Over Active?

[Klinger #4077]

For around a week, Bort has been really active. Such as crawling around his cage and being really eager to get out. Whenever I open his cage to feed him, he almost instantly climbs onto my hand or try to crawl onto the open screen door. I have no clue why. I got him April 2nd and he was born January 16th. After I put him back into his cage, he always seems to want to go up, as in crawling up and then kind of bumping the top with his nose.

Overall I have had no problem with this until it affected his eating habits. He randomly stopped eating out of his feeding cup. I have let the crickets loose in his cage when it is feeding time, but he is too busy moving around, and when he isn't, he just doesn't seem interested. What worries me is that he isn't getting enough of the supplements he needs because the crickets roam around his cage for so long.

Any input is well appreciated! Thanks much, Chris.

 

[Theveiled]

what is the temperature in his cage?

 

[MissLissa]

It could very well be hormones, baring other husbandry issues. It sounds like he is about 5 months old, which is exactly when my male panther went a bit nuts: running all over the place, reducing his food intake, etc. Basically, he's hitting puberty and has girls-girls-girls on the brain and no room for boring things like food! Vladislav calmed down after 6-8 weeks. They also start growing slower about this time as well, so their caloric intake drops off. Vladislav went from 20-25 crickets a day, very suddenly, to 6-10 when he was about 5.5 months old. Is he eating other foods besides crickets? You could try cup feeding things like superworms, hormworms, silkworms, etc.

 

[Klinger #4077]

It could very well be hormones, baring other husbandry issues. It sounds like he is about 5 months old, which is exactly when my male panther went a bit nuts: running all over the place, reducing his food intake, etc. Basically, he's hitting puberty and has girls-girls-girls on the brain and no room for boring things like food! Vladislav calmed down after 6-8 weeks. They also start growing slower about this time as well, so their caloric intake drops off. Vladislav went from 20-25 crickets a day, very suddenly, to 6-10 when he was about 5.5 months old. Is he eating other foods besides crickets? You could try cup feeding things like superworms, hormworms, silkworms, etc.

Thank you! That makes me less worried haha! I've been feeding him dubia roaches and superworms, but will try feeding him hornworms and silkworms!

 

[MissLissa]

Thank you! That makes me less worried haha! I've been feeding him dubia roaches and superworms, but will try feeding him hornworms and silkworms!

I would still check his temperatures, humidity, hydration schedule, and make sure that he has adequate space: he is close enough to sexually mature to require a full-size male enclosure if you've been using a juvenile-sized one. Also make sure his perches are sized up for proper grip, too- teeny tiny perches can be hard for the big boys to navigate. For your peace of mind please triple check his parameters first, before you write it off as hormones, just in case there is something off!

If all that checks out, you may be dealing with his "teenage days"!