3 month old beardie no longer basking after shedding

Hi guys,

Wondering if anyone could give me some insight. My beardie has always been a fussy eater so has grown slowly but well.

She's 9inches head to tail tip and would eat a diet of crickets and calci worms.

She had a really healthy shed and then suddenly all she wanted to do was squeeze into the tightest coldest space in her tank and sleep. She probably basks for an hour a day now and barely eats. I've taken her to the vet and they've sent her poo off for testing but it could take up to about two weeks. I was wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and what it turned out to be?

Also she's been digging a lot. I don't have any substrates just kitchen roll and she keeps digging it up.

Her temps are 100-105F on the basking side and 75-80 on the cool down side checked with a temp gun. She's never had a problem with the temps before and they've always been the same. I've also covered all her reflections.

I'm trying to feed her baby food to get her eating more vitamins but she won't even touch that.

Hopefully it's just a phase and she will return to normal soon. Have you been tracking her weight? I'd keep an eye on that as well. Your temperature gradient is just right. Do you have a good UVB light for her? 2 weeks seems like quite a long time on the fecal test, even one that is sent out.

Well she did eat 11 worms and bask for 3 hours yesterday which made me feel a lot better. Ishe has a 150 exotera UVB right next to her basking lamp however I've gotten a reptisun 10.0 coil and am going to put that next to her lamp and the 150 on the other side so she's getting uvb from both sides.

Yeah that's what I was thinking.. I don't really like the vet he doesn't seem to know his reptiles very well but he seems to specialise in their biology? He's making me pay £75 for a fecal test that takes two weeks because they need to grow the bacteria in her fecal to get quantities results. I still think I'm getting ripped off..

I'm buying scales this week, like I said she's always struggled with her weight since I got her. I'm feeding her squash/carrot/chicken and zucchini baby food right now to try and get her veggi intake up and sticking her to calci worms.

Is your UVB150 a 26w version? The lower wattage ones aren't very useful. The 26w version is similar in output to a T8 tube so it should sit 15-20cm above the basking area for best results. I'm not crazy about the ReptiSun compact bulbs either so I advise against using those. You don't need to provide UVB on the side of the tank away from the basking area. It's good to have a gradient so you provide sunlight levels of UVB over the basking area and little to now UVB/shade on the far side just as you set a gradient for the temperatures. That way they can choose what they want at a given time.

If you want to upgrade your UVB light, your best bet is to use a T5 tube if you can set it about 30cm above the basking area. This is an excellent bulb but it will need a T5 controller and reflector to go with it https://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/arcadia-d3-reptile-lamp-t5-12-uvb/

Hey guys,

I thought I'd put in an update to see if it helps anyone. Evie is now basking and eating and drinking again and only takes small naps. Things I changed:

First I had an idea that she was sleeping so often that she might be tricking herself into brumation. So I put her in a brighter area of my room and added an extra UV lamp othe side where she naps alot.

I covered all of her reflections in her tank.

I made her tank higher- Evie has little beardie syndrome ? so I figured the hieght her tank might be placed at was stressing her out.

The new basking spot has changed the temperature gradient. Her temps are now between 110-100 on the hot side but she seems to have found a spot that's that's right for her, I think it's about 107.

I've taken her out for proper sun every day for about 1-2 hours twice a day.This has made the biggest difference.

I moved her basking rock. She started pooping on it and running away so I had a feeling she didn't like it anymore. I replaced with wood and bark. She seems to like that a lot better and basks much more from early morning to late afternoon.

Still waiting on test results. Let you know if that has an fruition. But for now she's back to being a happy beardie.

That's good to hear! Those are all good changes you've made.