Cel2133
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 12
- Location
- New Hampshire
Okay, this is going to be long but I want to provide all the details in the hopes that it will help people more experienced than myself help me with an answer.
Two weeks ago I got a three year old male bearded dragon off of Craigslist for my four year old for Christmas. The family that had him, got him for their two girls and I know he was handled by them. But they had been trying to re-home him for a while and when his heat lamp went out they didn't bother replacing it. He was in temps of 60-70 for who knows how long. They were also feeding him a commercial pellet diet, nothing else, his whole life.
So we get him home and he is super cuddly because he is cold. I get a heat lamp and then a heat pad and got his viv to a proper temperature. Start feeding him salads and mealworms (I know now this wasn't the best idea, I'm learning as I go here), then stressed for about three days waiting for him to poop, giving daily baths.
He started lunging at our hands during feeding time a few days ago, I assumed it was because he wanted more worms. Went to the store yesterday and got worms and crickets which he gobbled up. But after feeding him the crickets he started acting even more strange and started trying to climb out of his vivarium. Today, I took him out for his daily exercise and he bit me after flinching from my attempt to pet him.
Obviously he is stressed and scared. Poor guy has had a lot of changes in the past two weeks. My question now is in regards to the best course of action moving forward. I obviously can't have him biting my four year old and she is eager to love on her new baby. Do I let him chill in his tank for a few days or weeks as he acclimates to his new home? Or do I continue to take him out for exercise as he is in a 40 gal and I don't have money to get a bigger one currently as it is the slow time for my work and Christmas just happened? Do I stop feeding crickets? Please help...
Two weeks ago I got a three year old male bearded dragon off of Craigslist for my four year old for Christmas. The family that had him, got him for their two girls and I know he was handled by them. But they had been trying to re-home him for a while and when his heat lamp went out they didn't bother replacing it. He was in temps of 60-70 for who knows how long. They were also feeding him a commercial pellet diet, nothing else, his whole life.
So we get him home and he is super cuddly because he is cold. I get a heat lamp and then a heat pad and got his viv to a proper temperature. Start feeding him salads and mealworms (I know now this wasn't the best idea, I'm learning as I go here), then stressed for about three days waiting for him to poop, giving daily baths.
He started lunging at our hands during feeding time a few days ago, I assumed it was because he wanted more worms. Went to the store yesterday and got worms and crickets which he gobbled up. But after feeding him the crickets he started acting even more strange and started trying to climb out of his vivarium. Today, I took him out for his daily exercise and he bit me after flinching from my attempt to pet him.
Obviously he is stressed and scared. Poor guy has had a lot of changes in the past two weeks. My question now is in regards to the best course of action moving forward. I obviously can't have him biting my four year old and she is eager to love on her new baby. Do I let him chill in his tank for a few days or weeks as he acclimates to his new home? Or do I continue to take him out for exercise as he is in a 40 gal and I don't have money to get a bigger one currently as it is the slow time for my work and Christmas just happened? Do I stop feeding crickets? Please help...