Tourmaline
Member
Hello all! I'm new to the forum, and I was looking for some advice. I really wish I had come here before getting a beardie.
I got a young bearded dragon (about 3 months old?) about a week ago from PetSmart. I got the 40g Zoo Med tank kit for him, along with the basics I thought I needed that weren't included in the kit (the staff wasn't much help, as the person who owns Beardies wasn't in). I got some small crickets, waxworms as a treat, ReptiSafe water conditioner, Rep-Cal Calcium and Herptivite, rocks, a ramp to act as a basking spot, and some fresh fruit and veggies.
He seemed to be doing well until yesterday, he had absolutely no appetite for any crickets, not even me offering him a waxworm got him to eat. Early this morning I noticed he was a lot darker than normal, and he had extremely dark stress marks. He's also been trying to climb up the tank walls as of yesterday. He also never leaves his basking spot for more than 10 minutes. He's been like that since I brought him home, I'm not sure if that's related, but after reading up on it a bit it doesn't seem like that's normal behavior.
He also started shedding about 4 days ago, but it seems like it was only his tail and legs, and they already finished shedding. I give him daily 10-20 minute baths which he seems to like. He's still pooping normally, he's been going in his bath every day. He was eating well before this, about 20ish crickets a day dusted with both the calcium and herptivite, even on the first day home he ate. I've been struggling to get him to try the veggies and fruit. Today he did eat about 6 crickets and a waxworm, no veggies. The stress marks have gone away a bit since this morning but they're still there.
I did check his basking spot temperature using a regular aquarium thermometer (that's all I have), and it only said 102 degrees, however I'm not sure how accurate that is. I have an infrared thermometer coming in the mail on Tuesday. I went ahead and got another basking light that's an Exo Terra 150w instead of 100w, to see if that would help raise the temp any. The basking spot is about 8" away from the lamp. The UVB bulb I'm using is the one that came with the kit, a ReptiSun 10.0 Compact Mini, should I change that to something with more watts? It's very dim compared to the basking light.
Is there any obvious things that could be causing his odd behavior? The basking temp maybe? I'm a concerned beardie mom.
Edit: Now the basking temp is too high at about 112 degrees. I lowered the ramp 2" to try to get that down to 110.
I got a young bearded dragon (about 3 months old?) about a week ago from PetSmart. I got the 40g Zoo Med tank kit for him, along with the basics I thought I needed that weren't included in the kit (the staff wasn't much help, as the person who owns Beardies wasn't in). I got some small crickets, waxworms as a treat, ReptiSafe water conditioner, Rep-Cal Calcium and Herptivite, rocks, a ramp to act as a basking spot, and some fresh fruit and veggies.
He seemed to be doing well until yesterday, he had absolutely no appetite for any crickets, not even me offering him a waxworm got him to eat. Early this morning I noticed he was a lot darker than normal, and he had extremely dark stress marks. He's also been trying to climb up the tank walls as of yesterday. He also never leaves his basking spot for more than 10 minutes. He's been like that since I brought him home, I'm not sure if that's related, but after reading up on it a bit it doesn't seem like that's normal behavior.
He also started shedding about 4 days ago, but it seems like it was only his tail and legs, and they already finished shedding. I give him daily 10-20 minute baths which he seems to like. He's still pooping normally, he's been going in his bath every day. He was eating well before this, about 20ish crickets a day dusted with both the calcium and herptivite, even on the first day home he ate. I've been struggling to get him to try the veggies and fruit. Today he did eat about 6 crickets and a waxworm, no veggies. The stress marks have gone away a bit since this morning but they're still there.
I did check his basking spot temperature using a regular aquarium thermometer (that's all I have), and it only said 102 degrees, however I'm not sure how accurate that is. I have an infrared thermometer coming in the mail on Tuesday. I went ahead and got another basking light that's an Exo Terra 150w instead of 100w, to see if that would help raise the temp any. The basking spot is about 8" away from the lamp. The UVB bulb I'm using is the one that came with the kit, a ReptiSun 10.0 Compact Mini, should I change that to something with more watts? It's very dim compared to the basking light.
Is there any obvious things that could be causing his odd behavior? The basking temp maybe? I'm a concerned beardie mom.
Edit: Now the basking temp is too high at about 112 degrees. I lowered the ramp 2" to try to get that down to 110.