Okay, the first day I got him I had intended on crickets as his staple protein. I know at this age they require less protein but I still had that figured out. I quickly realized he was a bit too lazy to hunt the crickets so to date he hasn't had a single one of those. I had bought mealworms and butterworms as treats and as that was the only thing he could get down he ended up with 6 mealies and 3 butters.
I read the exo terra dry pellets his previous owner was giving him and it states its a full diet and live food, if you wish to give it to them, only needs to be every couple of weeks.
So I don't know if Draco knows this and after this day that was enough live food for a period of time.
I've had him for a week now, when we got him he had one light that the guy thought was his heat light, but I took the bulb into a store and they told me it had to be a cfl - that the system he had going had to have been cfl on the top and heat pad on the bottom.
I felt the area the pad heated.. not good.. so we bought a 150w basking bulb as this looks more like an aquarium height than a reptile height tank, and I set it as low as possible, its probably more like 8-10" from his basking spot right now, I only have a temp dial at the moment, it only reads the air so I am not 100% on the heat of his specific basking rock but it is really warm and he loves to bask on it as opposed to before where he had to squeeze next to it to feel the little heat from the pad.
For a couple days he was great, so much more lively, the next day ate a few mealies and a super(I picked these up afterward realizing the crickets just weren't working). I mean I still wasn't sure he was getting enough to eat, his dish sucks so he knocks it around and its hard to tell how much he really eats, but I atleast knew he ate a bit alongside the few live feeds I gave him.
The last few days I've been more and more unsure if hes eating at all, I put in some collard greens with his pellet salad, I mixed in some of this reptile-life pellet food that also came with him thinking if he ate some of this he could be more inclined to eat the worms rather than the little mini exo terra pellets that say they cover everything.
Its the weekend so now I'm home all day... He basked for a few hours in the morning, didn't eat, then used the newspaper as a hide and has been sleeping there since.
I'm really starting to doubt the uvb bulb. I know everyone dislikes CFL's but if this turns out to be just a household fluorescent, then a repti-glo or even a reptisun cfl(yes the beloved reptisun 10.0 also comes in cfl) would be better than his current setup.
I want to just take him outside for a bit if the sun is the problem but its been raining the last couple days, rain stopped but still no sun
I'm pretty sure heat shouldn't be the issue, I almost wondered if with the insufficient heat his previous owner gave him he went into early brumation, but now when he is in his active moods he never eats because he is too busy trying to fight his own reflection. I have a backdrop but he sees himself from the sides. I've read many others saying they do this but then stop, I almost wonder if he is stressed in general and being wary of his new environment is causing him to be more aware of things like his own reflection possibly being threats.
Hopefully there is sun later on today or tomorrow and I can take him out, unfortunately I can't drop the 20-40 on a repti-glo or reptisun until this friday coming so getting him out in natural sun for now appears to be the best option.
I've got a slightly better dish in there now that is deep enough so he doesn't knock things around as much, the worms can't get out either it seems so I've left a few pieces of carrot as well so theres moisture for them and the worms seem to live in there well until he decides to eat them, if he does. I know he acknowledges the dish as he did look at it cock-eyed and then try to lunge in on it with his tongue, but then lost interest and left. He just doesn't seem to care, seems to be depressed, I don't know. I know he is nearing the end of a shed and I bathed him yesterday. He seemed to really enjoy it also, alot.
Oh and he seems to poo pretty much every other day I think. So he must be taking in enough to cause him to poop, I don't know.
I really don't want this thing to die on my watch after this random guy had a small heat pad and a questionable fluorescent setup.
I read the exo terra dry pellets his previous owner was giving him and it states its a full diet and live food, if you wish to give it to them, only needs to be every couple of weeks.
So I don't know if Draco knows this and after this day that was enough live food for a period of time.
I've had him for a week now, when we got him he had one light that the guy thought was his heat light, but I took the bulb into a store and they told me it had to be a cfl - that the system he had going had to have been cfl on the top and heat pad on the bottom.
I felt the area the pad heated.. not good.. so we bought a 150w basking bulb as this looks more like an aquarium height than a reptile height tank, and I set it as low as possible, its probably more like 8-10" from his basking spot right now, I only have a temp dial at the moment, it only reads the air so I am not 100% on the heat of his specific basking rock but it is really warm and he loves to bask on it as opposed to before where he had to squeeze next to it to feel the little heat from the pad.
For a couple days he was great, so much more lively, the next day ate a few mealies and a super(I picked these up afterward realizing the crickets just weren't working). I mean I still wasn't sure he was getting enough to eat, his dish sucks so he knocks it around and its hard to tell how much he really eats, but I atleast knew he ate a bit alongside the few live feeds I gave him.
The last few days I've been more and more unsure if hes eating at all, I put in some collard greens with his pellet salad, I mixed in some of this reptile-life pellet food that also came with him thinking if he ate some of this he could be more inclined to eat the worms rather than the little mini exo terra pellets that say they cover everything.
Its the weekend so now I'm home all day... He basked for a few hours in the morning, didn't eat, then used the newspaper as a hide and has been sleeping there since.
I'm really starting to doubt the uvb bulb. I know everyone dislikes CFL's but if this turns out to be just a household fluorescent, then a repti-glo or even a reptisun cfl(yes the beloved reptisun 10.0 also comes in cfl) would be better than his current setup.
I want to just take him outside for a bit if the sun is the problem but its been raining the last couple days, rain stopped but still no sun
I'm pretty sure heat shouldn't be the issue, I almost wondered if with the insufficient heat his previous owner gave him he went into early brumation, but now when he is in his active moods he never eats because he is too busy trying to fight his own reflection. I have a backdrop but he sees himself from the sides. I've read many others saying they do this but then stop, I almost wonder if he is stressed in general and being wary of his new environment is causing him to be more aware of things like his own reflection possibly being threats.
Hopefully there is sun later on today or tomorrow and I can take him out, unfortunately I can't drop the 20-40 on a repti-glo or reptisun until this friday coming so getting him out in natural sun for now appears to be the best option.
I've got a slightly better dish in there now that is deep enough so he doesn't knock things around as much, the worms can't get out either it seems so I've left a few pieces of carrot as well so theres moisture for them and the worms seem to live in there well until he decides to eat them, if he does. I know he acknowledges the dish as he did look at it cock-eyed and then try to lunge in on it with his tongue, but then lost interest and left. He just doesn't seem to care, seems to be depressed, I don't know. I know he is nearing the end of a shed and I bathed him yesterday. He seemed to really enjoy it also, alot.
Oh and he seems to poo pretty much every other day I think. So he must be taking in enough to cause him to poop, I don't know.
I really don't want this thing to die on my watch after this random guy had a small heat pad and a questionable fluorescent setup.
