Lost Bearded Dragon in house

[payledragon]

For the past 5 days now, our male Skitz, has decided to play hide and seek and we can't find him. We turned our backs for 5 minutes, because he was dancing with himself in front of a mirror and it was so cute. I left the room for a minute to get the camera and when I came back, he was gone and has not been seen. I'm getting extremely worried. Normally, when he's hiding, he'll usually come running out when we turn the heat up in the house. However, this has not worked. We have rearranged every room in the house and he's not in his normal hiding spots. I was curious if anyone has any ideas on how to lure a sleeping dragon, from his deep somber sleep? I was curious about any foods that may attract them to come out? Or maybe some kind of noise that would attract them? This is extremely upsetting. I don't want to find him dead, so I would love some feedback on some techniques that some owners may have used in the past.

Also, how long can they be in this deep sleep - before it's too late? The last thing I want to do is find him in a horrible stage of deydration, or worse.

 

[sixxmum]

Oh no! That is so distressing. Maybe if you got a high sided bowl and put some live feeders out in the middle of the floors?

 

[payledragon]

I can try that .. maybe some crickets, since they like to make noise. The first day, I got out some of his favorite worms, but that did'nt do anything.

Occassionally, we think we might hear him somewhere .. a few minutes ago I was talking to my old man about this website .. which is awesome, BTW!! As we were talking, we heard this faint noise coming from down the hallway. we both stopped talking, said "Did you hear that" and went running down the hallway ... but no more noises. This is driving us crazy! I feel horrible!

The worse lesson I've learned, NEVER, turn your back on a beardie, not even for 5 minutes to get your camera.

 

[Ethelia]

Im so sorry for the stress.
I would lose my mind!
We have had members find their dragons in deep sleeps after months, so we dont need to panic just yet.

Tips I can think of right now:
1. keep all the doors closed. you dont want him travelling around.
2. to sleep dragons squeeze themselves into unbelievably tight spots. back/underneath fridges/cubboards/tv cabinets/sofas/radiators are favourite spots. do you have any loose floorboards? carpet? wood panneling?
3. put his viv on the floor with the lights on in the room you suspect he is in. he may return.
4. leave a spotlight lamp on the floor at night
5. leave a box of crickets/locust on the floor with the light. the rattling may lure him out if he is not yet completely asleep. If he has a favourite fruit this would work aswell. anything aromatic that he loves can help lure him. for ruben this would be blueberries.
6. check shoes, sofa cushions, laundry baskets, potplants. anywhere dry and warm.
7. keep the heat up. the warmer it is the less likely it is that he will brumate.
8. get down onto the floor at beardie eyelevel. from where he was, where can you see that looks tight and cosy? where might he go?

best of luck.
Holly

 

[payledragon]

Okay, that makes me feel a little better .. knowing some have found their babies after a long period of time.

Skitz, is rather small and loves to jump, we will dragon crawl again and remove everything from the closets - where occassionally, we're hearing a strange noise [somewhere in the back of the house].

Thank you kindly for the replies. I'm off to go dragon hunting once again with some of the advice offered.

 

[payledragon]

In one of these posts, I remember reading about roasted chicken. How someone's beardie loves roasted chicken and when they put it out in the middle of the living room, the beardie came running. I was curious if that actually worked and was the roasted chicken homemade, or did it come from a store? I doubt it matters at this point, cause I'm willing to try anything.. even running over to KFC and getting a few pieced of chicken for Skitz.

 

[sunfaye]

I lost my beardie yesterday and I'm going through the same thing, so I feel your pain. She just disappeared without a trace. We've looked everywhere. This site is great and I've gotten fantastic advice. I'll say a long prayer and keep looking in the morning.

 

[Menolly]

I'm really sorry, I hope you find him soon. I had a similar problem, I turned my back for one minute and he was gone. It took us I don't know how long to pull apart the room and find him under the cabinet that holds a couple of dish sets. We had to take them all out so someone could get a flashlight. The little bugger was curled up taking a nap. When running around, I've taken to tying a long bright thread on the end of his tail so just in case something were to happen again, it would poke out. He could hide no more! Just an idea. Hope your beardie turns up soon!

 

[TazzysMamma]

Yikes!

I hope you both find your beardies soon!!!!

I havent gotten to where I want to trust mine out on their own yet! LOL Im too much of a mother hen I think LOL!!!! Or.... would that be mother beardie? :shock: :roll: :wink:

HUGS!

Sandi

 

[Gaius Marius]

I let my beardie run around my house all the time! Sometimes we even leave him out for a few hours while he basks in the window and plays. When I come home, I look all around the house for him. Sometimes I close several doors, but the majority of the house is at his command. Every once in a while, I just can not find him. When that happens, I ask another family member to look. Sometimes it really helps to have a different person's perspective because you think you have looked everywhere even when you haven't. Try to get someone else to look for you. Do you have any open grates in the house or doors that lead to the outside that were open? Otherwise, check under ALL furniture if you haven't already. My beardie loves to go under the couch and in dark, random, hard to get to places. I don't know how to lure him out, but if you have to resort to that, I have read that some people put basking lights above different sections of the floor. The beardie might get tired of lying around and come out to bask. Good luck!

I can't believe he was out for FIVE DAYS! It probably isn't too bad for him, but you really should take an hour or two to search EVERYTHING. Look everywhere in your house.

 

[haleygirl272]

I don't really have advice, just best wishes and prayers!

Haley

 

[RioReptiles]

One of the BEST ideas i've ever read on this forum is when you let your beardie run around the house, tie a thin colored ribbon around him somewhere that's about 3 ft long so if he hides somewhere it will hopefully be hanging out. The worst place mine ever went was behid the washer, and I have the front load kind with the dryer stacked on top. Thank goodness my husband is really skinny! Good luck, I can't wait to find out where you find him! Cheryl

 

[amylee159]

Yikes. . . I can't imagine losing my beardies in the house I hope everyone's beardies are found soon!!! They sure know how to scare us!

 

[Gaius Marius]

One of the BEST ideas i've ever read on this forum is when you let your beardie run around the house, tie a thin colored ribbon around him somewhere that's about 3 ft long so if he hides somewhere it will hopefully be hanging out.

Hey, I did that! Unfortunately, it kept coming off of Socrates, so we would just find colorful ribbons everywhere!

 

[Stephies_Leo _Dragon]

My best advice is to keep turning up the heat in the house until it is unbearably warm and hopefully he will stir around. My beardie was lost for 6 weeks and was fine so don't give up hope !