Floof
Juvie Member
Okay, when Man Ray first discovered the existence of females and hit his delayed "puberty," watching him parade around his tank black-bearding and head-bobbing was pretty entertaining.
But that was 6 months ago, at the start of September, and he's still going on about it... In fact, it seems to have gotten worse! At first, he still ate everything in sight, and seemed to act pretty normal--moderately active, thermoregulating normally--the only change was the beard displays.
Now, though, he spends his days brooding in a corner or on his basking spot, head bobbing viciously at his reflection. He's too busy throwing these hormonal fits to do much of anything... He hardly touches food--he won't give veggies a second look (I've taken to sneaking bits and pieces into the corner of his mouth when he isn't looking to make up for it), and even when it comes to crickets, he'll eat a few, then go back to head bobbing and black-bearding... Eat a few more, throw another fit... So on and so forth, but never more than 10 or 12 crickets--despite eating hardly anything else.
This whole thing is really starting to get old, and I'm worried for his health!! I just started a round of Panacur today to hit a mild parasitic infection, so I hope that'll help the appetite part of it... But I really need a solution to curb this behavior.
Is there any way to turn the pubescent brat back into my sweet baby boy? Or at least a way to get him to remember eating is better than challenging his reflection? I'm completely at a loss... I tried covering the sides of the enclosure (on the inside) to eliminate reflections, blocked his line of sight to the girls' tanks (working on moving them to a different room completely), even played with his tank size--moved him from his 36x18x18" enclosure to a 100 gallon (72x18x21") then down to a 75 gallon (48x18x21") because the huge space increase and the ridiculously reflective back of the 100 gallon seemed to just make matters worse.
Any other ideas to try calming him down? I'm sure there's something I haven't thought of!!
If it helps, his enclosure specs at the moment: 75 gal tank, approx 100-105F basking spot/low to mid 70s cool end. 100 watt Powersun MVB (brand new as of last month), about 15-16" from the basking spot for heat/UVB and an 18" fluorescent along the middle/back for extra light. Light cycle is 12 hrs on/12 hrs off (give or take half an hour). Substrate is non-stick shelf liner. A photo of the set-up.. You can see Man Ray off to the right, sporting his usual jet black beard display:
But that was 6 months ago, at the start of September, and he's still going on about it... In fact, it seems to have gotten worse! At first, he still ate everything in sight, and seemed to act pretty normal--moderately active, thermoregulating normally--the only change was the beard displays.
Now, though, he spends his days brooding in a corner or on his basking spot, head bobbing viciously at his reflection. He's too busy throwing these hormonal fits to do much of anything... He hardly touches food--he won't give veggies a second look (I've taken to sneaking bits and pieces into the corner of his mouth when he isn't looking to make up for it), and even when it comes to crickets, he'll eat a few, then go back to head bobbing and black-bearding... Eat a few more, throw another fit... So on and so forth, but never more than 10 or 12 crickets--despite eating hardly anything else.
This whole thing is really starting to get old, and I'm worried for his health!! I just started a round of Panacur today to hit a mild parasitic infection, so I hope that'll help the appetite part of it... But I really need a solution to curb this behavior.
Is there any way to turn the pubescent brat back into my sweet baby boy? Or at least a way to get him to remember eating is better than challenging his reflection? I'm completely at a loss... I tried covering the sides of the enclosure (on the inside) to eliminate reflections, blocked his line of sight to the girls' tanks (working on moving them to a different room completely), even played with his tank size--moved him from his 36x18x18" enclosure to a 100 gallon (72x18x21") then down to a 75 gallon (48x18x21") because the huge space increase and the ridiculously reflective back of the 100 gallon seemed to just make matters worse.
Any other ideas to try calming him down? I'm sure there's something I haven't thought of!!
If it helps, his enclosure specs at the moment: 75 gal tank, approx 100-105F basking spot/low to mid 70s cool end. 100 watt Powersun MVB (brand new as of last month), about 15-16" from the basking spot for heat/UVB and an 18" fluorescent along the middle/back for extra light. Light cycle is 12 hrs on/12 hrs off (give or take half an hour). Substrate is non-stick shelf liner. A photo of the set-up.. You can see Man Ray off to the right, sporting his usual jet black beard display:
