So, I have two Beardies. One is a teeny bit older than the other, by about a month we think. They were gotten as teeny babies back in August. We put together a 65gl living terrarium for them with desert conditions. The substrate is about 3/4 coconut shavings and 1/4 coarse sand. It has worked really well and there is a thriving population of spring tails and isopods in the litter of leaves and random organic junk, with an Elephant-feed succulent, even somebody in there making baby crickets since we see them too. The substrate is approximately 3 inches deep across the terrarium and packed down.
The Beardy we're discussing today is the bigger one, his name is Diggy (Ironically.) Diggy is about 10 inches long now and a fat cow. He/She eats like a horse and I haven't noticed a lack of appetite over the last few days. He had his normal dinner last night and slept in his normal sand pit that he digs in the corner every night (he rarely buries himself and if he does leaves his head exposed. This morning we woke to the normal routeing of basking on his raised branch perch thingy. Breakfast includes a bowl full of fresh kale and he always gets hand fed a few little leaves, same as this morning, nothing was different. About an hour later we were laughing at Diggy's tenacious tunneling as he began digging a hole, at first straight down, then when he hit the glass on the bottom, started digging horizontally. He is now at least a foot away from his original hole, having traversed sideways underground across the tank. His excavation has filled the tunnel in behind him and he's now completely buried and sealed in (his own doin.)
The substrate is pretty dense but I don't have a huge concern about him suffocating, although the worry exists in the back of my head. He's been underground all day. No basking, no movement, missed lunch. Reading up on this, I see he might be prepping to hibernate or if he's really a she, they like to tunnel to lay eggs. But remember he is at most, 5 months old, so I doubt this. Anyway, The Question is, how long should I let him stay down there before mounting a rescue mission and go after him like a toddler trapped in an old well?
Thanks guy's, this is a new behavior for him and we're kinda biting our nails over it.
The Beardy we're discussing today is the bigger one, his name is Diggy (Ironically.) Diggy is about 10 inches long now and a fat cow. He/She eats like a horse and I haven't noticed a lack of appetite over the last few days. He had his normal dinner last night and slept in his normal sand pit that he digs in the corner every night (he rarely buries himself and if he does leaves his head exposed. This morning we woke to the normal routeing of basking on his raised branch perch thingy. Breakfast includes a bowl full of fresh kale and he always gets hand fed a few little leaves, same as this morning, nothing was different. About an hour later we were laughing at Diggy's tenacious tunneling as he began digging a hole, at first straight down, then when he hit the glass on the bottom, started digging horizontally. He is now at least a foot away from his original hole, having traversed sideways underground across the tank. His excavation has filled the tunnel in behind him and he's now completely buried and sealed in (his own doin.)
The substrate is pretty dense but I don't have a huge concern about him suffocating, although the worry exists in the back of my head. He's been underground all day. No basking, no movement, missed lunch. Reading up on this, I see he might be prepping to hibernate or if he's really a she, they like to tunnel to lay eggs. But remember he is at most, 5 months old, so I doubt this. Anyway, The Question is, how long should I let him stay down there before mounting a rescue mission and go after him like a toddler trapped in an old well?
Thanks guy's, this is a new behavior for him and we're kinda biting our nails over it.