How old is your dragon? 4-6 weeks
How long have you had your dragon? Since May 12, 2012
How long is your dragon? About 4.5"
What is the sex of your dragon? Unknown
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 30L
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? Repti Carpet
Do you use UVB lights? Yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? Tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? 24" Reptisun 10.0 18W T-8
How old is your UVB bulb? 1 Day
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? 8"
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb? 100W Basking Spot Lamp and 100W Nocturnal IR Heat Lamp
What are the basking temps? Basking Temp is between 89.6F - 130.0F (See 'Where Are You Taking Basking Temps' below)
What is the cool side temp? Warm side of the tank is between 88F - 104F. Hotter near the heat lamp of course. Cool side of the tank is between 74.0F - 82.7F. Coldest at the edge of the tank.
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? CenTech IR/Laser Temp Gun
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? A log that starts at the bottom of the tank and slowly climbs up towards the top. It is centered under the heat lamp. He seems to favor the middle/bottom of the log, which ranges from 89.6F - 112.0F.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. He hasn't eaten yet, but baby feeder crickets, finely chopped greens, finely chopped carrots, ZooMed Natural Juvenile Bearded Dragon Food
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? 8A (vegs), 10A (crickets), 2P (crickets), 8P (crickets)
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? Yes
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? ZooMed ReptiCalcium Without D3. Daily.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? Yes
Do you bath your dragon? How often? 2-3x/week (Planning)
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? Yes, mist 1x/day (Planning)
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? No
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? No
******************************************************************************************************************
This is our first experience with reptiles, so we are doing a lot of research online and learning as we go. However it's hard knowing what is true, what is conjecture, and what is just garbage when there are so many different opinions out there! So please bear with me if these are all old questions, I just haven't found definitive answers yet...
Since we brought him home from the store on May 12, he hasn't had a single thing to eat. I've heard it takes anywhere from 2-3 days to 2 weeks for the beardies to get their appetites back. At what point should I start to worry for his health?
He has also been increasingly sluggish since we brought him home. He was initially alert, at least keeping his eyes open and milling around a little, but seems to have fallen into a coma. He wouldn't open his eyes this morning, and looked rather limp just laying on his basking log. He had been under a ReptiSun 5.0 Compact yesterday afternoon, at least until I replaced it with the ReptiSun 10.0 Tube today. However, his demeanor hasn't improved. Could just one day without proper UVB would have such an effect?
UVB issues aside, I also wanted to make sure he was at least pooping. He had supposedly eaten a few crickets before/while we brought him home, but we hadn't seen any bowel movements yesterday. I read that warm baths coax baby beardies to go, so I prepared a little bath of 100F water. Had his limbs not tensed slightly when I picked him up out of the tank amd when I put him back into it, I would have thought he was dead. However, when I was putting him back in the tank a little drop of water fell on his head and rolled down over his mouth. We noticed he started doing something that looked like he was drinking it. So, we put another drop of water on his mouth and he kept drinking. Much to our relief, after a minute of this the little guy sprang to life!
His eyes opened fully, he even crawled right onto my hand (I think for warmth) and didn't want to get back onto his basking log. We kept giving him little drops of water on his nose until he stopped drinking. He wandered around the tank for a minute, and had several bowel movements (white milky substance, looked kind of watery but no smell). Then he climbed up on his basking log and slid right back into that coma state again. I want to say not exactly as bad tho, since he would briefly open his eyes if I walked by or made a sound. Could this be some type of dehydration issue?
So the next step was to make sure all of his temp settings were looking good, I read that a lot of this sluggishness can be caused from improper temperatures. Yesterday wasn't a good day for him because we were just using the stick-on cheap temp strip that came with the kit. We really have no idea how hot or cold it got in his tank. I spent the majority of this evening trying to get the temps in his home within range. The problem is I've read about 4 different acceptable heat ranges for baby beardies, so please let me know if the temps I posted at the beginning, or if they need to be changed, and how to best do that.
The last question (thank you if you're still reading this) is I've read that the Nocturnal Heat Lamps aren't good for beardies because they can still see in that spectrum, and it's best to just use electric pads under the tank or ceramic heaters up near the lamps if your home gets below 70F at night. We live in CO so that's pretty much guaranteed for 10 months out of the year. Is he going to go bonkers if we keep using the red nocturnal heat lamp at night, or should we switch to a non-light type of night heater?
Thank you again very very much for reading all of this. Chances are we're just overly worried, and this may all go away when he finally de-stresses from the move, but since this is our first time at this we can't be too careful!
