Random Question About Holding Dragons

[fluffpuffgerbil]

How long is too long for holding your dragon? Because I hold my dragon several hours a day in the morning, evening and afternoon, but my mom was worried that he wouldnt' get enough of his UVB or heat.(Though I will hold him on a heat pad with a towel in between him and it if he feels a little too cold)
He's been in his cage for several hours now and I'll think I'll hold him again, but is there a limit on how long you should hold them? I know some people can hold them for hours, but what about their UVB? How much of that should they get a day? (I leave both lights on for 13 hours a day, though Scout's probaby under them for maybe 9 +/-.
Does that sound okay? ?

 

[jon21388]

i hold mine as long as he is willing to let me. Once he starts moving around alot i put him back in

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Ah, Scout moves around a lot when I hold him, but then I just put him onthe ground and he explores the christmas tree/presents.
So what I should have said was how long is it alright for them to be out of their cages. XD

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Oh and also, he has stress marks a lot while in his cage, mainly on his stick halfway between the UVB and the basking lamp....then I take him out and he's happy. He turns light brown/tan instead of grey and has no stress marks then.
(That just happened now)

 

[EShell]

Oh and also, he has stress marks a lot while in his cage, mainly on his stick halfway between the UVB and the basking lamp...then I take him out and he's happy. He turns light brown/tan instead of grey and has no stress marks then.
(That just happened now)

See if he's being threatened by his reflection when he reaches that spot. I had glossy tank background in an enclosure and an old male BD that could see himself in one of the black spots when he was in a certain position on one of the perches. He'd put on a big display every time he got near it.

A lot of lizards will stress if they have too much reflective area and either cannot escape their reflection or are continually surprised by it. When I got my smallest one from a local breeder, I told him about putting it in a glass sided enclosure and he warned me that it would probably cause problems until/if he could get used to it. I did heed his advice and put up paper, but I eventually removed a lot of it and at a certain point, he started to show stress marks quite a lot.

People get variable results and I think a lot of it has to do with what's beyond the glass and ambient light levels on both sides. A brightly lit tank in a dark room is literally a house of mirrors, while a tank with medium illumination in a sunlit room may not have the least bit of internal reflection.

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

Alright, thanks. I think he can see himself (And the gecko's cage) from one side of his cage. I'll tape the papers back onto it.
Maybe that will help him!

 

[alkemisten3]

That also made me realize that mine seems calmer and slighly happier outside the terrarium (with glass, in a rather dark room)
I have a background that she continously tries to actually "climb / jump" on since she thinks they are actual stones... Sometimes it looks like that is stressing her slighly.
I have now put up beach mats around the sides (except the front) but as these are outside the glass, reflections are still present.
Is there anything I can actually put INSIDE the terrarium that you could recommend?
I know she has been living in a wooden terrarium before, so it could very well stress her to live in a large (75 gallon) tank now, made solely by glass...
Thanks :wink:

 

[fluffpuffgerbil]

I put some designed paper on the outside of the cage and it looks like it might cut down on the reflections a little but, but we'll see how he does later.