Need advice for temporary caregiver

[usmcfamily]

I posted a while back that we would be taking a monthlong trip this summer. Well that starts this week so I moved our animals to my parents house. Since my dad works from home and has many, many animals, he's not a stranger to daily care (although he's never kept a reptile). Plus, they offered. We went up last week and stayed for five days. My dad piggy backed onto Spencer's care and routine to get to know him. I expected him to stress and refuse to eat but he didn't. Then we came home and left him there. Now he's acting up of course.

He's in his own tank (I took the whole thing since it would be extended stay and I thought it would help him), everything is good. My dads not me and that's the issue I think. He's worrying that he's not doing things right and that he'll be sick or something will go wrong. This is a HUGE issue for him because Spencer is my son's dragon and he is very attached to him and had a VERY hard time leaving him at all. My dad doesn't want to disappoint him.

Food is being offered just as I do, with hornworms being used most often right now to entice him to eat. He'll jump at those for me but is refusing anything from my dad. He put him in a bath today to try and took him or after 3 mins because my dad said he was looking very uneasy and trying to climb out immediately. He didn't want to cause undue stress. He's been getting out of tank time and spending time on my dads shoulder and chest while he works.

I've told him just give it time, that he won't starve himself and as long as food available, he'll eat when he's hungry enough. Any advice for me to pass along? Things to watch for? This is just starting now and I don't want to be worried about this the whole time were gone. Thanks very much.

 

[CooperDragon]

I think you have it in hand pretty well. The anxiety is part of the game I think. I stress out whenever we leave our guys at home, even for a weekend. As long as he's getting his tank cleaned and is getting fresh food made available he should be fine. It's great that he's enjoying some outside of the tank time. If the baths seem to be causing stress, I agree that it's good to just stop them unless he gets really messy and needs it. Not worth the stress.