Okay, so I have a petsitter, and thought everything was working out well. Then I started hearing some weird things from my roommate, like that she didn't even try to get him down from places he was hiding, or try to give him a bath. I invited her over yesterday to teach her a little more about Bud, how to pick him up when he's clinging onto something, and what to do if he's headbobbing. This was her question, but I didn't understand why she was asking it; Bud rarely headbobs for any reason.
Then she got near his cage, and he started to do the BAD BAD headbobbing, the jerky kind that looks like he's in a strobe light. When she got closer, he leapt from his perch to the adjacent wall of the cage, and I had to coax him out through the top bars to get him out for a bath. The only other time I've seen him do this is around my boyfriend's three-year-old niece. He used to be terrified of her, for some reason.
I tried to think of different reasons this might happen, like that she smells like the other animals she takes care of, or she's a lot taller than I, and then I noticed she was wearing a baseball cap. I asked her to take it off, and explained why. It seemed to help a little. But it was weird- like one minute later, she had it back on. I've never seen her do anything wrong, and I know these seem like kind of vague complaints, but... I don't know.
I have to go away next week, hence this little training session. I think it helped a little, but I'm still not confident. And I hate leaving Bud with someone he's afraid of. He didn't act this way the first time he met her. I suggested she wash her hands before picking him up, only pick him up to put him in and out of the bath and back under his lights, and that if he was headbobbing her, to take a coat of mine (smells like me) and wrap him up in it if he refuses to come out. I also taught her how to pick him up from the bottom only.
I guess my questions are, what does you guys do when you have to go away? What's your petsitter's fee? What do you have them do? I'm only going to be away for a weekend this time, but I have to go away for five days in a little while. I need to find someone in the Annapolis area who I feel confident in. I'm scrambling to find someone: most people either don't take care of lizards, or charge what I think is way too much.
Seeing Bud's bad (actually, terrified) behavior around the petsitter made me realize that, although he's not particularly affectionate towards me, he does trust me and allows me to pick him up MUCH more easily than he would if he were scared of me. So it's gratifying, in a way.
Anyway, sorry so long.
