Happy Halloween!
Sid the vine climber
This is a great time of the year for scouting the local dollar store for “pet supplies”. Right now most of these type of stores will have long plastic vines in autumn colors on sale. Charlie the rat loves it when I offer him a leaf; he places it just right inside his sleeping house and fusses over the arrangement with each new addition. For reptile habitats, such as Sid the bearded dragon’s, they provide both decoration and something new to climb over.
This Halloween was very nice! The weather warmed up to over 60F, the sky was clear and sunny, and it wasn’t too windy or humid. Just beautiful. Blue and I walked about 5 miles, just out enjoying the weather. I also completely reorganized and cleaned both Charlie’s and Sid’s cages/habitats. Now they both have an autumn theme. 
I don’t have a costume, but Charlie participated in my mother’s! He was so excited about her witch’s hat:
Mother and Charlie
Happy trick-or-treating and partying!
The Growing Dragon
Sid basking under the lamp, 10/22
This past week Sid’s personality has begun to come out. Baby dragons are mostly just that–babies. It takes time for their individual quirks to develop into habits and patterns of personality.
He gets noticeably excited–and in a positive way–when I approach the cage. The explanation for this is more (or maybe completely) food-motivated rather than affection-motivated. At all times I leave him a supply of fresh greens and mealworms in the cage since most of the time I’m away at classes or work. When I get home is when he gets his crickets. Crickets left in the cage can become hungry and chew on a dragon, so rather than solving this by using a separate feeding enclosure, I feed him the crickets by hand. At first he was unsure and heistant to accept them, but now he’s waiting eagerly when the cage top opens.
One problem could result from this behavior: overenthusiasm and accidental biting. From the start I’ve worked around this possibility too. Before he gets any crickets, I take him out and hold him for a while. Only after I’ve had a successful handling session with him do I put him back and offer a cricket. Not only does this eliminate an automatic “bite” response when my hands enter the enclosure, but it gives him an extremely positive association with handling.
It’s fun to experiment with different techniques like that and see how the animal responds. Sometimes it’s amazing how the smallest changes in our behavior and approach can drastically alter theirs. Working with Sid is exciting because I’ve never actively “worked” with my reptiles like this before. Basic taming, yes, but not more complex associations and training. We’ll see how this works out.
Sid, alert and watching, 10/22
