UVB lighting issues

So you may have seen my post in the ER forum about his lethargy, worms and issues eating, now i have a question about the lighting. I Have two uvb bulbs set up all according to my beardies needs. However due to his illness he does not have the strength to climb his log and perch right under the light. So i removed the large log that took up about %40 of the terrerium and put in a smaller one that he would find easier to climb and is much closer to the ground so he doesn't get injured if he falls off of it. Now my question is have i dimished the amount of UVB rays to absorb by removing his perch and what can i do to help him out? Also His sun lamp is a 160 watt lamp with a 100 watt lightbulb. And i have a thermometer 3 inches under the, said, lamp and bulb and it reads 84 in F so i'm guessing i have to change that, unless the light gets warmer as it decends from the source. The reason i think the UVB light is a factor in this is because i took him out and i actually held the uvb light over him for a while and he seemed to have perked up a bit. If pictures are needed request them and i'll post them.

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Sorry to hear that your beardie is still having problems. I noticed that you have 260 watts of heat in his tank, what size is it? What type of thermometer are you using?
What type and brand of UVB are you using? You said you have 2 UVB's? How far away are they when he is on the lower log?

Are you giving him frequent baths?

If you could post pics of him and the tank, that may be helpful.

diamc":qm1idksn said:

Sorry to hear that your beardie is still having problems. I noticed that you have 260 watts of heat in his tank, what size is it? What type of thermometer are you using?
What type and brand of UVB are you using? You said you have 2 UVB's? How far away are they when he is on the lower log?

Are you giving him frequent baths?

If you could post pics of him and the tank, that may be helpful.

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Did i say 260? I meant 100 Watts with 120 V but i switched to 150 Watts with 120 V for fear he wasn't getting the heat he needed. It is a 50 Gallon long tank. I'm using 2 Exo Terra 10.0 UVB compact desert terrarium lamp. For The day I use a 150 Watt Repti Halogen bulb. And at night i use a 100 Exo Terra heat glo infrared lamp. His little log is about 11 inches away from one of the bulbs. And i really only learned about the baths recently, you're supposed to give him one once a week right? I have him one on Thursday, Friday and yesterday. The thermometers i'm using are all from 'All living things'. At the bottom i have the crystal strip which usually reads above 90 F and the round thermometer which is probably broken because it is always reading 90 F(this one is placed about 3 inches under the light and the other is at the bottom same with the cool side). The one on the cool side reads about 76F. Thanks for your help, by the way I'll post pics in a few mins

This is Zeus. He's a little sleepy cuz i took him out while he was sleeping for the pic. He's a little dark too, it's because his UVB light is off and i had the infrared light on.


him from birds eye view next to a ruler. He's about 8 inches tip to tail. and as you can see he's rather skinny but we're working on it.


This is his terrarium, he mostly stays under the sun lamp which is where the red bulb is now. that is the smaller log I was talking about, i lifted it with rocks so he's able to get under it to escape the heat if he wants but he hasn't done that so far. I can't remember the last time he's used the hammock, his legs seem weak. I turn on the UVB as soon as i get up and change from infrared to sun lamp around 11. I swich from sun lamp to infrared at 8 and turn the UVB off at 9.

Thanks for the clarification on the bulb wattage. Actually, 150 watts is an awful lot for only a 50 gallon tank. The most I ever needed in a 55 gallon tank was a 100 watt mercury vapor bulb. Right now I'm using a 75 watt household light bulb for the basking spot with a 40 watt bulb on the cool side since there is an AC close to her tank next to the cool side.

Is this the type of UVB's you're using?
If so, there have been some health issues associated with them. If you do a search on this forum regarding compact bulbs, the Repti-Glo brand, a lot of threads will pop up explaining some of the problems. They also don't put out the right amount of UVB to be beneficial to them. The best UVB you can get in the U.S. that haven't caused any problems is the Repti-Sun 10.0 strip fluorescent bulb.

The strip and round gauge thermometers can be as much as 20 degrees off. The only 2 ways to get accurate readings are with either an infrared temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end. So, I suggest you get one of those very soon so that you know what the real temps are.

You actually don't need any heat at night unless the room temp drops down to 65 or below. They need to be cooler at night and even the colored bulbs can disturb their sleep.

I think the lethargy and problems you're seeing with your beardie are that the temps are too high which can cause rapid dehydration and that the UVB's are adding to the problems. In that small of a tank, you don't need 2 UVB's which is causing more lethargy and other issues. I would suggest that you turn both bulbs off for a few days and see if that helps make a difference as well as getting a good thermometer and increasing the baths to at least 3 to 4 times a wk.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Ok so i've changed the 150 watt back to the 100 watt and removed the night lamp. Now that i have this one available i can just use it for the UVB, do you think it's a good idea after a few days to put that in? and if so, where should i put it? At the cool side where the two were or next to sun lamp? Also i forgot to mention one of my concerns with him is that he does not walk normally. I don't even know how to describe it, it's like he puts one leg forward, then as he's putting the next one forward he lets the other one give way so he kind of falls to the side a little. It's very odd. Any Ideas why he might be doing this?

ok so i just went out and purchased a digital thermometer with a probe and it's in his terrarium now. We also got An 18" Zilla Slimeline Desert fixture with a desert 50 UVB T8 Fluorecent bulb because we couldn't find anything that was a compact bulb with the reptisun brand. Is this good?

Thanks for posting the pictures. As you know, he is very thin. What does he eat in a day, including feeders and greens/veggies? If he isn't eating much, it would be a good idea to supplement him with chicken and squash baby food (thinned with a little bit of water) because when they are that small, they cannot go very long without protein which he would get from the chicken baby food.

