Preparing for a 2 day car trip with beardie

[milo0]

Hey guys, couple questions about my upcoming move from Texas to California. Milo is moving with me, and so far, I'm not too worried about the trip. He's never gotten stressed from a car ride before, and honestly likes travelling as long as he's near me or I'm holding him. As long as he's being held and loved on, he's happy. I was hoping you guys could see if my plan for this trip was good to go, or if I need to do anything else to ensure he's healthy and happy. I was basically going to gently burrito him with blankets or towels, and place him inside a dark cat carrier. I have a 72 hour heat pack that I was also going to wrap up and place under him to help keep him nice and toasty. I'm not sure if the heat pack would need to be placed outside the carrier, or inside the carrier though. Guess I'll have to play around with the temps and all. Anyways, I figured Milo would probably sleep most of the trip because he's been very sleepy lately anyways. We'll be making a total of two hotel stops, in which he will be brought inside with us. So he will be away from his normal schedule and set up from Thursday morning until about Saturday afternoon when I get his new cage set up. I'm not planning on feeding him really during the trip maybe aside from some collard greens and possibly a few waxworms/meal worms. He's on hunger strike right now so I have to keep withholding certain foods from him. >.> I'm also not going to give him any large meals this week because I don't want to run into any digestion problems on the trip. For hydration, I planned on getting him ready this week by bathing/showering him everyday until Thursday, and then on the 2nd night at the hotel. Should be plenty to help prepare him, plus I'm trying to find ways to avoid accidents in the car. He has never had an accident anywhere outside his bath or his cage (he's potty trained to go on his paper towel) so I don't think we'll run into that problem. Big thing was making sure he's well hydrated for the trip.

Once I get his cage set up, I'm hoping to pick up some silkworms or hornworms for him as a reward for the trip. I didn't want to cave in to his stubborn behavior but after what he would have gone through, it's well deserved. So he will get a nice big meal once we get there.

Does this sound like a good plan, or is there anything else I should do? Thankfully we won't be running into any cold weather so he should be rather comfortable through the whole trip. Got to make sure he's taken care of first.

 

[onceblue]

During what month are you moving? I ask because I'm in Texas and is so hot, I have trouble keeping my car cool even with the a/c on. You may not need the extra heat from the heat pack, especially if you will be wrapping him in blankets. I'd be wary of overheating him.

Oh, I just read through your post again and it sounds like the move is next week...in that case it should be nice and hot still so the heat pack may be unnecessary!

When you do feed him, just make sure he has the opportunity to bask to digest for about two hours. Maybe have a basking light readily available for when you're in the hotel with him.

 

[CooperDragon]

I agree that heat packs won't be needed this time of year. I only need them in fall/winter and that's in Iowa and Minnesota. A nice carrier or duffel bag with a towel or two at the bottom should be fine. Make a few stops per day at rest areas or other places where you can provide some outside time for him in natural sunlight and that should be enough. You could bring his basking light to the hotels but if it's at night they won't really be needed anyway. The ambient car temps should be fine while you're riding. Be sure not to leave him alone in the car because he could overheat and it could be a disaster. If you have to go in somewhere, just put him in a duffel bag or something similar and bring him with you. I'm sure he'll be fine with a little bit of salad and maybe some worms along the way if anything. Adults especially can go for a while without much food. If he has been good on car rides in the past, he should be fine on this one as well.

 

[milo0]

Thanks you two! To answer your questions, @onceblue I'm moving this Thursday and I'm also from Texas! So I know it will be pretty warm for him. I'll be sure to keep the car not too cold or anything, but just in case I'll have the heat pack if he gets chilly. I'll admit that I'm warm-natured, so I often keep my car pretty chilly. But you guys are right, thankfully he might not even need a heat pack really for most of the trip. As for the basking situation, I was thinking of trying to grab one of those red bulbs and maybe placing it on him overnight at the hotel while he sleeps. The problem is, I'm not sure how to really place the heat on him through the carrier... Perhaps I should place it in front of the carrier door at an angle maybe? I want him to have the chance to warm up a bit but not sure if a basking light or the heat pack in the hotel would be my best bet.

And @CooperDragon, good idea about the stops. I planned on making him a little leash so each time we stop for food or anything, I can let him run around a bit. We'll be stopping by the Grand Canyon also for a quick little viewing, so I planned on bringing him out and letting him explore a bit. Plus that gives him a chance to warm up and get some sun. Hopefully it's not too chilly that then when we visit, otherwise I'll just bring him out in the carrier.

Thanks again guys for the tips. I'll try to keep my car fairly warm for him, but will have the thermometer there monitoring the carrier's temps as well. Should I aim for maybe mid 80's during the majority of the trip to keep him comfy? Or will the normal car temp (I like it around 76F or so) be fine for him you think?

 

[CooperDragon]

Normal car temps will be fine during the trip. He can burrow down under the towels in the carrier if needed but it shouldn't be an issue, especially if he gets some time to bask in natural sunlight a few times a day. I wouldn't use the red bulbs, they are likely to disturb sleep. If you want to provide an overnight heat source, you could get a ceramic heat emitter that goes into a dome fixture and put that on an adjustable lamp stand. I think that will be unnecessary though. The temperature in the hotel should be fine overnight and again just provide some towels or a small fleece blanket in the carrier and that should do. The times I've used the hand warmers under the towels the outside temps have been around or below 0.