Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everybody. We've had our baby (Falcon) for 2 weeks now and he's been doing great! He's a good eater, very active and has obviously grown just in the time we've had him. Yesterday he ate well for breakfast (11 crickets) and lunch (12 crickets), but when we fed him dinner he wouldn't eat at all. Unfortunately, the door to his room had been left open, and the cat was in batting at the tank and generally terrorizing the poor fellow so we put it off to stress.

This morning Falcon wouldn't eat again and he's now acting quite clumsy. He ran into the wall of his tank a couple times and when he tried to crawl up my husbands arm he fell off. He's also opening his mouth a lot and he's staying down on the ground rather than sitting in his favorite basking spot.

What could be wrong with him? Any ideas or suggestions on how to help him would be greatly appreciated.

TIA, Nansi

(PS - I also posted this in the health sub-forum, but then I saw a response that said people don't check that forum often. I apologize for the cross-posting, but I'm really worried about our little guy.)

what do you have on the bottom of his cage? try giving him a bath in warm water,if you have'nt done that, they love it and it helps them relax. everytime i give my bearded dragons a bath they poop, lol and they fell better afterwards..

The bottom of his cage is Repti-Carpet. I'll try the warm bath. Thanks!

Be careful of the size of prey that you feed him, it should be no longer than the distance between his eyes. If he ate something to big you you need to keep him hydrated and warm. The basking spot should be 115 for babies. If he is too clumsy then you should put him there. Also offer water with an eyedropper.

So, at lunch time he ate 7 crickets (we feed him very small - 1/8" -- crickets) and he seems to have lost his clumsiness. We offered him food again as a 'late afternoon snack' and he ate another 6 crickets. He's back on his basking spot and seems to be fine now.

Could this have been caused by the stress from the cat? He seems like a totally fearless lizard most of the time, although he was definitely hiding from the cat.

Never heard of stress causing clumsiness. But who knows. 1/8" crickets should be fine. Just be sure she is hydrated. I always used an eyedropper to drop water on babies noses. If they are thirsty they lick it off and I do it till they stop licking.