What's going on with Stryker?

[jings55]

Tonight we had a scare of sorts. My granddaughter went to take up Stryker's bowl and he was sitting in it and I think looking at his reflection-which I never noticed him doing before. He's almost 8 months old. Anyways-and we're still not sure if he's a he or she-his beard was the largest and blackest I've ever seen it and he kept opening his mouth very wide and hisssing! I was afraid to pick him up, but knew we had to feed him, so I kinda picked him up sideways. And I started talking and singing to him to calm him down. That's one thing. Can anybody tell me what was happening? The only new thing in the direction he was looking was a large red poster board from school. Would that have set him off? :help:

Also, I saw a small hole in the underneath of his rear thigh. It looked like someone had stabbed him with a pin. Could this be a cricket bite? Apparently, he didn't eat all his crickets from the other day. He also seems to have a scale ? missing from his belly. Just one. Will these heal or go away when he molts?
And he had saggy skin on the top of his sides-especially on one side-near his bars. I've seen that before, but don't know what it means. Am I not feeding him enough? Is he dehydrated? Does he need a good soaking? I gave him a 1/2 hour one tonight. He wouldn't take any water from the dropper. Have any of you ever opened a beardie's mouth forcefully and gave him water? Or do you just let him suck it up his rear? I'm also wandering if I need to keep buying larger water dishes as he grows. I have a pretty large one now, but it's shallow. :?

Also, we had to cut back on his meal worms the last 3 days, cause we ran out of money. So he went from 45 to 30, 30 again and tonight 20. (Petsmart keeps gipping us in the worm department!). I know, everyone says no mealies, but that's all we can do for now. He's a little small for his age-he's 14 1/2 inches and 149 grams as of Sept 18th. Do you think he could switch to superworms-or is it too soon? I didn't realize what a wide, big mouth he had till tonight! And you have to cut super's heads off, right? And how many would you give him? I want him to gain weight!

Oh, and I watched that clip on sexing Beardies and I still can't decide. He has two small mounds-one is rounded than the other, But he also has an indentation in the middle. Is there such a thing as a transgendered Beardie? Seriously! I don't have any pics as our camera got stolen recently, and I don't have the money to take him to a vet just for sexing (he already was dewormed). What do you all think? (Besides I'm crazy! lol)

Please help!

 

[brittani299]

Meal worms are really really bad. Crickets are like 11 cents each but they are way better. The meal worms can cause impaction which daisy has had because I gave meal worms to her. Does he eat greens? Collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens are the best. Don't feed super worms unless he is a year old. They are also hard to digest. Do u have a UVB light and what is the basking and overall temp in the tank. The overall main thing is please stop feeding meal worms.

 

[brittani299]

As long as he had a bath and eats greens he doesn't really need to drink water. Daisy drinks the bath water. Don't leave water dishes in the tank it can cause the humidity to rise which can cause infections.

 

[jings55]

OOOH! I wrote a whole reply, but forgot to press submit!

Stryker does have a salad everyday. The last two nights he had "spring mix" cause hubby didn't buy him kale! Tonight I added carrots.

I finally just got him the right lighting two weeks ago-a 36" Repti sun for his 40 Gallon breeder. He used to have a Repti-glo 5.0 that came with his 10 gallon. And he has a 100 watt basking bulb. I live in South Carolina and my daytime house temps stay around 74*-however tonight they said it was going down to the 40*s. Do you think I should pull out that purple 75 watt night light I had for him originally and removed? The pet store will sell you anything!

And I'm working on the temps. All I have right now are those cheap, inaccurate, hard to read round dial ones. I'm planning on getting a temp gun as soon as we can afford it. Money is very tight!

I'll try to include a pic of his set up and him...

 

[brittani299]

Oh ok . I know what you mean about money being tight. I have had problems buying things for daisy resently. You can buy a temp with a prob for $10 at Petsmart if that is ok. If it is getting cold you can put the purple light in or buy a ceramic heater. Some people say that beardies shouldn't have light at night but daisy wont sleep if her light isn't on at all. I just put it on the lowest setting and she sleeps under it.

