MissChelly
Member
(Sorry for the length!)
I'm a new beardie parent, I haven't even had him for 2 weeks yet and I wanted to know if I'm being paranoid or not. Lemmy's a year and a month old and my boyfriend and I got him off Craigslist. The family that had him were moving to California and for whatever reason couldn't take him along. (I know they weren't lying because their apartment was bare and their stuff packed. lol) Anyway, the main owner was the wife and her layout had silicone-free playground sand as the substrate. (Which I plan on switching to non-slip tile)
Well, when we first got him, we went and got some crickets for him to tide him over while we went to go get him extra stuff he'd need like calcium powder, etc etc. The next day, since we hadn't gone to get his greens, veggies, and fruit yet- we looked up what was safe for him to eat and prepared a temporary salad of pineapple, apple, and strawberries with calcium powder sprinkled on top. He doesn't eat it.Then we went and got his needed daily staple greens, veggies, and some fruit. The next two days I put his salad in the enclosure and he doesn't eat it. He seems to pick it up, yet not eat it. (After getting the calcium powder, I always sprinkle it on his salad and shake his crickets in it) Also, I noticed he wasn't pooping. We got him on Saturday and his first poop was three days later. I'm not sure if that's good or not, but I felt he must be constipated. (Which after researching, I found out sand can cause that too, right?) So (before he pooped) I put him in a nice little bath in the sink to which was what made him poop and (sorry for the gory details here, lol) it smelled pretty blegh (granted I don't think it'll ever smell like roses!), at first was very liquidy, and then... there was this, about 1 1/2 inch long, really hard white poop that came out. The only thing I can relate it to would be a white waxy crayon. Nearly that wide! Which seems pretty big (and I would think painful) for an adult sized beardie even!
So I was thinking, "yay! he finally pooped!" Immediately took him out of the water the second he let it all out, washed him in the clean side of the sink, then towel dried him and held him for a little bit, then put him on his basking log so he could be warm.
The next day (yesterday), I feed him his salad and he eats it! Then he pooped again! I was beyond happy! LOL! But then I started noticing he would do that "gaping" mouth/panting bit while basking, yet not move away from the heat lamp. Which I thought, "well, if he gets TOO hot, obviously he'll move himself!" So he kept doing that for quite a while and then I noticed he started to sleep during the day. I figured maybe he didn't get enough heat so he didn't have enough energy hence being more sleepy? So I just kept an eye on him and watched him be awake a little bit, then go to sleep, be awake a little more, then go back to sleep. By night time, I figured he'd have more than enough heat/UV by then, so I took him out and put his new little harness on him that my boyfriend and I got earlier that evening, and let him onto the carpet to see if he'd want to explore some. Before we'd bought the harness, I had let him explore the bed, the counter, and a closed section of the carpet for a teeny bit to which he seemed to be pretty alert and happy to explore. But... this time he only moved to a more closed area of the room and fell asleep. He'd just sluggishly move to fall asleep again.
Earlier that day I had been reading up more information on beardies and fell upon the illness section so maybe I'm just being paranoid. My heart's recuperating from a cardiac arrest that happened due to a seizure condition (not epilepsy), I'd just recently lost my bestfriend in a car accident, my aunt some months before that, and my mom March of 2009... so needless to say, I don't need the stress of him getting sick or worse. Though I haven't had Lemmy for even two weeks yet, I've gotten quite attached- so it does worry me a lot. My worry for him yesterday even caused an argument between my boyfriend and I because he was worried about how worried I was since I'm supposed to try and be as stress-free as possible! So help! Am I just being a silly, hovering mommy? Does my worry sound valid? Is he just stressed from moving to a new house, new people?
Also, we thought he knew to drink from his water bowl, but I only found out early yesterday that you have to train them to drink water from their bowl. I used a syringe and dropped the water on his nose, to which he drank. Could he be dehydrated? Even though he had a bath about 2 days ago and has been eating his greens and veggies which also contain water in them? Again... am I being a worry wart here? lol. Help!
