Hi there-
I'm new to the site and just made my formal introduction on that thread.
Anyway, I got my first ever reptile in December, a leopard gecko, and just adopted a baby beardie a week and a half ago, named Barnaby Dragon. He was hatched only Dec 19, so he's a wee baby still. He experienced a lot of stress when I got him, which I take responsibility for, because, although I researched and researched bearded dragons before I got him, I never heard about relocation stress or any of that until after I got him and realized he was stressing.
So anyway, I handled him a bit, and switched things around a bit after he moved in. I now realize that this stuff was wrong, and I regret it. As a result of taking a bit longer to adjust, he hadn't been eating or basking, and that was worrisome to me. He also wasn't really basking at first, but now he climbs on the wall and gets some heat and UVB that way.
His diet consists of gut-loaded dubias and turnip greens - and he only ate a few dubias, and they were ones that escaped out of his bowl when I was figuring things out. He went a couple days without eating after that, and I realized that he is maybe too nervous to explore his enclosure and discover his food down below. He was really worrying me and getting weak and skinny looking. So, as an experiment, I gently put him on his basking log and plopped a dubia in front of him and he gobbled it right up. He managed to eat 4 yesterday morning, 2 more after work, and 3 this morning. I felt good about this, until I started wondering - am I doing the right thing? I mean, should I really be handling him like this and just keep putting the critters in front of his face? Or should I put them in a bowl down below and hope he eventually chills out and notices they are there?
I am feeling like I'm trying to control the situation a lot and make him eat when he might need more time. I am committed to this little guy and want to do right by him. Any and all advice would be super appreciated!
By the way, I'm using a mercury vapor light in a deep dome on one side of his enclosure, and all the temps are in the zones they should be in. I have one of those laser thermometer thingies.
I'm new to the site and just made my formal introduction on that thread.
Anyway, I got my first ever reptile in December, a leopard gecko, and just adopted a baby beardie a week and a half ago, named Barnaby Dragon. He was hatched only Dec 19, so he's a wee baby still. He experienced a lot of stress when I got him, which I take responsibility for, because, although I researched and researched bearded dragons before I got him, I never heard about relocation stress or any of that until after I got him and realized he was stressing.
So anyway, I handled him a bit, and switched things around a bit after he moved in. I now realize that this stuff was wrong, and I regret it. As a result of taking a bit longer to adjust, he hadn't been eating or basking, and that was worrisome to me. He also wasn't really basking at first, but now he climbs on the wall and gets some heat and UVB that way.
His diet consists of gut-loaded dubias and turnip greens - and he only ate a few dubias, and they were ones that escaped out of his bowl when I was figuring things out. He went a couple days without eating after that, and I realized that he is maybe too nervous to explore his enclosure and discover his food down below. He was really worrying me and getting weak and skinny looking. So, as an experiment, I gently put him on his basking log and plopped a dubia in front of him and he gobbled it right up. He managed to eat 4 yesterday morning, 2 more after work, and 3 this morning. I felt good about this, until I started wondering - am I doing the right thing? I mean, should I really be handling him like this and just keep putting the critters in front of his face? Or should I put them in a bowl down below and hope he eventually chills out and notices they are there?
I am feeling like I'm trying to control the situation a lot and make him eat when he might need more time. I am committed to this little guy and want to do right by him. Any and all advice would be super appreciated!
By the way, I'm using a mercury vapor light in a deep dome on one side of his enclosure, and all the temps are in the zones they should be in. I have one of those laser thermometer thingies.