Brand New beardie, I think he is sick!?

Ok so I literally just brought this little guy home and didnt really know what to expect. Im new to BDs, this is my first one. After reading here everyone is worried about inactivity and how alert there beardie is. Mine is not alert barely at all, I read that they are suposed to run around as babies and be energetic. Mine is the opposite, he seems to just lie around and bask in one area all day. I've only seen him eat once since I've got him and the rest of the time he seems uninterested. Idk, I'm worried about him, I know it's normal for a beardie to not eat because of transitioning stress, being in a new environment and all but I can't help but think that this is abnormal.

Here's his setup:
- 10 gallon tank (I have a 55 for him later, I had heard in order to keep a closer eye on him to start him out in something smaller)
- Two seperate small light fixtures: 1 is a basking light thats 75watts and the other is a SunGlo Desert 10.0
- I have three temperature gauges: 1 above a log hide were he likes to sit sometimes (on the side with the basking lamp) which is between 85 & 90, 1 at the other side opposite of the basking lamp that reads at about 75, and a digital temp. gauge in his basking area that reads at 102.4 degrees
- his subtrate is green repti carpet and I feed him small crickets dusted with Jurassi Cal.

Is there something I should be doing differently and can anyone tell me what I should do to get some food in him, because he's not eating and he kind of drags himself at times, which worries me as well. Any advise that can help me would be greatly appreciated so please comment.

Hi there, and welcome !
A few things have popped out in your post that concerns me.
That UVB bulb isn't the greatest, and I would recommend the ReptiSun 10.0. The Sun should be positioned so that your baby can get within 6-8 inches of it.

Your thermostats I assume are the round kind you stick to the wall of the enclosure ? Those can be as much as +\- 20*F off. The thermostat you want is similar to this one in the picture:
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=102209

You place the probe on the actual basking spot, leave it for minimum 45 minutes for an accurate reading.
What exactly are you feeding your new baby, and how often ? This is an excellent guide for what foods to offer your dragon:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

You said Just got him/her. Does that mean today ? Or this week ?
New dragons go through an acclimation period, of several days to a few weeks. I am glad you did know that, as it can cause a whole lot of distress on the new beardie "slave".

On to the size of the feeder insects. They should be lengthwise no longer than the distance between the dragons' eyes. If they are larger, it will be hard for them to digest, and they will throw up or even worse, become impacted. You should also not allow excess feeder crickets to have free range in the viv after feeding times, as crickets are known to actually eat away at your dragon, and causing nasty wounds that can get infected.
You will want to feed an infant 1 salad and 3 prey insect feedings daily. You turn on the lights and offer the salad. Wait 1-2 hours than offer the first insect feeding, keep offering as much as it wants in a 15 minute time span.
Wait 2 hours (allowing the infant to bask and digest) than offer the second insect feeding, again as much as will ingest in a 15 minute time span.
Wait 2 hours and basking again, than offer the last insect feeding for the day.
You should not turn off lights before at least 1 hour, preferably 2 have passed to ensure digestion.
Also important. If your baby is giving you at least one poo a day, things are okay. This means he is eating something.

I don't know much about the calcium you are using, but this is what I use with my three boys: Rep-Cal Phosphorus free Calcium with D3. (Pink Label). This is the one to use with the ReptiSun 10.0.
I use this 5 times a week on the first prey feeding of the day, and on their salads.
This is the vitamins I use: Herptivite with Beta Carotene Multivitamins (Blue Label). I use this twice a week on the first prey insect feeding of the day and on their salads.

I would also remove the hide, as youngsters can hide, you want to be able to observe the youngster totally until he acclimates to you and his new home.

How old is this youngster ? This can also play a big factor. If the infant is less than 6-7" long from nose to tail tip, or younger than 2 months, you got a baby waay too young.

How do you have the enclosure decorated. What I am referring to is how much of his out of enclosure surroundings can he see ? Sometimes babies are very intimidated with the "big room", and stress out more. I would suggest making sure that the entire enclosure is newspapered or at least covered to mimimize this. You can leave the top where the screen is uncovered, but try to cover as much of the 10 gallon as you can.

Now, when you were choosing this little scaly bundle of joy, how did he react ? Was he active there ? What was his enclosure like ? Did he have tank mates ?
Lastly, how are you offering water to him ? Are you bathing him 3-4 times a week in water that is up to his elbow, in temps between 90-100*F ? You will need to either hold him in one hand, making sure his anus is under the water ( This is how they absorb water to hydrate themselves) for around 10-20 minutes.

