Snuggle Time

I am happy to report that Norbert has been eating his roaches regularly for about a week now. We started out feeding him just 5-7 at a time and he would sit half way in his bowl looking at us like he wanted more. Now we give him 10 or 11 roaches and this seems to be about the right amount for him. He eats them all in about 5-10 minutes, the first 5 he will almost swallow whole, the next couple he chews, and he slows down by the end it usually takes him a minute or two to finish the last two in his bowl, that's why we think it's about the right amount. He still isn't even wanting to touch his salads but that's fine because has a baby and juvenile they are supposed to have a diet mostly of crickets and/or roaches anyway. They don't really get interested in the greens until they get about a year old.

He now has his hammock up and a lizard ladder in his temporary 10 gallon tank and he really seems to like it. His new routine in the middle of the day is to climb up to the hammock and sit on one of the far corners and dangle one leg off the edge. He always looks like he wants to jump. Sometimes he does jump which worries me because it is about a 8-10 inch drop down into his food tray. He knows how to use the ladder or branch to get up to the hammock, and knows how to use the branch to get down, but apparently he can't figure out how to get down the ladder. I will be sitting next to him on the couch and I will see him dangling his foot, then as soon as I look away I hear a *thump* *rustle rustle* and I look and he has landed in his food tray on top of his salad.

We have to keep the branch out of the terrarium now (unless someone is keeping a close eye on him) because the branch is meant for our 20 gallon, therefore it sticks out the top of the 10 gallon and the lid can't close all the way in the back. It was fine for a while, until Norbert figured out he can actually climb to the end and is out of the tank. Last night we caught him completely out and standing on top the screen. He's figured out how to escape, so we have to take it out if no one can keep a close eye on him.

The other night I took him out to handle him after his lights turned off and he crawled right up my hoodie and snuggled up in a fold on the front of my hoodie while I was laying on the couch. I covered him part way with our fuzzy blanket and he snuggled in and fell asleep. I let him sleep like that for a while before putting him back in his terrarium. He new sleeping place is no longer in his cave house, but instead he climbs up the lizard ladder to the hammock and falls asleep in the highest corner closest to his heat lamp. whatever makes him happy I suppose. We are hoping his 20 gallon terrarium cures soon so we can put him back in that but it still stinks like silicone since we put in the slate tile. He needs to file his claws soon!

I finally got around to measuring Norbert. We don't have a scale that can weight in grams so I was not able to get his weight, but he is just about 6 inches long. He could be a little longer but I couldn't get him to stand or lay straight, either his tail was curved or his head was turned. I'll try and get another measurement once we have had him for a full month.