Not sure what happened?

So earlier today, before I went to work (~12:30pm) my bearded dragon (Parthurnax) was fine, she was awake, standing on her pride rock formation, surveying her kingdom.

When I got home (~10:30 pm) she was missing. I noticed a tail sticking out from under a ceramic, store-bought rock hide. I poked said tail, no response. So I lifted the hide, and she went absolutely insane. Darting wildly around the enclosure, scratching the glass, darting around more. I picked her up, and she jumped away from me onto the floor and hid under my desk, under my computer, etc. I got her again, and though she kept trying to jump away, I managed to keep her.

I went and sat with her, pet her head and back some, and she had calmed down, but she has black all around her beard areas and her stomach, was breathing very heavy and looked very skinny. I put her back in the enclosure after some time and am leaving her alone. She is EXTREMELY alert, reacting to every movement and sound as if she thinks she could be murdered at any moment.

I'm hoping we just did her a major spooking and it's not something more serious. She eats fine, she's generally very calm around me, and likes to explore outside her enclosure.

Can anyone shed light, please?

Update, she looks perfectly fine now and is walking around her tank.

I'm assuming we just scared the crap out of her.

Yeah some beardies get spooked easier than others. Just making sure what is your setup? lighting, uvb, substrate/bedding, food etc?

A large reptisun uvb dome lamp, large 150 watt heat on one end. Substrate is paper shopping bags. Food is mostly crickets, some super worms. Shes not that old.

How old is she? And can you send me a picture or link of the uvb your using? Usually you want to also feed veggies or at least offer them along with a more varied insect diet like calciworms and dubia roaches and such. Also make sure your not feeding too many superworms, from what ive heard your supposed to only feed 2 at max each feeding since their so fatty and dont provide much nutrients. What is her basking spot temps and cool side temps?

I agree, she could not see you and then felt something grab her so it scared her. BTW, heere's how to post pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload them

VenusAndSaturn":273q9qwl said:

How old is she? And can you send me a picture or link of the uvb your using? Usually you want to also feed veggies or at least offer them along with a more varied insect diet like calciworms and dubia roaches and such. Also make sure your not feeding too many superworms, from what ive heard your supposed to only feed 2 at max each feeding since their so fatty and dont provide much nutrients. What is her basking spot temps and cool side temps?

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I dont know exact age. We have had her about 3 months, but she is only a little over 3 or 4 inches body length.

Reptisun 10.0 Uvb Mini Compact Fluorescent 13 Watt https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B39QEDO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_OkYaAbBDKNQ04

We also do offer her this pre-cubed moist bearded dragon fruit thing, comes in a little zip lock baggy from the pet store.

She only gets the super worms when we dont have crickets (which isnt often), and she only gets a max of three large ones, or a couple more if they were snall.

Basking spot is around 94 degrees. Cool side is around75

Just taking in that sweet sweet heat right now.

PS I do not use the strip thermometer in the background.

I advise a couple of changes. I would stop using the red light and only use a bright white light for heat/basking. I also recommend replacing the 13w UVB light as it is insufficient for a bearded dragon. I would use at least a 26w UVB 200 bulb which should fit your existing fixture. In the long run, it's best to invest in a high output T5 UVB light.

CooperDragon":ufvxpu2g said:

I advise a couple of changes. I would stop using the red light and only use a bright white light for heat/basking. I also recommend replacing the 13w UVB light as it is insufficient for a bearded dragon. I would use at least a 26w UVB 200 bulb which should fit your existing fixture. In the long run, it's best to invest in a high output T5 UVB light.

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Agreed, Cooper nailed it. You should always use only bright white basking bulbs for a beardie, they see in full color and it's quite possible that the red light is hurting her eyes, so it's possible she is having vision issues and that's why she got so spooked. This is common when someone is using a red or blue daylight instead of using a bright white basking bulb to mimic natural sunlight. Also, your Basking Spot temperature needs to be upped between 105-110 degrees (110 absolute max inside the tank), the hot side ambient is good at 94 (88-93~ degrees) and your cool side ambient is fine (~75-80 degrees), but her basking spot must be at least 10 degrees hotter and only bright white basking bulbs that are right alongside an adequate UVB tube, so she gets both at the same time while basking.

As Cooper said, the Reptisun 10.0 compact UVB bulb at 13 watts is half the UVB light she needs, and if you have it on top of a mesh lid, that is also blocking about 40% of the already too weak UVB light. There is one UVB compact bulb that is adequate, an EXO Terra 200 UVB compact bulb that is 26 watts, however, eventually you'll need to get her a long 18" or 24" UVB tube, either a T8 strength or a T5 strength, and a long, matching length fixture with a metal reflector behind the tube, so that the direct UVB light is directed right down on her basking spot along with the bright white basking bulb, but the long tube and the metal reflector also puts adequate UVB light throughout her tank.

You're much better off buying a Reptisun 10.0 T5HO UVB tube, a 22" is best and cheap on Amazon.com, and they offer package deals that include a 24" Fixture that the 22" Reptisun 10.0 T5HO will fit in. The T5HO only needs replaced once a year and can sit on top of the mesh lid because it is strong enough to still emit adequate UVB light to her as long as the tube is within 11" of her basking spot. If you buy a T8 UVB tube it will need replaced every 6 months, and still must be mounted to the underside of the mesh lid, and within 6" of the Basking Spot. So the T5HO is definitely the way to go.

Ok so with the uvb bulb change, should i get a ceramic hest emitter instead of the white heat bulb? It will be hard to use the white heat bulb at night.

You don't want to use the white light overnight, no. It should be as dark as possible. If the temperature in the tank stays above about 65 or so overnight, you don't need any additional heat. It's natural for them to have a cool down period overnight. If the temps drop below that in the house then a low wattage ceramic heat emitter or a megaray heat projector is a good option. They will provide plenty of heat without visible light.

Ok, i will work on these changes. Money, am i right?

Thanks all.

Who needs money? It just gets spent anyway... :lol:

Once you have it all dialed in, it doesn't tend to need much tweaking so its more up front costs than ongoing which is good.

So got her a ceramic heat emitter. She is the comfiest boy in the world under that thing. Falls asleep immediately. Its cute as hell