Middy
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 8
- Location
- Austin, Tx
Hello, as so many on here before me I have gotten bitten by the beardie love-bug.
For the longest time I never considered ever having a pet reptile, being a furry pocket pet fanatic. I owned/rescued and rehabilitated rats for quite a few years, but due to family members with severe allergies have been unable to be active in the community.
I began working at a small local pet store in order to stay pet active,to get my daily dose of furry love and making sure they go to good homes is a nice plus too.
On my first day I was introduced to the reptile section and was awing over the adorable spastic bearded dragon young-ins. Each time I was entrusted in the reptile care, I found myself spending extended periods of time with the little ones. There was one in the litter that just attracted my attention and I became quite fond of the little bugga.
For the past several months I bought about 3 books and read as many care guides as the internet could offer. Thursday morning I felt brave and prepared to take the large leap into reptiles.
And I brought the little dragon home with me!
Meet my LittleFoot
LittleFoot was understandably a little pouty when I first placed them in a new home. I gave them about 2 1/2 days of personal space. Last night I began giving some human interaction in small quantities with no fear or stress, strangely enough the stress marks disappeared during the handle sessions. Today I did extended interactions and LittleFoot ended up falling asleep on my hand for half an hour.
LittleFoot has been eating well and using the bathroom about every 12 hours.
There is one thing that does concern me and I don't want to just disregard it as new home jitters and I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for on the internet.
LittleFoot is an active juvenile, enjoying a good sprint now and then. My concern is their activity level drops while in their enclosure. There are no stress marks anymore and I have made several adjustments that I believe were bothering them. They love to run on my bed, so I took the bulkiest hider out in order to open up the enclosure to see if they prefer more floor space, but they still just prefer their branch. LittleFoot also prefers the warmer side of the cage, spending little to no time on the other half. The heat set up is 105 at his basking spot, about 93 in the center and 76 at the coolest point. My room stays around 76-78 degrees F. There is no heat lamp in the night but I do supply a thick cloth tunnel, which they slept in one of the nights. Currently in a 20 gallon long with a basking/UVA light, a 24 hour low heat light in the center and the UVB bulb that runs along the top of more than 1/2 the enclosure.
I'm just not sure what to do currently. Everything I've found says if they spend more time on one end then there is something wrong with that half, but I can't seem to find what. I've also read that it may be preferring the warmer side to help with digestion since he does eat quite a bit throughout the day. But he does spend about 95% of his time on that one side and just wanted another opinion on what is suspected behavior for newly homed juveniles.
Thanks for reading and assisting me with my probably continuously asked questions. I'm looking forward to meeting more dragon owners and learning more about these quirky and sweet reptiles.
To end this here is LittleFoot while napping in my hand. Such a sweetheart. I can't wait until they are old enough for me to know if I have a boy or girl so I can stop calling LittleFoot "they" =D
For the longest time I never considered ever having a pet reptile, being a furry pocket pet fanatic. I owned/rescued and rehabilitated rats for quite a few years, but due to family members with severe allergies have been unable to be active in the community.
I began working at a small local pet store in order to stay pet active,to get my daily dose of furry love and making sure they go to good homes is a nice plus too.
On my first day I was introduced to the reptile section and was awing over the adorable spastic bearded dragon young-ins. Each time I was entrusted in the reptile care, I found myself spending extended periods of time with the little ones. There was one in the litter that just attracted my attention and I became quite fond of the little bugga.
For the past several months I bought about 3 books and read as many care guides as the internet could offer. Thursday morning I felt brave and prepared to take the large leap into reptiles.
And I brought the little dragon home with me!
Meet my LittleFoot
LittleFoot was understandably a little pouty when I first placed them in a new home. I gave them about 2 1/2 days of personal space. Last night I began giving some human interaction in small quantities with no fear or stress, strangely enough the stress marks disappeared during the handle sessions. Today I did extended interactions and LittleFoot ended up falling asleep on my hand for half an hour.
LittleFoot has been eating well and using the bathroom about every 12 hours.
There is one thing that does concern me and I don't want to just disregard it as new home jitters and I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for on the internet.
LittleFoot is an active juvenile, enjoying a good sprint now and then. My concern is their activity level drops while in their enclosure. There are no stress marks anymore and I have made several adjustments that I believe were bothering them. They love to run on my bed, so I took the bulkiest hider out in order to open up the enclosure to see if they prefer more floor space, but they still just prefer their branch. LittleFoot also prefers the warmer side of the cage, spending little to no time on the other half. The heat set up is 105 at his basking spot, about 93 in the center and 76 at the coolest point. My room stays around 76-78 degrees F. There is no heat lamp in the night but I do supply a thick cloth tunnel, which they slept in one of the nights. Currently in a 20 gallon long with a basking/UVA light, a 24 hour low heat light in the center and the UVB bulb that runs along the top of more than 1/2 the enclosure.
I'm just not sure what to do currently. Everything I've found says if they spend more time on one end then there is something wrong with that half, but I can't seem to find what. I've also read that it may be preferring the warmer side to help with digestion since he does eat quite a bit throughout the day. But he does spend about 95% of his time on that one side and just wanted another opinion on what is suspected behavior for newly homed juveniles.
Thanks for reading and assisting me with my probably continuously asked questions. I'm looking forward to meeting more dragon owners and learning more about these quirky and sweet reptiles.
To end this here is LittleFoot while napping in my hand. Such a sweetheart. I can't wait until they are old enough for me to know if I have a boy or girl so I can stop calling LittleFoot "they" =D
.
Are you always so harsh with everyone or is it just me?
