Beardie moved to new cage and now aggressive and not eating

[MMB53]

Hi,
I bought a new tank for my Beardie, she is about 7 months old. She was doing very well but quickly out growing her original tank (glass also) this room was dark and 2 sides of the cage were covered by a wall.

I had to put the new cage in a different location. The 1st day she went nuts trying to escape. It is glass so I covered all the sides except a small section for sun to shine in the cage in the morning. I moved all of her furnishings with her to keep some things the same. I changed the paper towels substrate to the reptile carpet, but after 3 days I was afraid it was to much of a change so went back to paper towels and she stopped running like crazy along the side of the tank.

Right off the bat she was acting afraid. I covered as much of the tank as possible to keep her from seeing out which seemed to set her off. The old cage you went through the front of the cage now I have to enter the cage through the top. I try to go in the new cage from the other side so she can see me.

Now going on 2 weeks she is not eating well and is sleeping all the time and hiding. She has just stopped puffing up and trying to bite in the past couple days. Do you think the move brought on brumation? The hours of sun light are more natural now, before there was no natural sunlight. Temp and all is the same, maybe a bit warmer.

Should I just leave her be? She will absolutely not accept any food by hand and has eaten very little. There have been normal looking poos, but not as many.

Will she adjust to this new tank? Should I try to move the tank up closer to my face so when I have to work with her she can see my face? I can't move it up to high because I have to reach in from the top to take care of her.

 

[Livey]

She will adjust in a week or so, sounds like relocation stress

 

[MMB53]

Well after almost 4 weeks my Beardie finally has settled down. In the old cage I was carrying his dinner crickets in one of those red plastic cups to dust them and dump them in the cage. The last month or so before I moved him he would literally jump out of the cage to greet me and the BIG RED CUP for his din din. He would try to eat the cup, sticking his tongue on the outside before I could dump the crickets.

After I moved him I didn't have any red cups so was using another cup that he didn't recognize and he was afraid of everything I put in the new cage including my hand. He was trying to bite also and not eating at all. Sleeping all the time and hiding.

I covered 2/3 rds of the new glass tank with the desert scene background and he has settled much more. I also got some more red cups when it dawned on me that maybe he wasn't eating because he didn't recognize the container that I was feeding him from.

Well low and behold he was sitting on his platform and I slowly lowered the red cup O crickets into the tank right in front of his face. I shook the crickets to the edge of the cup, he perked up looking into the cup and snagged the 1st cricket and then the next and he sat there and ate 20 crickets out of the cup.

So for the last few days he has been eating well out of his red cup, thank goodness.

So is it common for Beardies to associate a specific item with feeding time? He sure knows what that red cup is all about. Very interesting and one to remember for me.

 

[Gail]

Yes, they learn to associate objects with food. Since yours knows red mean food, I'd try offering some red bell peppers.

 

[MMB53]

Well I think you are so right about the red, he picks carrots out of mixed veggies. I will give that a try thanks.