I know this was long winded, but I wanted to make sure I covered all the basics.
I am quite sure someone else will chime in as well.
Hope this was helpful,
Janie.

Hi

Looks like Janie covered everything wonderfully, so I just wanted to say welcome!!!!

Please keep us posted! And post pictures if you can!

HUGS

Sandi

I just want to thank you for taking the time to type all of that, you point out some awesome things for me to do/ pay attention to. Now on to answering!

- I just brought my little guy home on March 25th
- I double checked my UVB bulb and I was mistaken, it's a 13W ReptiGlo 10.0
- Yes, the temp. gauges are the circle ones that stick and the other is a probe
- I try feeding him several times a day and normally about 5 crickets, a little bigger than pinheads. I was watching him after I gave him the crickets today and it seemed like he was def. interested in them since he was looking at them and was "chasing" them then gave up, so what I did was just pick up one and he came and got it out of my fingers... It was awesome, but after that he didn't seem interested anymore.
- I have not provided any greens yet but plan to very soon
- As for his poo, the first day I brought him home I cleaned out a poo that seemed to look healthy/normal. Since he hasn't ate for me until today I havn't seen poo since
- and your not the first one that has told me they use calc w/ D3 I'm going to switch, mine does not include D3
- My beardie is a little less than 5.5" long and the person who sold it to me was not aware of it's age
- I have his enclosure set up so he/ she can only see out of the front (placed in a corner, on a desk, with a bookshelf on the other side, but I will def. newpaper the outside just to make sure theres no added stress)
- I have not bathed him yet but I will start, I was told that I should mist him, should I continue that as well? I also offer fresh, luke warm, water daily in a small water dish (his entire body can go inside of it)

And as for his previous tank from the pet store, it was a 10 gallon and he did have a roommate and of the two he seemed to be the most alert and friendly as he let me pick him up right away. He didn't try to run or hide from me. The pet store I purchased him from I have seen house up to 5 beardies in there at once so he could have had more in there with him. And the tank was faily clean, with water, crickets and greens available and one small "compact" light.

Again, thank you very much for all the info. and I'm sorry for the long reply but I didnt want to miss any of your questions. Keep any info/ knowledge coming, I'm eager to learn more to help do what I can to provide a stress free and healthy environment. I've already started to get very attacted to him and I'd hate to find out anything is wrong with him when I could have fixed it. Thank You again

P.S. as for pictures I will try and get some soon of him (I keep saying him and I don't know it's sex yet is there a way to tell this early?)

Ok, first off, please turn off the Repti-Glo bulb right away. It is known to cause serious health issues in beardies. This is the bulb you want: http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html

Until you can replace it, he is actually better off with nothing.

Also, your question about misting - please do not mist him anymore or leave water for him in the tank. The reason is, that water can cause the humidity in his home to rise to dangerous levels which can result in upper respiratory infection or pneumonia. He can get enough water from his greens, and from bathing.

He is a baby (at that size) and should be bathed every other day or every day (it's up to you) in baby warm (lukewarm) water. Fill the bath up to his armpits, and he might drink from it. If he doesn't, he will still take in water from his vent (where he poo's) and will hydrate himself that way. It's very important to keep a baby very well hydrated as they like higher temperatures, and can loose moisture very quickly.

I hope this helps!

HUGS

Sandi

Hi! Sandi did a nice job. I just want to point out some things
The repti sun 10.0 flourescent tube (online $20, if a pet store carries them they charge $35-40) is the best. I was skeptical but the difference since getting one has been amazing.
Stick on thermometers--get rid of them, they can be off by as much as 20 degrees. The girls here say Walmart carries one , the accu-rite I believe, for $12.
You say he is just under 5" which means he is quite young probably 5-7 weeks--we got ours at 6-8 weeks old and he was just under 6 inches. Since you only got him on the 25th (2 days ago), I suspect that it is really location stress.
Make sure the crickets are no bigger than the space between his eyes.
Your substrate of repti carpet is an excellent choice. For feedings, the babies should be fed 3x a day. Offer them as many crickets as he/she will eat in a 10-15 min time period. about 20 mins After the last feeding remove any crickets still in cage so he can rest comfortably.
If you really think he might be sick, next time he poos, take his poo to the vet (preferably a herp vet but at least an exotic vet who has experience with beardies)
Everyone has their own schedule but the calcium should be given 5 days a week for 1 feeding each day --lightly coat his feeders and then vitamins (herptivite blue label is good) the other 2 days a week. (We still give ours calcium 7 days a week but he had calcium deficiencies early in life) We will be slowly going to the recommended 5 days a week.
I do have a water dish in my little ones cage and has always been there. He does drink out of it though. Sometimes he likes to sit in it too, so it gets changed at least 2x/day--1st thing in the morning,etc.
I am sure there is more and will post if I come up with more. Vickson and Drache are great people to ask questions too as well.

