Norah-Nubs! New user/owner in need of advice

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pachamama

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Hey all! Excited to have finally brought home my own beardie. She is a very sweet 2 year old owner surrender adopted from a pet store specializing in rescues. She's very chubby and mellow and I just adore her. My only issue is she will only stay on her hammock 24-7. She refuses to leave it for food or water. Her appetite seems good if I feed her by hand and she perks up when I spritz her with water or after a bath. Is this just part of the adjustment process? I thought she would show some interest in exploring her tank by now (it's been 4 days). Any advice on helping her get more comfortable? Also could it have to do with her heat? I have a UVA/B bulb directly over her hammock and a heat bulb next to it slightly closer to the center of the tank. I also have a UTH but from what I can tell the ambient air is only getting to just under 90. How can I tell if her basking spot is adequately heated?
In regard to UV lighting what wattage is adequate for a 40gal tank? I only have a single bulb at the moment but will likely switch to a tube light that spans the full length of the tank. The ones on amazon seemed to be low wattage (17). Any thoughts on the best product relative to the size of the tank?
Any and all advice is appreciated. I'm a nervous new beardie momma and want to make sure that I have everything set up for her correctly.
 

sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
Welcome to our wonderful site. I'll try my best to answer your questions.

Relocation stress is a real condition that beardies go through when they move into a new space. It can last a week or so, but sounds like your beardie has acclimated because she's eating, but not moving.

So first you should have a dedicated basking platform, if you want it to be the hammock, then it should be about 100F where she is, to have enough heat for her to digest.

You need a good UVB light. What brand are you using? If you're using a mercury vapour light, you don't need a basking bulb, as they have heat and UVB in one light. I use Arcadia brand lights, but there are alot of other brands. So let me know, so we can figure it all out.

You also should have a proper temperature guage, a temp gun is great to get the temps on the basking spot, whatever it may be. If the temps where she basks is under 100F, then it's not warm enough and could be why she doesn't move much.

You need to take out the UTH, that's only for geckos or skinks. Beardies don't need heat on their belly, they sense heat on top of their head. Instead you should have a solid substrate on the bottom of the tank. Alot of people I know use tile, I use layers of newspaper. I have 40 gallon tanks for all my dragons. So the UVB/basking light will heat up the 40 gallon on one side, the ambient temp on the cool side shouldn't be higher than 80F.

To the right is a great Care sheet and Newbie's ighting guide as well. If you're going to get a tube light, it should be ReptiSun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% or 15%. The higher the UVB the better for your beardie.

As for her not moving around, she's just getting used to her tank. Do you take her out of her tank for run around time and snuggle time? They need to be held, it's part of how they get used to you.

So read the guides first, if they don't answer your questions, ask again here. Good luck!
 
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