Shedding and sleepy

[bluesoda025]

My beardie (she's about 3 months old) is beginning a shed, and the colour on her tail and hind legs definitely looks duller than when I got her last week. The thing is, I haven't actually seen her shed any skin off.. How long does a shed take? I'm guessing that this dulling of colour means that that part of skin is about to shed? I've also noticed that in the past few days, she's been acting a bit lethargic and not eating as many crickets (although this could also be relocation stress, only got her on Halloween). Especially yesterday, she really didn't bask much at all. She just laid in this corner of the tank most of the day and looked like she wanted to nap. Is this part of shedding behaviour? She is behaving/looks healthy otherwise (eating alright, pooing daily, alert, etc.).

She also seems to be more scared and wary of me than usual. : ( She often has stress marks when I'm in front of her tank and sometimes the area where her beard is turns black, but she does not puff out her beard. Does this turning black of the little beard area under her ears mean that she is anxious/stressed when she sees me? I'm guessing it's because it kind of looks like I'm "hovering" over her like a predator when I reach into her tank, but the only way to access things inside her tank is from above.

 

[gandhi]

Hey - This is completely normal shedding behavior. They are known to get in a 'Bad mood' before or whilst shedding.

As for how long does it take. I think it differs between dragons but Gandhi shed's different parts at different times (Tail/Head & legs/ Body) and the time that he's actually shedding is only a day but usually starts darkening a couple days before this.

Hope this helps - It's a good idea to bath him everyday to get rid of that skin (Im sure you wouldn't but don't be tempted to pull any pieces off!)

 

[demonsmomma]

demon was weary of me when i got her in april and now we are best buddies whenever you feed just slowly reach your hand in and stroke her on the head, everytime you feed her than she associates your body and smell with food and kjnows you will not hurt her, but as for the backening give it a few days to a week she is very unsure of you so , she is not sure if you want to helper her or hurt her, and sooner or later she willbe your buddy i always read of people cuddlign with their dragon and i was like ya right get demon tos it for five seconds is a miracle, buit the older they get and the more you are around her thecalmer she will get..find somethign she likes to eat and offer her that beofore you pet her, for insatnce demon loves mandarin oranges, so whe i want to get her in a good mood i ploop one of those in her tank,,

 

[bluesoda025]

Hm.. She seems to hate being picked up. She gets nervous when I go to open up her tank.. even if I'm just doing that to pet her, which doesn't seem to calm her down. But I need to pick her up when I feed her, because I put her in a separate container during feeding time.. I hate having crickets running all over the enclosure. It's a big tank for her size (40 breeder) and they sometimes hide under the log, which is really annoying. Is there a better way of getting her to not hate being picked up? Or is it just something that they get used to over time? In fact, she seems even more skittish about it than when I first got her (but it's only been 1.5 weeks..).

And I read in a lot of threads that you should scoop them up from below rather than pick them up from above. I try to do this, but it is difficult most of the time, because of the position she's in sometimes. Also, when she's basking on her log, I have to kind of "loosen" her arms from above, since her claws kind of catch onto the log before I can scoop her up, and she doesn't like this. :/ However, when I'm actually holding her, she stays still about 50% of the time and stares at me. The other 50% of the time, she's trying to run or trying to leap off of my hand.. I cannot tell if that is from fear or if she's just being rambunctious.

Actually, 2 days ago, she did fall asleep on me after her bath when she was under her towel. Well, I thought that was pretty good! But then the next day, she was back to being scared and aloof. : ( They can be quite unpredictable..!

When I'm holding her sometimes, she just jumps off of my hand (good thing it's always carpet). I get nervous about having her on my shoulder, since I'm not sure if she'll just suddenly jump off. O_O Do they not have good depth perception? Or do they get it as they get older?

 

[Leo123]

Leo jumped off my shoulder when he was young also, he is now 6months old and would sit on my shoulder all day

 

[bluesoda025]

Hmm, I guess it is just something that they grow out of (hopefully!). What I am most confused about is the fact that she fell asleep on me the other day which would make it seem like she isn't afraid of me, yet when she's awake she's always nervous around me or runs sometimes. I am guessing that she was just really sleepy after her bath that time, and had no energy to fight. Hmm those beardies sure are strange creatures.