Woo boy, guess I'm back here, haha! It's been some time since I've posted on the forums, but lately I've been in a bit of a tizzy with Tiamat (the beardie in question) and I'd love some help in regards to her behavior! It's fairly minor, but any reassurance helps. 
The other day, Tia began to start puffing her beard a bit when she was basking. It was infrequent enough that I thought nothing of it, but today, she's already done it 4 times and at varying intervals. It isn't exclusive to the morning, either. Just at 4pm she did it again!
Normally I'd attribute this to basking and stretching, but its often accompanied by her scrabbling her her hide (though never reaching the top plateau) THEN puffing. As if she's frustrated by something.
Since I'm worst case scenario gal, I immediately started looking at RI symptoms, but she shares none of them. No saliva, no drainage, no gasping, coughing, lethargy, etc. She's bright and would eat as many crickets and dubias as she could fit in her fat little tummy, and runs around the floor like a maniac. I've never caught a noise from the behavior either, though I might have missed some.
She also just finished a shed about a day ago, so I doubt it's puffing to loosen a new one, seeing as her body coloration hasn't even begun to change again.
This behavior is also never accompanied by a black beard nor is it every a full beard puff, though on one occasion I did catch the verrrryyyyy edge of her beard turning the slightest shade of grey.
Any ideas on why she might be doing this? This is entirely new behavior, haha. I've never seen her do this before, and since I'm a new owner, I don't know what the best course of action should be, if any action at all is needed. So I'm just making sure we're all good!
Just for clarity:
- She's 5 months old and 15 inches.
- Her UVB is a reptisun tube light (I threw away the box and I forget the exact wattage, but I can assure it was recommended to me by many on here! I believe it's either an 8.5 or a 10)
- She has an 100 wat heat lamp (originally a 120. Recently the 120 died, so we're using a 100 until we can get back out)
- She's in a 40 gallon.
- Humidity is 40-45 on average.
- Her diet consists of a nice mixture of crickets, dubias, BSFL, mustard greens, carrots and the occasional grape as a treat.
- I opened the cage door that her hide is right next too to see if that would curb the puffing, thinking that maybe her reflection was upsetting her. Since opening it and letting her look out, she has not puffed, but I just thought that was interesting. Maybe she was bored?
edit;; here are some images! Please excuse her jabba-neck, lol! She's a bit overweight since she doesn't move around a lot in her tank, only when we take her out. It's very boring in there. I also used to overfeed her due to some prior advice from another owner on facebook, so we're working on getting her back to mean and lean!
The other day, Tia began to start puffing her beard a bit when she was basking. It was infrequent enough that I thought nothing of it, but today, she's already done it 4 times and at varying intervals. It isn't exclusive to the morning, either. Just at 4pm she did it again!
Normally I'd attribute this to basking and stretching, but its often accompanied by her scrabbling her her hide (though never reaching the top plateau) THEN puffing. As if she's frustrated by something.
Since I'm worst case scenario gal, I immediately started looking at RI symptoms, but she shares none of them. No saliva, no drainage, no gasping, coughing, lethargy, etc. She's bright and would eat as many crickets and dubias as she could fit in her fat little tummy, and runs around the floor like a maniac. I've never caught a noise from the behavior either, though I might have missed some.
She also just finished a shed about a day ago, so I doubt it's puffing to loosen a new one, seeing as her body coloration hasn't even begun to change again.
This behavior is also never accompanied by a black beard nor is it every a full beard puff, though on one occasion I did catch the verrrryyyyy edge of her beard turning the slightest shade of grey.
Any ideas on why she might be doing this? This is entirely new behavior, haha. I've never seen her do this before, and since I'm a new owner, I don't know what the best course of action should be, if any action at all is needed. So I'm just making sure we're all good!
Just for clarity:
- She's 5 months old and 15 inches.
- Her UVB is a reptisun tube light (I threw away the box and I forget the exact wattage, but I can assure it was recommended to me by many on here! I believe it's either an 8.5 or a 10)
- She has an 100 wat heat lamp (originally a 120. Recently the 120 died, so we're using a 100 until we can get back out)
- She's in a 40 gallon.
- Humidity is 40-45 on average.
- Her diet consists of a nice mixture of crickets, dubias, BSFL, mustard greens, carrots and the occasional grape as a treat.
- I opened the cage door that her hide is right next too to see if that would curb the puffing, thinking that maybe her reflection was upsetting her. Since opening it and letting her look out, she has not puffed, but I just thought that was interesting. Maybe she was bored?
edit;; here are some images! Please excuse her jabba-neck, lol! She's a bit overweight since she doesn't move around a lot in her tank, only when we take her out. It's very boring in there. I also used to overfeed her due to some prior advice from another owner on facebook, so we're working on getting her back to mean and lean!
