First Time Owner - Question about changing vivs

[SkeptiBee]

Ello all!

Tomorrow is a big day for both myself and a future member of my household as I will be purchasing, and transporting, my first bearded dragon. I'm extremely excited about this, having been prepping my home and buying new bulbs as well as as a host of other accessories and food. The information on this site I've been absorbing like a sponge, and, while I'm nervous about caring for a beardie, I think I'm well prepared to give her good care.

A tiny bit of background: I've been wanting a reptile for a looooong time. I grew up around all sorts of animals: cats, dogs, had a my own horse in high school, fish, frogs, ducks, rabbits... You get the idea. I always loved snakes but that was a I-don't-think-so pet so I knew never to ask. Anyway, I've been entertaining the reptile for about two years now and have done a lot of research before deciding an adult beardie would be a good start. Luck would have it that a coworkers son doesn't want his anymore and is willing to sell her to me. I'm a concerned about a couple things though:

1) Is the move going to be more stressful on an adult beardie? Based off what the father has said, she's roughly a 1 1/2 year old and approximately 16" inches. Granted, I'm basing this off his finger estimation as I have no photos of her at all. I'm flying blind here and I don't necessarily like that but I'm kind of committed at this point. She's been in their home since she was a baby and I know reptiles go through relocation stress...I'm expecting that to happen. This leads into two other questions...

a) Since she's going to be stressed over the move, when it is a good idea to change the substrate? They use sand which I want to dump out ASAP, clean the tank, and put down porcelain tile instead. I just think that disrupting her "safe" place she's familiar with wouldn't be a good idea as it might stress her out even more. Should I give her time to adjust first, let her get her appetite back before making that change?

b) If a reptile has been undernourished or sickly, how does that impact relocation stress? I'm assuming that it would make it worse but the things I see on this board it seems like it depends solely between reptile to reptile. I'm concerned that she's not being fed enough (coworker said his son tosses a few crickets at her every few days but said nothing of greens) and when he told me this past Wednesday they bought her superworms over the weekend and she wolfed them down like she never seen food before that just confirmed it. I don't know how long she's been fed like this though so I haven't a clue if she's underweight or not.

Anyway, I'm glad I'll be bringing her home as I'm planning to spoil her rotten once she's acclimated to her new environment. She's never had a bath in her life so It will be interesting seeing if she enjoys them or not.

 

[Onlymediocre]

Hi, congrats on going to get u a beardie.... Im by no means an expert mind u, but Id def get rid of the sand ASAP. Yes shes gonna go thru relocation stress anyway, so best to get it all outta the way at once, if u leave it in there and let her get used to u and ur house then take it out,, she may go back thru stress again bc her viv changed (if that makes sense) I think what I would do, is when u go to get her, put her in some sort of a carrier/ or rubbermaid like container and clean it all out b4 u out her back in her viv at ur house. Im very glad uve decided not to use sand. So dump that nasty bacteria harboring stuff right in the trash can. It will probably take her a few days to get used to everything, but Im sure shell be fine. U gotta think ppl buy beardies and get them shipped over night and they are in little felt bags inside a box getting banged around and end up coming out only to see all new ppl and new a place and smells, and they are fine. Plus the fact that ur getting an adult makes it much better, Babies are more fragile/sensitive. U can put a worn shirt of urs in her viv to hlp her get used to ur smell, and just give her time. I would suggest waiting 4-6 weeks then getting a fecal test done to make sure she doesnt have any parasites. Good luck tho! The way shes been being fed and housed u can def look at her like a rescue. And its def good u did research b4 u got her. I wish u the best of luck! And we def want to see pics when u get her!!!

 

[Esther19]

Congratulations on your new family member! If you think she hasn't been fed regularly, ease into the live feeders. Tempting to give all she can eat, but it's best to get her used to it slowly. There is a good reason why, but I can't remember it right now. Also make sure she is hydrated well by giving baths 2-3 times per week (or daily at first) and offering water orally via dropper/syringe.

 

[SkeptiBee]

Onlymediocre - Thank you for the advice and support! That would make the most sense to just get it all out of the way rather than doing things in stages. I'll need to go pick up some form of disinfectant from the pet supply store then so I can give her viv a nice scrub. I also have a little towel that I've been stuffing in my bed and sleeping with to make it smell more of me so I will use that once the viv is all fresh and clean. I'm thinking of replacing other items, like her cave and such, but until I see them, I don't know what I'm getting. She might already have nicer hideaways. That or I'll make her a fancy one. I've been seeing a lot of really awesome vivs that people have constructed, along with some impressive basking areas and hidey holes. Also, thanks for the mention on when to get that fecal test done. I've got the name of a local vet but I wasn't sure how soon I should take her for a test.

Are you serious in that they ship baby beardies in felt bags? :shock: That just seems so... dangerous unless they have decent air flow that I'm not aware of.

Esther19 - Good point on the food! Maybe over eating might cause an impaction or swelling of the belly? I know when we had a horse that was abused and brought to our local stable, he was very undernourished and we had to slowly increase his feed by small amounts otherwise he could have colicked. How long do you think I should bath her daily until she's hydrated? About a week or two?

 

[SkeptiBee]

I was planning on posting yesterday but it was such a long, quick paced day that, by the end of it all, I was exhausted.