hello and welcome to bd.org!
sounds like your almost already a 'beardie slave', lol, he will make you love him unconditionally.

everyone here has given you fantastic advise, one thing id like to point out, my dragons do have water bowls in their vivariums, even though neither of them will drink, they will sit in it sometimes though, HOWEVER they are adults, babies that tiny, if you really must have water bowls then shallow water indeed as they can drown in them. so just keep that in mind then.

oh one more thing....PICTURES! we love baby pictures and cant wait to see another lil one with a dedicated owner!
good luck!

anny

Hi again ! I am glad I was able to help, all of us are. We are only concerned with your "Master" being healthy and happy, and of course you too !

Yes, get rid of the glo, and it is alright for baby to go without rather than with bad until the new tube gets delivered.

I would have to agree on the apprx age of the baby !
Again, the bathing is very important, and don't bother with the misting for the above reasons.

The compact he was under is a horrid bulb too by the way, and calcium and vitamins are always recommended, in the order as suggested above.

Onto posting pictures !
You can go to photobucket dot com and open a Free account. Transfer photos there, and using the 4th URL, you can post them here ! By the way, we need lots and lots of mommy and baby pictures :wink:

You are so on your way to being a GREAT beardie slave ! I am so happy you came here, as we love to give great advice to the end of a happy healthy dragon !

Just don't be afraid to ask questions ! remember the only stupid question is the one NOT asked !

Keep us posted on your little one,
Hugs
Janie.

You guys are all great, thanks for all of the advise and time you put into your posts. Everything has helped. Pictures will be on there way.
Good news is that my lil guy poo'd this morning so that means he's eating a little bit, I don't think he is eating much but it's a start. Im following all of your posts and look forward to being apart of bd.org
Thanks again to all, ttyl

Welcome to bd.org!

I had one of my babys do the same thing took her a few weeks to start eating on her own.

Can't wait to see pictures!

I have been doing my own research on the UVB bulbs and I am definately going to be replacing my compact coil ReptiGlo 10 but my issue isn't the money at all. I knew when buying a beardie that it's a constant investment, not to mention I don't think there should ever be a $$$ limit placed on the well being of any animal.
My main concern is the size of the fixture, I have one of the 15" black fixtures (from another lizard) and because I'm using a dome incandescent fixture there isn't very much room for both on top of my 10gallon tank. My dome gets pretty hot and the UVB fixture is plastic.
What my question is are all compacts bad for beardies?
Would it be possible for me to get the same good source of UVB light that the ReptiSun 10.0 provides in another compact?
For example: the "Mini Reptile Fixture - Zilla" with a "Desert Series 50 Compact 9W"

Just wondering, I'm not trying to dodge anything as I said before I want the best for my little guy. I'm just concerned about the heat from my basking fixture and the plastic from the UVB fixture.

Hello and welcome!

Unfortunately, you shouldn't use any of the coil or compact lights. It can be tough to figure out where or how to put the lights. They do sell stands that you can put the clamp/dome lamps on. Maybe you could put the dome on the stand and lay the flourescent tube on the top of the screen?

Hi everyone, still don't have pictures just yet. I don't own a digital camera of my own, but my roommate does I just have to take some and get them on here. I don't have a name yet for my little guy, but I have a few in mind. He seems to be doing much better than when I first got him, I think I was getting nervous for no reason. It was probably transitioning stress. He seems to be eating a little bit, so hopefully it's a step in the right direction to being comfortable in his new home.

tty all later, hopefully I will have pictures up soon

Hi everyone, my baby beardie's life was far to short for my liking. I woke up this morning and he had passed, from what I believe to be impaction... Idk what could have caused it since I rarely saw him eat, but thats what I think it might have been..

I talked to the pet store and I gues theres only a 7 day guarentee on the animals, so there's nothing they can do for me since I have had him for like 2 weeks today... I hate thinking like this but it upsets me that they may not have taken good enough care of him in the pet store and then sold him to someone... I just wish I was more experienced with beardies to have possibly helped him

oh my im so so sorry to hear of your lil one passing away.
he is safe and sound now over at Rainbow Bridge im sure of it playing with all the other lil creatures!

it is not your fault so please dont blame yourself for this, this would have been the pet store, unfortunately they always know nothing about the animals they stock, at least you know where to find us all and you have learned way more than the rubbish advise you got from the blasted pet store.
my condolences go out to you!