Reptile & Amphibian Forums

and most of it is off right now, but there always seems to be some retained
is this normal, or should I worry?
my Fog machine is in need of a replacement membrane, so I will have it to late to help her much, but I plan to have some for NEXT time.
actually she seems to like to watch the fish, she watches them like they were prey (with her head cocked to one side) but just does not pounce.
and the waterfall filter
I was getting VERY anoyed that there was still a fine layer of dirt in the pond, and I want to be sure the water is clean enough for her to drink some.
So I got a new filter, and went to check that I had it set up correctly, and the sponge fiter was nearly ful of dirt!! Good Job filter, now I have both Carbon and amonia neutralizer on it, as well as a cleaned out Sponge, and I will check it more frequently
Turns out its not that it was not doing a good job, just that she is tracking in a lot more dirt than I thought (there is no way I M over feeding the fish, I feed them every 2-3 days, since there are only 5-7 little guppies).

Erowen is not eating much these days, I guess she goes off her feed when she is in shed, she does not seem to work at getting her shed off herself much, it just lays on her looking UGLY
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Elizabeth (ecb)

'Goodness gracious'
my grandma used to say
'the worlds a scarey place now
things were different in my day'
what horrors will be commonplace,
when my hair starts to grey?
-Kevin Gilbert-

Shedding just seems to take so long with these guys. Retained shed on the spines, horns, toes, and/or tail tip can cause them to loose any of the formentioned parts. I always try to check them after/during the shed to make sure these are not a problem.

Sometimes if you can direct a course spray of water on the surface of the swimming hole and entice them to take a bath. I keep a rough stone in the pool and when they are shedding they get in and roll around and rub themselves all over on the stone.

And yes, these guys really go off their diet when they are shedding. Not all and not all of the time but enough to be a royal pain!

Sounds like everything is going well!

Marcia

she does not rub herself at all, its bubbly, and hanging off her, and she is not even scratching
if we bring her out, she turns the shedding part of herself towards the warmer part of us (hands, face) and being picky people, we pick
if she does not want us to peel her, she moves away
is it bad that she does not even atempt to peel herself? other than showing off, ansd streaching her skin?
and someone recomended a reptile vitamin spray (??) to help her with shed, is this a good idea?
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Elizabeth (ecb)

'Goodness gracious'
my grandma used to say
'the worlds a scarey place now
things were different in my day'
what horrors will be commonplace,
when my hair starts to grey?
-Kevin Gilbert-

Well, now this is only my opinion, but I think you're best off to stick with water. I really don't believe that the vitamins can even be absorbed though the skin and the shed stuff is basicly aloe and water, again, not really going to do more than the water and water is a lot less spendy! It just takes a while for MHDs to complete their shed. As long as the toes, tail tip, and spikes shed normally after all the loose stuff comes off she is fine. Maybe she just doesn't feel that its time to scratch and scrape yet I bet when its all loose she will work it off.

Marcia

we will see, most of it is off her now anyway (she let me pull off the piece on her throat last night, even lifted her head for my Giant hand)
she is still not eating, but she is looking at those poor helpless worms VERY menicingly
and for her waterfall pool; with the amonia filter on the waterfall filter, she is playing in the water more, and drinking more

Also, is it normal for her to be burying her stool? (I checked, it was not an egg) but she pushed dirt off to the side, and put her butt in the depression and did her thing
I remember from a previous post that they tend to lay eggs at the base of plants (or was it your caresheet?) and that is what I thought she was doing till she moved, and I could see what it was she had left there (not an off-white egg, but a big brown turd with a little urates)

she is also playing with/challenging her reflection in the glass. It is so cute, but can she be angry at the other dragon she thinks she sees? Can this be a bad thing?
I can make the light she gets come from outside the tank, so there will not be an internal reflection (right now the light is at the top of the tank, near where she sleeps)
I got a new hydrometer, and the old one (Flukers) says her tank is 70-80% the new ones (I have 2, and with the discrepency I put my daughters one in the other end just to ckeck) both say low 60s
how can there be such a dicrepency?
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Elizabeth (ecb)

'Goodness gracious'
my grandma used to say
'the worlds a scarey place now
things were different in my day'
what horrors will be commonplace,
when my hair starts to grey?
-Kevin Gilbert-

Now, on to your question! I have been so busy at the store the last 2 weeks that I haven't had time to think! I started to answer before the other posts showed up but I kept getting interupted and finally shut down.

So, the reflection think is sort of normal and I'm not sure moving the light source would make a difference. I have a few ladies who seem to always be against the glass while everyone else is up in the trees. I can be a problem but only if she rubs her nose against it too much. If that is the case she may be thinking she can get through and you may need to use something on the glass to make it visible to her. If she is displaying then that isn't a problem at all. Perhaps she thinks its a male and she is interested. Hard to say. My females don't display often unless there is a breeding male present. Then they do the courtship dance/display.

As for burying her stool, I can't say I've seen them "bury" it but I have seen them make a slight depression. Usually they kick at the dirt with the back legs, drag their butt in the dirt a time or two and then they position themselves and dump. So I would have to say that is normal. Like most animals reptiles want a clean environment and will usually pick an area to be used for this purpose. Once in a while they slip and dump on a branch or in the insect dish but that isn't the norm.

Marcia

Thanks
I thought so, some of these mites look like white worms, tiny ones.
I think I have a grwoing ecosystem
SHe ate 4 more nightcrawlers last night, and 4 the day before, and had not eaten for a couple days before that (in shed)
she still has a couple flecks, but looks better now, and bigger.
her belly is HUGE, but not any more lumpy like U described
the lumps in there are like 7 or 8 jelly bellies, but a little softer.
she is more agile now too, climbing her sticks, actually jumping up to them, and hanging off them for periods of time.
and she was splashing in the wter yesterday for a min (very cute)

no she does not poke her face into the glass, she challenges it (open mouth, looking a little sideways), or profiles for it (again turning the head, and pushing her throat out, or showing her dewlap).
The only time she rammed into it was when she was trying to jump back in off my daughters sholder.
We imediatly put her back in, and she did not seem dazed, or injured.

It looks like I M not going to work today, the baby sitter did not show up (I hate that).
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Elizabeth (ecb)

Make this world a better and more beautiful place that You have been in it
*Edward W Bok*