Darkening, not basking....

[anamlgrl]

My 2 yr. old female beardie Sylas has been acting a little out of sorts for the past 2 weeks. She is not basking as much as my other 3 beardies. She is spending a lot of time in her hide. She is still eating & pooping as usual. Today she is very dark. Her head is shedding so I am not sure if that is the issue?

My set-up:

- ReptiSun 24" 10.0

- Basking spot is at 100 degrees

- She eats 4 supers in the morning and 4 at night. I will mix it up with dubia. She gets dusted supers 5 times a week and Reptivite once a week.

- She always has a fresh salad but she picks occasionally. We are trying to get her more interested.

- She gets a soak 3 times a week and misted daily.

- We also bring her out of her enclosure once a day.

Any suggestions would be great. I am curious about the darkening and the not wanting to bask.

Thank you!

 

[Beardednoob]

Possible brumation?
You can cut down the calcium to 3x a week. Other then that everything sounds good. What is her substrate? How old is her UV?

 

[anamlgrl]

Thanks for the reply. Her UV is actually only a week old. She has a wood enclosure that has been painted over. It was aired out for a long time before we put her in it. She also has slate rocks all over the tank.

 

[Beardednoob]

Thanks for the reply. Her UV is actually only a week old. She has a wood enclosure that has been painted over. It was aired out for a long time before we put her in it. She also has slate rocks all over the tank.

So no sand? or any other loose particle substrate? Do you have a picture of your girl in question?

 

[anamlgrl]

No loose substrate at all. She is sleeping in her hide right now...here is a recent pic.

 

[Beardednoob]

I am thinking brumation at this point, have you had a fecal done recently? Just to be sure, if she is going into bumation you don't want her with any parasites.

 

[anamlgrl]

We have not. Are there any other signs of parasites we should look out for??

 

[Beardednoob]

We have not. Are there any other signs of parasites we should look out for??

Loss of appetite, weight loss, dark coloration, runny stool, smelly stool to name commonly. I would get one done, your case may be different though, perhaps she is dark in coloration due to not basking.
http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/brumation/
Brumation article. :wink:

 

[anamlgrl]

I actually just read that article...lol. Thank you!