Stressed Beardie Mom RANT

[szubelak]

UGH!

Just when I think I've figured out my boys' behavior (Bert and Ernie) they decided to mix it up on me.

Background:
Rescued - from 1 tank with everything possible wrong with it about 11 months ago. We think they are about 2 years old now. They are each in separate 40 gal breeder tanks - on paper towels - reptisun 10.0s - 40 watt household light for basking - basking temps around 100 - warm side has gone down to 75ish lately since it's gotten colder in my house lately - cool side is 70 - they are picky eaters - won't eat crickets anymore, only supers - multivitamin 1x/week - calcium 3x-4x/week - salads are touch and go - they will sometimes eat romaine, squash, apples - I RARELY catch them eating salad - unless I'm hand feeding it to them, which I hate to do because I want them to learn to eat on their own (previous owner NEVER fed veggies) - They both had clean fecals in Marchish

They brumated earlier this year in January - I think they were trying in December but I was confused by their behavior and was "keeping them up" - They got back to "normal" in Marchish

They are both shedding right now and just being LAZY LIZARDS - not eating as much, not being as active - Their lights are on from 7 am -7 pm - when I got home from work (late) at 4:30 earlier this week - they both looked like they had never even "gotten up" - Ernie is being worse than Bert - I started staying home in the morning until their lights turned on and put them in their basking lights before I left

I'm just so stressed I sometimes feel like I can't be a beardie mommy because they take so much out of me because I'm constantly worrying about them.

I just got my box from pet mountain today and put in new reptisuns and the hammocks I ordered - their lights were put in in March (I thought I would remember the date, but don't - this time I wrote it on the bulbs) so we'll see if this changes their behavior

If I missed any "background" or if you have other questions I didn't cover - please ask me -

I welcome EVERYONE'S 2 cents!

Thanks!
Lesley

 

[xdoomedsoulx]

They do keep you on your toes don't they!

I have the tamest beardie, yet I woke him up today like always and he does the full hissing/pancaking/gaping thing at me. He's calmed down and eaten now, and I'm still none the wiser!

He is a fussy eater too, only eats locusts, waxworms and salad. I've ordered him a few different things this time though, so hopefully I'll find at least a couple of new things he'll eat. Maybe you can try the same, though it's not cheap if you have to throw dead livefood out. He's very lazy too, so things that don't run or hop too fast are good.

As for the salad, try putting some worms in it and they'll soon get the idea! :mrgreen:

 

[szubelak]

Thanks for the response - I've tried worms in the salad - the worms eat the salad before the dragons realize or care that the worms are there... lol - but perhaps it's worth a shot again - Thanks!

My vet has also told me to try putting the salad in the blender with crickets (what they were eating at the time) - it was so gross and didn't work - I'm glad I had bought a new cheap blender just to try it though... lol

Lesley