I haven't seen her drink water very much, but I'm at school most of the day so I can't check on her very often. She also HATES baths and gets super stressed, so I don't give them to her regularly unless she runs in her poop or gets messy.
Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong??
The problem is, recently she's been freaking out. Since we got here, she was super lethargic and her back legs basically didn't work. Recently, however, she's been running around everywhere and being a little bit of a tiny disaster. She's climbed up curtains, hung off of a bed, and jumped off of desks, beds, couches, you name it (they're never dangerous heights and we usually catch her). She doesn't exactly glass-surf, but she does ram her head into the glass and run around the outer edge of her tank a lot. I thought taking her out would make her less antsy, but the opposite is happening.
There are a lot of plausible sources for what's going on. I'm pretty sure her temps are OK for a normal beardie, but I know she usually likes colder temps so she might be upset because of the heat. I can't turn off her heat lamp, however, because then she gets too cold. I've also been opening the curtains recently - usually whenever we put her in front of a window she calms down and sits there happily for hours, but today she jumped off of my desk and into the window (she's not hurt in any way). There haven't been any major changes in her tank recently, but to be honest her tank is pretty boring and doesn't have a lot of stuff in it because she gets stressed out by new things. Also, I noticed today that the scales on her front legs are getting ready to shed, so that might be a problem (I don't remember if she got so antsy the last time she shed). She might be trying to communicate with us what she wants, but if so we don't get it at all. Once again, we're not exactly sure if she's a girl or a boy (girl is more plausible), so this may just be a normal lizard thing, or maybe she's egg-bearing (I don't think so, though). It's also getting warmer where we live, so maybe emotions just change with the seasons.
She's in a 40-gallon tank with a bulb UVB, basking light, and heat lamp. She eats dried mealworms, crickets, and grasshoppers, along with garden-grown collard greens and thawed green beans. She sleeps from around 9 PM to 7 AM, and I tuck her in every night. Her substrate is a rubber shelf liner (that she pulls up whenever she runs around). I haven't seen her drink water very much, but I'm at school most of the day so I can't check on her very often. She also HATES baths and gets super stressed, so I don't give them to her regularly unless she runs in her poop or gets messy.
Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong??