Cranky teenager?

[Ophiophilist]

My boy is now going on seven months and is acting cranky. He doesn't want to eat his greens, reacts more negatively than usual about baths and being picked up, and today started hissing and bearding when I tried a harness on him. I burrito'd him a few minutes and put him straight back in his cage (he had been glass dancing which is why I took him out in the first place.) Is this just typical boy dragon teenage behavior? What should I do to address it and how can I make sure he doesn't end up a cranky adult? He's on his perch and giving me the stinkeye to end all stinkeyes.

 

[Sauzo]

My little girl Harley is just about 7 months old and still a sweetie although sometimes she does seem to want her alone time. Maybe just boys get the rebellious attitude?

 

[Ophiophilist]

I've known from the start he'd be a dominant personality but I guess I'm a little surprised it started so early. Then again he grew really fast (he's 350 grams, 17 inches) so maybe he's just an early bloomer.

Today I was trying to put him back in his cage and he kept jumping up on top instead of wanting to go back in. Little brat! I let him sit up there for a few minutes just to see what it was like.

I guess I need to go ahead and get him to the vet for a yearly checkup and fecal to reassure myself, and then let him be cranky. He's eating less and I recently had to up his basking bulb size because it's getting cold here. He's also not good about eating greens when before he'd done well with it.

I know it's probably just a combination of the weather change and his growing up. I'm just a nervous mama.

 

[Teleste]

Curious, exactly which bulb did you upgrade to?

 

[Ophiophilist]

I use basic halogen floodlights like you can buy at Walmart or Lowes, I just changed it from a 32 watt to a 40 watt because it's colder in my room. I have a high basking perch and he's in a 40 gallon tank, and additionally my room tends to be warm in summer (as to why I was using such a lower-watt bulb in the first place). I may need to up the wattage as it gets colder, I don't know yet since it's my first winter with him.

 

[Teleste]

Okay just curious. Be sure your bulb is not "energy saving" as even halogen bulbs these days can be advertised as "uses 20 watts but gives 40 watts" or something like that. From my understanding, these are bad choices due to the way they create light versus standard non-energy saving bulbs.

It will save you a lot of money to buy one high watt bulb and put it on a dimmer. I'm using a standard halogen floodlight on a dimmer and it works fantastic.

Best of luck to you and your baby!

 

[Ophiophilist]

I haven't heard of that before, I have used that type of bulb for months. I didn't like the way that the dimmer dialed down the light back when I tried it, but I think I just found an alternative anyway. I wanted to get him a new basking perch that's easier to clean and got a zoomed basking bulb to make up for the height difference. I also got a bigger bowl so I can add salad and dubia together, maybe that will help. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Sauzo]

Harley has gone into mini brumation as well since prolly late Sept. She eats a lot less but seems to still be getting chubbier and usually goes to sleep around 5-7pm now vs her old times of 9pm. She still basks in the morning after eating and looks around but definitely likes to "relax" more and loves to go to sleep under the pillows on the bed. Guess i'm lucky though cause she loves collard greens almost as much she loves dubias so feeding her those 2 things is easy. I use a 150 watt Zoo Med basking light on a dimmer too so I can adjust the heat since some days she loves it really warm and other days, not so much. Also use a Mega Ray MVB next to it and a ReptiSun 10.0 on the far side so she can choose how much UVB she wants as well as how intense of heat she wants.