Little Beardie Always Stressed

[jennacharpy]

Hey guys! I got my baby Po about a month and a half ago when he was 12 weeks old, he was 6 inches at the time but is about 8.5 now. Ever since I got him he has had stress marks all over his belly and beard, and is a lot darker of a color than when i first received him (he was bright orange) which i know is also a sign of stress. I have a 20 gal long aquarium, reptisun 10.0 UVB T8, have the warm side at 98 and cool side at about 75 (it’s getting cooler now so sometimes it drops as low as 72). I use paper towel as the substrate and feed greens, small dubias and small crickets. I handle him almost every day and he is starting to respond a lot better to it but still seems scared at times, especially when i try to take him out of his viv. I honestly have no idea what I am doing wrong but it is clear something seems to be stressing him out, any suggestions / input?? Thanks!!

 

[Xanelic]

Hey guys! I got my baby Po about a month and a half ago when he was 12 weeks old, he was 6 inches at the time but is about 8.5 now. Ever since I got him he has had stress marks all over his belly and beard, and is a lot darker of a color than when i first received him (he was bright orange) which i know is also a sign of stress. I have a 20 gal long aquarium, reptisun 10.0 UVB T8, have the warm side at 98 and cool side at about 75 (it’s getting cooler now so sometimes it drops as low as 72). I use paper towel as the substrate and feed greens, small dubias and small crickets. I handle him almost every day and he is starting to respond a lot better to it but still seems scared at times, especially when i try to take him out of his viv. I honestly have no idea what I am doing wrong but it is clear something seems to be stressing him out, any suggestions / input?? Thanks!!

Does he brighten up when you handle him out of the viv? Probably just him trying to absorb more heat by darkening up.

And keep trying to handle him as some beardies take 1day, 1week, 1month, etc etc