Hi everyone, thank you for reading this. My family has had a bearded dragon for about 6 years now. His name is Professor, and it was my siblings who pushed to get him. I'm freaked out by all things cold-blooded, so I kind of went along with it, like sure, as long as it's not in my room, that kind of thing.
But my siblings have lost interest, and I feel really bad for Professor now. Compared to forums here like "Cold-blooded snuggles" Professor leads a miserable life: He's been out of his 2x1 glass cage maybe three, four times. He bangs his head on the floor and the walls at night, which I have learned is normal for horny teenage bearded dragons, but he does it hard enough to hear from downstairs. He sleeps with his nose in a corner, and recently has seemed so much more interested in the outside world... I really feel bad. He's got a single rock and some green carpeting, and that's it. He used to love being close to his heat lamp on a pile of rocks, but then his crickets started hiding in the pile so we reduced it to one large, constant rock, and now he's constantly in the opposite side. I think he might be avoiding the heat lamp's heat-- could it be too hot? He has absolutely no stimulus or *enhancement* besides our comings and goings. I can't bring myself to touch him, even making eye contact for too long gets me itchy, so I haven't been doing anything for him. I read in a book at Petco once that the nails have to be clipped, but his haven't been clipped once. He can't put his toesies on the ground. I mean, he's basically got claws. He's also never been brought to the vet. Giving him up isn't an option. What can I do for him?
I should also mention his diet: crickets and raspberry/kale salads every now and then.
But my siblings have lost interest, and I feel really bad for Professor now. Compared to forums here like "Cold-blooded snuggles" Professor leads a miserable life: He's been out of his 2x1 glass cage maybe three, four times. He bangs his head on the floor and the walls at night, which I have learned is normal for horny teenage bearded dragons, but he does it hard enough to hear from downstairs. He sleeps with his nose in a corner, and recently has seemed so much more interested in the outside world... I really feel bad. He's got a single rock and some green carpeting, and that's it. He used to love being close to his heat lamp on a pile of rocks, but then his crickets started hiding in the pile so we reduced it to one large, constant rock, and now he's constantly in the opposite side. I think he might be avoiding the heat lamp's heat-- could it be too hot? He has absolutely no stimulus or *enhancement* besides our comings and goings. I can't bring myself to touch him, even making eye contact for too long gets me itchy, so I haven't been doing anything for him. I read in a book at Petco once that the nails have to be clipped, but his haven't been clipped once. He can't put his toesies on the ground. I mean, he's basically got claws. He's also never been brought to the vet. Giving him up isn't an option. What can I do for him?
I should also mention his diet: crickets and raspberry/kale salads every now and then.
