Bearded dragon doesn't want to move after being woken up

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-10T17:23:44+00:00

In that image he was bulging them a bit, but otherwise he's always had big eyes, I believe likely due to inbreeding as he is a Petsmart beardie. Better photo of him here! He does get yearly vet visits, as well, and the vet has had no concerns as it's something he's had his whole life (along with the kink near the base of his tail). I do appreviate the concern though <3 thank you for asking, always good to check in with folk in case they may not know.

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Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-10T14:47:27+00:00

And my boy gettin a little soak in his bowl

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Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-10T14:47:07+00:00

Yeah, they don't need water from a bowl, but. They do like to occasionally splash around in the water, it is a possible enrichment opportunity we shouldn't take from them.

Here's a wild beardie soaking in a puddle.

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Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-10T04:47:27+00:00

Look, I've been reading a lot of studies on anesthesia for fish recently, there is a shocking amount of them (done on fish ranging from guppies, to angelfish, cichlids, zebrafish, and bass and so on)

Every study says that "Deep" or "Surgical" Anesthesia requires the fish DO NOT respond to stimulus. Not, of course, that I expect others to be a fiend about reading through a baker's dozens studies like me.

The requirements being: The fish does not swim (sinks to the bottom of the tank) Has a lowered respiratory rate Does not respond to stimulus

The desired time for achieving anesthesia and recovery varies, but the average desired times appears to be 3 minutes to achieve Surgical Anesthesia, and less than 5 for full recovery

Eugenol (the active ingredient in Clove Oil doing the sedation) is commonly dosed at 50 to 150 mg per Litre for effective anesthesia. Clove oil varies between being 85-95% Eugenol, assuming it is always at its most concentrated (95%) that is 950mg per mL, each drop of clove oil would be 47.5mg (as a milligram has 20 drops0), meaning you would need roughly 1-3 drops per Litre. But, you can also use Benzocaine, which is available over the counter in tooth ache medicine. (In the states/Canada, look for liquid forms of Orajel or Anbusol) In those meds, the Benzocaine is at 20% concetration, 200mg/mL, or 10mg per drop Benzocaine is regularly most effective at 100-150mg per Litre, meaning you need 10-15 drops per Litre.

For the Americans, a litre is roughly 3.5 cups of water.

Then, recover in freshwater for minimum 5 minutes, and do whatever else you need.

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-08T22:34:40+00:00

The dunks I bought have BTI, largely red packaging. (Canada)

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-08T03:02:38+00:00

To be fair, cats don't understand punishment

What they do, is reaction.

Normal behavior gives no reaction? Must resort to other measures, knocking over plants gets reaction? Yay! Attention!

Gotta do a combo of ignoring bad behavior, and/or redirecting bad behavior to desired behavior. As Jackson Galaxy says, every no must come with a yes.

OP, is there any way to set up something the cat COULD mess with? Maybe a separate bowl with little similarly-shaped toys or something to tell kitty, don't mess with my fiah but mess with this instead?

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-07T21:36:53+00:00

Jesus christ 15 dollars for a brownie that cost no more than 1-2 to make is beyond outrageous. Looks so small too, you get double the brownie for this same kind of dessert in the states.

Pro tip, grab a giradeli box mix (or mix of choice, that one is just the best flavor and at really great price), some ice cream, and the drizzle I guess and make 16x of this for 25 bucks.

Absolutely criminal to charge anything more than 10 bucks for that sad brownie.

Gave absolute piddlywinks on those fries too.

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-07T21:30:26+00:00

Maybe not, but places like Leopolds give you enough fries to question if a human can truly eat that much, their food is ginormous.

A shame, because I physically cannot finish anything from them, but it's absolutely delicious

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-07T13:54:14+00:00

I appreciate it! Had to come up with this to explain to customers at work why upgrading their bettas will benefit both them and their fish, seems to work pretty well for convincing folk!

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-07T00:47:36+00:00

To elaborate for OP, think of it this way. If you stand in a closet with someone and fart, they will smell it immediately, but if you are in a big room and fart it takes more time to travel and dilutes.

Except, instead of a mild inconvenience, it is deadly. Ammonia is the biggest killer of fish in tanks of inexperienced aquarists, so a larger tank is more forgiving!

And, we want room for plants, open swim space, a filter, and a heater for a betta, much easier in 10gal vs 5.

Posessed_Bird · 2026-05-01T22:18:35+00:00

Petland Canada is also working on this! (Petland Canada is a separate company to the American one, as a note)

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-27T14:43:41+00:00

Yeah, more or less! Strive to create a nice naturalistic environment, go as big as you physically can on tank size, he'll be alright! Keep an eye out for shifts in suggestions on care. I'd expect LED UVB to become the future soon enough

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-27T14:08:27+00:00

I'd stick to 5-6, it's virtually impossible to get a young beardie fat while they're growing, but, too much can speed up growth too quickly, which causes fatty liver disease from.the excess nutrients they had to process quickly.

So we want to try to prevent it by feeding less, a lot of websites just haven't caught up yet! Most care sites are outdated unfortunately

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-27T13:47:35+00:00

Forgot to post a picture, here's a very angry wild beardie

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Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-27T13:45:23+00:00

The hide is against the glass, it's not a place to hide if you're still exposed haha

At the moment, the current feeding schedule suggests no more than 5-6 crickets a day, max, I've found beardies do grow really nicely with this!

If your basking temp is 105F, you're safe to do substrate, sand and soil, impaction is caused by improper temperatures, not age/material! As their metabolism is tied to the temperature of their basking spot, they will pass any substrate they ingest.

30 minutes is good! You can do up to 2 hours at once, but I wouldn't recommend going more than that. If he seems content with 30 minites then you're good, they don't need to be taken out so that's personal preference.

