Help, need some advice

I am a fairly new Beardie owner. My beardie is about six months old. He had outgrown his cage so last Friday, I got him a new one. Ever since I put him in it, he has acted very different. I put crushed walnuts in as a substrate (apparently a bad idea), the bag recommended it for Beardies and I couldn't find any liners for that size cage. He is eating fine, however, he has only pooped twice since last Friday. He is very lathargic and keeps his eyes closed most of the time, he is not basking either. I found him this morning in the bottom corner of the cage and I thought he was dead but once he got warmed up he moved around a little bit and ate pretty good this morning. I just don't know what to do. I am not sure if I should take him to a vet or not. I am going to change that substrate today as soon as I get home but can someone tell me what is the best thing to use? Also, do you think he already has damaged his digestive tract with that stupid stuff and what can I do? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

I would remove the crushed walnut shell immediately - this is hazardous to the health of your beardie. Put down either paper towl or newspaper for now. It may be a touch of relocation stress - beardies really don't seem to like change. How are your temps? What UVB and heat source are you using? What are you feeding? Do you supplement with calcium and vitamins? Sorry for the barrage of questions but the answers could be helpful in trying to figure out what is wrong with your little beardie.

I am going to remove that substrate as soon as I get home. I wish I had looked for this site much earlier as everyone seems to be so much help, I actually posted my question twice as I thought it didn't post the first time. Anyway, I have been talking to some other people and I think my temps are off. I am going to get a digital thermometer today so i can verify. I am feeding him crickets and veggies (kale, romaine lettuce, yellow squash) that's about all the veggies that he likes. I am using a calcium dust on the crickets. He has really thrived before last week. He is about 15 inches long and has grown about three times his size since we got him. Since he is still eating, do you think I should just get those walnuts out of his cage and work on the temps and watch him for a few days?

I would also give your beardie a bath this will help hydrate and will help him poo
Keep an eye on your baby at all times in bath!
Good Luck! the people on this site are amazing, I have learned so much!

what are your nighttime temps? it sounds like its getting pretty cold at night where you live. anything below 60F needs to be attended to. dont use heat pads, those are no good. use a ceramic heat emmiter, they work just like lightbulbs but produce no light. they are abit expensive($30-$40) bu they are worth it.

remember, only add nighttime heat if the temps go below 60. anything higher(60-75) is fine at night.

It never gets below 70 degrees in my house but I don't have a heater in his cage so I might need to check into that. I do have a heat rock in his cage and from what I am reading, that is a bad idea so guess I need to get that out of there. I am going to get that digital therm today so I can for sure tell what the temp is in there both at night and in the day. Thanks for your help.

You need a bright white bulb for heat - the heat rocks can burn your beardie as they sense heat from above. You can just use an ordinary household bulb but make sure you get the spotlight type bulb.You need a basking surface temp of around 105 and a cool side of around 80.

If you are worried he ingested any of the walnut it is important to keep him warm, even at night and offer him liquids along with soaking him a couple times a day in a very warm bath. I just went through an impaction and the warmth at night will help their digestive system. If you have a dropper or syringe, drip water on their nose and see if he will start licking it off. If he does, sneak in a couple drops of oil. You can feel their belly on their left side for a hard lump that should come and go with eating. If you don't think he ate any, you might be okay with just raising the temps.

Well, I got my Beardie to the vet yesterday and she has coccidia. He said that she had it pretty bad but he thinks we caught it in time. I gave her the first dose of medicine yesterday and she pooed this morning and she is already a lot more active. Thanks to everyone for your ideas and help. Just wanted to let everyone know what the diagnosis was. Thanks again.

Good to hear. Make sure you get heat lamps and UVB lights on top of that cage if you havent done so already. Also, what are you feeding the beardie? Do you know you should not feed it anything bigger than the space between their eyes? Also they need fresh greens every day. Get some kale, collard greens and mustard greens, wash very well, rip into tiny pieces and put in food bowl. I also give mine yellow squash that I cut and peel. Also do you know you need to powder the crickets with calcium? Please let me know if you need more extensive information on this and I will give you my personal email address. - Jen

I have the lights including a UV on top and have been monitoring the temps very closely. One weird thing is that I have the temp in the coolest part of the cage at about 84-88 degrees now and the temp at the basking site is 101. However, she still is not wanting to bask. She goes to a cooler area of the cage most of the time. I lowered the basking site to about 92 and she will then bask quite a bit. Is that normal ? She just doesn't seem to like the higher temp at the basking site. I do dust the crickets with calcuim and dust with a multi-vitamin once a week. She eats crickets, mustard and collard greens and kale. I try to feed her yellow squash and zuccinni squash and sometimes she will eat a little bit of it but she doesn't seem to like it very much. She seems to be getting more active and stronger every day since we have been giving her the meds. Thanks for all your help....

I think it's normal for them to stay just outside the higher basking temps. The only times mine get directly under the light is first thing in the morning when they're cold or right after a heavy feeding. Even the little ones hang out under the branch in the shade from the light, where it is very warm and more consistent. When they are directly under the beam, the heat builds up to where its too hot and they are smart enough to get out of the kitchen.

For squash, I'm using butternut mostly now, occasionally acorn. They are very abundant in the stores now that it's fall. Even my non-veggie eaters get caught with bits of butternut on their face.