Extreme reflection stress??

[pzz805a]

So we got our beardie back in July and she is going on two years old. She has been an angel ever since we got her, but ever since we moved houses she has been getting more and more stressed over her reflection. She never did this before, so we thought it was the stress of the move and hoped that things would go back to normal. It’s been a month and things have been getting worse. All day from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to sleep she is running wild in her tank, glass surfing constantly, bobbing her head, and just going nuts. We got a background for her tank and put in on the inside, so there is absolutely no reflection there and just recently we put up pads to cover one of the sides of her tank. We don’t want to cover more up because we want to leave her with some visibility. But even this hadn’t helped. She scratches at the background like she’s trying to dig under it and she does the same with the pad we put up. I am constantly applying tape to keep it up because she just pulls it down. We don’t know what else to do or if it will even help. When we are home we try to take her out and let her roam around so she’s not going crazy in that tank, but we have a cat so we can’t do it for long periods of time (we keep them in separate rooms). It’s like even if she can’t see it she thinks another beardie is still there. We don’t know what else to do, PLEASE HELP!!!

PS she’s in a 40 breeder so it’s not like shes cramped in there either.

 

[missnoddles]

Maybe she doesn't have enough places to hide? I don't know your set up, so its hard to tell if she's bored or if it really is the reflection. I've seen people build rockwall backgrounds for their tank so that might make so she can't knock stuff down. They really like to climb so maybe you could find some drift wood that will fit in her tank if she's really just being high energy.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Well …. this requires a wee bit of common sense on your behalf.

She is seeing her reflection on the inside surfaces of her GLASS tank so the options are :

>> upgrade her to a timber tank with sliding glass front doors (she wont be seeing herself staring back everywhere she looks and will benefit from a more thermally efficient tank too

or

>> line the insides of the glass walls with paper (plain white printer paper sheets are perfect) , all you need to do is block the reflection in her line of sight …. no more reflections haunting her.

 

[Aaradimian]

So we got our beardie back in July and she is going on two years old. She has been an angel ever since we got her, but ever since we moved houses she has been getting more and more stressed over her reflection. She never did this before, so we thought it was the stress of the move and hoped that things would go back to normal. It’s been a month and things have been getting worse. All day from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to sleep she is running wild in her tank, glass surfing constantly, bobbing her head, and just going nuts. We got a background for her tank and put in on the inside, so there is absolutely no reflection there and just recently we put up pads to cover one of the sides of her tank. We don’t want to cover more up because we want to leave her with some visibility. But even this hadn’t helped. She scratches at the background like she’s trying to dig under it and she does the same with the pad we put up. I am constantly applying tape to keep it up because she just pulls it down. We don’t know what else to do or if it will even help. When we are home we try to take her out and let her roam around so she’s not going crazy in that tank, but we have a cat so we can’t do it for long periods of time (we keep them in separate rooms). It’s like even if she can’t see it she thinks another beardie is still there. We don’t know what else to do, PLEASE HELP!!!

PS she’s in a 40 breeder so it’s not like shes cramped in there either.

Is it possible that temps are off & that's causing distress, or maybe some other kind of environmental issue that wasn't present in the old arrangement? When she's out, does she try to surf against a glass patio door or similar? Mine has only been agitated & surfing once or twice, but he would also glass surf at our floor-to-ceiling windows, so we knew it wasn't something in the viv.

 

[Gormagon]

Mine would do this when she wanted to be held. She was an extremely spoiled dragon.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Are you sure she's a she …. ?