ameliamelia
Member
Hello! About two weeks ago my significant other and I picked up out 7 week old bearded dragon baby. He looked healthy, and we were told him and his siblings were eating crickets too fast to catch up with and loved dandelion greens. He is in a 55 gallon with two zoo-med reptisun 10 bulbs that span the entire tank and a heat spot that stays around 110. He is on reptile carpet with no sand. The usual "just moved in" stress was obvious and he ate very little the first few days. Then he started eating his mealworms. The mealworms were just until our phoenix worms came in because the shipping was late. He seemed healthy, eating insects and pooping normally, though he wouldn't really eat any veggies or even fruits. He wouldn't, and still wont drink out of his water dish, so we started giving him more frequent baths. He just sits very, very still through out the whole thing, not drinking anything or even trying to escape. When the phoenix worms arrived we were SO excited, hoping this new, healthy, exciting food will perk him up. He wouldn't get near them. For a few days we waited, just left the bowl with them in there. We knew he really hated them when he jumped on the greens (that was a one-time deal, hasn't happened again). We didn't want to starve him so we went out and got another tub of mealworms. Minutes after they were put down they were gone. Is it better to make him eat a food he wont try and worry about starving him than to give him a nutritionally lesser meal? And here is why I'm posting to behavior, he always has stress spots. He never goes to his basking spot, instead he's always hiding. He doesn't run if we try to pick him up, and will fall asleep on my chest, enjoying the warmth, but he acts really upset. He always seems like he's frozen with fear. If we just leave him completely alone, no handling at all, I am worried he will become anti-social, but I don't want to make him too stressed. He's not acting sick or skittish, which is what I've only read about, just weirdly distant. I have never owned a lizard before, just a lot of furry animals who could always use extra snuggles. Any advice about what we can do to perk him up will be great, or even a tip on how to get him to eat his phoenix worms. Thank you so much to anyone who read all of this, I love my little Nalak and I want what makes him happy! Bonus, a picture of our guy when we first brought him home.
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