HELP My BAbY has his eyes closed

I got my beardie two weeks ago, and he was great. For the first few days he did not want his crickets, but then last week started eating them and we were thrilled. He has been very alert, lively, adorable, and awesome. However yesterday he started shedding, and refused to eat his usual meal of a ton of squash, pedialyte and crickets. He was still however quite alert and perky. But this morning he was very lethargic, and he has had his eyes closed all day. He refused crickets but gorged himself on babyfood squash and had a ton of water. Every so often he would wake up and run around like his old self but then he would go back to sleep. He was like this the whole day. (it is night now) Normally he is awake and running around all day, never sleepy like this. I am extremely worried. He is 8.5 inches, about two months old. He is in a forty galleon tank with the temp 35-38 degrees Celsius. He used to have the tank covered with paper because he kept on looking at his reflection and not eating his food, but then we removed it. The lights are the green repti-glow exo terra: 100 watt, 1 100 watt ceramic, and 1 100 watt infared. I have been feeding him repta-aid, and he drinks pedialyte. His eyes are not sunken in. He did not go to the bathroom today. I am freaking out!!! Someone help. I have been trying to take such good care of him. I thought his tank was prefect, with all the requirements. Oh and I am using repti-carpet because he is a baby and i do not want sand to get clogged in his nose. And he lost a huge chunk of shed off of his tail today. Does shedding cause them to be lethargic for a day? Since this has only been going on for a day I am giving him tonight to snap out of it or proper action (i.e the vet) will be taken. I was hoping before I took him there maybe anyone here knew what was wrong, or is there some detail I am missing with regards to his tank. I will do anything so that he will receive the best care. Someone please help me!!!! He means the world to me. I adore him!!

Okay so I have been checking on him every half an hour. He is very still, and his he has his head on the ground with his eyes closed. The first time I checked him he was walking around, then did this kind of yawn thing, and opened his eyes. Though it is 12:30 in the morning here and it is his bedtime which may be why he has his eyes closed. But he does not wake up when I touch him. Getting extremely worried!! He seems so lethargic. He does not move when I hold him, and he seems so still, twice I thought he was dead. I also forgot to add for my uvb lights I am using coil lights, I am not sure if those are bad or not. This all happened so fast. He was fine yesterday.....I do not know what to do. An hour ago he was even better then how he is now.

hello . i am not well seasoned, but i could offer some insight;

you have three heat sources in your cage, forgive me if i missed it but what size enclosure are we talking about?

im bad with conversions, whats the night-time and day-time temps in his cage in Fahrenheit? do they get below 60?

green exoterra 100watt... are you talking about an exoterra sun-glo heat bulb that screws into any regular lightbulb socket? it sounds like your guy might not have any UV-B source.

if i were you(and if your cage size allows) i would get an MVB(murcury vapor bulb) and do away with all three of those heat sources. if you have a REALLY cold house you could get a 160watt MVB and that would give you:

visible light
UV-A (stimulates appetite)
UV-B (necessary for regulating calcium absorption)
and heat


to address your other question yes; shedding can make them act strange. they might become restless or stop eating their favorite foods. give him a couple days and just keep an eye on him.

forgive me, i kind of skimmed over your post . im very tired and just wanted to reply to this thread. i hope this helps you rest a little easier :wink: .

ok, heres the deal:


turn off the coil lights and dont use them anymore. refund them if possible, if not youll have to eat the loss :roll: ...

im too tired to elaborate but just use the google function at the top left corner of any page on this website; search for compact UV help. im sure youll find the stories.

i recomend using a MVB if your tank is large, that will provide all necessary wavelengths*(pretty sure)

if your tank is small or you cant get your temps down on your cool side(this is important) then i suggest a reptiSUN 10.0(by zoomed, not exoterra). make sure its the long tube, not the coil or compact version.

supplement that with a heat bulb warm enough to bring it up to 110 on the hot spot and about 80 at the cool side.

Hello, thank-you for replying. I have a exo terra uvb as well, they are the coil ones which as I am skimming through the threads here looks like they are not the best ones. I will definitely change them, and I have already turned them off . In Fahrenheit I think the degrees are around 100-105. I just switched the thermometers because I did not think the one that i had that was Fahrenheit was accurate enough, so I now am using a digital (and because I am Canadian it is in celsius) . I have a forty galleon tank and the reason why I have three heat sources is because only two did not heat the tank appropriately enough. It has never gone below 60. I will look into finding somewhere that sells the mercury bulbs, or I will order them from the internet. I will look into getting better lights. Hopefully he is back to himself in the morning and he was weird because of shedding. He is moving around a bit more. I turned off his two lights because it is night time, and I do not want him to overheat, but if he is cold should I leave them back on? I cannot tell if he is cold, he had the lights on all day and they seem the appropriate temp. He also has not gone to the bathroom today and he normally does. Thank-you for your help jscott. I has made me rest a bit easier just knowing someone may have found a possible solution with the lighting problem. He is also getting powdered repti-cal mixed into his squash. THough as i am writing this I am starting to wonder are his basking spots too far away from the light? Because he is in a forty galleon the lights are at least 10 inches away from him. Is that too far away? He is only a little guy and I did not want him to burn himself.

are you turning the lights out at night? make sure you have all lights out at night so they can get a full nights sleep. that ceramic heat emmiter is only necessary if the temps go below 60F at night.

also if theyre sleeping, try not to wake them. when they cool down their metabolism slows and so does their movement. its been getting cold at night lately, try to keep his cage away from open windows. with your beardie exibiting such behaviors, i suggest you read this artical on brumation. if you live in a place that experiences relatively cold winters, chances are you will experience brumation.

heres the link for that artical:
http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=88391

if things dont improve in a couple of days or he gets worse i suggest taking him to a vet. make sure to run it past a moderator here before doing so. somethings can be fixed with meds and some cant, i would hate for you to make a trip to the vet for nothing only to stress your dragon out.

hope this helps :wink: .


