Lost Beardie

[J9Z]

Hello,

I found this site almost two months ago when my daughter's beardie (Dany) went missing. We were away on vacation when a friend of my daughter's, who was watching our pets, accidentally lost Dany outside.

Fast forward almost two months later...a neighbor called me on Friday to say that her sister was driving by our house and saw our beardie on the road. I ran outside, but of course she was no longer there. The sister came back to show me where she had been, so that helped me narrow down where to look. She said that Dany was barely on the road, but she swerved anyway to keep from hitting her.

We suspected that when Dany became lost, she had run across our driveway and straight into the garden, or the tall grass & weeds of our horse pasture. However, once she reached the pasture, she apparently started heading west and ended up at the far end of the pasture, which borders the road. My guess is that she had been basking on the road on Friday (it was almost noon), & when the car passed her, she ran off the road & ran back into hiding, either into the nearby culvert or back into the pasture. I have attached pictures. You'll see that I have set out several bowls of food, some flat basking areas and a couple pans of water in an effort to draw her out of hiding (and hopefully keep her off of the road).

I think the culvert is a very good possibility, however the top of the opening is somewhat smashed, so it's hard to get a good look in there. My daughter put her cell phone on a selfie stick and took a few videos, but it's difficult to see very far. In one of the videos she noticed a tiny white (and almost glowing) spot, which we thought could be beardie droppings. The rest of the area was very dark.

I'm wondering if anyone has advice as to how to probe a culvert in order to force her out, if she is in fact in there. I've been trying to think of something long enough to put in one end in order to scare her enough to run out the other end.

If we don't find her in the culvert, how would you go about looking for her in the tall grass? We have spent some time walking around & checking it pretty thoroughly, but we also know that beardies are adept at hiding.

I would love to set up some basking areas up by the road, but it is so far from the nearest electrical outlet that it would take an extremely long outdoor extension cord. If I put solar powered lights out, would she be drawn to them, even if they don't put off heat?

Thank you in advance for any ideas or advice that you may have.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Hello,

I found this site almost two months ago when my daughter's beardie (Dany) went missing. We were away on vacation when a friend of my daughter's, who was watching our pets, accidentally lost Dany outside.

Fast forward almost two months later...a neighbor called me on Friday to say that her sister was driving by our house and saw our beardie on the road. I ran outside, but of course she was no longer there. The sister came back to show me where she had been, so that helped me narrow down where to look. She said that Dany was barely on the road, but she swerved anyway to keep from hitting her.

We suspected that when Dany became lost, she had run across our driveway and straight into the garden, or the tall grass & weeds of our horse pasture. However, once she reached the pasture, she apparently started heading west and ended up at the far end of the pasture, which borders the road. My guess is that she had been basking on the road on Friday (it was almost noon), & when the car passed her, she ran off the road & ran back into hiding, either into the nearby culvert or back into the pasture. I have attached pictures. You'll see that I have set out several bowls of food, some flat basking areas and a couple pans of water in an effort to draw her out of hiding (and hopefully keep her off of the road).

I think the culvert is a very good possibility, however the top of the opening is somewhat smashed, so it's hard to get a good look in there. My daughter put her cell phone on a selfie stick and took a few videos, but it's difficult to see very far. In one of the videos she noticed a tiny white (and almost glowing) spot, which we thought could be beardie droppings. The rest of the area was very dark.

I'm wondering if anyone has advice as to how to probe a culvert in order to force her out, if she is in fact in there. I've been trying to think of something long enough to put in one end in order to scare her enough to run out the other end.

If we don't find her in the culvert, how would you go about looking for her in the tall grass? We have spent some time walking around & checking it pretty thoroughly, but we also know that beardies are adept at hiding.

>>>> IF SHE'S AN ADULT …. She'll be easily seen and heard moving through the grass.
Form a long line of people everyone about 10ft apart and slowly walk through the grass making noise …. this will flush her out of hiding and someone will need to catch her .

I would love to set up some basking areas up by the road, but it is so far from the nearest electrical outlet that it would take an extremely long outdoor extension cord. If I put solar powered lights out, would she be drawn to them, even if they don't put off heat?

Thank you in advance for any ideas or advice that you may have.

 

[J9Z]

Thank you for your suggestion! That sounds like a great idea. We will definitely try it.

Is it possible that she has burrowed into the ground? I know that they do that, but I wasn't sure if she might have burrowed far enough to where we wouldn't be able to see her.

My daughter looked in the culvert tonight with a spotlight. She said this time she could see all the way to the other side. She didn't see anything except dirt.

 

[kingofnobbys]

If there are any tree stumps, fallen trees , or farm fence posts of the timber type, they are prime spots to look, bearded dragons love to climb onto these to bask and keep an eye out for danger.... you can literally walk right up to even a wild bearded dragon who will pretend it's he's a bit of the tree and stay perfectly still only moving his eyes …. I picked up lots of wild beardies as a kid this way ….

If you form a beating line to flush him out, start at the road and work so he is flushed away from the road.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thank you for your suggestion! That sounds like a great idea. We will definitely try it.

Is it possible that she has burrowed into the ground? I know that they do that, but I wasn't sure if she might have burrowed far enough to where we wouldn't be able to see her.
<<<< she's more likely to have found a rabbit burrow and is sharing it with the resident rabbits.
Or found a termite nest and has been raiding it and perhaps made a little hide for herself in it.

My daughter looked in the culvert tonight with a spotlight. She said this time she could see all the way to the other side. She didn't see anything except dirt.

 

[J9Z]

Thanks so much for your help! Unfortunately we are getting ready to go out of town for the weekend, but I will recruit some people to help when we get back. So if she is hiding in a rabbit hole, do you think the "flushing" tactic will work?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Thanks so much for your help! Unfortunately we are getting ready to go out of town for the weekend, but I will recruit some people to help when we get back. So if she is hiding in a rabbit hole, do you think the "flushing" tactic will work?

He'll still come out of it regularly to warmup, bask and go looking for food.

 

[J9Z]

Okay, thanks. If trying to flush her out doesn't work, then we have a "game" camera that I'd love to set up. My husband used to use it to collect photos of deer & other wild animals on our property, but he said there is some sort of problem with it right now. Hopefully we can get it up & working. I don't know if it would pick her up in the pasture, so I may point it between the pasture & the road, where she was seen last week. At least it would give us a more exact area to search, depending upon where she re-enters the pasture.