I'm a new beardie parent, I haven't even had him for 2 weeks yet and I wanted to know if I'm being paranoid or not. Lemmy's a year and a month old and my boyfriend and I got him off Craigslist. The family that had him were moving to California and for whatever reason couldn't take him along. (I know they weren't lying because their apartment was bare and their stuff packed. lol) Anyway, the main owner was the wife and her layout had silicone-free playground sand as the substrate. (Which I plan on switching to non-slip tile)
Well, when we first got him, we went and got some crickets for him to tide him over while we went to go get him extra stuff he'd need like calcium powder, etc etc. The next day, since we hadn't gone to get his greens, veggies, and fruit yet- we looked up what was safe for him to eat and prepared a temporary salad of pineapple, apple, and strawberries with calcium powder sprinkled on top. He doesn't eat it.Then we went and got his needed daily staple greens, veggies, and some fruit. The next two days I put his salad in the enclosure and he doesn't eat it. He seems to pick it up, yet not eat it. (After getting the calcium powder, I always sprinkle it on his salad and shake his crickets in it) Also, I noticed he wasn't pooping. We got him on Saturday and his first poop was three days later. I'm not sure if that's good or not, but I felt he must be constipated. (Which after researching, I found out sand can cause that too, right?) So (before he pooped) I put him in a nice little bath in the sink to which was what made him poop and (sorry for the gory details here, lol) it smelled pretty blegh (granted I don't think it'll ever smell like roses!), at first was very liquidy, and then... there was this, about 1 1/2 inch long, really hard white poop that came out. The only thing I can relate it to would be a white waxy crayon. Nearly that wide! Which seems pretty big (and I would think painful) for an adult sized beardie even!
So I was thinking, "yay! he finally pooped!" Immediately took him out of the water the second he let it all out, washed him in the clean side of the sink, then towel dried him and held him for a little bit, then put him on his basking log so he could be warm.
The next day (yesterday), I feed him his salad and he eats it! Then he pooped again! I was beyond happy! LOL! But then I started noticing he would do that "gaping" mouth/panting bit while basking, yet not move away from the heat lamp. Which I thought, "well, if he gets TOO hot, obviously he'll move himself!" So he kept doing that for quite a while and then I noticed he started to sleep during the day. I figured maybe he didn't get enough heat so he didn't have enough energy hence being more sleepy? So I just kept an eye on him and watched him be awake a little bit, then go to sleep, be awake a little more, then go back to sleep. By night time, I figured he'd have more than enough heat/UV by then, so I took him out and put his new little harness on him that my boyfriend and I got earlier that evening, and let him onto the carpet to see if he'd want to explore some. Before we'd bought the harness, I had let him explore the bed, the counter, and a closed section of the carpet for a teeny bit to which he seemed to be pretty alert and happy to explore. But... this time he only moved to a more closed area of the room and fell asleep. He'd just sluggishly move to fall asleep again.
Earlier that day I had been reading up more information on beardies and fell upon the illness section so maybe I'm just being paranoid. My heart's recuperating from a cardiac arrest that happened due to a seizure condition (not epilepsy), I'd just recently lost my bestfriend in a car accident, my aunt some months before that, and my mom March of 2009... so needless to say, I don't need the stress of him getting sick or worse. Though I haven't had Lemmy for even two weeks yet, I've gotten quite attached- so it does worry me a lot. My worry for him yesterday even caused an argument between my boyfriend and I because he was worried about how worried I was since I'm supposed to try and be as stress-free as possible! So help! Am I just being a silly, hovering mommy? Does my worry sound valid? Is he just stressed from moving to a new house, new people?
Also, we thought he knew to drink from his water bowl, but I only found out early yesterday that you have to train them to drink water from their bowl. I used a syringe and dropped the water on his nose, to which he drank. Could he be dehydrated? Even though he had a bath about 2 days ago and has been eating his greens and veggies which also contain water in them? Again... am I being a worry wart here? lol. Help!