How long have you had him? It sounds like and looks like he is suffering from metabolic bone disease. Unfortunately, the bulbs you've been using and even the Desert 50 fluorescent, isn't a good one. You can use the same desert fixture, but this is the bulb that would help give your beardie what he needs as far as a good amount of UVB rays without all the side effects of a bad bulb. http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/11442-504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10-0-uvb-bulb.html You can get it here for a very reasonable price and this company is great to deal with. So, you shouldn't get a compact Repti-Sun, you need the strip fluorescent bulb! With the Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent, it should be 6 to 8 inches from your beardie and placed right alongside a bright white basking bulb. The colored bulbs can cause eye irritation and his eyes don't look good.

How often are you dusting with calcium with D3 and vitamins?

That's good that you bought a digital thermometer with probe. Make sure that the probe end is actually resting on the basking log, then wait about 45 min for the temp to stop rising before getting the final reading.

I'm really hopeful that once you make these changes, you'll see an improvement in him. I wouldn't wait too long though before feeding him the baby food, getting the Repti-Sun fluorescent and making sure it is alongside the white basking bulb and at the 6 to 8" distance. You really should put this bulb inside his tank so that he can get the full benefit of it before he gets any worse. Also, taking him outside in the sun would also help him out but be sure to hold him and even put a leash on because if something scares them, they can run to hide from quickly. Please act fast, he doesn't look good I'm sorry to say.

He actually stopped eating a while ago. I posted about here viewtopic.php?f=45&t=132411


He stopped eating crickets not long after a fall he had. then we started feeding him super worms, and he did for a while but then stopped again. So lately I've been force feeding him canned crickets. 6 a day with Calcium with Vit d3 and Reptile Xtra anti-bacterial meal dusted on them. I have not been force feeding veggies tho. Would you recommend that? and how much? And about the log, since he's weak he cannot climb. So we replaced his big basking log for a smaller one which you will see in the photo. But even then he doesn't climb on it, he's either basking in the sun lamp on those two stones we bought from Petsmart or out of the terrarium. Also, we bought the lamp and hood that you recommended on the website you also recommended. How long should it take to get here? and should i still go for the baby food? We've had him since February but his health started to decline in late July when he started becoming lethargic and not eating. If you have anything else you think might be useful please don't hesitate to reply or PM me. but thanks for all you're help you've been a great relief because now we know what to do

p.s. what should we do for uvb untill then??

Do you suppose it's possible that he doesn't like the canned crickets? I have never fed them because I've heard they can spoil quickly and also I'm concerned about how healthy the crickets were before they were canned. Have you tried feeding live crickets lately? Feeding 6 really isn't very many since he is so small and young. I would recommend the chicken or turkey baby food mixed with either baby food squash, green beans or peas. He may surprise you and lick quite a bit off his nose, they really seem to lick those varieties.

Since he's not climbing the log, his temps must be lower now since he is spending most of his time not up on the log. What were the final temps of the basking & cool side where he lays now? Are you able to take him outside daily until the good UVB light comes in? That would do him a LOT of good but you'll have to watch him closely. You should have your bulb in about a wk.

He looks somewhat dehydrated in the pictures, his skin looks wrinkly and the area on top of his head should actually be a little higher which shows the proper hydration in that area so I would increase his baths to at least 4 times a wk.

It's very possible he doesn't like them. Tho he doesn't really have the energy to eat anything else. First he stopped eating crickets then worms, so after that i felt like I had to something to help the guy out. So is that gerber brand, or what? Can i just walk into a grocery store and get that or do i have to go someplace special? I don't think that it's because he doesn't think the temp's right, it skips around 99.8-102.5 in the basking area and room temp in the cool area which is usually 76-78. He's just really weak. However i just moved the new log under the actual basking lamp, something i should have done once we got rid of the UVB. I took him out for a good half hour or 45 mins today to soak up some rays. He seemed to perk up outside. Tho he started gaping his mouth after a while of direct sunlight so about 10 mins after he started that i took him in and i dripped water on his nose with a syringe. He got some of it but didn't seem too interested. and i even soaked him today in a warm bath for good measure after feeding. How much of that baby food should i give him? As much as he'll eat or a certain amount??

Ok so i just bought 20 live crickets and offered him one. He didn't really seem interested so i put him in his bath enclosure thingy with the cricket. He made no attempt to eat it and didn't even seem interested. I took it out and force fed it to him when it got on him and started nibbling at him. I force fed him two and put him back on the log under the basking light. Current temp is 101.5. Should i force feed him the live crickets now or what?

Alrighty. I went out and bought tthe baby food. Chicken with chicken broth. And peas. Got a little syringe to offer it to him. I put a dab on his nose. No interest. A dab on the tip of his mouth, licked a little off but did not repeat when i put more. I opened his mouth a little and put a small amount. He ate it but then he started doing this wierd open mouth thing where he opens his mouth really really wide and sticks a large portion of his tonge out. That scared me so i put him back in this tank and i'm about to take him out for some sun. What do i do? It's like he's not even trying or anything. Schools coming up soon and i wont be able to do all of this so easily. Anyone if you have an idea or suggestion or though PLEASE post a reply

Perhaps he was opening his mouth and sticking out his tongue because the baby food mixture was too thick, did you thin it with a little water to make it a thinner consistency? I've found out that they like squash better than the peas. When you put the baby food directly in his mouth, did you squirt it in the side or on his tongue? It should be put on the side by just pulling his lower lip down gently that way it won't cause choking. It does take them a little while to get the idea of licking the baby food off their nose so just be patient. Getting him to take it that way would be less stressful. You could also heat the mixture up for a few seconds in the microwave, when it's warm they seem to like it better.

When he was gaping outside, it seems like he was really enjoying it, so doesn't sound like anything to worry about.

Have you ever had a fecal checked for parasites? How often are you dusting with calcium and vitamins?