Yes, my queen? What dost thou demand?

[zye1984]

I recently got Izzy a bigger enclosure and it's much nicer than her other one. She was very intrigued the first couple of days and now she's doing the same as she way with the other: she's not being her neutral colors and constantly trying to get out. She seems a little lighter on her back/head than she used to, but I want to see that soft orange color. =[

The highest point of the basking area is 110°F (it's angled so there is a decent range) it's 86°F around the lamp area (kind of wish it was warmer, I may need to add more verticality) and the cooler side is 76°F. I need to get a thing to measure the UV, it's so high up and going through the wire mesh..

All she does when I let her out is roam for a few minutes and then goes somewhere to nap. She's not going in her nook to nap in the enclosure and it's just a couple degrees warmer in there than on the floor, so why she has to get out to do basically the same thing while being MORE exposed is beyond me.

I know I will take her out when she behaves that way when she wants to poop, so she may have just decided to keep at it even after she's already pooped. At least with the tall lip and opaque sides she's not banging her nose on the glass anymore..

 

[xp29]

That looks pretty awesome

 

[zye1984]

Yikes, so I decided to let her stay in there while she was doing her thing and she damaged the left plant and dug out the other on the far left to stuff herself behind it... something has to be going on if she wants to get away from the light area that badly. The only thing I can think of is that there may be some she hears that I don't like a buzzing from the light and she wants to get as far away as possible. Even the nook isn't enough, and I moved that. She's not brumating since she literally was as close to the light yesterday as far as she could go. What could be going on?

 

[Chris.]

That looks really cool indeed!
How long has it been since you put her in? Might be a little relocation stress but my boy will also dig out any plants I put in.
They like to sleep/nap in tight spots as well. Luis will ether squezze behind a rock or climb up a branch to sleep...

 

[zye1984]

 

[zye1984]

That looks really cool indeed!
How long has it been since you put her in? Might be a little relocation stress but my boy will also dig out any plants I put in.
They like to sleep/nap in tight spots as well. Luis will ether squezze behind a rock or climb up a branch to sleep...

Just a couple of weeks or so. Like I said she was super good with it at first, and she did this with the other enclosure as well, intermittently. A lot of the time it was because she wants to to poo, but even after the poo she was still the same way when putting her back in.

 

[Chris.]

So she should have adjusted by now. Maybe she just wants to cool down and slow down right now. Lots of dragons do right now...

 

[zye1984]

Oh, it seems that this time she DID poop so she was trying to get away from the stank..but still, why will she continue to act like she has to poop right after pooping (not in the enclosure) sometimes?

 

[zye1984]

So I decided to do a test. I turned off the heat lamp and she pretty much calmed down immediately. She started to dig in the left back corner. She's fully alert as well. I'm not sure why she would dig there instead of her cave if she was trying to stay cool..

Any thoughts?

 

[Chris.]

Digging is a natural behaviour for them and can have a multitude of causes like
- being gravid
- brumation
- too hot
- feeling unsafe
- hunger
- bored
- trying to get to something
- ...

 

[Chris.]

View attachment 87462

The breeder which I got Luis from, told me to always put the hide into one back corner.
Could be a myth and/or depending on the dragon, but Luis won't use any hides that are centered like this.
Just poped into my mind right now

 

[xp29]

It's been rare that any of my beardies use a hide at all no matter where I put them. (Except Ruby) and she don't care where it's at. Zen hated them no matter what kind or where it was placed. Snickers has never used one at all, Sinatra will nap in his occasionally but hardly ever more than a couple hours. Sweet Pea's has multiple holes and she uses it as a jungle gym mostly, or if she is pretending to pout to try and guilt us into getting her out she'll go in it but we catch her continually peeking to see if it's working lol. But like i said other than Ruby none if my guys ever used a hide. Puff and Chomp never did either when they where still with me.

 

[zye1984]

Digging is a natural behaviour for them and can have a multitude of causes like
- being gravid
- brumation
- too hot
- feeling unsafe
- hunger
- bored
- trying to get to something
- ...

It's more the fact that when the heat lamp was turned off she calmed down immediately. Though, she didn't do so today, and she still didn't have to use the bathroom this time.

It's good to know that the cave needs to be on the edge. Though, I had the cave underneath the wood that was under the light and she didn't care to go in it then. There wasn't too much of a difference in temps there.

I'm not sure I should just take out the bath and move the cave where it is..

The bulb blew when I turned it off this time though, so I'll have to get another.

She's definitely not gravid, she shouldn't be brumating, there's no chance she is too hot, it was a relaxed digging so she doesn't feel unsafe, she might have hungry, I'm not sure what I could do to make her not bored if she is, she definitely wasn't after something as she just was looking to lie down. Not sure what your ellipses are representing.

 

[Chris.]

If she's eating well, the poop looks fine, no black beard and no stress lines, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[zye1984]

If she's eating well, the poop looks fine, no black beard and no stress lines, I wouldn't worry about it.

Actually, her poops have been really tiny. I put Timberline topsoil in it with sand per this video

and I think that brand of topsoil has reduced in quality. It's mostly sticks!