Traveling with beardie

[SouthernCouple]

Hello Everyone,
Sorry I haven't been on in sometime. Our baby Zeld is doing very well and growing. He is now 9 1/2 inches long and he has be ours now for 3 months.
The question I have is this. We have a towable camper and want to take Zeld with us on trips. Has anyone here ever done this or know someone who has?
Zeld will be in the car with us. A friend suggested putting a water bottle filled with hot water in the carrier he will be traveling in and tying it down so it won't move around.
Some thoughts and suggestion would be helpful, Thanks!

 

[CooperDragon]

I've gone on road trips of up to about 6 hours without any problems. Cooper was on a leash and loved to sit on the dashboard and look out the window and then spend the rest of the time in a shoebox with a towel that had some handwarmers under it in the car. If you're traveling for a long time you'll want to bring a travel tank. I used a 40G breeder as a travel tank and just brought all the light fixtures and some "furniture" along with. As long as you can provide fresh food and proper heat/lighting it may be OK. I'd definitely do some short test runs though, as all dragons have different personalities and react differently to everything. Zeld may be stressed out by a long trip away from home so my advice is test the waters a bit first.

 

[SouthernCouple]

Great thought about test runs! Zeld will have his home tank with him when we stop for the night. It will be a two day drive to where we are going and then there for a week and then back home again. Can you tell me more about the hand warmers?

 

[CooperDragon]

The hand warmers are just the ones used for camping. Super cheap and available at camping stores or even Walmart I suppose. They are sealed individually so when you take one out and shake it a bit, it starts to give off a bit of heat. Designed to use inside mittens in the winter, they work well to keep a dragon warm if it gets cold in the car. I put one or two folded into a towel or blanket (no direct contact with the dragon) so that the blanket warms the dragon and shoebox slightly. I kept a lot of them on had in case of emergency as well. In case the power went out for a long time I could use the warmers to keep Cooper warm enough to get by without his heat lamp for a while. (His lights were on a battery backup for short outages)

http://www.amazon.com/Grabber-Hand-Warmers-Box-Pair/dp/B001G7QECY/

 

[Taterbug]

Instead of hand warmers you can also get heat packs designed for shipping animals. They have versions that last up to 90 hours depending on what you get. They are safer than the hand warmers which can get very hot.

I use a warming pad filled with rice, and just microwave it at a gas station when we stop to recharge it. Just need to be careful it isn't super hot either.

 

[CooperDragon]

Animal shipping versions are an even better idea. I wouldn't let that make direct contact either though. Either way just be sure to test out the area that comes in contact with your dragon to make sure it is warm but not hot.

 

[SouthernCouple]

Where can I find the heat packs for shipping animals?

 

[CooperDragon]

LLLReptile carries them. http://www.lllreptile.com/store/cat...king-material/-/disposable-40-hour-heat-pack/

 

[Taterbug]

Amazon and most online reptile supply places have them too.