Big Behaviour Change

Hi,
I have some concerns about the welfare of my beardie Saturn. We've had her for 2 years now, and she was approx 1 year old when we got her (from some rather lacklustre owners - had her in a tank which we now know was illegally small and actually housed her with another beardie in this cage for some time resulting in fights and an injured tail). She was quite shy for the first year or so, hiding a lot and absolutely refusing to eat any greens. She was good with being handled and always seemed to brighten up a little outside of the cage - always exploring the room and running around.

After the first year I believe she went into brumation, hiding all the time and only coming out very occasionally to eat. She didn't lose much weight (if any - i must admit we were a bit bad with actually weighing her) but she did seem to be awake a lot which didn't seem to match with the usual symptoms of brumation - plus if i ever took her out of the cage when she was awake she seemed a lot more alert than you would expect. January this year I fiddled around with the temperatures because I wasn't convinced that her basking area was warm enough (stayed around 35C a slight bit away from where she would bask which I was assured was fine by a local expert) and decided to boost it to 39C, her cold area staying between 28-29C. All of this plus a lot more handling and introducing veg to her diet and she was a changed beardie. Very active in the cage, rarely hiding away and basking a lot more. She did her first full body shed during this time, as opposed to small areas every few months like before - I was ecstatic.

In the past few months she seems to have deteriorated somewhat. She hides herself away whenever possible, I have actually had to remove one of her large logs because she would dig herself under it making it impossibe to feed her or keep her hydrated. Her appetite has also gone down quite a lot. She used to devour a tub of crickets in minutes but now its usually only 4 or 5 at a time with the occasional spike in her hunger. She will eat maybe every 4 days as a lot of the time she is difficult to get to, or refuses to eat. At first I thought she might be brumating but she is nearly always awake during the day and has lost weight due to her decreased appetite. She still seems to enjoy handing but I am worried I may be reading things wrong and she is actually brumating in which case I believe it can be damaging to keep getting her out of her hiding spots. Is it time for a trip to the vet, or are there things I am doing wrong with her care. As I speak she is digging in the corner of the tank trying to hide I believe.

She is in a 4ftx2ftx2ft viv with specialist sand, a 100W Arcadia bulb with an exoterra Ceramic Lamp to keep the viv at 25C at night because we live in an old house which can get quite cold at night. Basking area is kept between 38-40C and the cold section is 28-29C during the day. A few cork logs for climbing but as I said I removed the large one that spanned the whole viv as she would hide herself for days under it. She does have another hide and covered corners so there are places for her to go if she needs. Mainly fed with hoppers and occasionally wax worms as a treat. No veg for the past few months. Her handling has gone down a lot recently as a lot of the time I cannot get to her without potentially hurting her.

Really worries about her, thanks in advance for reading this small story!

Poor Saturn .... I would expect this change has you very worried.

In general , as they mature (2 years old and onward) they tend to become much more lazy and laid back and the shedding become much less frequent (and is usually piecemeal).

Can I ask how old her uvb light source is ? Usually recommended these are replaced every 6 months as the amount of UVA and UVB they produce decays over time.

.... I have a hunch you might have a poor UV light , or one which is has too low a %UVB rating , or is perhaps obstructed , or screened , to simply too far away to give Saturn the levels of UVA and UVB she needs to be healthy, and have a strong apetite and be active, or simply too old to be useful any more .

And can you give a bit of a rundown on her schedule (lighting, feeding) ?

Since you've adjusted the tank temperatures and seem sure they are now good, it is likely this is a easy fix if the UV light source proves to be the cause , alternatively this will be indicative of her being dominated by the other beardie , another easy fix.

Are they separated now (different tanks) ?
Can she see the other beardie ?


is the uv rated AT LEAST 10%UVB ?
is it a COMPACT & WATTAGE ? , or a T8 ? , or a T5 ? OR a MVB ?
it's Brand (many shop brands are horrible and produce poor UV spectrum (dangerous even) and are made in china and just reboxed).
is it covered ? == BAD
is it sitting ontop a mesh top ? == BAD
how far is it from basking spot ? too far and the UVA and UVB WILL BE TOO DILUTE.
........UVA FLUX TOO LOW where dragon is ==> a very lethargic dragon w/ a very poor apetite just in the short term ,
and neurological problems if this persists , not to mention MVB if UVB flux too low long enough with inadequate metabolisation of dietary calcium or inadequate intake out calcium

Basking globe - is it a colored globe ?
Coloured globes will change the colours of everything she sees in the tank.
ie a red globe will turn greens into black (she wont recognize greens as food) and yellows look orange (again she might not recognize as a food colour).
Also red globes give a red glow and this is very much like sunset so it'll confuse her , she may well want to sleep thinking it's time to go to bed.
Again an easy fix.

Regarding her TANK
size (L x W x H) and construction , photos of the setup are often helpful .

You mentioned her habit of burying herself - what is the SUBSTRATE ?
is it sand ? == BAD - IF CALCISAND EXTREMELY BAD = LETHAL
or is it another particulate ? == BAD
Both these are easy fixed (hopefully she hasn't ingested any - accidentially attached to her food).

Hi, Thanks for your quick reply.

Unfortunately I was advised by a member of staff at a reptile shop that it would only need replaced once every year, so I will be making a trip tomorrow to get a new one. I use a 10% UVB light by rArcadia, I believe it is a T5 but I imagine it is no longer doing its job as we have had it nearly a year. Hopefully changing this will make a difference! Just as a reference this is where it is positioned within the viv.
We actually only got Saturn from her previous owners, not the other beardie so she is by herself.

Her UVB light soure is on a timer from 10 am to 11 pm and her basking lamp is on half an hour after the UVB and cuts out half and hour before the UVB. Ceramic heater kicks in if the viv goes below 25C. Her heat lamp is a standard white Arcadia 100w. You can see its position here plus the set up of the viv (4ft by 2ft by 2ft).
Her substrate is a specially designed desert bedding supposedly mimicking what they would experience in the wild and encourages digging etc. I have been assured by the specialist reptile shop in the area (not the same people who told me to replace the UVB source once a year) that it is safe however I am not too sure after seeing what you and many other poster have sid about using a sandy type substrate. She will only eat from tweezers or my hand so I'm not sure impaction is an issue but might ditch the sand when she's next due a clean. Here is a close up of the sand just so you can see it's consistency.
Hopefully a change of light will help her out a lot, can't believe I've been advised by a supposed specialist that it would last a year. Ten minutes on this site has shown me that is not the case.. Lucky I decided to investigate when I did!
Thanks.