Several Things

Her name is lexi she is almost 6 months old she is about 10 inches head to tail, her basking spot temp for hammock is about 102 and for her basking rock 105, i have a Powersun UV cuz im a fan of MVB, her cool side temp is about 83, she eats 20-30 reptical vd3 dustedeye to eye sized cricketscrickets and 3 greenbeans a day, she poops 1 time a day and on very rare occasion 2. she has a basking rock, hammmock, box hide, food dish shallow and big fir her to go around in and splash around in. I use newspaper substrate. and 60 gallon tank

Iv done alot of research and these are the things im having trouble with getting good info about.

My concerns are (most are prolly nothing):
She hates water and she never goes near her water dish (i mist her green beans to the point where they are almost soaking wet) she hates baths so i mist her every day.
Her poop is not messy per say but not solid but its got the right shape i guess?and her poop almost looks like its got a grayish layer on parts of it. there sometimes liquid in it brown liquid but im skeptic and starting to think its brown cuz it went all over the poo. her urates seem normal. and she always poops in the same spot (her basking rock thats its only use to her.)
she usually chills on her hammock or rock but lately she has been on the ground under her hammock.
her left eye some times gets droopy the eyelid that is.
she sheds a different part of her body at a differnt time for example she shed her legs straight off then a week later he tail now her head is starting and its been a wekk since the tail and she hasnt done body yet (this is her second shed since i have had her)
Iv picked off parts of shed before around the legs cuz she looks stressed when she is shedding.and i get many mixed views on this just like people get with sand
her stress marks come at random and how can i tell if shes in pain or not?
Her scales on her back legs are very random shaped and sizes almost as if they were just clumped on there since her last shed or since i picked it off which i still dont know if i should do or not. i feel terrible if its like the worst thing i could possibly do.
She doesnt chew her food well XD
shes quite the licker
brown tip on nose theres prown on her body but this is almost like wierd i cant explain.
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My daily routine is :
I get up at 6am the light turns on at 7:30 am ish i say hello to aknowledge her, i get home at about 2:30 give her about 10-15 crickets after handeling her for about 10 minutes and then misting her. after about an hour i attempted to bather her she jumps to much and i just give her some green beans in her tank she eats them then continues to bask. about an hour later from green beans ill give her more crickets about 5pm by now then at 7:30 ill give her some more crickets. all through this her hottest basking spot is 105 then at 9 her light goes off and the night time goes on and it stays about 78 althorughout the cage. then i wake up and start over.
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Plz do not critizise me but i would appreciate you correcting me just be nice about it. This is my first beardie and i want things to be absolutely perfect.
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* she stays on the basking side of her cage at all times and the hide is about 5 inches away from there and she refuses to go beyond that or init inless im in the room while she is sleeping iv seen her go in the hide.

also im going to reptile expo next weekend so if theres something you think i should buy or add to her cage plz tell me and i will do something

BTW the main concerns for me are:
The poop
The picking of shed
The water scaredness
and swallowing to fist

iv read the caresheets from this site and many others and iv seen many videos.

so please enlighten me.
and please dont critisize just critique iv seen some things said that shouldnt be said to another person on this forum. so be nice

i do not have pictures i might later though

by the way she is decently active and she vents normally and acts like a normal bd.

Wow im so glad that you organized your post! that will really help people answer your questions! It sounds like you have done a very good job at taking care of her.

-What do you use to measure temps?

-It seems to me that when they are young their shedding is a bit crazy. mine also shed different parts of their bodys at different times of the week. You defiantly should not help them get the skin off. Sometimes parts of it are not ready to come off but get ripped off when you rip the already dead skin off. Keep an eye on that part of her leg that you mentioned as she grows. Im sure someone more experienced will let you know what to do about it. As long as she isnt walking on it funny or scratching at it im sure it will be okay for now.

-What do you do when you give her the baths? Is it luke warm and up to her armpits? Misting is probably okay as long as it dosnt raise the humidity in the cage. Do you mist her outside of the cage? I think that when she starts to get older and more confidant she will start to like the baths.