So I brought my new little guy home yesterday afternoon and he is doing rather well. When I first arrived at the sellers house, they let me hold him as we talked about what they were doing food and care wise. He was very bright and alert; tasting my jacket and even tried to eat my shirt (it was deep green so perhaps to him I was a giant walking lettuce leaf). When I told them what I planned on doing with the viv as far as replacing the substrate, they asked me where I got all my info at so I pointed them to this sites direction. Hopefully they will come on over here for more information! To be honest, they really love and want to take care of their reptiles as best they can. I just think some places didn't give them the best advice. The wife seemed to think the tiles were a great idea too as it would also cut down on the sand they had to buy. I didn't know how expensive that stuff is in the pet stores.

So after an hour long trip, my little guy got home, I set up his new tiles, then put him his case. I want to get him a different item to bask on. He has this log that he climbs up on but the surface is really slick and he sometimes he struggles with it. Coming down generally means falling off. When the pet stores open today, I plan on doing some hunting for something wider and that has a grip.

So yesterday evening he spent most of the time on his basking log, all puffed up with a black beard and giving my cats the stink eye. My two cats, Murphy and Isis, had this fascination with him: Murphy for a grande total of 3 minutes, Isis for about 2 hours (Murphy only cares as long as I exist. Nothing else really matters in his world lol). By and large, after the felines got their stare fix in, they got bored. My little guy continued to lounge, but after about two hours rolled by, he suddenly had a lot of energy and began to explore his viv. I had put a few mustard greens in his bowl, and he sporadically ate with much gusto. He was catching his reflection a lot and was getting agitated by the "other" beardie so there was a lot of head bobbing for a long while. His body got darker and it didn't seem as though he was going to let up so I put a towel to break up his reflection. As of this morning, he's more interested in laying under the basking light.

This morning he was pretty chill. I could barely sleep and woke up at around 6 (unheard of for me usually). I tip toed in to see if he was still sleeping and sure enough he was. But he was sleeping on his basking log and dang if it didn't look uncomfortable! His head wasn't even supported, just hanging over the edge. I gave him an hour to wake up, flicking his lights on at around 6:30 as I need to get him on my work schedule. After I took a shower, I gave him a soak in the tub for about ten minutes. This was his first tub soak and for about five minutes he wasn't sure what to make of that. lol He never thrashed around, just sort of froze, tail jutting in the air like a flag pole. He was a little dark, but eventually he started walking around in the water and relaxed, tasting as he went until he became still again. I didn't want to leave him in there too long as this was his first experience in a tub, but since he's currently shedding I thought it would be nice to help that along. That and get him hydrated. I plan on doing the same this week as I get ready for work.

That's about it for now. Here are some pics!

Hmm... pics don't want to show so here is a link: http://imgur.com/a/CPnbV#0

 

[blue11]

awwwwwwwwwww wow, what beautiful beardie!! he looks really healthy what is his name? you might have said it and i totally missed it, i do that often
congratualtions, sounds like he is gonna have a great life with you! and im really glad you are on this site ...
its the best of the best of the best, and any questions big or small, just post them
i wish i would have found BD.org BEFORE i got my first beardie Blue. but thankfully i did shortly after!
Welcome and CONGRATS!
~~Em

 

[SkeptiBee]

I don't have a name just yet. When I went to buy him, the original owners thought he was a she. They were going off what the seller told them when they originally bought him so they didn't really know for certain. So I checked at their place and let them know. XD

Anyway, today he's been a feisty lil bugger. After I fed him his crickets and greens, I let him chill for about a couple hours before taking him out and letting him wander around. He sat in my lap for about 15 minutes before getting fascinated with EVERYTHING around him. First thing? My light up keyboard. He was running from one end to the other licking keys with his tongue. Then the little hot head decided he was going to spring off the keyboard onto the floor. Thankfully I was able to catch him mid air but man did he struggle to get out of my hands. His claws dug into my hands and scrapped them a little. So I let him dart back and forth in my office, watching him closely as he licked a lot of things. The wall, the trashcan, the bottom of the shredder, my cats "feline discipliner" water bottle, an electrical cord, the carpet, a heating pad... good grief I think he discovered like half the items on the floor before he decided to crawl under a wire storage rack then mesh himself into the corner of the room. I could reach in there with my hand but he kept dodging out of my reach with this look like, "nope nope nope, not done here!" I couldn't even bribe him with a superworm. Eventually he came out on his own and I caught him then, them put him back in his cage. Little trouble maker! He still keeps jumping off his house and logs to get out of the cage. XO

I forgot to mention, he's had two bowel movements since he's been here. The first he must have passed before he went to sleep. It was super runny and there was very little firmness but the previous owners were feeding him lettuce so that might explain it. The second was a little more firm from the crickets and mustard greens I fed him yesterday. Food has been no issue with this one, really. He ate again today so I'm hoping for firmer stool in the morning.

Quick questions:

Do you all feed live food and greens together or just leave some greens to munch all day while live feeders are separate? How much of the greens are you to actually give them? I keep putting about a handful in but he doesn't seem to eat all of it and the heat dries it out fast.

 

[Onlymediocre]

So glad he doing well!

I leave greens available at all times, U can mist them with water to hlp keep them from drying out so fast. I feed superworms and dubia to mine as their staples, and I feed them in a bowl (they cant climb out of) So If they dont eat all of them from the morning feeding then I leave those available to. And then take out whatevers left at the end of the day and clean the bowls out. At reg feeding times I add more etc, etc...

 

[Brandonforty2]

Really cute beardie! You seem to know everything that you need to know. For a name, unless you have thought of one, I say Stephen (keep it random). I just leave greens in the tank all day. They also get crickets as long as I have some. Sometimes some small super worms. Today's meal, Collards, with some red bell pepper. Some superworms for the bigger ones.