dragonparents
New member
Hello All! We are the new parents of a wonderful beardie named Norbert. We got him a few days ago at a reptile shop and are kind of freaking out as we were told a whole bunch of wrong info and are afraid we are making our new baby's life miserable. This is only day three, so maybe we are over reacting? We would love some advice!
Here is what is going on:
The dude we bought him from gave us ALL the wrong info. Wrong substrate, wrong diet, wrong night lighting, wrong thermometer. Norbert seemed so unhappy his first night. The next day after researching all night we bought new things for him to climb on, additional light, and some ceramic tile. New thermometer is on amazon order and should be here in a few days, but we are so worried about the temperature in his cage as our crap thermometer is the worst. He was so chill and warm when we were at the petstore. Literally sat in our hands for about an hour, climbed on our shoulders, normal beardie behavior. Now, he is cold to the touch and looks constantly agitated. He is fidgety and even bit me (totally my fault, I think I scared him). When in his cage, he isn't basking at all. He keeps going into the cold corner of his cage, and for the most part, doesn't move all day. When he is moving, he is glass surfing in the same corner. No idea if he is brumating or not as we have only had him a few days. Our house can get a little chilly in the evenings and mornings so we have a ceramic heater for the night. He also hasn't eaten. We tried hand feeding but he wasn't having it. I am going to try and leave some food in his cage all day to see if anything happens.
Here are pictures of Norbert and his enclosure.
The guy at the shop thinks he is about three years old. There was a pervious owner so we don't know too much about his past. He was in the tiniest cage at the pet store, so maybe his new surroundings are freaking him out? Also, we don't have substrate yet. The dude at the pet store gave us loose particle substrate and after reading about how awful it was we removed it right away. We got ceramic tile but it didn't fit, so that is going to be taken care of today. I am worried the glass is making him immobile because it is probably so slippery.
We feel like at every turn we are doing something wrong and just want our little guy to be stress free, warm and happy.
Here is what is going on:
The dude we bought him from gave us ALL the wrong info. Wrong substrate, wrong diet, wrong night lighting, wrong thermometer. Norbert seemed so unhappy his first night. The next day after researching all night we bought new things for him to climb on, additional light, and some ceramic tile. New thermometer is on amazon order and should be here in a few days, but we are so worried about the temperature in his cage as our crap thermometer is the worst. He was so chill and warm when we were at the petstore. Literally sat in our hands for about an hour, climbed on our shoulders, normal beardie behavior. Now, he is cold to the touch and looks constantly agitated. He is fidgety and even bit me (totally my fault, I think I scared him). When in his cage, he isn't basking at all. He keeps going into the cold corner of his cage, and for the most part, doesn't move all day. When he is moving, he is glass surfing in the same corner. No idea if he is brumating or not as we have only had him a few days. Our house can get a little chilly in the evenings and mornings so we have a ceramic heater for the night. He also hasn't eaten. We tried hand feeding but he wasn't having it. I am going to try and leave some food in his cage all day to see if anything happens.
Here are pictures of Norbert and his enclosure.
The guy at the shop thinks he is about three years old. There was a pervious owner so we don't know too much about his past. He was in the tiniest cage at the pet store, so maybe his new surroundings are freaking him out? Also, we don't have substrate yet. The dude at the pet store gave us loose particle substrate and after reading about how awful it was we removed it right away. We got ceramic tile but it didn't fit, so that is going to be taken care of today. I am worried the glass is making him immobile because it is probably so slippery.
We feel like at every turn we are doing something wrong and just want our little guy to be stress free, warm and happy.