-Im glad you use newspaper substrate. Sand is always so messy and dangerous. and not worth the hassle of worrying if she ingests it.

-Maybe you could take a picture of her poop for us and post it on here? its hard to visualize what you are describing.

-What do you mean when her eyelid is droopy? Could it be that she is just closing her eye while basking? not sure on this.

-Not so sure what you mean when you say "brown tip on nose theres prown on her body but this is almost like wierd i cant explain." maybe you could post us a nice photo of her? I love seeing photos of everyone's beardie anyways!!

-If she actually eats the green beans you could also try some bean sprouts or mustard greens. My beardies LOVE bean sprouts. I grow lental bean sprouts and I buy the mustard greens from walmart/tops. its good to put some variety in the greens that they eat

I have a 6 month old too but it's a male so he is a little larger, 16" and somewhere over 250 grams. I'm a big fan of MVB too and I've noticed that he doesn't bask directly under the light except first thing in the morning when its cold or later after a big meal. He stays around the outer perimeter of the light where it is still very warm. In the wild, they bask in the morning and retreat to shady areas in the heat of the day so I think this is totally normal and you are good to go.

If I understand correctly, you're using calcium with D3. It needs to be without D3 when you use Mercury Vapor bulbs. They are so much stronger they stimulate the D3 production in their body better so she could be getting too much calcium.

Are green beens the only greens she is eating? This probably isn't the best thing either. I'm not sure of the nutritional value but I know it's not as good as collard, mustard, turnip greens and butternut, acorn squash. These have high calcium to phosphorus ratios which help balance their nutrition due to the high content of phosphorous in the crickets. This is the place to go for food info http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html


A lot of beardies don't like water, the misting is perfect. I like using the dropper once or twice a day myself. It gives them a little water and teaches them to lick when its on their nose which is useful if she ever gets sick or needs meds.

Poo sounds okay to me, just like Vyllyn's except he is a big eater so I get 2 or 3 presents a day. (your lucky)

As for the shed, I don't know whats up with the different body parts but I'd like to know too. It drives me crazy. As soon as one part of their body starts looking pretty something else is starting to shed. I've used a soft toothbrush to get rid of retained shed. If you're really worried, they make sprays to help them shed. One thing for sure, retained shed is not good, so a little assistance isn't always bad in my opinion. Especially when their nostrils are haning out both sides.

Thats all I know, sounds like you're doing a pretty good job only needing some small improvements.

Cheryl

Hello!
You said that she has brown stuff on her nose and other places? Could you show us what that looks like? I am wondering if because you are spraying her daily if she is startign to get mold on her. U use to spray judah too because he hated baths, but I live in Seattle and so i was just asking for mold to start growing on him, in the tank, etc. If you give the body a little squirt once in a while it shoudl not be a problem but when you start soaking them and the enclosure this can cause a problem. I started giving Judah baths in the kitchen sink, its deep and he cant jump out of it. At first he ran around and tried to jump out ans was pretty ticked off about it, but now he just relaxes and goes with it. If you keep your hand under them for a little while and let them ease into it then they sorta get it after a while.

Yes deff. do not pull off the shead. Only around the toes/nail area because it can get cought up and cause bad circulation. The baths should help alot, and you can rub the areas in the water to help it come lose but dont pull it off. Also if you put some rough surfaces that she can scratch herself on this will help. I have several a piece of rough drift wood that I found on the beach (surely this is not possable for everyone of course) I cleaned it up really good, bleached it, sanded off any splinters, and then baked it in the oven to kill germs in side of the wood. I found that this wood really helps him shed, he rubs all over it when shedding. Some of the ones I have seen in pet stores are not very rough, but I am sure you can find something rough somewhere's

And yes throw some other veggies in to the mix from the list. The poo will be sometimes runny with solid parts, they will actually shed the excess water that they dont turn into urates (the white part of the poo) so there will be some excess water in the there too alot of the time. Try some wheat grass it comes in a little growing pot so you can keep it for several weeks and its always nice and fresh. Judah loves wheat grass he goes crazy over it. Just keep it in a very cool area and water every other day.

i give her romaine lettuce 2,

ok yes i mist her daily a good ten mists but the brown tip is like only a bit darker then her regular color so idk.

for the bath i fill the sink up to her armpitthe kitchen one and i put a towel under so she has some grip but she jumps out and i have to grab her everytime.

