Crazy Koopa

[drpayne1990]

Please watch video for question.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7yHzLF_O7I

How old is your dragon?
K= 17months, G=12months

How long have you had your dragon?
K= 16months, G= 10months

How long is your dragon?
Last time I checked from nose to back legs;
K= 8" G= 7.5"
Nose to tail both are around 18.5"

How much does your dragon weigh?
K = 525g, G=554g
What is the sex of your dragon?
K= Male, G= Male

What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
K= 3x2x2, G=3x1.5x1.5

What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
K & G = repticarpet

Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
K= 24" Fluorescent tube, G= 18" Fluorescent tube

What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
K= Reptisun 10 - 17watt, G= Reptisun 10 - 15watt

How old is your UVB bulb?
K&G= Aprox 6 months (2 new globes in the mail)

How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
K = 9-11" G= 8-11"

Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
K= 50watt Halogen Flood Light + dimmer, G= 60watt Incandescent + light dimmer

What are the basking temps?
K= 94-102.2 G= 96.8-104

What is the cool side temp?
K= 77-86 G= 81.5-86

Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
K&G = Temp gun which has been cross referenced with a mercury thermometer. I also have a weather station on the cool side to read humidity and temp, at the basking area a probe is reading there.

Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
K&G = the closest position they can get to the heat.

Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
No

What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
Crickets, roaches, mealworms, butternut squash, and kale (would love more suggestions for salads)

How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
One times a day for both. Night is 7:00-7:30.
As much as they want to eat in about 5-10min. They tend to not have a very high appetite the past month because of the cold weather, so it is more frequent that they eat insets every second day.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
I give crickets apple, orange and the pallets that come with them.

Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Yes to both and rep-cal is the brand. Calcium is 5x a week and multi-vitamin 2x a week (although Gilbert generally spits out the multivitamin, so he isn’t getting as much).

Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Both usually they wait for a bath to do poops, but if they really can't hold on they do it in their enclosure. In other words, yes.

Do you bath your dragon? How often?
I bath them aprox every 3-4days just to make sure they poop. And give them a long bath once a week.

Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Nope I do not have any water in enclosure or mist them because I do not want to raise the humidity. Also they are both trained to drink water from a dripper.

Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
No

Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
Not yet for either of them, are doing some research into where somewhere close to me are able to do it. I live in Australia, Victoria, Point Cook if anyone knows of somewhere good and close.

 

[Gail]

Sounds like Koopa is a normal crazy dragon. Some are just more active then others and need to be allowed out to run off excess energy. Dragon proof a room and let him run for a hour or so, he can go outside too if its safe to do so.
Another possibility is he can sense the other dragon and its making him a bit wonky. Nothing you can really do to prevent it. Does he ever black beard or head-bob when he is scratching/acting crazy?

 

[drpayne1990]

Sounds like Koopa is a normal crazy dragon. Some are just more active then others and need to be allowed out to run off excess energy. Dragon proof a room and let him run for a hour or so, he can go outside too if its safe to do so.
Another possibility is he can sense the other dragon and its making him a bit wonky. Nothing you can really do to prevent it. Does he ever black beard or head-bob when he is scratching/acting crazy?

Hey Gail,

I don't have any rooms to dragon proof . I let him run around on by bed for a bit, but by the sounds of it he needs more space to run around. I will try work out something. My only concern with having him out for about 1 hour is the cold weather here in Australia at the moment (currently 14C, 57F).

As for going outside, I don’t feel safe to do so (you can read why here - http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=180782) and obviously too cold at the moment.

The only time he starts acting all ‘territorial’ is when he actually sees Gilbert. The only reason why I posted is because it has seriously come out of the blue. He is usually a sloth chillin out on his log, and the past 3 days he has gone completely bonkers.

Cheers
Payne

 

[label]

A good place to get fecals done (or get your mob checked out) is at Karingal Vet Hospital--Shane Simpson's the herp specialist there (check out The Reptile Doctor on Facebook). They're in Frankston, which is close by if you've got a boat handy. Otherwise, I guess it's a tour of the Melbourne freeway network (we come from St Kilda so it's no fun from here, either).

