O.O No one told me Blueys could Climb!

Yarh! Just got my new baby bluey today! Very excited, Yada Yada.... Finally get to test my wonderful enclosure yes?

Fish tank. Wooden hood, stand, 3ft long. Great.

Basic Contents; 2 Inches of bark, water bowl (which already completely evaporated within 2 hours O.O), food bowl, basking rock, fake log and a patch of fake moss.

Environment; foam background- rock shaped, 3 palm leaf type fern things for shade... big fake vine going across enclosure, fake spray of pink orchid flower.. + 2 umbrella leaves.

Problem 1: Okay, so I have no idea where an entire cup of water Vanished to. I'm guessing it evaporated... in 30degree heat.... no it wasnt spilled, and as far as I know, its not possible for a baby blue who is about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long, to drink an entire cup of water. So where did the water all go?

Problem 2: I grabbed a few basic veg for him, bok choy and some peas and heard a scratching noise on the foam background.... my little one had climbed all the way to the top of the bloody enclosure and was sitting under the glass ledge, on top of the foam, centimeters from escaping!!!

HOW?! O.O As far as I know, they cant climb up vertical surfaces! If they can, the background has to go

I then came back again.. and caught the little genius half way up the umbrella leaves!!!

YARGH! *lol* Gave me the fright of my life!

So Ive moved the leaves up out of his reach and turned them around so theres nothing to get a grip on... jeez

Oh yeah If you want pics of this intelligent little devil , go here http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69174

HHAHAHA call him houdini!

Yeah they can climb, just make your enclosure "escape proof" now .

He is a cutie too!

Oh man! No one told me! *lol* Everyone said they had too much body mass not enough leg strength to climb! I'm scared to leave him in the enclosure overnight in case he goes and climbs again

And hes sneezing... do you think its just the bark dust he keeps digging in?

Madness

ooh Maybe he is sneezing because he drank too much water...only joking but seriously put something very heavy (fridge? ) on the lid and hope he is not a strong man as well as an escape artist.

Here is my enclosure... What have I done wrong?

*lol* Thanks Channi! Theres a very heavy lid on it, but theres a big gap at the back, above the ledge he was on

Ps the pics below are my beautiful enclosure.. the 1st is the one the little demon (pet shop owners words, not mine *halo) could climb up.. the 2nd is the adjustments

wouldn't know, but thats a cool enclosure

Thank you !

Awesome, let's put lizards in pet shops and sell them to people, telling them that they have legs too weak to climb a rock wall.

That enclosure isn't going to contain a Blue-tongued Lizard for long. You need a lid for the tank, or you need to get a new enclosure. The pet shop owner deserves... well... let's not go there.

He is a lovely little lizard, please take good care of him and don't trust the shop owner any more.

That is a very beautifull enclosure!

Thank you Sdaji. The tank does indeed have a lid, but it is a fish tank and there is a gap at the back.

Id prefer to take advice from pro's, but dont blame the shop owner, he knew his stuff, but he didnt know what my enclosure looked like.

I was considering covering the gap at the back with fly screen so there was no possible way to escape it. What else can I do? remove the rock wall?

Yes i guess

Please remember Im really new at this... so any advice would be fantastic

Tirilia said:

Thank you Sdaji. The tank does indeed have a lid, but it is a fish tank and there is a gap at the back.

Id prefer to take advice from pro's, but dont blame the shop owner, he knew his stuff, but he didnt know what my enclosure looked like.

I was considering covering the gap at the back with fly screen so there was no possible way to escape it. What else can I do? remove the rock wall?

Click to expand...

If he says Blue-tongued Lizards don't have enough leg strength to climb, and suggests you rely on that to keep one inside an enclosure, he doesn't know his stuff and shouldn't be giving out advice. You certainly shouldn't be listening to him. Never underestimate a reptile's ability to escape.

It's difficult to say how best you can temporarily secure the lid without seeing it. If you're going to use a fish tank, you need a proper lid. If you take out anything the lizard can climb up (including those leaves, etc, etc), he will probably be unable to get out, but I wouldn't want to count on it.

For animals that are not built for climbing, they certainly make a good fish of it sometimes. When using fish tanks I just make a wooden frame and stretch some fly wire screening over it. I usually rest my UV fitting on the cover to weigh it down. Good luck with your new bluey!

What counts as a proper lid? I moved the umbrella leaves up out of 'reach' so to speak.. unless he can climb up one of those Repti-Vines or the rock wall.. I think thats it as far as escaping goes.. but I dont know what they are capable of.

Meep Im really scared he will escape during the night

He will climb that rock wall about as easily as he would get up an elevator. They're the specialist climbers, but they are certainly capable of climbing.

Hehe if you spent a few hours with some of mine you'd think they were specialist climbers