Stupid Dragons?

[corbin251]

I have had my dragon for about a month and a half. I have read posts and articles saying that each dragon has a different level of intelligence. After observing my dragons behavior consistently for the last several weeks I have come to the conclusion he is one of the lesser gifted dragons. He falls asleep as soon as the lights go off regardless of the time of day. As soon as the lights go off he sleeps in whatever position he is in, sometimes half of his body is pressed up against the glass. He wakes up as soon as the lights go on no matter what time of day it is.

For some reason he only eats the crickets that are coated with vitamins or calcium. He wont even go for a cricket that is not coated in vitamins and calcium. One time there were about 10 spare crickets jumping around his cage for a couple days untouched so I figured he wasn't hungry. But as soon as I put a powder coated cricket in the cage he dove for it, and picked it out of a large mass of crickets. I then took the non-coated crickets and coated them, and he ate them right away. Sometimes crickets crawl on his body and face, he looks like he is extremely annoyed by it but does not know how to get rid of the crickets. After watching him sit looking very uncomfortable and sometimes vibrating his head in an attempt to get rid of the crickets, I blow them off of his head. I have had to do this many times, its like he never quite figures it out. I've also noticed when there are multiple crickets (more than 1), he gets overwhelmed and can't decide which cricket to go for. He starts stalking one, then changes his mind and goes for the other, then back to the first, and after he makes up his mind, the crickets have had enough time to escape unharmed. There is one corner in the cage he always eats. It's like he only expects crickets to be in that area of the cage. I will put crickets in, and he is definitely hungry but fails to notice them until I pick him up and put him in the corner he eats in. I always have some sort of green in his food dish, but he never eats the greens on his own, the only time he eats them is when I hand feed him greens, and even then he hardly eats any. My dragon also seems to depend on me to regulate his body temperature. One side of the enclosure is 80 degrees and then i have a basking spot at about 105 degrees. On the cooler side i have a climbing branch and a magnetic rock ledge that he loves to spend time on. But he seems to forget that he needs to b above 90 degrees to digest his food properly. I will pick him up and set him in the basking area and he sits up straight and looks much more lively.

I have been measuring my dragon and it grows a little more than an inch every week. Right now he is about two and a half months old and he is 14 inches. He is very athletic because i have observed him making some pretty impressive jumps and he hangs in some awkward positions. So i am wondering if his size and athleticism is a trade off for his brain. Does anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences???

 

[Joy63]

I have had my dragon for about a month and a half. I have read posts and articles saying that each dragon has a different level of intelligence. After observing my dragons behavior consistently for the last several weeks I have come to the conclusion he is one of the lesser gifted dragons. He falls asleep as soon as the lights go off regardless of the time of day. As soon as the lights go off he sleeps in whatever position he is in, sometimes half of his body is pressed up against the glass. He wakes up as soon as the lights go on no matter what time of day it is.

For some reason he only eats the crickets that are coated with vitamins or calcium. He wont even go for a cricket that is not coated in vitamins and calcium. One time there were about 10 spare crickets jumping around his cage for a couple days untouched so I figured he wasn't hungry. But as soon as I put a powder coated cricket in the cage he dove for it, and picked it out of a large mass of crickets. I then took the non-coated crickets and coated them, and he ate them right away. Sometimes crickets crawl on his body and face, he looks like he is extremely annoyed by it but does not know how to get rid of the crickets. After watching him sit looking very uncomfortable and sometimes vibrating his head in an attempt to get rid of the crickets, I blow them off of his head. I have had to do this many times, its like he never quite figures it out. I've also noticed when there are multiple crickets (more than 1), he gets overwhelmed and can't decide which cricket to go for. He starts stalking one, then changes his mind and goes for the other, then back to the first, and after he makes up his mind, the crickets have had enough time to escape unharmed. There is one corner in the cage he always eats. It's like he only expects crickets to be in that area of the cage. I will put crickets in, and he is definitely hungry but fails to notice them until I pick him up and put him in the corner he eats in. I always have some sort of green in his food dish, but he never eats the greens on his own, the only time he eats them is when I hand feed him greens, and even then he hardly eats any. My dragon also seems to depend on me to regulate his body temperature. One side of the enclosure is 80 degrees and then i have a basking spot at about 105 degrees. On the cooler side i have a climbing branch and a magnetic rock ledge that he loves to spend time on. But he seems to forget that he needs to b above 90 degrees to digest his food properly. I will pick him up and set him in the basking area and he sits up straight and looks much more lively.

I have been measuring my dragon and it grows a little more than an inch every week. Right now he is about two and a half months old and he is 14 inches. He is very athletic because i have observed him making some pretty impressive jumps and he hangs in some awkward positions. So i am wondering if his size and athleticism is a trade off for his brain. Does anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences???

I'm not an expert or anything but I think my dragon is worse than yours! He likes to be hand fed! He won't chase anything, at least not for me. My husband can put stuff down and he'll go after it but not for me. He just waits for me to hand it to him. He's very lazy and spoiled! He also lets crickets walk all over him! LOL I think they just get use to what ever you do with them. Funny! I think the powdered thing with the cricket is just his preference. He likes them that way! They have likes and dislikes. I don't think they are stupid just set in there ways. Almost like a cat now that I think about it. Hummmmm Have a great day. Enjoyed reading this one! :study:

 

[sammyjackson]

Hey,
Listen up!! If you had a servant that turn on and off the lights for you would you fall asleep when you have the chance?
If you had a servant that puts flavor and vitamins(glaced donuts=glaced crickets) on your food for you, would you eat your food without it?
If you had a servant willing to hand feed you would you eat yourself or should I let them do it?
If you had a favorite place to eat would you eat somewhere else?
If you had a servant that takes care of the problem when you are unconfortable would you worry?
NO!!!NOT STUPID!!!!! Iwould call that "Smart and Manipulative" so keep the good work as the servant and everything will be fine. jajaja :whip:

 

[Denise Bushnell (RIP)]

Sammy,

You beat me to the punch with your answer! LOL I was just about to post pretty much the same thing!

