Baby BD Missing in Apartment

[access0denied]

grrrr, my baby bearded dragon is mising. I got it Oct 16th, and was told it was about 4 weeks old. As of this past Sunday it was about 5-5 1/2 inches long. Treating that thing how it should.

Needless to my cat managed to get the lid off. Got home no BD in the tank. This happened Monday. We looked a bit, and nothing. Tuesday tore about the place looking for it, nothing. Tuesday and today I had the basketing light shine onto the floor, with this water dish, some food as we were gone doing. Got home a few hours later, and nothing changed. I was hoping that this would atleast lure him out.

I've been thinking the cat ate him, but I'm doubting this. No mess, no body parts, etc.


Any ideas, tips, tricks??? Is there a scent the BD don't like, that I can burn which would put him on the move? It is possible that he would go far from him cage. He has tons of hiding places near his cage.

Any help would be great. I read about the floor trick, but have carpet floors. hahahah, I thought about doing maybe fly paper traps, but I don't think that would be the best option.

 

[Ethelia]

Oh gosh!!! How very horrid for you.
Im sorry its not much advice but Id say to check all dark areas of your apartments, in between cushions and behind any kind of wiring. All these are beardie favourites when they are scared.
He needs heat so make sure you keep your house warm whilst your looking.

 

[access0denied]

Yeah I've pulled the cushions out. Flipped the whole couch upset down. Checked under the bed, tv enterment stand, every possible place I can think of. This just sucks.

 

[Elora]

When this happend to me I took the tank and put it on the floor on its side (in the room that that tank is in). I then set up a heat lamp to shine down on the entrance to the tank (which would be the top if you had it right side up) the next day i found JT basking under the heat lamp!

Do that and them maybe set up another heat lamp somehwere else. Maybe he will be drawn to the heat. Look in places where there is warmth. near electronics/heaters ect.

 

[LJean]

I hope you are able to find him!

 

[fresnowitte]

Best of wishes in finding your baby.
You must be very stress. I would be histerical at this point.
If you haven't already look in all shoes, curtains, an any dirty clothes piles also
being that it is so small look real good around the frig as it puts off warmth.
I have escapee beardies an I have in the past followed the cat around hoping he
would give up the beardies whereabouts, an usually he does.
Try your best to stay calm so you don't accidently squish him in your search.

Best Of Luck You Are In My Thoughts.

Please keep us posted.

Pause in post.............I'm back!

Wow! How ironic was this..........as I was posting this reply I heard a noise come from the kitchen. So I went to see what it was........what I didn't see was the little female(11weeks old) that I have up for adoption.
So I put this post on hold looked around a bit and low and behold the cat came in and gave up her location.
Luckily my cat is a big sissy and won't go near the beardies but usually the fear that he displays toward an area is how he gives them up rather than trying to hunt them out.

I hope your just as lucky as I just was.

 

[Combichristina]

I feel your pain, I once lost one of my geckos in the house for most of the day. I actually thought I had lost her for good since she's a very small Hemidactylus garnotii (only about an inch and a half long at the time and the same color as my carpet!). I'd go with the heat lamp idea since he'll have to come out and get warm eventually. Keep looking though, even in places you think he can't get into. They're extremely good at hiding when they don't want to be found. Good luck!

 

[renich]

good luck. i hope you find your bd soon.

i'm not familiar with cats (i have dogs). but is your cat a hunter? does he go outside and catch birds/mice?

 

[MarianaL87]

You are in quite the predicament...All i can say is to keep searching...Leave no leaf or stone unturned...And watch your step. He HAS to appear - alive or deceased. I do worry about your cat, tho...I dont see a cat eating a lizard. I do, on the other hand, see your cat suffocating him or scratching him. Lizards just wouldnt take good to a cat.

Look behind your stove, beds...everywhere.

 

[Ethelia]

Indeed. Id suggest shutting all the doors in the apartment and searching one room at a time. Every piece of furnature lifted and moved CAREFULLY.
You'd be suprised where they can hide.
I once had a mini panic because Dex was on my desk one minute and gone the next.... until i realised he'd crawled in between the pages of one of my files.
You need to find your little one.
Good luck and get moving.

 

[NegativeCreep]

I had an anole lost to my cats once. We had one of those open air things on top of a 10-gallon tank with 2 anoles. There were clips all around it to prevent it from falling off, but the cats were able to knock it to the side, which apparently allowed one of the anoles to escape. We found the dead anole, though. Our cats usually eat their prey (but they have never been able to catch something that large), such as bugs and beetles, and the occasional escaped cricket.

I hope your cat didn't get it..
I know I don't have to say it.. but if/when you find her, there are a ton of ways to secure a tank so that they can't escape, and, in our case, predators cannot get in..

Good luck with your search; I can only imagine all the tiny places they could get themselves into..

 

[Combichristina]

It's always a good idea to secure the lids and clips are pretty cheap. I keep all of my enclosures locked to keep my three year old son out of them. Plus a couple of my herps are escape artists.

 

[Thor's Mom]

look real good around the frig as it puts off warmth

Great suggestion. I lost Diesel one day and after turning the apartment upside down for hours, I found him snoozing under the fridge. In regards to cats too, do watch your cat very closely. I agree that they have an uncanny way of giving up a lost BD's location. My cats (who would never hurt/hunt any of the dragons) have showed me where my lost beardy's are more than once. I want to believe your little guy is alive and in your house somewhere. I know that according to cat behavior, if your cat had gotten him and roughed him up or killed him he likely would have brought him to you or left him in the middle of a room somewhere. Cats like to brag like that. Keep looking and good luck!

 

[iibrandyii]

You may also want to check your heating vents, its dark and warm there. If yours is as small as you say she/he might be able to get into the floor vents. Hopefully you have the ones on the wall.

 

[h0ndap0w3r]

that is gross. . . im sorry but i am not a car person at all. . . i dont know how to explain it but something about cats. . . I do love dogs however. . .as for the lost beardie, the best idea that i have heard on here is setting up a heat lamp somewhere around his tank area. . shoot you could prob set it up in the middle of the room that way theres no way of missing him.

Ive been scared myself with losing yoshi, i had him on my bed one minuet with my GF looking after him while i cleaned out his cage. The next thing i know i walked back in the room and i was like uhhhhh babe, wheres yoshi? she looks at me and goes uhhhh i dunno? come to find him tucked up in a ball sleeping in my blanket, it was pretty cute, but kinda scary, i could only imagine my mom comming home to find a foot long dragon sitting on the couch or something. . . Come to think of it, that would be hilarious, my mom would flip out