Changes in Appetite After A Week of Boarding

[Romicron]

So we went away and left Pascal at a boarding facility for eight days (reptile store). When we got him back, he seemed thinner and more skittish.

He's eating 50+ 1/2" crickets PER FEEDING and running to the door of the cage when I put the cricket cage on the table after eating. He's also eating all of his salad whereas he used to barely touch it.

The past day or two, we've re-upped his feeding schedule to 3x/day, and he'll take.

I'm not necessarily complaining, but is it possible that they didn't feed him enough or supplement him well? Is the extra "skittish-ness" normal due to relocation or signs of something else? Are there any other things that I should be checking to make sure that he's okay after the trip? He's roughly 4 1/2 months old now.

I did get these cutest of pictures of him today though - any beardie that looks like this can't be in that bad of a mood.

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

He is super cute and looks very happy

It's likely that he was afraid for those 8 days of where he was and chose not to eat, and once he's home and comfortable, the appetite is back!

I doubt the pet store was intentionally mistreating him, he may have been uncooperative.
Glad he's eating now!

 

[Gormagon]

He missed you so much, he wouldn't eat for them!
Super happy you're home and, you came back for him "8 days of wondering why you left him at a strange place"!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Look it from his pov .

... you him dumped in strange place full of strange animals, scary sounds, strange smells, with strangers who he didn't know, who had different routines and fed him different foods, he felt upset, scared, stressed and didn't understand why you did this to him.... no wonder he's upset.

Bet he was glad to see you again and to be back home.... but if he's anything like my mob, he'll be feeling insecure and might be clingy for a while after this.

 

[Picklepies]

Aw what a cutie ! Hope he starts eating soon x

 

[Romicron]

He seems to be doing a bit better, although still eating voraciously. When I take him out of the cage, he's less active, mostly just wants to sit on me whereas before he'd run around a lot. That's not necessarily a bad thing.

Also, I was hand feeding him small pieces of apple and one dropped. About 30 seconds after I finished, he peered over the edge of his basking log to look at the piece of apple on the cage floor for a moment and then pulled back, as if to say "Meh", so back to his... docile self.

We have to go away again in August. How much does it take to train someone to look after him for a week? He'd be 7 months old by then.

 

[Picklepies]

I recently trained my mum in law to feed them animals over my honeymoon. It only took about an hour, we got her used to handling the bugs and let her feed Jubsie as she's always up for food, just to get her used to the main feeding aspects.
We told her about veg and showed her dusting calcium etc, but primarily that was covered in the note we left for each animal,just a simple run down of what they need, how much, and the like.

It went really well, the beardies were really happy, well fed and looked after during the week we were away

I'd probably say the only potential issues with someone coming in is their feelings on live food, and if the beardies know them,we were lucky that we lived with the beardies and the mother in law for a few months, and she regularly visits, so if you can get someone the beardies know all the better!

Hope this helps a bit x