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AHBD

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Sounds good, please update with any news, good or bad. Hopefully the adjustments will be helpful + your little buddy will get some mobility back.
 

anna2morrow

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I actually do have a more random question. Are the coiled UVB and ceramic heat bulbs okay for other varieties of lizards or are they ineffective with all reptiles? Because I use the same types of uvb and ceramic bulbs for my veiled chameleon and steppe runner, and also just a ceramic bulb for my gargoyle geckos. Should I be replacing all of these?
 

CooperDragon

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The ceramic heat emitters are fine for overnight heat and heat without visible light (supplemental to a basking bulb for instance. The coils can be OK too, they just have a very limited effective distance. For the requirements of a dragon, the higher output 26w coil will have an effective range of about 6-8'' while the 13w won't put out effective UVB at a safe distance. Other species have different requirements in terms of UVB, it's just that dragons are sun lovers and require a relatively high level of UVB. I don't know what the requirements are for a veiled chameleon or steppe runner but if they are more shade dwellers or tropical then they may be just fine with the output of a coil bulb depending on how far it is mounted. I'm sorry that I can't be more specific. My research on this hasn't really gone beyond dragons (yet).
 

anna2morrow

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There's been no change. I don't understand. For the first two days, I fed calcium coated crickets and used natural sunlight. On day 3, my mercury bulb arrived and I hooked it up immediately. I also received my repashy calcium rescue supplement. I purchased a gram scale and syringe and dosed according to the instructions. I did the same for the following two days as well.

Every day when I get home from work, I help my beardie catch crickets, measure out the liquid calcium supplement, and do a quick 5 min soak to keep him hydrated. The mercury bulb is 100 watts and provides 12 hours of UVB and heat ( I have a timer).

Now its day six and no improvement. What am I missing?
 

CooperDragon

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It might just take more time with a proper environment. Which MVB did you get? How far above the basking area is it mounted?
 

anna2morrow

Member
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I ordered the Mega-Ray Mercury Vapor Bulb (100 Watt) from Josh's frogs. The basking area is about 12". I don't know how to lessen the distance because whenever I place my beardie on anything of his cage furniture he moves his body from side to side until he falls to the cage carpet. I'm worried he will injure himself, so I just put him on the cage carpet all the time now. I removed one of the decorative caves so that he can lay directly under the light.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hopefully he'll start doing better but whatever has caused his condition did it quickly and severely. There is always hope that things will improve but also the chance that things are not going to improve a lot, or at least not quickly.

The distance should be fine, 10" might be better but look at the info on the instructions that came with the bulb. If he can't climb then you have to just let him set right under it like you are doing. All these changes to the tank as well as him just not feeling good will affect his appetite, poor little guy.

I remember a thread her last year where the poster claimed that a vet thinks that some beardies have a nerve in the neck area that gets pinched and causes paralysis. I don't know if there's anything to that but sometimes I wonder.
 

CooperDragon

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12'' is about right for the 100w MegaRay. I use those for portable basking spots around the house and set them at around 12''. I get decent UVB readings from them at that distance and temps of high 90s to around 100. The beams are relatively narrow but doesn't seem to cause much problem for basking.
 
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