Worried about my Rocky =/

**lady_bug87** · 01-20-12, 12:34 PM

I think my beardie may be developing some kind of problem I am not sure if it is a vision thing or a neurological thing. He's a young beardie (about 2 and a half years old) and sometimes when we give him veggies he misses them when he goes to eat them. This is especially true with stuff we cut smaller like strawberries. He sometimes refuses to chase live prey though he will run to catch worms he does not show that enthusiasm for crickets I'm pretty sure it was because when he was little we used to feed him right out of a small container he sometimes misses crickets that way too.

Today, he was perching on his food dish which has a big rock behind it and when he jumped down to get onto his log he reached out and missed it. It took him 2 attempts total to get on his twig and then he jumped off and hid in his cave where he is now with his butt sticking out. He can actually fit his whole body in there but I think he sticks his butt out to mock us.

So what do you all think? Is my baby ok?

ZARADOZIA · 01-21-12, 04:52 AM

My old girl that I just got, Rhea, she can't see very well. She has a blind spot depending on which way her head is tilted, kind of like having a blind spot while driving...

I have also noticed that Jupiter, Zed, Terra, and Nova, all have this same blind spot. At one time or another, each has been too slow to grab live food and have missed it completely.

Zed now refuses to eat live prey at all.
Jupiter & Rhea will not eat crickets but love dubias.
Nova will not eat anything that is alive, regardless of what it is.
Terra will eat anything and eats so much I actually have to intervene because she will gutload herself! The first time she ate so much her eyes began bulging because she couldn't swallow all of it. Now I feed her small amounts at a time so she will swallow her food before eating more.

Jupiter loves to run around the house and really enjoys trying to jump from the couch to the table. He misses more often than not.

Since I have witnessed what you are going through with all of mine at one point or another, and mine are at varying ages from 4 months to 4 yrs, I think it's normal. Kind of like when we are walking and mis-step and stumble. Honestly, I do this all the time, especially when I am going up and down stairs.

**Something I have also noticed when feeding my babies, like you, when the pieces are too small, they don't bother with it. AND the color of the food dish seems to play a role as well. I have used, white, black, greyish, blue, red, green colored dishes and I get the best feed response from using white. Dragons do see in color. And I think using a white dish makes the food color contrast more so it is easier for them to see and focus on it.

**lady_bug87** · 01-21-12, 09:17 AM

his dish is a very light sand colour. He just freaks me out because he doesn't seem to stand close enough to his fruit to grab it then he gets huffy puffs up and goes to hide.

Thanks I guess my boy is just clutzy like his momma

beardeds4life · 01-21-12, 10:59 AM

mine will eat anything that is alive ut will miss to I agree with Zardozia it isnothing to worry about