Is this normal behaviour..?

Piankhi · #1 11-08-2004, 03:52 AM

Well, hi. I just joined here, and I'm really hoping that someone can answer my question. I've owned Setsuko, my dragon, for about a year and a half, now... and while she's always been a bit quirky, recently she's been worrying me a bit.

About 6 months ago, our house was taken away from us, leaving us homeless. While my parents and I searched for a home, I left Setsuko at a friends house, because she has a dragon, too - and we figured they'd enjoy each other's company. While Setsuko was at my friends house, everything was going wonderfully - but about two months after we moved into our new home, she started acting differently. At first she'd just spazz for no reason and run circles in her tank, but this past two months she's been digging into her bedding and covering herself up.

Is it normal for them to do that, or is this something I should be worried about? If I don't uncover her, myself, and move her around she'll stay in one spot for days at a time.

Should I leave her covered, or should I try to keep her active? I really don't know what to do... I'd ask a vet on what to do, but the nearest one (who knows anything about dragons) is practically in the next state. So, any help is really, really appreciated!

**Bitis Gabonica** · #2 11-08-2004, 04:52 AM

Welcome to HC! Great to have you here

I'm no expert with water dragons, but her behaviour does sound odd. Is she eating normally and going to the toilet normally?

The digging and hiding may not neccessarily be anything to worry about .. she may be scared of something, or she may be picking up on the seasonal change - our bearded dragons begin digging and hiding around this time of year, ready for brumation over winter.

The running in circles and odd behaviour sounds a little more worrying though.. ?? -has she been doing that lately? She may have been stressed by the move,. was she in with the other dragon at your friend's house?? How is your friend's WD?

Enjoy your time at HC and hopefully we can figure out what, if anything, is wrong with your baby soon.

steel rip · #3 11-08-2004, 04:55 AM

I'm not a water dragon keeper myself, but the digging and running round in circles could indicate wanting to lay eggs, so you might want to provide a space in the enclosure that has either soil or sandy peat moss that is about 8 to 10 inches deep. Make sure that the soil is slightly moist, but not too moist.

Did your friend have all the correct lighting, UV and stuff?

**Bitis Gabonica** · #4 11-08-2004, 05:01 AM

Yeah, pregnancy did spring to mind,, what gender is your friend's dragon??

Piankhi · #5 11-08-2004, 06:20 AM

Thank you for the welcome.

As to answer the questions: Yoshi, my friends dragon, is a male. While staying at my friends house, we did allow the two of them to stay in the same tank, because the tank I had for Setsuko was about twice as big as Yoshi's, and we wanted to watch them interact, as neither of our dragon's had been around others since we bought them (She's had Yoshi for about a year longer than I've had Setsuko). There were two nights when we left them together overnight, the rest of the time they were only together when she and I were in the room, too, and keeping an eye on them.

Digging and running around is something she's always done - but she's never actually tried to bury herself, that just started in these past two months. The only thing with the running, though, is that she's become more violent about running directly into the sides of her tank. I've tried doing as books have said, putting black tape or something around the bottom of the tank so she can.. sort-of see that there /is/ something there, but it doesn't stop her.

And yep, my friend had all the right lighting, and I do too.

steel rip · #6 11-08-2004, 06:49 AM

As I have read female water dragons can lay eggs whether they have mated or not, they just wont be fertile, but if she has been housed with a male for a short period, she may well be expecting, it sounds to me like she could be tring to find a spot to lay, and running at the glass could be her trying to get out to find a suitable spot, maybe you should put up some background pictures, or even seeing her reflection, she could think the other dragon is still there with her.

**Lyn** · #7 11-08-2004, 07:02 AM

It sounds like your Dragon is stressed....hiding indicates this....all the moving around may have caused this stress....from what I have read, they are caused stress very easily ...maybe a cover for the front of the tank to ease the tension? just a thought....Lyn

Piankhi · #8 11-08-2004, 08:03 AM

Thanks for all your help!

I don't see how it could be stress, seeing as we've been in this house for about 7 months now, and for the first 5 she was fine.. but it is entirely possible. I will definitely see about getting the peat moss in there, and putting up background pictures and trying to ease her tension asap.

I really don't like to see her acting up like this, I'm so afraid she's going to hurt herself!

**Jay DeMore** · #9 11-08-2004, 01:51 PM

Welcome to HC!! Stress in lizards can be caused by alot of things, rearranging the cage, changing diet, try to think of something that is different than it was.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
is this normal for Bosc Monitor	BarbWire07	Monitors	5	10-17-2007 10:54 AM
Male crestie + strange behaviour	Paleontology!	Rhacodactylus	2	11-14-2006 10:20 AM
normal morphs becoming more uncommon?	grim	HCD General Discussion	5	07-21-2006 01:55 AM
Is that normal??	jacky	Ratsnakes	7	01-06-2006 06:51 AM


Everything Above Disappears When You log In Or Register!

Direct Navigation
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263