ciaramcmullen":18mb8nk1 said:
Hii everyone
i just got a new baby beardie less than a week ago from petsmart and i was seeing if anyone could answer a couple questions about him.
my first question is rex seems to not eat very much maybe only one time a day , is this normal for new babies ?
my second question is whenever i lean up close to the tank and start talking to him he comes up to where i am and cocks his head a couple times then closes his eyes , is this good behavior or normal ?
my third question is when should i start handling him like picking him up and etc most the time he doesn’t seem to mind me petting him but i’m so nervous and get startled easily when i try to pick him up
my last question i swear lol rex seems to scratch his head a lot on his wooden cave why is that ?
1) Yes, relocation stress will definitely put a baby off its feed for a bit. How old is Rex? Try offering small numbers of bugs 3x a day and have a salad available throughout the day. Babies may not eat much salad - though you can also try hand-feeding it, and might have more success. Use Karrie's trick with the worms on the salad to lure him in. I recommend BSFL - aka Phoenix worms, Nutrigrubs, CalciWorms - for babies. They're a bit pricey, depending on where you get them (most expensive from the Phoenix Worm store; I buy from DubiaRoaches.com) but are pretty much the BEST feeders for little dragons out there; they're so naturally high in Calcium that you don't have to dust them with anything (except vitamins on the recommended schedule).
Try to vary your feeders... remember that you can't leave crickets in the hab with your dragon, so a separate feeding bin for them might be good. Or you can buy a cricket-specific feeding cup, which minimizes (but doesn't prevent) crickets roaming in the hab. Many of us start off feeding crickets because they're convenient and available through pet stores, but eventually go over to Dubia roaches for a ton of reasons.
2) Talking to your dragon is a great way to build trust, and it does sound like he's enjoying it! I don't know why they close their eyes; sometimes it's a sign of relaxation and trust (I think this is the case for you) and sometimes it means "please stop doing what you're doing and leave me alone." Dragonspeake is hard for us primates to understand!
3) If you got him a week ago, you can probably start handling him now, in short, frequent, positive sessions. Conventional wisdom is that you want to give a new dragon about a week of no handling to settle in. Remember that little guys move very fast and think that the laws of gravity don't apply to them - so handle while seated, or over a soft surface, or in the tank. Short and frequent are the way to go, with hand feeding in between.
4) Head scratching might be that he's coming on to a shed... or it could be mites. Some pet stores are infested with the nasty little bugs. Keep an eye out for small red or black moving dots on your dragon or around the edges of his tank.
You might want to post a pic of your setup so we can help you out with the housing basics... lighting and substrate and such. If you bought a dragon starter kit, there is a LOT in those that you don't need or don't want to use, sadly.
Enjoy you new little guy, and welcome to the forum! This is the best place online for dragon advice, and the members here ROCK.