Juvenile beardie questions

Olay so my husband got me a beardie for my anniversary in March. It was an impulse buy and I am sure it was really for my daughter. The beardie is in her room. We set everything up and I thought I was doing really well until a recent bout of diarrhea. I found this site and omg I have been leaving the lights on every night since March. Well changing that ASAP. Weaning her off the lights last night I turned them off for 4 hours. Immediately went and got a new uvb reptisun 10.0 compct13 way. I also replaced the heat bulb 100 watt. After I got her through the diarrhea episodes I really bonded to her. It’s like having a baby all over checking on her all the time. I am still bathing her 1 time per day since she had diarrhea for several days. I want to make sure I am not doing anything else blaringly wrong. She is in a 40 gallon tank. I feed her crickets which I buy from amazon 1000 at a time. Brown crickets 3/4. She also eats some greens. She tried cabbage which is what I think made her sick. Tossed that and now she is given butternut squash and collard greens. Won’t touch the squash. She does not like the juvenile food will only eat it if I hand feed it to her and only a few pieces probably every two weeks. I offer it but she never eats it. When she was sick I heave her strawberry tops cut into smaller pieces than the space between her eyes. I have ordered the reptivite to give her. I will be cautious to make sure I do not over feed d3. I give her calcium on the crickets several times a week. Is there anything that I am missing or doing wrong. I have pictures not sure how to attach them.

I'm glad you are fixing the lighting. It's confusing to start with but it's critical to get it as close to natural sunlight as you can. I'll be happy to help you fine tune it so it's just right. What are the surface temps around her tank? You want to adjust the basking light so the basking surface is about 100-110 and the other side of the tank is around 75-85 with a gradient between. That will let her move around and get what she wants at a given time. You want to do the same with the UVB light. That should sit over the basking area so the strongest UVB is over the basking spot and there are areas with less UVB.

Unfortunately the 13w compact bulb isn't sufficient for a bearded dragon. Since you have a 40g tank I highly recommend using a T5 tube. The 22'' T5 bulb (24'' fixture) should work well for that setup. This is an excellent option (and what I use) http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

As far as veges go, she may prefer bugs while she grows and that's OK. it's good to keep offering a salad though as she will switch to mainly salads between about 12-18 months old. For the squash, try cutting it into worm shapes and hand feed them and see if that gets her interest.


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