 

[bunnyrut]

for night time temps, use the ceramic heat emitter. the 'night time' lights are not good for beardies, they have this black dot on their head that senses light. if your house stays pretty warm you can wrap him up in a blanket to sleep in. you just want his night time temp to be around 60.

the set up looks good.

can you post pictures of the holes and missing scales?

don't feed him mealworms. they have very hard shells that are hard for babies to digest. superworms can be fed when they are adults (longer than 15 inches). if you order crickets online it comes out to much cheaper than the pet store. there are some in the for sale section here, or you can do a quick google search. most feeder sites offer crickets so it's a matter of figuring out the total with shipping to your area. i pay on average $20 for 1,000. that's 2 cents per cricket verses 11 cents.

i think the saggy skin means he is dehydrated, but i am not 100% sure on that. he should have baths 2-3 times per week to keep him hydrated, and fed as much as he can eat in 10-15 minutes.

a cricket alternative would be dubia roaches. you can raise a colony, some people sell the starter kits for that. after some time you'll have plenty of food and won't need to buy anything unless you want to mix up what he eats. and if your colony gets too large you can sell some of the roaches and use the money to buy treats.

i can't say for certain what the black bearding was about. he was either in pain or saw something that freaked him out.
feeding him in a separate container will prevent left over crickets, otherwise i recommend a bug vacuum to catch the left overs http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2943523

 

[jings55]

Hi! Sorry Bunnyrut, but I don't have a camera to take good pics anymore. My granddaughter's camera was stolen. All I have is my cell phone-and that won't do. Do crickets make holes?

What exactly is a ceramic heater? I've heard them mentioned, but don't know what they are, how they work, where you get one or how much they cost. Can you help?

I wanted to order phoenix worms on line, but just didn't have the money. May be able to this week. I'm dubious about Dubias! They freak me out, although I've only seen pictures. I have found sites to buy these on: phoenixworms.com and mulberryfarms.com. But it sounds complicated-seperating the babies from the adults. Ewwww!

And I am going to buy him some fleece to cuddle in. How big of a piece would I have to buy?

Thank you and Brittani for your help!

 

[bunnyrut]

Hi! Sorry Bunnyrut, but I don't have a camera to take good pics anymore. My granddaughter's camera was stolen. All I have is my cell phone-and that won't do. Do crickets make holes?

What exactly is a ceramic heater? I've heard them mentioned, but don't know what they are, how they work, where you get one or how much they cost. Can you help?

I wanted to order phoenix worms on line, but just didn't have the money. May be able to this week. I'm dubious about Dubias! They freak me out, although I've only seen pictures. I have found sites to buy these on: phoenixworms.com and mulberryfarms.com. But it sounds complicated-seperating the babies from the adults. Ewwww!

And I am going to buy him some fleece to cuddle in. How big of a piece would I have to buy?

Thank you and Brittani for your help!

http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Repti...48608959&sr=8-2&keywords=ceramic+heat+emitter it's a heat source that doesn't put out any light. great for night time, but you only need it when the temps in the tank drop below 60. i only use them in the winter.

the hole under his leg, does it look like this?

if it does then it is normal, it mostly shows in males.

as for the missing scale on the belly, it could be that it got snagged and pulled off. i think it will heal, but i am not sure if it will grow back. just keep an eye on it for signs of infection.

phoenix worms/ reptiworms are great feeders. the are high in calcium so you don't have to dust them, and they are easy to feed to your dragon. they are black soldier fly larva, and if you run into them changing into flies you can still feed them to your beardie. they can't fly when they first hatch, but to avoid the flies just feed the black larva first.

and yeah, the roaches are icky. i have a hard time rounding them up for feedings (they have a very good grip!), but i've mostly dealt with the nymphs. i want to start my own colony, but decided that's best to start once i move. the more you handle them the less gross they seem. and i wear gloves if i have to touch them.

try searching the for sale section for great deals. this one http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=178167 sells a sample pack of all kinds of feeders.

as for the blankie, just get enough to wrap around your beardie. i got a baby blanket from the Dollar Tree, it's a bit thin, but i can wrap it around a few times. plus they love snuggling up in it.

P.S. if you can create something to sell, you can make some extra cash to buy food and necessities for your beardie.

 

[snazzyglasses]

What a cute little guy! His colors are so pretty

My granddaughter went to take up Stryker's bowl and he was sitting in it and I think looking at his reflection-which I never noticed him doing before. He's almost 8 months old. Anyways-and we're still not sure if he's a he or she-his beard was the largest and blackest I've ever seen it and he kept opening his mouth very wide and hisssing! I was afraid to pick him up, but knew we had to feed him, so I kinda picked him up sideways. And I started talking and singing to him to calm him down. That's one thing. Can anybody tell me what was happening?

Sounds like little mister Stryker could be going through puberty. He's about the right age for it I believe, and boys are known for getting a bit nasty during puberty. It's just temporary though and try not to act afraid or stop touching him when he tries to intimidate you, otherwise he'll start to think he's the boss! (Boys. Sheesh! :wink: )

 

[jings55]

Well, there's only one hole, so far, but it does look like the last one on the left of the picture, right near his joint. Maybe he is a boy? 8) The black beard he showed last night was huge! And I thought females only had little beards.

I hadn't checked out that video on the CHE yet, but thanks!