New Dragon, New Owner...

Hello everyone....first time dragon owner here. I've had many lizards before, started with Anoles when I was a kid, which eventually turned in to leopard geckos, african fat tails, tokay, green iguana. It's been a few years since I've had a reptile, so my wife and I did alot of research and decided on a dragon. He's 9.5 inches long, any rough guess for an age? His name is Draper.

He has a spacious tank (although, I'd like to look in to a custom 'furniture' like enclosure. Luckily enough I work for a custom wood shop), we had one of those 'bad' lights on him for 2 days (zilla), since we purchased a reptisun 10.0 tube, and got temps at 104 basking, 78 in the shady area, and it gets to about 68-71 at night in the house. We had to wait a day before the new reptisun light got here, so I took him (I think it's a him) outside in a tub to soak in the sun, and he loved it. I was surprised when he ate some crickets and worms within the first couple hours that we put him in his new enclosure.

We had him at about coffee table height, but whenever the cats would come by he'd tense up, or get in to his cave. So we moved him up about another 3-4 feet, so he's about at our eye level now. He can see the cats walk by still, but they can't see him (curious cats they are). Now I wonder if he really doesn't like cats. He seems to be getting more skittish, so I put up a small barrier so he can't really see down to the ground. We're going on 8 days now, and his appetite seems to be diminishing. Today he hasn't touched his food, and he did not want his daily soak, but I did notice that he is shedding, he left some skin in the water when he bolted. He never runs when we mist him...and he loves drinking from my wife's hand, he licks up the droplets.

I'm hoping that it's just my parental instinct to try to help little Draper....and it's unfounded.

He also seems to like to sleep in in the mornings. I turn on his light when I get up, and my wife doesn't leave for work until a few hours later. He rarely gets out of his cave while she's here. She puts out food for him every day, fresh veggies and some protein critters. When I get home he is usually basking, and the protein is gone, but he rarely eats very much veg. We did coax him to eat some blended apples, and a small amount of collard greens though.

Anyway, I'm sure he'll be fine, but he's got me worried.....but it's only been 7 days!

Just wanted to check if you veteran dragon owners have any advice, or see any warning signs.

He gets very relaxed on his rock, like to let his feet 'drape'.


...and he's a very handsome guy, like is namesake from the TV show MadMen.

Oh my goodness! So much congrats on getting your first beardie!

It also sounds like you're obviously know what your doing, which is awesome. :3

And if he has trouble eating vegs, try putting mealworms in there? For some reason my beardie wouldnt eat anything until i gave him Romaine lettuce. that's all he will REALLY eat.

Anyway, congrats again, and i hope you enjoy your new beardie! He looks really cool.It looks like he's sexy Legging!


-Kassie

congrats and welcome to the world of beardies (and worrying!).

you have a pretty young dragon, and they tend to eat more protein than veggies. not sure of the age since they grow at different rates, but maybe 10 or 11 weeks old.

you can try withholding the protein to get him to go for the veggies, or you can drop in the meaty food one at a time to get him to chase after it. then drop in the veggies, he'll go for it thinking it's live food. this might help get him used to eating it.

is he pooping daily? if he hasn't pooped he won't want to eat.

and if he's going through a whole body shed he will be cranky. a soft-bristled toothbrush will help on the dry skin, plus it's a good way to bond.

you can also try introducing him to the cats - if they don't really bother you reptiles. once he licks them and sees that they won't attack him he might relax a little.

Please do not feed you baby mealworms, too much risk of impaction. And no lettuce either, any salad type food that has lettuce in the description is of no nutritional value and useless to feed your baby. Beautifuldragons.com has a wonderful food list that most here go by. I usually give my baby her greens and veggies first in the morning. Just try different things till you find one she likes. Mine goes for collard greens, acorn or butternut squash, sometimes mango.

Thanks for the replies!

We've had some good luck the past couple of days with poops. The baths do wonders. 3 poops in 7 days, hopefully he'll become more regular as he settles in.

He really likes being out of the tank, so far we've kept the cats in another room while he's out.

I have 3 cats and two mini long haired dachshunds. They all hang out together..although I never trust the cats completley. For the most part they are pretty nice to my baby..the dogs could care less about the dragon any more. Just give it some te

Ive been reading about phoenix worms and silk worms. Anybody use these?

I have tried both, my girl didn't care for the phoenix worms,,AT ALL!! The silkworms she liked, also butter worms, wax worms,,just for treats the wax worms!, hornworms, but they get really big, really fast! Dubia roaches are good too. Just make sure that whatever you feed her is the proper size so she doesn't get impacted. Nothing bigger than the space BETWEEN her eyes.

For the past couple of days he mostly wants to hide. He seems to act normal when we take him out, but when put him back he usually doesn't waste much time before he heads to his cave. I hear him digging under there all the time. He ate 4-5 crickets all day yesterday. :|

I went back and read your original post. What are you measuring your temps with? It sounds like it is too hot in the viv for him. That is generally a pretty good reason they will want to hide in their cave, to try to get cooler.

Ive have a stick on temp (cheapo) in the back....and i use a digital with probe to check different spots in the tank. Im fairly certain his temps are ok.

The past couple of days he doesnt even come out after the lights have been off all night. He comes out after everyone leaves. When i get home he's usually out basking. Then goes back in to the cave when i open the door to feed him.

Then I have to take his hide out of the cage to pick him up for his bath.

You can try removing the hide when you come home. It seems more like he is hiding from you. It might take a while for him to get used to his new home. Sometimes well over 2 weeks. Just keep handling him everyday. Let him fall asleep on you wrapped in a little blanket.

Are you leaving the probe on the BASKING SURFACE for at least 45 minutes before taking the final reading? Then the same for the hot side and cool side??

There was a little progress today, I left out a bowl of collard greens and sweet potato, and he picked out all of the potato, and left the greens. I put more out for him when I noticed this. He ate a few crickets, I'm talking 4 (not as many as I'd like to see). I also introduced him to the cats. One was very curious and sniffed Draper ALOT, the other cat didn't even notice (or just didn't care). This was only a 5 minute greeting, Draper seemed on alarm, but content to sit in my hand.

It has been relatively warm here near Seattle, and we don't use the AC. The high here was around 82, and it's about 79 in the house right now. Currently I have two probes hooked up. The basking probe says 104.2, and the cool side is 88. Maybe it's too warm for him?

The sun just went down, and now the temp says 103.5...it's been in there for about 1.5 hours.


Still 88 on the cool side. When I checked this morning at 6:30am, it was 71. The alarm is set to go off if this hits 95....not sure why I picked this #...but thought it would be safe. ?


They both seem pretty accurate.

I gave him his daily bath today, and he did his daily duty.

The temps seem fine to me.. maybe he's just shy?? I think you are doing a pretty good job with him, glad the introductions with the cats went well.