Scratching and Hiding?

[adtoes]

Just wondering! I recently adopted my bearded about 4months ago. He's 2years old and his substrate he grew up on was sand. I tiled his entire cage as for ease of cleaning and impaction, mainly cleaning though! I've noticed him scratching alot at the tile sometimes for like an hour! So I put a bunch of sand in a tupperware container think he'll be a bit happier now?

Second question is if I live the door to his hide open he'll spend the majority of his time in there and then he'll usually sleep there at night.??! Why is he spending so much time in there when he needs his heat and light?

 

[dolcedragon]

Yes, my BDs get depressed if they don't have their sand. My female in particular, LOVES to burrow and "remodel" her home. It may be a pain to clean but us slaves have to make our masters happy!

As for the hiding/sleeping... it's brumation time and that is totally normal. UNLESS he is acting sickly... then testing for parasites would be a good idea. If he's coming out to eat, close his hide for a bit and make him bask so he can digest properly.

 

[adtoes]

well i put in a sandbox should this suffice? I have very bad dust allergies and the dragon is located in my room so when changing sand i really can't afford to have dust kick up.

I believe he is shedding his left leg just shed....so should i just let him go his course and open the hide other than after meals? I'm gone most of the day so it'd either be open from 11pm the night before 'til 5:30pm that day or closed the same hours. He still eats hearty although his pooping is sparatic and before anyone asks my temps are perfect

 

[adtoes]

As for the hiding/sleeping... it's brumation time and that is totally normal. UNLESS he is acting sickly... then testing for parasites would be a good idea. If he's coming out to eat, close his hide for a bit and make him bask so he can digest properly.

how do i know if he's acting sickly??? How long does he brumate for???

 

[dolcedragon]

Hello again. I would leave the hide open while you're gone, but it's up to you. Beardies are good about following their natural instincts. Just make sure you're waking his butt up enough to bathe and bask for shedding and digestion.
And I'm sure your critter appreciates the sandbox. Like a said, mine are burrowers, but some beardies are content with a blankie, reptile carpet, or even paper towels to scratch on. Every one has their preferences.
Here is an article that goes into detail about brumation. This should help.
http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/brumation/

 

[adtoes]

I think he's just scratching because of his shedding and being a bit uncomfortable; but i'm finding him more and more often in his sand box, he's hardly in his hide at all (hopefully it stays that way). so once i get my 500 supers and 100 dubias these colonies will make him an extatic little guy! but he's not dead so this is a great sign he's also pooping on his own a little easier he takes a massive dump though lol and its always under his basking light so its night a cooked so it REEEKS up my room! :shock: :shock: :shock: