emberNchester
Member
Hi all!
So I've actually been lurking around these forums for a couple months now for certain answers and I finally decided to sign up.
A little background first,
I bought my very first beardie back on June of this year. His name is Chester. He was 3 months old when I first adopted him. Now he's 5 months and 7 inches with a nipped tail from when he was being transported to the shop with the other babies. They were selling him as a discount because of it but discount or not, I fell in love with Chester the moment I got to hold him! I definitely couldn't leave without him!
(Week 1 in his new home)
Since I've had him though, I've been a nervous wreck. I worry that my inexperience is gonna kill him one day. He has a few love/hate moments with me which I don't understand. One day he's an angel and is super calm and falls asleep on me or he'll explore my bed for awhile and settle in a corner to just lie down and watch me do whatever I'm doing. Other times, he's like a cranky old man! He'll get stress marks seeing me come in my room after work. He won't want to be touched at all! I've seen all different shades of his stress marks. His beard got really black once but he's never completely puffed out. He's not usually aggressive unless there's something bothering him to the extreme. The last shed he had was really bad and at most he hissed at me when I went to handle him. I sprayed him a bit to help with the shed and the next day, his shed kinda exploded! A bunch of dead skin just hanging off him and all around his terrarium. he's never expressed anything near near that kind of behavior since then.
The amount of scares I've had with him are innumerable. I always worry that some of his behavior may not be normal but a lot of times I find that it is ?
Anyways now to the point of this, I was hoping to get some feedback with maybe some things I can do different that'll benefit him.
Housing:
So currently he's in a 40 gal tank (36x18x18). I had him in a 20 gal until the beginning of August then I got this one. I was using a uvb hood and bulb that my brother had given me. Chester started becoming lethargic and then I realized it was a Zilla light. So I put the smaller Reptisun t5 HO hood from the 20 gal close to his basking and sleeping spot. I moved all his decorations to one side for now. I have a larger reptisun t5 HO hood and a 5.0 bulb coming in on Tuesday. He hasn't usually cared much for the cooler side of his tank anyways. He loves to bask and curl up in towels or my old t-shirts when he sleeps. He's been much more active now that the Zilla light is gone.
(Original setup)
(Temporary setup)
(Nuzzled in an old shirt)
Substrate:
I used paper towels for the first couple of months and then the reptile shop girl told me sand was fine that he was a bit older. So I had used sand for the past few weeks and he seemed fine until this past week. Now I'm trying to find something else for him ASAP.
Feeders:
I'm trying to get rid of crickets as a staple. I think they're almost all around terrible. I can't keep them for too long cause they'll grow too big. They smell bad and they eat each other even if there's fresh cricket food/veggies available! Right now he's eating Phoenix worms and loves them! I'm thinking of ordering small-medium Dubai roaches for him soon though. I dusted the crickets with calcium+d3 or multivitamins. Phoenix worms I'll dust with multivitamins bc they already are high in calcium. He won't eat any vegetables I try to offer him and that worries me a lot. Ive tried to put worms in his dish with veggies, he'll try his best to eat around them. I've tried wiggling the veggie in front of him and he tasted it and spit it out. He even runs away from it when I try to do that now ? I've tried different kinds of greens and fruits and veggies and different combinations. So far, he only seems to tolerate papaya, but even then he won't eat it unless he's particularly hungry... Any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated!
(Loving his Phoenix worms)
(Stepping on his uneaten veggies when he was younger)
Hydration:
I try to handle him everyday and give him a bath at least twice a week but usually I strive for more than that. He seems constantly dehydrated though and I'm concerned about that too. His eyes are sunken but I've seen them like that since I've gotten him and the times he's been hydrated. I think it's gotten worse with him being dehydrated though. I can't find an answer for why they won't go away completely. ?
(Not sure if you can tell in this pic, but his eyes have really dark circles)
He won't drink from a water bowl and he drank a lot from a baby dropped one time but then any time I tried using it after that, he refused. He even seemed scared of it!
This past week I think he was impacted a bit so I gave him one or two baths daily and massaged his tummy. A couple days ago he pooped twice! They looked pretty healthy too. White urates and not too runny but not super hard. Since he pooped though, he looks way way skinnier. Also he's not eating as much but that may be because he's about to shed again.
(The one time he drank from the dripper)
(Looking super skinny earlier today)
Temps:
His hot side usually stays around 90-100, 85 at its lowest if the A/C is on for too long but that's not often and never overnight.
Cool side is between 70-80, 65 at lowest with A/C being on too long.
I think that's about it. I know this is a lot and id be super grateful if even one person could help me improve ? Any and all recommendations are certainly welcome.
Thank you!
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