Personally, I don't think that there's any such thing as a stupid beardie....they just want us to THINK they're stupid, since they like being waited on hand and foot. If you had someone willing to catch your food for you, and chop it up for you so you barely had to chew it, in order to eat it, would YOU run around trying to catch it yourself??? I think not!

Syringe feeding is fine, but they get accustomed to it way too easily, and if you keep caving in and syringe feeding him every time he refuses to catch and eat his food on his own, you're going to have a spoiled brat on your hands very quickly!

As long as he's not sick, when he gets hungry, he'll eat on his own. A healthy dragon won't starve themself to death, although they'll do everything that they can to convince you that they need to be handfed! LOL

They don't have a stupid bone in their little bodies....they're just little manipulators with scales!

 

[Denise Bushnell (RIP)]

Sammy,

You beat me to the punch with your answer! LOL I was just about to post pretty much the same thing!

Personally, I don't think that there's any such thing as a stupid beardie....they just want us to THINK they're stupid, since they like being waited on hand and foot. If you had someone willing to catch your food for you, and chop it up for you so you barely had to chew it, in order to eat it, would YOU run around trying to catch it yourself??? I think not!

Syringe feeding is fine, but they get accustomed to it way too easily, and if you keep caving in and syringe feeding him every time he refuses to catch and eat his food on his own, you're going to have a spoiled brat on your hands very quickly!

As long as he's not sick, when he gets hungry, he'll eat on his own. A healthy dragon won't starve themself to death, although they'll do everything that they can to convince you that they need to be handfed! LOL

They don't have a stupid bone in their little bodies....they're just little manipulators with scales!

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

They don't have a stupid bone in their little bodies....they're just little manipulators with scales!

Denise, you hit the nail on the head with that one !!!

 

[haleygirl272]

hes 2 mos and 14 inches?

Zinger is neglected! He is 6 mos and like, 20 inches!

 

[bugaboo]

mine must be somewhat slow as he let crickets knaw on the end of his tail during the day! Of course I don't leave them in there overnight but why can't he flick them off. :shock:

 

[Denise Bushnell (RIP)]

Obviously, you already know that you shouldn't leave crickets in his tank during the overnight hours. However, you shouldn't leave them in there in the daytime either, if he doesn't eat them! If they decide that they're hungry, and there's nothing else in there for them to gnaw on, they'll bite him during the day too..... and it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, if they cause an open wound on his scales, the wound WILL get infected, and the infection that they transmit can be VERY nasty!

Also, a beardie's tail is often a weak spot on them, and the least little thing on their tail can cause an obstruction in the blood flow, so that the tail becomes necrotic, and has to be amputated.

Regardless of what time of day it is, you should always follow the 15 minute rule with crickets. After 15 minutes, any crickets that he doesn't eat should come out of there, just to be on the safe side. And,as far as Supers are concerned, those little suckers can bite too, and it HURTS! LOL

I know that crickets are a real pain to catch, but a good way around that is to remove all his "cage furniture" before you put them in there, and once he's finished eating, you can use one of those cheap little hand vacuums (similar to a DustBuster) to simply vacuum them out of there. If you use the kind with a cup on it, rather than a bag, and you empty it right away, it won't hurt the crickets at all, and its a whole lot easier than trying to catch them! I picked up a cheap one from one of those online catalogs for about $10, and I think it was about the best $10 I ever spent! Or you can always feed him in a separate container, and when he's finished eating, put him back in his tank!

I'm not trying to be critical about your feeding methods, but I've seen way too many nasty wounds caused by crickets, and I'd hate to see that happen when there's a really simple way to prevent it!

 

[haleygirl272]

Obviously, you already know that you shouldn't leave crickets in his tank during the overnight hours. However, you shouldn't leave them in there in the daytime either, if he doesn't eat them! If they decide that they're hungry, and there's nothing else in there for them to gnaw on, they'll bite him during the day too..... and it doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, if they cause an open wound on his scales, the wound WILL get infected, and the infection that they transmit can be VERY nasty!

Also, a beardie's tail is often a weak spot on them, and the least little thing on their tail can cause an obstruction in the blood flow, so that the tail becomes necrotic, and has to be amputated.

Regardless of what time of day it is, you should always follow the 15 minute rule with crickets. After 15 minutes, any crickets that he doesn't eat should come out of there, just to be on the safe side. And,as far as Supers are concerned, those little suckers can bite too, and it HURTS! LOL

I know that crickets are a real pain to catch, but a good way around that is to remove all his "cage furniture" before you put them in there, and once he's finished eating, you can use one of those cheap little hand vacuums (similar to a DustBuster) to simply vacuum them out of there. If you use the kind with a cup on it, rather than a bag, and you empty it right away, it won't hurt the crickets at all, and its a whole lot easier than trying to catch them! I picked up a cheap one from one of those online catalogs for about $10, and I think it was about the best $10 I ever spent! Or you can always feed him in a separate container, and when he's finished eating, put him back in his tank!

I'm not trying to be critical about your feeding methods, but I've seen way too many nasty wounds caused by crickets, and I'd hate to see that happen when there's a really simple way to prevent it!

Yes, Denise is right. I have seen beardies lose toes to crickets.