Cookie seems to be doing well!

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Hello all! I’ve had my first dragon for about three weeks now, and so far it has been an incredibly rewarding experience. I am absolutely in love with my little lizard.

Some updates I’d like to share, as I’ve learned more since I first posted my initial questions.

For starters, I’m fairly certain she’s actually female from what I can tell, and thus I’ve named her Cookie (no longer going by the temp name Buddy). It really suits her! I also had really misjudged her length- I guessed at about 6in initially, but ended up actually measuring her and she was 9. Three weeks later, I just measured her tonight and she’s about 10 now!

I have her in a 20L tank (given as a gift when I got her) but I’m now looking at much larger tanks as I think it’s time to give her some more space to grow already. I have my eye on a nice 48x18x18 front-opener.

She’s a little skittish, but I just chalk that up to her being young and still getting used to me. I try to handle her for at least a few minutes everyday.. just long enough until she starts getting really restless. I’m hoping that in time and as she gets a bit older, she’ll relax a bit and hang out on me like so many other dragons do with their owners. She doesn’t run from me when I put my hand in her tank and she always lets me pet her. She also really loves when I hand-feed her! So I’m taking all of that as good news, but any tips on handling would be appreciated.

She eats her veggies everyday and is usually good about her feeders, too. Sometimes she’ll skip either her AM or PM feeding, or a whole day altogether. I don’t allow myself to worry too much about this since she has not yet refused food for more than one day, but should I be more alarmed by this? I’m mainly feeding her live (dusted) crickets. I experimented with Phoenix worms... at first I ordered them way too small and she just wasn’t interested. Then I ordered larger ones and she loved eating them when I fed them to her one-by-one, but didn’t seem to care about eating them from her dish. And then they started turning to flies in their containers since she wasn’t going through them as quickly as I had hoped. She did like eating the flies (I gave her two and she gobbled them right up) but they’re a little expensive to be going to waste.

She is also MUCH more skittish after feeding. When I go to pick her up to move her from the feeding bin back into her tank, she immediately just runs and tries to jump out of my hand. Any thoughts on the reasoning for this? I don’t try to remove her until she has stopped eating, so I don’t think she’s still just trying to feed.

She goes to the bathroom every other day pretty consistently, sometimes two days in a row. Always either in her water dish or directly next to it on a paper towel which I leave there for quick and easy cleanup.

She does not seem to enjoy bath time which kind of baffles me. Is that normal? I keep it shallow and warm (not hot). But when I place her in the water, she just freezes up for a couple minutes and then starts trying to climb out of the bin. This being the case, is it ok for me to just not bathe her? I spray her veggies with filtered water, so I believe she’s ok as far as hydration goes.

The last thing I wonder about is that she rarely ever leaves the hot side of her tank. I have thermometers on both ends, and am diligent about keeping the proper temp- to the point that our heat in our house went out for a few days and I set up a space heater just for the area her tank is kept in during that time, while my bf and I suffered cold nights in our bedroom.. he thought I was being ridiculous:) I’ve heard some dragons just enjoy the heat more than others? She does switch between lower and higher areas of the branch on that side- maybe that’s all the thermoregulating she needs.

Besides these questions, she seems generally content and healthy. I love her to pieces and already can’t wait to add a few more dragons to my home. I even have a nannycam set up at her tank so I can check in on her while I’m at the office! I’d love to post a few of the hundreds of photos I’ve taken of her, so I’ll try to figure out how to do that soon.
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Sounds like Cookie is doing well!
I've only had my boy since Thanksgiving and he's adult so I certainly have no answers for your concerns. Would love to see pics of your little girl. ?
-Dee
 

DragonPete

Sub-Adult Member
Oh! She is so cute! Since my boy is grown, I didn't get to experience all that 'baby' cuteness. But he's handsome and I love him. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. But nothing cuter than the babies!?
-Dee
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Cookie is adorable & growing well! :D
Terrific job with her she looks so happy. It sounds like she is adjusting nicely for you.

Tracie
 
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Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
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