Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello
i was woundering what are the options for going on a little get away something like the weekend 2 nights.
my beardie is about 7 months old and where i live i dont have someone to watch over him. i was woundering what are the options or what do others do in this situation?

I guess it would depend on your setup-- I haven't left my new beardie for the weekend yet, but I had done so several times with other beardeds/animals. I have the basking lamp on a timer, so that wasn't an issue. And for food, I gave some extra crickets the day I left and then put some crickets in a small tupperware container in the tank (away from the lamps of course). Crickets are inherently stupid and don't generally realize that they can jump right out of a container if they want. I had experimented a few times with doing this before, when I wasn't actually leaving, and Romeo (beardie at the time) seemed to leave the crickets alone til he was hungry, and then he went to investigate them and when trying to crawl into the container, he'd tip it over, freeing the crickets and feeding himself!
And then the last thing I'd do before I left for wherever I was going was put fresh greens in. I also left an extra bowl of water in the tank.
I never had a problem and Romeo never seemed to even notice I was gone.
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0.2 cats (Pandora & Journey)
0.1 bearded dragon (?!!)
0.0.3 tree frogs (Squishy, Frainc, Frodo)
0.0.1 goldfish (Namoli)

that sounds like a good idea. if i load him up with crikets the day before he should be good with those, the lights are on a timer. my biggest thing was the fresh greens during the day will he be alright if i put a huge plate of greens in his tank and leave it there for 2 days? or what should i do?
suggestions are greatly appreicated.

n/p

For Collared Lizards and snakes, and most other herps I have had, you just turn off the heat lamps and let them have a cool weekend, which keeps down their hunger.

After all, in the wild, most herps experience a rainy cool day or two once in awhile, even in hot climates.

Absence over more than two days might be different, especially for our friends from Down Under. At that point, I hire a neighbor or friend to come in and feed.
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KITKAT

0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
1.0 African House Snake
0.1 Albino Corn Snake
1.0 Red Sided Garter Snake
0.1 Peromyscus leucopus (White-footed mouse)
2.5 Turkish Angora (show) cats

Antioch Turkish Angoras
PuRRS Rescue

like the other fellow said, the day, even two, before going away, is really push the food. If you leave greens in right before you leave (I usally mist the greens with lots of water to keep them fresh longer) they usually last till the next day. At seven months, your dragon should not be harmed if he misses 1 periodic day of feeding, provided it routenly does eat well.

I do feed my dragons superworms (I never had a problem feeding these). With dragons that age I will put a bunch of supers in a dish just high enough they can't crawl out. I have bigger cages so I am able to put a couple food bowls in one cage. I have left dragons for 3 days like this and fared well.

Finally, for mature dragons, and almost full grown dragons, what I do is leave the basking lights off while gone (but leave regular light on). The cooler temps for a day or two will slow metabolism. Think about nature, even in the outback there are cloudy/cooler days.
Hope this helps.
Paul Kemes

WHat I have done in the past is leave a bowl or plate of silkworms with a chunk of silkworm chow for the worms to chow on (and they tend to stay near it too, instead of wondering off exploring). THis way the dragon can eat what silkworms he wants and leave the rest. None of my crickets will stay in a container very long unless it is a very high sided container but don't want to risk the dragon not being able to get to the crickets.

Leaving extra salad with some pellets works too. However a 7 month old dragon that is eating well, can do well without any food for two days. TYpically on a weekend, you leave Friday and come back sunday. If it isn't too late on the sunday, you can just feed him again so in reality, he only had one day without fresh food.
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PHLdyPayne