Meet Hope. The 3 legged Dragon!

[firemist82]

Yeah my wife was looking at the pics of Hope on my phone and made the comment that she thinks I have more pics of Hope then I do of her lol. Ok so Hope is shedding and acting weird. She don't want to be held or messed with and she has barely are today. Is that normal when they are shedding?

 

[CooperDragon]

Yep. They can get moody and sometimes lose appetite during sheds. Can you blame them? =) She should be back to her old self once the shed cycle is done.

 

[firemist82]

That's a relief! I was so afraid that there was something wrong. I know I have only had here a little over a week, but she has wiggled her way into my heart and I don't know what I would do if something happened to her. Or it could be that she is mad at me for turning shark week off last night when I went to bed lol.

 

[CooperDragon]

I know how you feel. And yeah she can hold grudges but they don't usually last for more than a little bit =)

 

[firemist82]

So Hope isn't so cranky this morning (sighs in relief). She let me hold her for about 15 mins before I had to take my wife to work also she ate her breakfast. So I have a question, what kind of greens are good for her? I have tried kale but she won't touch it. Also how many crickets should I be feeding her? I have been giving her about 4 crickets 3 times a day. She acts like she wants more, but I am worried about overfeeding her.

 

[CooperDragon]

She is still young so don't worry too much if she favors bugs over greens. She needs the protein to support large growth spurts. Keep offering salads so it's familiar to her as a food source though. It makes things easier when she transitions to a primarily vegetarian diet at around 12-18 months old.I like using base greens of collard, turnip, mustard, and dandelion greens. I also use a lot of chopped green beans, squash, and bell pepper. There is a good list of options here http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html Variety is key. Offer a couple of items in each salad and just rotate what you offer based on what is fresh at the store each week.

As far as bugs go, I like offering variety there too. Add in some silk worms and black soldier fly larvae when you can get them. Let her eat as many crickets as she wants within about a 10 minute window a couple of times per day. You'll cut back on this as her growth levels out at around 8-12 months (Varies between dragons). Some days she'll eat a ton, and others she won't eat much and that's normal.

 

[firemist82]

So I got a 3d desert background for Hopes home a couple of weeks ago and at first she would try to climb on the printed rock formations before she realized they were fake. Well... she just got done eating and then climbed up top her basking rocks. She kept looking at the background, which she does a lot. She then took a flying leap towards it, bounced off of the back glass, landed, then looked at me like what just happened?!? My heart leapt into my throat when it happened! I checked her out and she seems ok. Should I change the background???

 

[CooperDragon]

Poor Hope! If she keeps doing it you may want to take it down so she doesn't hurt herself. Darwin used to try climbing into his background photo too but got used to it eventually and has since calmed down.