Haligren
is behind you.
- Messages
- 1,380
- Location
- Prince George, BC
As I'm new to owning reptiles, I feel I learn something new everyday. I didn't realize they could have so much personality. Today, I cleaned out Tiamat's tank. I was eager to get her back into it as I figured she would be afraid in cardboard box. I put a paper towel on the bottom and a tube so she could have something to hide in, and put the box next to the heater we have down here now.
If it's one thing I learned about Tiamat, she doesn't seem to be the type to scare easily. She was much too curious to sit still or cower in her paper tube. I had to put heavy-duty paper towels in her tank because her repticarpet is still air drying after I handwashed it, and she was acting as though I had put her in an all new tank. She was all over the place, licking everything. For the first time, it seemed, she noticed that she could climb on the background. (I have one of those spiffy exo-terra styrofoam backgrounds.) She seemed eager for adventure!
So I took her out of the tank again, and let her climb all over me for a few minutes. I'm surprised that she doesn't try to run away from me. When I'm sitting in the chair, she'll climb on the back or arm of the chair, consider venturing further, and then turn around and try to nuzzle into my back. She even gave me a few kisses (test-licks) on my check today! ^-^
I worry, however, like any parent does, that she doesn't eat enough. She has a fat tail, but somehow she still looks a little thin to me - I guess I'm comparing to all those big, fat, healthy-looking leos I see posted on the forum every now and again. I know she's still young and it's winter and all, but when it comes to feeding time now, she'll eat maybe three or four mealies and then turn away. She's also stopped eating crickets now. I wonder if she's getting tired of the mealworms considering when I first got her she would wolf down atleast twenty of them. I always have a bowl of mealworms in the tank for her. She seems to be eating some of them. The bowl also has calcium and a pinch of vitamin powder since it's never guranteed that I can get her to eat a vitamin dusted cricket or mealie during any feeding time. I do gutload my mealies and crickets with Exo-Terra gutload and some carrots for moisture.
Other than that, she seems very active and content - she's climbing the walls of her tank as we speak.
Am I overly concerned for nothing, I wonder?
If it's one thing I learned about Tiamat, she doesn't seem to be the type to scare easily. She was much too curious to sit still or cower in her paper tube. I had to put heavy-duty paper towels in her tank because her repticarpet is still air drying after I handwashed it, and she was acting as though I had put her in an all new tank. She was all over the place, licking everything. For the first time, it seemed, she noticed that she could climb on the background. (I have one of those spiffy exo-terra styrofoam backgrounds.) She seemed eager for adventure!
So I took her out of the tank again, and let her climb all over me for a few minutes. I'm surprised that she doesn't try to run away from me. When I'm sitting in the chair, she'll climb on the back or arm of the chair, consider venturing further, and then turn around and try to nuzzle into my back. She even gave me a few kisses (test-licks) on my check today! ^-^
I worry, however, like any parent does, that she doesn't eat enough. She has a fat tail, but somehow she still looks a little thin to me - I guess I'm comparing to all those big, fat, healthy-looking leos I see posted on the forum every now and again. I know she's still young and it's winter and all, but when it comes to feeding time now, she'll eat maybe three or four mealies and then turn away. She's also stopped eating crickets now. I wonder if she's getting tired of the mealworms considering when I first got her she would wolf down atleast twenty of them. I always have a bowl of mealworms in the tank for her. She seems to be eating some of them. The bowl also has calcium and a pinch of vitamin powder since it's never guranteed that I can get her to eat a vitamin dusted cricket or mealie during any feeding time. I do gutload my mealies and crickets with Exo-Terra gutload and some carrots for moisture.
Other than that, she seems very active and content - she's climbing the walls of her tank as we speak.
Am I overly concerned for nothing, I wonder?
