How do I De-Stress my dragon? *PICS*

[lauraj1055]

I have had my dragon for a month now. He is always SO DARK when he is in his cage, to the point he is almost black. When I ordered him from the breeder he was so colorful.

This is before I got him:

And this is him now:

his set up:

UVB reptisun 10.0 basking spot 105 - 110 cool side 80

small superworms as a staple, which he eats about 50 - 60 in a feeding. Greens are Collard, mustard and butternut squash.

He basks, eats, and poops daily.

I don't know if there is a way to minimize his stress? The only time he lightens up is at night when he sleeps

PLEASE HELP!!

 

[NightmareDisco]

Is he only dark when IN his tank? Like, when you take him out does he brighten up? My boy is dark in his tank too. I read somewhere that they darken to help absorb heat and uvb. As soon as I take Nemesis out of his "house" he brightens right up.

 

[quigleysmom]

I feel your pain. My five month old is exactly the same way. I can say that the same thing happened with my year old beardie when we first brought him home. What has helped is covering most of the tank. Leave the top open for ventalation, but cover most of the sides. The give it like a week and start taking a little of the covering off every day. I covered our tank with note cards and now he is going to the spots that have been removed to watch us instead of hiding from us. I must say he still is dark, but not as bad as before.

 

[lauraj1055]

Is he only dark when IN his tank? Like, when you take him out does he brighten up? My boy is dark in his tank too. I read somewhere that they darken to help absorb heat and uvb. As soon as I take Nemesis out of his "house" he brightens right up.

Yes, he is mostly almost black in his tank... when I take him out he lightens up quite a bit, and at night when he is with me he is his normal colors. So it could be just him absorbing the UVB?

 

[NightmareDisco]

Yes, Nemesis does this too

 

[Jess]

Mine does the same thing: He is dark whenever he is in his viv basking, but he lights up when he decides to do non-basking activities, or when he is on the cool side. When I bring him out he will lighten up at first, and then he gets darker as he gets colder.

 

[lauraj1055]

Thanks everyone.. That makes me feel better. I have another dragon that never turns dark or gets stress marks, so I was worried about Phred. I guess they are all different!!

 

[newbeardie11]

I had the same thing with my drag. Try adding more heat, sometimes ur thermometers wont give off the right readings. Try lowering his basking lamp a bit. U can also try giving him baths to reduce stress

 

[lauraj1055]

I use a temp gun, and his basking spot is 105 - 111 which is where they should be for his age (6 months) and he gets baths 3 - 4 x a week.. When he's under his UVB light, he isn't dark, so I think now it's just him soaking up the heat from his basking light.

 

[Gail]

I don't think he is dark from trying to absorb UVB, if he was then his beard wouldn't be black like that. He looks either stressed or in breeding mode. Can he see your other dragon? If he can then you might want to rearrange the cages so he can't

I noticed he is close to a window, can he see birds, tree limbs or anything that might be in the sky? All of those can lead to stress in a dragon that isn't used to seeing outside.

 

[lauraj1055]

I don't think he is dark from trying to absorb UVB, if he was then his beard wouldn't be black like that. He looks either stressed or in breeding mode. Can he see your other dragon? If he can then you might want to rearrange the cages so he can't

I noticed he is close to a window, can he see birds, tree limbs or anything that might be in the sky? All of those can lead to stress in a dragon that isn't used to seeing outside.

He can't see my other beardie, they are in totally different rooms on different ends of the house. I never though about the window.. especially because of the location of his basking log.. I'll put something up so he can't see out it, and see if that works. Thanks!