Suddenly much more active... And trying to escape!

[rebeccaw14]

Since we got Charm, he has been pretty lazy and spent most of his time basking. About a week ago, he started getting extremely active and runs around his tank all day, even knocking over his furniture. He also learned how to escape so we had to start putting the top on the tank, which we have never done. Why the sudden change? Is he trying to escape because he's unhappy, or just because he wants more room to run around?

I've started to take him out for longer periods of time and let him roam around the whole apartment to get some of his energy out... Is this a good solution?

He has been sick with coccidia for a while so we're wondering if he is just recovering and therefore has more energy. His poops started getting more solid and more frequent around the time his behavior changed as well.

What do you think? How do I make sure he's happy?

 

[Cnochur]

You don't need to take escape attempts as unhappiness. They're just very exploratory. I don't think any animal would willingly stay in any enclosure all day if it had a choice.

How big is the tank? Depending on age/size, it might be time to upgrade to a bigger space, 40gal. being the minimum for adult dragons.

As for the lid, make sure to cut a hole in the mesh to let UV light directly in, or he might lose that energy and grow ill again.

As far as I know, the #1 way to tell if a beardie is emotionally well is its appetite. If he's eating well, he can't be too stressed, since the first thing they do when they're out of sorts is stop eating.

 

[reillyrebekahann]

Sounds happy to me. They love getting out of that tank so that's good that you let them.
I've noticed mine being more active too and then I realized that is was because the weather was finally warmer.