*EDIT* just saw your new post. no problem, id hope somebody would stop and take time to help me if i needed it :wink: .

you said you had a ceramic heat emmiter right? if so, that will provide ample heat for night-time warmth. just make sure that during the day ALL your heat bulbs are on one side, so they dont get the cool side too hot. the fluorescent is ok to span the length of the tank.

also, be sure to measure the temps correctley: dont stick the probe to the glass, pin it down right under the heat light where your dragon would normally bask. allow it to sit there for 45minutes before reading. after that, do the same thing on the cool side(pinning down not so important).

2 seperate 100-watt heat sources in a 40gallon sounds extreme to me. for now id stick with a fluorescent ReptiSun tube coupled with a single bright white heat source, i have a 40gallon and am having a hard time keeping my cool side cool. i dont know what would happen if i used a MVB :roll: .

hope that helps.

ill have to take into account you live in canada.

when using a fluorescent tube for UV-B, use whatever wattage heat bulb you need to get your temps right. just make sure your measuring them accurately and your dragon cant get any closer than the measured distance.

some people use rheostats(temp controlling devices), that way they can use a single 150watt bulb year round and simply dim it to the disired brightness/heat depending on the season.

I am turning all the lights out at night except for the infa red light. His tank is beside a window. I considered brumation but he is only two months old is that too young? Thanks so much again for your help jscott. I just checked on him, and he he is not as lethargic. It looks like he is only sleeping because he is holding his hold body up ( in a relaxed way) Although normally he sleeps in his cave, curled up in a ball like a dog, and right now he is beside it. I am not touching him or anything because I want to let him sleep at the moment but I am doing constant checks on him right now. The weather is changing here, and it has just recently started to become colder, so when you mentioned the weather changing it started to make me think that may be a possibility.

I.e the lights: In my tank all of them are at one side. I have the thermometer sitting on his hammock. He has both a cool and a hot spot. When I tried having one light my forty galleon only went up to 85, so i got more lights. Is it because I was using the exo terra lights? Are they very weak lights? The only petstore that has lights around where i live is petsmart and so that is why I got the exo terra. But I will go anywhere to get the mercury ones, I will order them online if I have to tomorrow.All of these lights are only two week old as I only got him a week and six days ago

even small lizards can brumate i believe.

im still unclear :| .

do you, or do you not have a ceramic heat emmiter? if you do, use that instead of the read or black infared bulb. they have a sensory organ ontop of their heads that senses light. even red or "black" lights will disrupt sleep.

I do have a ceramic heat emitter.
Thank-you for the info about red lighting. I went downstairs and I turned the infa red off, and I put the ceramic back on so that it would not disrupt his sleep. It is 2:37 in the morning so I will not be able to tell if he is doing any better until the morning. I checked on him and he is the same, but that is to be expected as it is nightime and it is colder as his lights are off for the night. I am still extremely worried. If he is not better tomorrow should I wait a day to take him to the vet as he is shedding, or do you think I should take him straight to the vet. I do not want to stress him by taking him to the vet if he was weird because he is shedding.
Sorry my posts are a bit confusing I am very tired.

good morning . i am going to bring in a moderator for you. someone more experienced in diagnosing and treating illness.

ive heard lots of cases where someone takes their dragon to the vet only to get stuck with a 60$ bill for nothing. sometimes the vet cant do anything. in this situation, your better off discribing the symptoms to an experienced user and letting them asses whether or not it would be prudent to take him to a vet. aside from the cost, it is often* a stressfull experience for a dragon to be moved around.

thanks so much for your help i really appreciate it

I don't know but I think bathing is just as important as the lights. Are you bathing him nightly?? This has helped my dragon immensely. Also for coldness at nights you can try a beardie burrito. Wrap him up in a blanket and put him in his cage and turn off all the lights. The only way I can get mine in one is to literally wrap him all up in it then he will stay. If I put his head out he will get out. This will help him though stay warm at night.

Shedding does cause them to get into a funk. Mine just went through one but he's back to normal now.

He gets baths every day. I woke him up, as now it is 7:40 in the morning and his wake up time, and he went and had huge drink of water from his bowl then looked at me the way he does normally (he cocks his head to one side) But then he closed his eyes again. Now he keeps opening them and closing them. (Not like blinking though) He does not seem very visibly agitated. He is keeping them open for longer stretches. I took the coil uvb lights off. I also took one of my extra lights and put it up ( A exo terra 150 watt) and took DOWN the infa red light. Does anyone think that maybe the basking lights are too bright for him? Is exo-terra a really bad light to use? Is zoo-med the mercury vapor bulb? Also he still is not fully through his shed. How long does a "Shed-funk" last? he has has now been like this for two days. I am thinking of making a vet app, but i want to give him one more day. His temp right now is 41 degrees celsius, which i believe is 110 f

Does he have a hidey hole he can go into??

Mine's shed funk lasted a few days but then it took more than a week for his complete shed. I know that mine when basking will bask up against the glass so he's back gets sun but his face is away from it.