De-stressing a dragon

[Kessed]

Miss Zaxxi has been looking a little stressed for the last two days. When we first got her (last Saturday) her belly was a very light color. She didn't really seem stressed at first. She hid alot, but now she's coming out from her hiding places, but she has super stress marks on her beard, tummy, and tail. Now, they are beautiful, but I'm guessing that they mean something is wrong.

Yesterday they kind of went away when I gave her a bath, but she spend the entire bath trying to flee... I just had her out for a few minutes and after she sat on me motionless for 3 or 4 min, she started trying to leap to anywhere but on me, so I put her back in her home. I am resisting handling her much. This was the first time I took her out today.

Is there anything else I can do? Or does she just need time?

 

[Kessed]

I want to say that she seems healthy. She is a *ferocious* huntress. Those little crickets don't stand a chance. When I feed her, she wont come near them until I am fully out of the tank and have backed away. And then she goes to town. For breakfast she ate 12 crickets and she had another 10 given to her for supper. She is currently still stalking one of them. (the pesky think keeps going under the paper towel and then she loses interest. The moment it comes back out she's all over it)

 

[Kessed]

And because this is a place to think out loud, I'm going to write some more.

I am going to try putting her to bed earlier. It's getting to be summer here which means LONG days. Like sunset today isn't until 9:46pm... So I'm going to start turning off her lights and putting a dark blanket over her tank earlier. I had been doing it around 9, but then the sun rises at 5am or so... My kids are up and turn on her lights at 6 so they can see her before school. I've been reading that they should have 10 hours of "night"... I'm not sure I can manage that. But I will try putting her to bed at 7 when my kids go to bed.

 

[Gail]

Stress marks really is a unfortunate name, the marks often appear with no stress at all. If she is eating and seems relaxed, then its not from stress. Babies are more likely to have those marks for reason we can't really decipher.

As far as day/night cycle goes. I do 12 hours light, 12 hours dark.

 

[Kessed]

OK. That's good to know.

I'll stop worrying so much about them. They are pretty... But, I read that they mean something is wrong.

 

[CooperDragon]

I agree about the "stress marks" in babies. I think the name is deceptive. It's so common I wouldn't worry about it and pay more attention to energy level and appetite as Gail mentioned. A good indicator of mood is the color of the beard. If the beard goes jet black then it means something is causing irritation (this could be many things from fear to anger to just hormones or frustration). If the beard goes black for an extended period of time and is accompanied by lethargic behavior and especially lightened color along the rest of the body it usually indicates sickness. As she gets older and you've spent more time with her, you'll be able to pick up a bit on her body language and sense when something is off or when she's happy or not. That just takes time and they all can have unique expressions. You'll probably learn some of them which is very helpful just pay close attention to her as she grows.

 

[Kessed]

I put her to bed earlier last night and this morning her belly is white again.

Who knows?

It's really good to hear that I don't need to be concerned as long as her beard isn't straight black. She seems to have alot of personality, I am excited to get to know her better.