Beardie keeps “glass surfing” and is restless

[ZiggyDust]

Over the last few days my bearded dragon (Ziggy, 9 months old) keeps glass surfing and trying to scratch her way out of her habitat. When she was shedding this made sense because she was trying to shed obviously. She is completely done now (expect a piece on her tail) that we are working on getting off.

I can’t figure out how to make her stop. She typically will give up 4-5 hours before bedtime. I have taken her out several times today. Once for a bath and twice just to come out and hang. Her habitat is pretty large, so she definitely has more than enough space.

Here is her habitat information along with general health.

8x2x2 Zen Habitat Enclosure

-Air Temps are 82-85°F on the left (warm side) and down to 77° on the right (cool side)

- Air Temps are a little lower than the standard (95°F) range as if I raise the air temps too much, the basing spots will be way too hot. (Heating 240 gallons is tricky).

- When checking her body temperature at basking spots she ranges from 94 to 98°F depending on the time of day, so I know that aspect of her health is good.

- Basking temps ranging from 102°F to 98°F (Ziggy has multiple basking spots)

- Two Reptisun T5 10.0 UVB lights covering 2/3 of enclosure

- She eats like a champ.

- Bowel movements daily.

Any ideas on why she is so restless?

 

[KarrieRee]

Over the last few days my bearded dragon (Ziggy, 9 months old) keeps glass surfing and trying to scratch her way out of her habitat. When she was shedding this made sense because she was trying to shed obviously. She is completely done now (expect a piece on her tail) that we are working on getting off.

I can’t figure out how to make her stop. She typically will give up 4-5 hours before bedtime. I have taken her out several times today. Once for a bath and twice just to come out and hang. Her habitat is pretty large, so she definitely has more than enough space.

Here is her habitat information along with general health.

8x2x2 Zen Habitat Enclosure

-Air Temps are 82-85°F on the left (warm side) and down to 77° on the right (cool side)

- Air Temps are a little lower than the standard (95°F) range as if I raise the air temps too much, the basing spots will be way too hot. (Heating 240 gallons is tricky).

- When checking her body temperature at basking spots she ranges from 94 to 98°F depending on the time of day, so I know that aspect of her health is good.

- Basking temps ranging from 102°F to 98°F (Ziggy has multiple basking spots)

- Two Reptisun T5 10.0 UVB lights covering 2/3 of enclosure

- She eats like a champ.

- Bowel movements daily.

Any ideas on why she is so restless?

Gonna have someone look at this and see if they have any ideas
@CooperDragon

 

[ZiggyDust]

Gonna have someone look at this and see if they have any ideas
@CooperDragon

I should have posted a follow up to this, I just completely forgot. Thankfully she has calmed down. I did reach out to my vet who said it very well could be behavioral changes. She is back to herself for the most part. Whatever that’s is today lol.

 

[CooperDragon]

Her setup sounds good, and the fact that she is active and eating well tells me that she's probably OK healthwise. My guess is that the restlessness is either hormones or possibly egg development. I've found that the best thing to do when they get worked up like that is to just let them run around as much as possible to burn off energy. If she wants out, let her out as long as you have a safe area for her to be in (no other animals, no places to get stuck, no small bits on the floor to ingest etc). They can be out of the enclosure for quite a while without a problem. Giving her some time to look out a window may also be useful. I've found that seems to calm them either by distraction or just the change of scenery. Other than that, just need to wait it out - it tones down eventually.

If the issue is egg development, she may show a lot of digging behavior. Building a dig box for her using a tote bin with a mix of damp play sand and plain/organic topsoil (to the consistency that will hold a tunnel) may be worth trying out.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I agree, it is possible that she might be developing eggs perhaps. Has her weight been stable or does she seem to be
gaining a bit of weight?
Has she calmed down any today? As suggested, you might consider putting in a laybox for her just in case.

Tracie

 

[ZiggyDust]

Her setup sounds good, and the fact that she is active and eating well tells me that she's probably OK healthwise. My guess is that the restlessness is either hormones or possibly egg development. I've found that the best thing to do when they get worked up like that is to just let them run around as much as possible to burn off energy. If she wants out, let her out as long as you have a safe area for her to be in (no other animals, no places to get stuck, no small bits on the floor to ingest etc). They can be out of the enclosure for quite a while without a problem. Giving her some time to look out a window may also be useful. I've found that seems to calm them either by distraction or just the change of scenery. Other than that, just need to wait it out - it tones down eventually.

If the issue is egg development, she may show a lot of digging behavior. Building a dig box for her using a tote bin with a mix of damp play sand and plain/organic topsoil (to the consistency that will hold a tunnel) may be worth trying out.

Thanks. She has calmed down, she just seems to go in spurts at times. Her digging is more vertical than horizontal. And by that I mean she digs standing on her back legs digging at the corners. I would think it it’s egg development she would be digging on the ground? I may be completely off with that. She hasn’t been “digging/scratching” in about a week. Again, like you said probably just hormones. While not a dig box, she has about a 2 foot by 2 foot area of fleece strips. She knows they are there and has borrowed herself at times, so I think she would go there first to “lay”. Obviously if she starts digging like she wants to lay and the fleece isn’t cutting it, I will build a dig box. In that case what’s the best way to disinfect/clean the sand and soil before letting her dig?

 

[CooperDragon]

I think you're probably right in that if she wanted to lay eggs she would dig into the fleece strips. Probably best to leave things as they are and just monitor her behavior for now. As far as dig boxes go, you don't really need to disinfect the sand. Just mix damp play sand and organic topsoil (the important part is to avoid added chemicals/fertilizer) to a consistency that will hold a tunnel. This is a messy process so be prepared to offer a bath and clean up the area around the bin. Aside from that, the soil/sand mix isn't harmful to them and is probably pretty fun to dig around in.