Please tell me he's okay... feeling awful

[ashley7988]

So I feel terrible... I was cleaning out Draco's cage and I had him hanging out on me while I was doing it and he climbed up on my head. I leaned over to get him down and he fell onto the carpet. I picked him back up and he climbed right back up and he seems okay but I'm still worried.

I feel like a terrible beardie mom... I should've just let him stay up there and this would've never happened.

 

[Noella]

Just keep an eye out for any strange, abnormal signs. If he shows none, he'll be okay. Allie has fallen off my bed to the floor. I learned to put a some cushioning around my bed in case she falls down. Sometimes, I catch her before she falls and I'm pretty quick.

 

[PatsyB]

I agree with Noella, he should be fine just keep an eye on him. Dexter has fallen off her hammock a few times in her tank and she's fine.

 

[ashley7988]

I hope he'll be fine. It was sort of a long fall... He's been acting fine all day, and about 4 hours after it happened he chowed down on some crickets and was chasing them all around his tank. I've been checking on him a bit excessively through out the day.

I'll keep an eye on him for the next few days. I've told him sorry at least 20 times today.. He just looks at me like I'm crazy but I feel so bad. Poor thing was just hanging out and then gets dropped on the floor. It wasn't even his fault.

 

[ashley7988]

At least he still looked happy after the "great fall". He was all sprawled out enjoying basking.

 

[Noella]

Nice big fat cricket belly.

Whenever I go up to check on Allie-because she does bang around a lot and shifts her tank around, she'll be basking as if nothing happened and will look at me like, "I didn't do anything!" Or "Look Mommy! I scattered all of my greens and saved you some!" Or "Mommy? Have a superworm and some greens with me." When she has an extra superworm, she'll look at it for a second, deciding whether not she wants it. Then she'll look up at me and then back to her super worm. I'll tell her to go ahead and eat it if she wants. She'll look at the super worm then back up to me. (It's like she's telling me I can have a superworm too.)

I'll talk to her when I go up there and let her know I'm there. When I call her name, she'll turn her head and look at me the entire time she's looking at me. When she turns her head away, I know she's not listening. (But she does listen to an extent. She knows what crickets (crickies) and Greens are.

 

[ashley7988]

He LOVES his crickets!

Your Allie sure is a trip! I pour Draco's crickets in his tank with a bag and as soon as he sees the bag he starts going nuts. He's even tried to jump up and grab the bag! He's not a very patient Beardie... he would never think of sharing any of his food

 

[PatsyB]

He's beautiful Ashley! I'm glad he's fine.

I put my crickets in a bag too, Dexter hasn't tried to eat the bag yet but my frogs do all the time! They get a little over excited about eating.

 

[Noella]

Hmm. That's what PatB says about Allie. She's a unique personality. Today, she ate all her greens with some yummy banana slivers and stood in front of her dish waiting for her crickets. Today's no cricket day. Tomorrow is. Poor girl. She's so used to eating crickets every single day. (I'm trying to get her into a new schedule with feeders.) And it's working. But the thing is: The girl gets all excited because she can't wait to eat them up so quickly. I had a batch of 10-15 crickets in a container. I give them four at a time to make sure that she eats them reasonably. Well, she grabbed two large crickets at the same time and choked on the two. She managed to get them into her mouth and chew better. She's all right. I gave her some time and kept an eye on her for quite some time before putting her back into the tank.

 

[ashley7988]

Okay guys so I took him out of his tank this morning, he pooped (it was normal) and he ate his crickets today. Well when I came home today I looked in his tank and noticed he was showing his black beard like crazy... this is highly unusual for him cuz I have never seen his black beard since I've owned him. Now I'm back to square one and a nervous wreck again.

 

[PatsyB]

Wow, that's really black! I wish I knew what to tell you. Has anything changed with his temps? When you cleaned his tank did you move stuff around? I read that some beardies don't like when their decor gets moved around.

 

[ashley7988]

Nope, didn't change a thing, he tried to bite me too which he's never done. He was super black and breathing fast. After I freaked for a little while and cried for like an hour (ridiculous I know) he came out from under the branch and now he's back to his milky white color and basking... I swear this beardie is going to give me a heart attack. I normally wouldn't freak out too much about him turning black if I didn't just drop him yesterday. My Husband swears he's never getting me another pet cuz I worry too much wait till he sees how I act if our son ever breaks a bone!

Hopefully something just spooked him for some reason and it was just a fluke. I certainly don't like when he's unhappy.

 

[PatsyB]

That's good he's back to normal. Let's hope something just spooked him. You are not ridiculous for crying over him, they are like our little babies. I freak out over everything that Dexter does that is out of the ordinary. So far I've been lucky that she hasn't had any medical problems (although this morning she scared me really good) but one of my frogs got real sick last year and even though I got her medical care she ended up dying. I cried and cried for her and I only had her for almost 2 months! I felt silly because people would say "it's only a frog" but they aren't. I was her caregiver and just the thought that she may have gotten sick over something that I did made me real sad. So don't feel ridiculous for freaking out, it's okay

 

[Pat B]

Beardies are very hearty creatures. They will get dark, splotchy, black beards for whatever reason. I think they do it to worry their owner! And Noella is right....her Allie is a trip and always full of herself!!

 

[ashley7988]

I think so too. Draco likes to do new things to freak me out. I'm sure many people would say he's just a lizard but I have such a bond with him! He's never acted aggressively towards me so my first thought was that he was hurting and wanted to be left alone but then an hour later he was fine. Ugh... crazy little guy! I still feel like I'm going to be on edge for the next few days until I know for sure he's okay.

Sorry PatsyB about your frog I'm sure he was much more than just a frog! I'm a huge animal lover, I even cried when I hit an opossum one night! I was thinking "What if I just hit a Mom and now her babies are orphans so technically I just killed them too if it was a mom!" haha so when its my own pet I'm especially crazy!

 

[Pat B]

He will be ok....give him time. I am sure he really scared himself and I would probably keep him off the top of my head!!!

 

[ashley7988]

Yea the only time he is allowed to climb up there now is if I'm sitting down on the floor. He probably was pretty unhappy with me since it was me that made him fall. Poor thing would've sat there contently as long as I let him. He hasn't been a jumper since he was a baby, now he won't even explore on the floor, he stays on me the whole time he's out of his tank and just explores on me. So when he hit the floor he looked at me like "What the heck just happened?!" and I scooped him up and checked over him to make sure nothing was broken and he climbed back up to my shoulder and hung out there until I was done cleaning his tank.

 

[Pat B]

He sounds like Noella's Allie....too funny!