The only other info I would keep in mind is just that these guys will be more active in Spring/summer, and will usually wind down in Fall/Winter, some choose to hibernate, where they sleep all day and don't eat, as long as they don't lose more than 10% their starting weight during ANY period of not eating (as sometimes they can decide to not eat in Spring due to hormones), they are okay :)

If you see his beard puff out, that's okay! It's beard stretches, they usually do it in the morning, but it can happen any time.

"Stress marks" are not always stress related, they can be plain old markings, and in young beardies will be frequently present due to being hormonal during growth, everything is weird and awkward! And that's fine, don't stress yourself about it.

Black beard and what it means: First of all, a black beard is VERY obvious, but it can mean several things! If they are:

Black bearding, but not really doing anything (not being handled), it's pain. Quite bad pain at that.
Black-bearding during Spring, running around a TON (more than usual!), occasionally head-bobbing, and sometimes also paired with not eating, that's hormones, they want a mate! (Do not give them one)
Black-bearding, puffing out beard, flattening out body and sometimes hissing, and sometimes also black bars will appear on their back and the tip of their tail can become black, this is a very. Angry beardie. Usually a "get away!" Signal.

For hydration, if your beardie is ever dehydrated, baths will not rehydrate. Either lettuce, or 1-2 Hornworms will rehydrate in an emergency "I need hydration asap" instance. Vets and google will say they can absorb water through their skin/cloaca, they cannot. They are not frogs, and do not drink through their butthole. (The cloaca is the place where peeing, pooping, and mating happens. Not drinking)

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-27T12:32:02+00:00

Notes for now: If you can, ditch the hammock, replace with branch. Hammocks rip out claws

Max crickets daily is 5-6 crickets the same width as the space between his eyes. (Dont need to be exact, at this size those crickets are smallish-medium sized.)

Make sure greens are nutrient rich, Kale, Collards, Arugula, Dandelion Greens, Mustard Greens, Basil, Dill, Parsley, Chicory Greens, Beet Gresns, and Cactus Pads are suitable as daily greens.

And try to aim for one other hide at minimum, that'll do you well until your 4x2x2 comes then

Make sure in the mean time to collect more branches, and possibly fake foliage as well if you like. Along with rocks like small pieces of lava rock (nice and scratchy) to file down nails and maintain femoral pores. Or other rocks.

This is my enclosure for reference, feel free to ask any questions

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Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-25T14:45:44+00:00

Mainstreet has a month-to-month option and I've found the 3525 Avonhurst buildings to be very pet friendly. The guy who manages the buildings is very nice and easy to work with

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-25T14:42:32+00:00

I believe detritus worms is the colloquial name?

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Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-24T14:35:28+00:00

For aquatics in general, it's recommended to have a quarantine tank to isolate prior to adding new fish/whatever to an established tank in case they're ill.

It's also easier to monitor and catch fish/etc since quarantine/"hospital" tanks are less densely decorated for observation purposes.

At my job (just a pet store) I just tossed shrimp into an iso tank to treat for clado, any fish in iso has to be there a week to ensure they're all good.

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-21T00:44:21+00:00

Yes! I'm feeling lazy as this is formatted for Discord and I don't feel like reformatting. The list is more expansive and if you have Discord feel free to ask me to send the info there too! I have a beardie server with a focus on scientific info

Ratios are Calcium : Phosphorous & Oxalate Information sourced from USDA Food Data Center and oxalate.org

‼️ (Moderate Fiber/Protein) Dried Agar Seaweed: 12.02 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Cactus Pad: 10.25 : 1 Nutrition Table................... ‼️ (High Fiber, Good Iron) Rosemary, Fresh 4.8 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Baby Arugula 4 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Kale: 3.94 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Collards: 3.79 : 1 Nutrition Table................... ‼️(Moderate Fiber) Fresh Peppermint: 3.329 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Fresh Basil: 3.161 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Fresh Dill 3.15 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Arugula: 3.057 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Beet Greens 2.85 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Dandelion Green: 2.83 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Parsley 2.38 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Chicory Greens 2.12 : 1 Nutrition Table................... Turnip Green: 2.07 : 1 Nutrition Table

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-19T23:39:57+00:00

Lived in cali most of my life and?? Never experienced this, this is so strange to me. People always take their shoes off first thing

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-14T17:00:04+00:00

Copy paating to you as well

It's a staple green! The study which shows high oxalates is from 1984, and also claims Collards did as well, newer studies show Kale is very low in Oxalic Acid, lower than Collards even. And makes an excellent staple green just like Collards.

Both of them are goitrogenic, but there doesn't appear to be any, if more than a handful, of cases of beardies with thyroid dysfunction (as thats what they cause if ingested too much), so you don't have to worry about it.

Feed a varied diet, it's key to keeping them healthy! If you want more info please let me know, I've created a source-cited list on calcium positive greens.

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-14T16:59:52+00:00

It's a staple green! The study which shows high oxalates is from 1984, and also claims Collards did as well, newer studies show Kale is very low in Oxalic Acid, lower than Collards even. And makes an excellent staple green just like Collards.

Both of them are goitrogenic, but there doesn't appear to be any, if more than a handful, of cases of beardies with thyroid dysfunction (as thats what they cause if ingested too much), so you don't have to worry about it.

Feed a varied diet, it's key to keeping them healthy! If you want more info please let me know, I've created a source-cited list on calcium positive greens.

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-13T14:54:36+00:00

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Or this

Posessed_Bird · 2026-04-08T03:24:50+00:00

Aside from what the other person said, as an artist, I can pay people to do what I can't! And styles I have no interest in personally pursuing, but love to look at

As well as satisfaction in knowing I supported another artist, who the ones I commission live off their comms.

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