We try and get our beardie Shayvele out when we can during the time we've got the heat on but she's not fooled and knows it's winter. She'll come out for crickets, a dandelion or two, then head back to her hide and dream of spring.

 

[Gail]

Yeah, he needs more then just a bed to run on. Dragon proofing is pretty easy actually. I only worry about areas where he might get stuck like under the icebox or in the heater vents.
You can roll a bath towel up and use it to block areas like under kitchen appliances or heavy dressers. My house is pretty cramped with stuff, I just let my guy run over/behind it. I do keep him out of the kitchen.
Since its winter there, keep him out for shorter amounts of time so he doesn't get too cold. As far as taking him outside once its warm again, make a harness so he can't get away.

I've had perfectly lazy dragons act up just like your guy. For month they were calm as can be then suddenly they were a spaz, digging and constantly trying to get out. Double check temps, if they are ok then just chalk it up to restlessness.

 

[drpayne1990]

EDIT: I have just had him out in the sun again for a little while and when I put him back into the enclosure I turned the light down a fair bit. He has calmed down, but I think it is just because he is trying to warm up efficiently.

Another video with him in action, I currently have him out on my arm and he is in that 'frozen' state looking outside. I feel like he wanted to go out, or something geez I don't know...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fep_WZezIPw

A good place to get fecals done (or get your mob checked out) is at Karingal Vet Hospital--Shane Simpson's the herp specialist there (check out The Reptile Doctor on Facebook). They're in Frankston, which is close by if you've got a boat handy. Otherwise, I guess it's a tour of the Melbourne freeway network (we come from St Kilda so it's no fun from here, either).

We try and get our beardie Shayvele out when we can during the time we've got the heat on but she's not fooled and knows it's winter. She'll come out for crickets, a dandelion or two, then head back to her hide and dream of spring.

The issue I have found is that many places needs to have an inspection before being able to get a fecal done. There is a place nearby that I have found which is the 'The University of Melbourne Veterinary Clinic', so might give that a shot. Heard good things about the rep-vet there. Today is a nice day and I am thinking about building an outdoor enclosure just so he can run around. Nothing too fancy, just some plastic fencing of some sort in a large square outside (this way he can't run off on me this time). I had him on my chest for over 30min sitting in front of the window and he was just chillin, 10min after putting him back in the enclosure he starts going spastic again. I'm going to clean it and what not when the other half comes home, maybe it is just too messy for him at the moment. I don't bloody know, why can't he just talk!!!

Yeah, he needs more then just a bed to run on. Dragon proofing is pretty easy actually. I only worry about areas where he might get stuck like under the icebox or in the heater vents.
You can roll a bath towel up and use it to block areas like under kitchen appliances or heavy dressers. My house is pretty cramped with stuff, I just let my guy run over/behind it. I do keep him out of the kitchen.
Since its winter there, keep him out for shorter amounts of time so he doesn't get too cold. As far as taking him outside once its warm again, make a harness so he can't get away.

I've had perfectly lazy dragons act up just like your guy. For month they were calm as can be then suddenly they were a spaz, digging and constantly trying to get out. Double check temps, if they are ok then just chalk it up to restlessness.

The temperatures seem fine, there is definitely a cool area for him to go off too if it was too hot. Just in the process of trying to brainstorm an idea to help him be in the sun and run around a bit. There is a section in the house which has the dinner table and is directly hit with the sun. I'm thinking of trying to move the table out of the way and blocking that off somehow. Anyhow, ill keep you updated I guess. I suppose I'm not getting any study done today...

 

[drpayne1990]

BUMP!

Hey anyone who reads this,

I am just wondering if anyone else has any ideas? It is like he hates his enclosure. I take him out and lay down in the sun with him and he relaxed and pretty much nearly goes to sleep. As soon as I get up and put him back in his enclosure he starts scratching.

I have double, triple, quadruple checked his temps and they seem normal... I really don't know what to do, I can't constantly keep getting him out. I do have other things to do with life lol, but it kills me not knowing what is going on with the little fella.

Any other suggestions would be great
Payne

P.S. I have a feeling that it is stress related from being near my younger one Gilbert. Has anyone had a similar experience like this with keeping two males located close to each other?