If this behavior doesn't stop, I'm going to have to rehome!

[pia2some]

I have been dealing with this behavior for months now. I cannot figure out how to fix it and cannot seem to find any answers anywhere, including this forum.

Last September Scully started a new behavior of glass climbing. He was just insane with the constant running from end to end of the tank and clawing at the walls. I posted on here to ask for advice. Someone suggested that Scully may be needing to brumate. I put a hide in the tank and lowered his lights and heat and yes, he went into the hide and went to sleep! He slept for almost three months.

A breeder at Repticon told me that was too long to brumate and that I needed to wake him up so I did. He woke up fine but has only been eating a little, which is apparently the norm. But the glass climbing has returned with a vengeance and I am going to be insane soon. It's like nails on a chalkboard. I have no idea why Scully is doing this. Any advice or ideas would be awesome.

This is a YouTube video showing a bit of the behavior.
http://youtu.be/HV4ZfnyNRL0

Scully has a basking light that keeps his basking spot (top of tree) at 95 - 100 degrees, give or take. His cool side is around 75 degrees. We are using a T5HO 22" fixture with a Reptisun 10 bulb. Scully gets a salad mixture twice a day and crickets every other day. About two times a week he eats a few superworms. He gets a calcium dusting 5 days a week and a vitamin dusting 2 days a week. I put in a bath 3 times a week for hydration and he runs around the bedroom freely every day (so he does get out of the tank for free roaming). Just so you have some background on his routine and environment.

HELP!

 

[Sauzo]

Maybe he wants more "out" time? I know my red tail boa will actually pace the front of her pvc cage when she wants out. I open the door and she will get quiet again and just hang out looking around. My beardie does the same thing when she wants out. If he has been doing this nonstop since September, maybe something in the cage isn't right? Try maybe raising the cool side temps a few degrees or moving/changing some stuff around. Wanting to come out sometimes is normal but if they are constantly nonstop trying to get out, it probably means something isn't making them happy in there. Also not sure if its the lighting but was he also blackbearding?

 

[CooperDragon]

What's the size of that tank? In the video it looks like it may be a little bit too small for him.

 

[pia2some]

Maybe he wants more "out" time? I know my red tail boa will actually pace the front of her pvc cage when she wants out. I open the door and she will get quiet again and just hang out looking around. My beardie does the same thing when she wants out. If he has been doing this nonstop since September, maybe something in the cage isn't right? Try maybe raising the cool side temps a few degrees or moving/changing some stuff around. Wanting to come out sometimes is normal but if they are constantly nonstop trying to get out, it probably means something isn't making them happy in there. Also not sure if its the lighting but was he also blackbearding?

I can't really take him out of the tank any more than I do. He's out at least twice a day, sometimes 3 or 4 times if I'm home more. We have cats so it requires me to lock the cats out and close off the doors so that Scully is safe. I've rearranged items in the tank, added items, taken items out. The temps are the same as they've been forever. He didn't have a blackbeard, I think it was just the shadow and lighting. I really wish I could figure this out because it has to stop. I'm really sick right now and have been trying to nap but the noise is awful and I can't even sleep!

I also wondered if Scully wasnt ready to wake up from brumation and if he needs to go back to sleep. This is worse than parenting. lol. Always trying to figure out what the little ones need.

 

[pia2some]

What's the size of that tank? In the video it looks like it may be a little bit too small for him.

It's a 40 gallon breeder. I have no where at all to put anything larger.

 

[Sauzo]

Well when they come out of brumation, they are usually hyper but it sounds like Scully is hyper all the time. When he does come out, is he fairly calm or does he run around the floor like crazy too? Maybe, its just his personality? I know Harley is a pet rock. She ran a lot when she was a baby but but as she got older.....and fatter.....she learned she didn't have to do anything for her food so she did just that, nothing and now sometimes she will run alittle or if I put her on the couch or bed, she waddles around some, then looks at me like "ok that's my exercise for the month, now bring on my worms!!!".

 

[pia2some]

Well when they come out of brumation, they are usually hyper but it sounds like Scully is hyper all the time. When he does come out, is he fairly calm or does he run around the floor like crazy too? Maybe, its just his personality? I know Harley is a pet rock. She ran a lot when she was a baby but but as she got older.....and fatter.....she learned she didn't have to do anything for her food so she did just that, nothing and now sometimes she will run alittle or if I put her on the couch or bed, she waddles around some, then looks at me like "ok that's my exercise for the month, now bring on my worms!!!".

But Scully never acted like this until September. He would have been around 18 months at that point and had always been laid back. Since he went right into brumation after acting so nuts, I assumed the glass climbing was his way of trying to get out and look for a dark, cool spot. From what I read males are especially restless and grumpy after brumation because in the wild that is when they mate. So some of it may be normal but geez. So I dont think the hyper/restless behavior is personality since the first 18 months were fine.

When I let him out, he always runs a bit, explores all the corners of the room and pauses from time to time to just sit. Eventually he finds a spot and sort of settles in until I put him back in the tank.

 

[Sauzo]

Lol sounds like you got a dragon who likes to sit out more than in. Unfortunately I really cant see anything obviously wrong. Harley is opposite, she loves to just stretch out on anything soft like her blankets under her UVB and heat and just people watch or she actually watches the tv screen when its on. My best guess is since he didn't act like this before and started around September, I would say wait until the time of month you got him and he wasn't doing this and see if he stops at that time. It might just be his "cycle" per say. At least that's the only thing I can guess. I don't have a male so im not really familiar with their behavior as far as brumation and stuff. I don't really know that much on brumation as Harley never goes into the sleep, she just becomes extra lazy if that's even possible and eats less, sometimes nothing for the whole day and just lounges around although in summer time she lounges too :lol: Come to think of it, my ball python and red tail boa are both pretty much loungers too, damn all my pets are lazy

 

[Taterbug]

Have you tried giving him his hide box back? I notice his cage is very sparce and that compaired to the furniture and cage he is quite large. Perhaps furniture that he can use more comfortably, and somewhere for him to get up under might help him feel more at ease in his cage.

 

[pia2some]

Have you tried giving him his hide box back? I notice his cage is very sparce and that compaired to the furniture and cage he is quite large. Perhaps furniture that he can use more comfortably, and somewhere for him to get up under might help him feel more at ease in his cage.

Yes, his hide is in there. He had a huge log that goes from one end to the other but he never sits on it and ends up just knocking it all around when racing around the cage. He prefers to sit on top of the tree and that is where he basks. What other type of furniture do you recommend? I took the hide and the big log out when I was trying to take a video.

 

[RedRoseVertigo0]

Have you tried making the sides of the tank less reflective? Maybe he thinks he is seeing another dragon and is getting territorial?

 

[Taterbug]

Have you tried giving him his hide box back? I notice his cage is very sparce and that compaired to the furniture and cage he is quite large. Perhaps furniture that he can use more comfortably, and somewhere for him to get up under might help him feel more at ease in his cage.

Yes, his hide is in there. He had a huge log that goes from one end to the other but he never sits on it and ends up just knocking it all around when racing around the cage. He prefers to sit on top of the tree and that is where he basks. What other type of furniture do you recommend? I took the hide and the big log out when I was trying to take a video.

Considering he has the log and hide and they just were not in the video I'm not sure. =\

 

[dementedlullaby]

Yep, just rehome him instead of fixing the problem. Sounds legit.