#but with an average captive lifespan of around 13-15 years now feels early but also right?

[butchyena]

jasper (bearded dragon) is getting up in years. she’s in a bioactive (plantless, she ate them lol) enclosure because when we first got her and had her in a hard-bottom tank she scratched almost 24/7, the moment we got her substrate she was very very energetic and inquisitive and spent the next week digging and pushing dirt around until she got it how she wanted and stopped relentlessly scratching/wall-surfing and now only does it when she’s going to poo. but in recent months i havent seen her digging as much at all, and im worried now it may be time to try a hard-bottom setup so i dont have to keep up w the bioactivity. but im worried if im wrong, she’ll go back to scratching and being stressed she cant dig. since she’ll go into brumation soon and stop moving and eating as much i’ll see if i cant maybe make a setup with a dig box in case she feels the need. but again, if im wrong, im worried she’ll spend all her time in the dig box and not in the optimal basking spots. idk idk idk

#she’s between 7-9 years old now #she was a rescue so her quality of care before we got her is unknown #i dont even know if/when beardies start showing their age #but with an average captive lifespan of around 13-15 years now feels early but also right? #im not sure. #love this little lizard. she fucking hates me but i love her. #also im aware having beardies on substrate is a massive no no #i did years worth of research on how other owners handle it and spent a pretty penny on a substrate mix modeled after her natural habitat #and now she’s less interested in moving dirt around than ever! but i dont want to deprive her of basic instinctual behavior #since it visible stressed her endlessly before