Pic is blurry, just a visual for all of this. The top screen is off in the day time for better UVB:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-x8jru6NXzAX3Y2VzVNdlJzdGc
Here's how he looks most of the time :-( He is near the bottom of his basking log in the pic. To the right in the pic you'll see the milky white discharge he made after the bath/drinking some water:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-x8jru6NXzAa21MSkloNXE1TGM
How long have you had your dragon? Since May 12, 2012
How long is your dragon? About 4.5"
What is the sex of your dragon? Unknown
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 30L
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? Repti Carpet
Do you use UVB lights? Yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? Tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? 24" Reptisun 10.0 18W T-8
How old is your UVB bulb? 1 Day
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? 8"
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb? 100W Basking Spot Lamp and 100W Nocturnal IR Heat Lamp
What are the basking temps? Basking Temp is between 89.6F - 130.0F (See 'Where Are You Taking Basking Temps' below)
What is the cool side temp? Warm side of the tank is between 88F - 104F. Hotter near the heat lamp of course. Cool side of the tank is between 74.0F - 82.7F. Coldest at the edge of the tank.
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? CenTech IR/Laser Temp Gun
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? A log that starts at the bottom of the tank and slowly climbs up towards the top. It is centered under the heat lamp. He seems to favor the middle/bottom of the log, which ranges from 89.6F - 112.0F.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. He hasn't eaten yet, but baby feeder crickets, finely chopped greens, finely chopped carrots, ZooMed Natural Juvenile Bearded Dragon Food
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? 8A (vegs), 10A (crickets), 2P (crickets), 8P (crickets)
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? Yes
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? ZooMed ReptiCalcium Without D3. Daily.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? Yes
Do you bath your dragon? How often? 2-3x/week (Planning)
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? Yes, mist 1x/day (Planning)
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? No
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? No
******************************************************************************************************************
This is our first experience with reptiles, so we are doing a lot of research online and learning as we go. However it's hard knowing what is true, what is conjecture, and what is just garbage when there are so many different opinions out there! So please bear with me if these are all old questions, I just haven't found definitive answers yet...
Since we brought him home from the store on May 12, he hasn't had a single thing to eat. I've heard it takes anywhere from 2-3 days to 2 weeks for the beardies to get their appetites back. At what point should I start to worry for his health?
He has also been increasingly sluggish since we brought him home. He was initially alert, at least keeping his eyes open and milling around a little, but seems to have fallen into a coma. He wouldn't open his eyes this morning, and looked rather limp just laying on his basking log. He had been under a ReptiSun 5.0 Compact yesterday afternoon, at least until I replaced it with the ReptiSun 10.0 Tube today. However, his demeanor hasn't improved. Could just one day without proper UVB would have such an effect?
UVB issues aside, I also wanted to make sure he was at least pooping. He had supposedly eaten a few crickets before/while we brought him home, but we hadn't seen any bowel movements yesterday. I read that warm baths coax baby beardies to go, so I prepared a little bath of 100F water. Had his limbs not tensed slightly when I picked him up out of the tank amd when I put him back into it, I would have thought he was dead. However, when I was putting him back in the tank a little drop of water fell on his head and rolled down over his mouth. We noticed he started doing something that looked like he was drinking it. So, we put another drop of water on his mouth and he kept drinking. Much to our relief, after a minute of this the little guy sprang to life!
His eyes opened fully, he even crawled right onto my hand (I think for warmth) and didn't want to get back onto his basking log. We kept giving him little drops of water on his nose until he stopped drinking. He wandered around the tank for a minute, and had several bowel movements (white milky substance, looked kind of watery but no smell). Then he climbed up on his basking log and slid right back into that coma state again. I want to say not exactly as bad tho, since he would briefly open his eyes if I walked by or made a sound. Could this be some type of dehydration issue?
So the next step was to make sure all of his temp settings were looking good, I read that a lot of this sluggishness can be caused from improper temperatures. Yesterday wasn't a good day for him because we were just using the stick-on cheap temp strip that came with the kit. We really have no idea how hot or cold it got in his tank. I spent the majority of this evening trying to get the temps in his home within range. The problem is I've read about 4 different acceptable heat ranges for baby beardies, so please let me know if the temps I posted at the beginning, or if they need to be changed, and how to best do that.
The last question (thank you if you're still reading this) is I've read that the Nocturnal Heat Lamps aren't good for beardies because they can still see in that spectrum, and it's best to just use electric pads under the tank or ceramic heaters up near the lamps if your home gets below 70F at night. We live in CO so that's pretty much guaranteed for 10 months out of the year. Is he going to go bonkers if we keep using the red nocturnal heat lamp at night, or should we switch to a non-light type of night heater?
Thank you again very very much for reading all of this. Chances are we're just overly worried, and this may all go away when he finally de-stresses from the move, but since this is our first time at this we can't be too careful!
Pic is blurry, just a visual for all of this. The top screen is off in the day time for better UVB:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-x8jru6NXzAX3Y2VzVNdlJzdGc
Here's how he looks most of the time :-( He is near the bottom of his basking log in the pic. To the right in the pic you'll see the milky white discharge he made after the bath/drinking some water:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B-x8jru6NXzAa21MSkloNXE1TGM