SkeptiBee
Hatchling Member
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.
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.