So I bought Phobos, a 5 month old male crayola red dragon last weekend at a repticon show from Georgia Bearded dragons. He seems to be halfway through shed, since his tail and legs still have their old skin. I understand that they tend to be more stressed during this time and less friendly.
Let me back up before I talk about my concerns.
He seemed pretty healthy when I bought him, in fact when I first held him, he jumped straight onto my shoulder and I knew he was the one! I couldn't take him straight home when I bought him since I live over 5 hours away from the show where I bought him, so I kept him in a cardboard box with hand warmer pouches in the hotel. I bathed him the night I got him, but didn't feed him till the next day. He pooped in the car, which smelled really bad, but didn't have any worms or anything, so that was an overall relief. When we got home he went straight to his 36x18x24 viv with a 90W halogen spot dimmed to 110F, and a Reptiglo 5.0 @ 24." He ate his crix straight away, but I only fed him like 6 or 7 that night. The next day was moving day, and again I fed him only a few crix (maybe about 10 or less) that day. His appetite stayed strong until last night when I noticed a slight difference in his overall attitude after hand feeding him a few greens for the first time (the rest of the plate just lay there and died up, hmph). He ate his crickets, about 12, but not with his usual fervor. I gave him a bath as well last night as he had sat in some poop, and he barely moved around in the sink, he just stood there and looked kind of pissed with me. Soon after drying, it was lights out. I prepare some greens this morning (dandelion greens sans pesticides, collards, red bell peppers, rosemary, and a raisin for flavor), which he may or may not have eaten, though they were strewn about the spot where I deposited them into the cage. I went in to pick him up to take him outside and he ran off of my hand, into the corner, and gave me this horrible (and cute) beard, as well as flattening out like a pancake and turning his back towards me. I let him cool down and approached him again, and again, the beard! I thought he might just be peeved with the greens and wanted some crickets, so I put about 8 in his cage, 2 of which he ate, and the rest he so far has just let escape into my room
. I noticed that his stress marks, which have been more or less visible since I bought him were very very dark and pronounced. He also seems skinnier to me, with his skin hanging rather loosely on his shoulders, as if he had his ribs narrowed like when he hunts, except he is at rest, usually with his head up but sometimes even down on the ground (god what a sentence...).
I'm a new beardie owner, and just don't want him to hate me/get sick. I've handled him every day, and I let him out to roam around my room occasionally under sharp watch. He seems to like his viv because when he is let loose as so, sometimes he'll jump right back in. I worry that maybe he is hurt from falling since he climbs the walls of his viv all the time, though its only 18'' high and I've never actually seen him fall. I also keep a humidifier on in my room at night since I can't breath without it, and my hydrometer reads around 54% when it's on.
Does he just need to shed? Does he need more crickets? Does he need water? Does he need to be left alone? He's just been giving me such terrible looks, and the fact that he hasn't gobbled up his crix like a vacuum worries me. Thanks ahead of time for any good words!
Let me back up before I talk about my concerns.
He seemed pretty healthy when I bought him, in fact when I first held him, he jumped straight onto my shoulder and I knew he was the one! I couldn't take him straight home when I bought him since I live over 5 hours away from the show where I bought him, so I kept him in a cardboard box with hand warmer pouches in the hotel. I bathed him the night I got him, but didn't feed him till the next day. He pooped in the car, which smelled really bad, but didn't have any worms or anything, so that was an overall relief. When we got home he went straight to his 36x18x24 viv with a 90W halogen spot dimmed to 110F, and a Reptiglo 5.0 @ 24." He ate his crix straight away, but I only fed him like 6 or 7 that night. The next day was moving day, and again I fed him only a few crix (maybe about 10 or less) that day. His appetite stayed strong until last night when I noticed a slight difference in his overall attitude after hand feeding him a few greens for the first time (the rest of the plate just lay there and died up, hmph). He ate his crickets, about 12, but not with his usual fervor. I gave him a bath as well last night as he had sat in some poop, and he barely moved around in the sink, he just stood there and looked kind of pissed with me. Soon after drying, it was lights out. I prepare some greens this morning (dandelion greens sans pesticides, collards, red bell peppers, rosemary, and a raisin for flavor), which he may or may not have eaten, though they were strewn about the spot where I deposited them into the cage. I went in to pick him up to take him outside and he ran off of my hand, into the corner, and gave me this horrible (and cute) beard, as well as flattening out like a pancake and turning his back towards me. I let him cool down and approached him again, and again, the beard! I thought he might just be peeved with the greens and wanted some crickets, so I put about 8 in his cage, 2 of which he ate, and the rest he so far has just let escape into my room
. I noticed that his stress marks, which have been more or less visible since I bought him were very very dark and pronounced. He also seems skinnier to me, with his skin hanging rather loosely on his shoulders, as if he had his ribs narrowed like when he hunts, except he is at rest, usually with his head up but sometimes even down on the ground (god what a sentence...).I'm a new beardie owner, and just don't want him to hate me/get sick. I've handled him every day, and I let him out to roam around my room occasionally under sharp watch. He seems to like his viv because when he is let loose as so, sometimes he'll jump right back in. I worry that maybe he is hurt from falling since he climbs the walls of his viv all the time, though its only 18'' high and I've never actually seen him fall. I also keep a humidifier on in my room at night since I can't breath without it, and my hydrometer reads around 54% when it's on.
Does he just need to shed? Does he need more crickets? Does he need water? Does he need to be left alone? He's just been giving me such terrible looks, and the fact that he hasn't gobbled up his crix like a vacuum worries me. Thanks ahead of time for any good words!