Hello,

It sounds like you have a good schedule/routine for your dragon & yourself.
Do you put greens & veggies out for her in the mornings before you leave? You could probably feed her a bit more at 6 months she is still growing rapidly. Since you are not home in the mornings, you could purchase some type of worms such as phoenix or butterworms to put in the tank along with her greens & veggies to give her more protein & help her grow more.
The calcium with D3 is normally not given with mercury vapor bulbs just because they synthesize enough D3 on their own with the UVB exposure. However, the Powersun is the weaker of the 3 recommended MVB's, so if you want to give D3 a couple of times per week that is fine. What I do recommend is to get some plain calcium without D3 & supplement both.
Say use D3 on tuesday & thursday & plain calcium on monday, wednesday & friday just to ensure she gets enough of both.
How old is the Powersun & how close is it to her?
Romaine lettuce is not the best staple of greens to give, but it can be mixed with mustard or collard greens. Here is a feeding & nutritional chart that you can look at to get more ideas: http://www.beautifuldragons.com
Click on the nutritional link.
The brown spot on the nose can be normal. We have a dragon who has a pigment difference on the tip of his nose, as well, so I do not think it is anything to worry about. You can post a picture if you would like to though.
It is not recommended to "pick off" their shed. However, if it is coming off & loose & not adhered to the skin below then it is ok to gently help. Usually baths help the loose skin come off quite easily.
Good job overall, on getting everything all setup well for her.
Let us know if you need more help.

Tracie

the uvb is about 7 inches from the highest point. and yeah im gonna start putting veggies in the morning and im buying some meal worms for my leopard geckos when i get them so can i give her those i here mixed things cuz i wasthingking get a ceramic tall dish so the worms cant crawl out then put her vegies and worms in the morning and crickets when i get home.

Hello,

What wattage of Powersun are you using? A 100 watt or a 160 watt?
The recommendations for a 100 watt Powersun MVB are to mount it 12 inches away from your dragon, for safety. So, you are going to need to move it a little further away. How old is your light?
In order to get the temps up, you may need to use a lower wattage household lightbulb to get the basking temps optimal after moving the Powersun further away.
What are you using to measure your temps, a digital probe or a temp gun?

Tracie

im using a probe and the light is about a month old maybe 2
and ill move it down a bit.

Hello,

Ok, great, try to get it to 10 inches from him, that would be acceptable, & then see what your temps are after that. We can go from there. Remember, it might take a few minutes for the temps to readjust before you can remeasure them with the light further away.
Good you are using a digital probe, they are accurate.

Tracie

Romane lettuce dosnt has very little nutritional value if any. try some greens, collard, mustard, or dandelion. its yummy!

You might want to stay away from meal worms. They have little nutritional value, and their shells can cause impaction in a young dragon. Try Phoeinx worms instead, or even a few wax worms each week to put some weight on, and as a treat. Please try some of the greens and squash everyone else is mentioning to you. Romain lettuce ans green beans aren't healthy enough for your dragon. Collard greens are great, and pretty inexpensive at your local grocery store.
Keep trying the baths...Mine took forever to get used to it. Sometimes you just have to be patient and persistant.
Being a new beardie mommy is tough, you try so hard w/little knowledge and everything the pet store says is wrong :roll: It can be very frustrating. You are trying to do the best you can for your beardie, and that makes you a good beardie slave. Listen to the advice you get from this site, the people on here really know what they arte talking about, and helped me survive the first year w/my beardie.

OMG. i just realized do bearded dragons need a multivitamin? LPG do but hwo bout beardies i just now thought of that OMG