AtlasStrike
Sub-Adult Member
Hey,
So I post quite a bit about Charlie, and he has been doing pretty well- a little semi brumation, eating a little on and off, but with steady weight gain and generally being a frustrating baby. But, I've been putting some things together in my head and I wanted to check in.
Right now, Charlie is housed in a 36x18x18 exo terra viv (my Valentine's day present from the fiance 8) ) Charlie had been asleep in his old 55 gallon for a couple of days before I moved him, and the move seems to have jolted his system into activity, and today he actually came out of his hide by himself before noon!!
Anyway, to start at the beginning, in January we came back from vacation, he finished his deworming meds and got a clean bill of health. He also got a 24" reptisun 10. Since then he has been in the brumation stage, like I said gaining weight still, but inactive and grumpy when disturbed. When he is awake though, his eyes are closed a lot, and he stays on the cool side of the viv, or in the shade as much as possible. In his new viv, the UVB is mounted directly overhead (nothing between him and the bulb, 8 inches from the basking spot) with bright the bright basking lights right beside it. Temps are good, 98 basking (he doesn't like it hotter, I've tried), around 84 cool side, dropping to the high 60's low 70's at night, but he still closes his eyes, even when he is out and about.
I was curious today, so I turned his UVB off while he was up, and his eyes stayed open much more, and he seemed more active and certainly more reactive/aware of me and my activities. I would say maybe his eyes just need a break, but he has been sleeping so much, that I doubt that is the problem.
I know some one is going to ask about feeding, so I'll just say he gets good salads with lots of variety, turnip, collard, dandelion, kale, mustard, bok choy, squash, red and yellow pepper...and he gets feeders if he is awake- mostly supers dusted with calcium because the brat won't eat anything else. Occasionally I can trick him into eating a roach by giving him supers with the tongs and then offering a dubia nymph. I tried hornworms recently, but he doesn't like them much, and they gave him horrible diarrhea, which he hasn't quite recovered from. Since he is only eating supers and picking at his salad, he gets repcal with D3 on most of his feeders and RepAshy calcium plus a few times a week to keep the Ca ratio in balance.
Here are some pictures:
Thanks in advance!!!
So I post quite a bit about Charlie, and he has been doing pretty well- a little semi brumation, eating a little on and off, but with steady weight gain and generally being a frustrating baby. But, I've been putting some things together in my head and I wanted to check in.
Right now, Charlie is housed in a 36x18x18 exo terra viv (my Valentine's day present from the fiance 8) ) Charlie had been asleep in his old 55 gallon for a couple of days before I moved him, and the move seems to have jolted his system into activity, and today he actually came out of his hide by himself before noon!!
Anyway, to start at the beginning, in January we came back from vacation, he finished his deworming meds and got a clean bill of health. He also got a 24" reptisun 10. Since then he has been in the brumation stage, like I said gaining weight still, but inactive and grumpy when disturbed. When he is awake though, his eyes are closed a lot, and he stays on the cool side of the viv, or in the shade as much as possible. In his new viv, the UVB is mounted directly overhead (nothing between him and the bulb, 8 inches from the basking spot) with bright the bright basking lights right beside it. Temps are good, 98 basking (he doesn't like it hotter, I've tried), around 84 cool side, dropping to the high 60's low 70's at night, but he still closes his eyes, even when he is out and about.
I was curious today, so I turned his UVB off while he was up, and his eyes stayed open much more, and he seemed more active and certainly more reactive/aware of me and my activities. I would say maybe his eyes just need a break, but he has been sleeping so much, that I doubt that is the problem.
I know some one is going to ask about feeding, so I'll just say he gets good salads with lots of variety, turnip, collard, dandelion, kale, mustard, bok choy, squash, red and yellow pepper...and he gets feeders if he is awake- mostly supers dusted with calcium because the brat won't eat anything else. Occasionally I can trick him into eating a roach by giving him supers with the tongs and then offering a dubia nymph. I tried hornworms recently, but he doesn't like them much, and they gave him horrible diarrhea, which he hasn't quite recovered from. Since he is only eating supers and picking at his salad, he gets repcal with D3 on most of his feeders and RepAshy calcium plus a few times a week to keep the Ca ratio in balance.
Here are some pictures:
Thanks in advance!!!