Trogdor sleeping
Trogdor basking
First Night: December 30, 2003
I acquired Trogdor on December 30, 2003. He's a red (sunfire) bearded dragon, only five weeks old and five and a half inches long (including his tail); just a wee little tyke, all full of pep and more than eager to bask, motionless, under a heat lamp for extended periods of time.
Trogdor did not appear to be stressed when I got him home and put him in his new digs. I expect this is because he was bred locally instead of being imported from overseas, so he didn't have to do much traveling to get here.
He spent his first evening in the tank doing rather a lot of exploring. He'd sit motionless for about ten or fifteen minutes, then his head would turn to one side and he'd zoom across the tank to check out something new that caught his eye. He also spent a lot of time tasting everything: the rocks, the sand, the tank glass, the leaves, etc.
He seemed to be doing OK, so I threw a few dusted crickets in with him. He pounced on two of them right away and munched happily (bleh). He must have been full at that point because he spent the next hour or so running away from the last cricket whenever it approached him. Eventually, Trogdor ate him as well.
I expected him to spend a good deal of time on his basking log, but instead he seems to prefer flopping out on the warm black sand. He'll sleep there and lay there for most of the day so I give him a little spray of water around three times a day to help keep him from overheating.
Trogdor sleeping |
Trogdor basking |
Poor Trogdor: January 6, 2004
I had to return poor little Trogdor. He had refused to eat or drink and had begun to waste away. Nobody seems to know what was wrong with him, though it was speculated that the size of the tank may have been a bit much for him. He's back with his original owner and appears to be on the mend.
I now have a replacement Trogdor, who is infintely more active than the previous one. I might even go so far as to consider him a bit jumpy. He's just as cute as my previous dragon, and it's great fun to watch him stalking crickets and then chasing them all over the tank when his pounce fails. He periodically becomes obssessed with trying to taste the thermometer affixed to the inside of the tank. He can't quite reach it from his log, so he stretches out as far as he can, sticks his tongue out, and then leaps at it. It's hilarious (as long as he doesn't get hurt doing it).