Why Do You Have This Pet?

It was one of those phone calls that I answered already not in a good mood.
Mostly because I never like it when customers call the store before we're officially open.
There's a reason why we come into the store before we're open. It's so that we can get things DONE when there aren't customers there to slow everything down.
Same goes to phone calls.

So automatically, I didn't like this customer because they called before we were opened which interrupted me in my opening tasks.

*shakes head* Not that the customer knew that...

In any case.
The customer on the phone was calling because he was concerned for his bearded dragon.
You see, the 75watt bulb that he'd had in the tank before had shattered,
and so he'd replaced it with a 60watt bulb instead.
And now he was concerned as to why it seemed to be colder in the tank.

....
It's these sort of questions that make me wonder what people are thinking. *shakes head*
Logically, wouldn't it make sense that if 60 is less than 75....then the ability to heat up the same space would be less as well?
Apparently it doesn't make sense. *shakes head* As the customer didn't seem to realize that a lesser wattage would mean lesser heat.
>.< Not that he was giving proper heat with that 60 watt....he made it sound like he'd just used a normal lightbulb instead of an actual heat bulb.

My ire rose as the conversation continued and we established that he has absolutely no idea how to take care of a Bearded Dragon.
As he was surprised to learn that bearded dragons like to have the hotspots in their cages be 90-100 degrees. He was surprised to find out that you can increase the temperature the bearded dragon was getting by simply moving a branch closer to the light bulb.

In any case, I convinced him that he would need to switch back to at least a 75 watt bulb in order to give his Bearded Dragon more heat so it wouldn't get so cold.

And then he asked another question.
"So when I handle the bearded dragon he's rather jumpy and doesn't want to sit still. Plus when I reach my hand into the cage, the bearded dragon will open it's mouth at me. I don't want to get bitten. Why is he doing that?"

O.o Considering Bearded Dragons are really mellow pets....that don't really move around. The fact that the bearded dragon was 'jumpy' usually indicates that they sense something is wrong with the person. As there are people that animals will take an instant dislike to. -Not that I told the guy that.

Instead I asked how long they'd had the bearded dragon for -as if it had only been a few days then I would have said he was stressing the poor creature out- 
Their answer was about 3 weeks.
Alright, so it wasn't stress more than likely. Which probably meant they needed more food. So I said to the customer that Bearded Dragons's bites aren't that painful. Just like a pinch. And in the store, if the bearded dragons are opening their mouths it usually means that they're grumpy because they're more than likely hungry. So what were you feeding it?
"Ah. Mealworms."
I think I heard freeze dried....which isn't the best because bearded dragons like to hunt. So like their food live.
"What about Crickets?" I asked him.
"Ah...yah...we haven't been able to feed it those for a bit now because we kinda ran out of money."

*exhales*
....Not exactly the answer I wanted to hear.
If you can't afford to feed your pet....why did you get it in the first place? If they're short on money, that probably indicates that the Bearded Dragon is barely being fed. If they're doing meal worms it wouldn't have surprised me if they were only giving one or two at a time.

And considering that growing bearded dragons could eat up to 20 small crickets in one go...if not more....
It's no wonder that the bearded dragon is opening it's mouth at the owner.
He's probably starving.

I mean, in the store we usually do 5 or so mealworms (more if they're eating them) and at least 10 crickets (and more if they're eating them.)

So basically the poor bearded dragon was starving and too cold.
*exhales*
Hopefully, with the information that he needs more heat and more food the owner will be able to take better care of it....

But yah, not a fun conversation to have early in the morning. Definitely got my irritation levels up early today. *shakes head*

-Sarnic Dirchi