Traveling with Mushu...I need advice!

[mushusmom01]

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum or not....I'm having to travel a lot lately from lower Alabama to Colorado and back without much of a motel stay. My daughter has been taking care of Mushu for me but she's in college and has to drive 120 miles back and forth while I'm away. I want to take her with me but not sure about her basking/heat light and her uva/uvb tube light. How can I do this? Any suggestions? Please help!

 

[Soulwind]

I don't really see how it would be a feasible thing to take her with you back and forth all the time.

Keeping her light and heat stable is going to be problematic -- how are you travelling around?
Driving you'd have to figure out a way to mount her enclosure in the car, and any other method
of travel would be even worse.

Not to mention, talk about relocation stress ....

I assume you mean that your daughter is driving 120 miles back and forth every day...if not then
mushu isn't really getting cared for properly. I'm not trying to bash you or anything here, just
stating what I see as an issue.

Does your daughter live in the dorms or off-campus? Could she physically take mushu's enclosure to
where she's living? Is there a nearby friend who could foster mushu for you (and can/will follow
proper husbandry)? I don't know what to tell you, other than I don't think there's going to be an easy answer here.

Frankly though, if your travelling is going to be an on-going thing, then it might be best to try and find
mushu a more appropriate home. I know it's hard to contemplate, but it would probably be best for her.

 

[JessicaJ]

Maybe get a pet sitter I realy can't think of how she would live without the light.

 

[mushusmom01]

I'm only traveling 3 days once or twice a month by vehicle. I also own a feed/animal health care store that I work full time at and have for 7 years...which is the reason for my traveling lately. My daughter lives off campus but can't take Mushu with her. She has to drive 60 miles to and then 60 miles home from college Monday, Wednesday and Friday and is home every morning and evening/night while I'm away. I know it's hard on my daughter because of the 2 hour light/heat time before Mushu can be fed in the mornings and before bedtime. Her lights/heat are on a timer. Mushu and all of my other animals are VERY well taken care of by myself and my daughter. We both love them very much and make sure that they have the best care possible. There aren't any issues about taking care of Mushu or any of my animals. I was just trying to make it easier if it was possible without jeopardizing Mushu's health. That was the reason for my question on here. My daughter is the only person I trust with Mushu or any of my animals. I'd never get anyone else to take care of them. Finding any of my animals a new home...and I have lots of them.... is out of the question as long as I can provide quality time with them and meet all their needs physically and mentally. My daughter is in a public speaking class and wrote her outline and gave her speech on Bearded Dragons....and made a 97 with lots of praise from her professor about her topic...I just had to throw this in...lol . She knows just as much as I do about taking care of any of our animals including Mushu. I hope this post doesn't sound rude because it's not meant to be. I am a HUGE animal lover. If I couldn't properly take care of my animals I wouldn't be a slave to all of them. My animals are my life! Mushu and my yorkies go to work with me. Mushu has an enclosure in my office with all the correct lights and heat...just like home. Again...please don't take this as being rude. I just don't want anyone to think that I don't love and take care of all of my babies!

 

[bumblebee]

I agree that taking Mushu with you would be a lot of stress for Mushu, especially for only 3 days.

You mentioned your daughter not having the time to feed her because of the 2 hour basking rule, but that she's home every morning and night. Have you looked into putting dubias, phoenix worms, silkworms, etc. in a dish so they can't get out in Mushu's tank? That would allow your daughter to leave enough food in the dish in the morning for Mushu to eat what she wants when she wants. Also, depending on what Mushu's lights are now, you could try increasing the amount of time she has her lights on - beardies can have their lights on up to 14 hours per day.

Hope that helps!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....how old + what size is Mushu ? Do you mean that once or twice a moth you are gone for 3 days at a time ? An adult dragon would be totally fine with lights on a timer,a large bowl of salad and / or dragon pellets. Just feed heavily the day you leave.

 

[mushusmom01]

Mushu is fed crickets every morning + her veggies for the day and fed crickets again in the evening every day. She is 9 months old and she is 16" long. Her lights are on for 14 hours a day....from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm. AHBD...yeap...that's the amount of time that I'm away from home. Bumblebee...the worms are a great idea. I will be trying this. I told my daughter about the worms and her reply was "And just why haven't we been doing this already?" A few more questions....How do you get a BD to eat the pellets? Mushu has the juvenile pellets and refuses to touch them. I've tried putting them on her veggies after soaking them. Do I need to soak the pellets? Thanks for all the help. I love this website.

 

[AHBD]

Bumblebee's idea is great, especially if Mushu doesn't care for pellets. A bowl of Phoenix worms or possibly a few supers [ if they can't escape ] is your answer. She should be fine with that and some veggies. If you want to try soaking the pellets it's fine. Whenever I bought pellets that my beardies didn't like , I ended up putting them in a shallow plastic cool whip lid or similar type lid , add water + fed them to my crickets.

 

[skateanddonate]

I live 74 miles from my current job so I'm not really getting the feeding problem.

I just adjust the on/off time on those days on the timer.

 

[skateanddonate]

I am wondering about traveling in the car (in case we move). Would a heat lamp plugged into a computer ac adapter that is powered through the cigarette lighter blow the fuse?

I figure the daily UVB dose could be got by eating lunch otside with BD for 30+ minutes.

 

[JulieGeek]

When I was planning on taking my sick BD with me on a trip, my plan was to use a smaller enclosure and use a clamp desk light for the basking bulb, powered with an AC inverter in the car, and take my UVB fixture with. Especially if you're making the drive as short as possible (as it sounds like you are) missing a day of UVB shouldn't be a big deal.

I'm not sure how big a factor relocation stress would be. I know folks who take their beardies with them almost everywhere. I can't see how a road trip would be a big deal. Try it and see. If it seems like Mushu isn't coping well, go to Plan B.

 

[mushusmom01]

Wow....Juliegeek....thanks for another great idea. I would love to take her with me. If I can do this without putting Mushu's life/health at risk...I'm going to give it a try. Again...thanks!