Lethargic beardie

Hi.

I've owned my beardie, Emperor Sebastian, for over a year now and have had problems on and off. He is around 4 years old, 43 cm long and seems to be a healthy weight. He has a 4 and a half foot vivarium that has a 150W ceramic heat lamp for a basking light and a 4ft long arcadia desert uvb bulb (both are only 3 months old). The hot end is kept at 35°c and there is a temperature gradient.I leave the light on for 12 hours. The humidity tends to hover between 30-45. I provide fresh vegetables/fruit everyday but recently he hasn't been at all interested and I give him a mixed variety of locusts, wax worms and morio worms ( all of which are regularly dusted in calcium and vitamins). I try to give him frequent baths with reptiboost ( a probiotic) which sometimes seems to help but not always.

Since I have had him he has went through phases of lethargy, impaction/constipation and diarrhoea. Recently, he hasn't relieved himself in about two weeks ( it's been very infrequent for around 2 months or so), hasn't ate a single vegetable in a month and has spent most of his time hiding. He doesn't look ill but the frequent laziness and lack of eating/bowl movement worries me. He is normally a very happy and hyperactive little guy. Is there anything that I'm doing wrong?I've always been curious about using the ceramic bulb instead of a bulb that always produces light but I was reassured that a normal bulb would be unnecessary due to the there already being a uvb bulb in the enclosure. I am also looking into putting him onto a healthy pet plan, but I thought coming here would help in the meantime.
* I forgot to mention that his substrate is a mixture of reptile carpet, slate and newspaper
Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

Hello,

Your tank is good sized indeed for him so that is great! I bet he loves that, too.
The Arcadia tube bulb, is it a 12% or a 14% & is it a T5 high output UVB light? They do need a
bright white light for basking, in combination with the UVB light to simulate daytime. Even
though the tube UVB gives off light, it isn't quite bright enough. How far is the tube bulb from
him, is it mounted on top of the screen or underneath of the screen?
I would recommend putting in a bright white basking light such as a halogen flood bulb, they
are terrific for basking & they get hot too for basking. What do you use to measure the temps
with?
He could be a little slown down like a lot of dragons do over the winter to spring, but he should
be coming out of it. Try brightening up his tank to see how he does with those changes.
You could consider getting a fecal if possible but might be hard if he isn't eating much.
I doubt he would be impacted since you don't have a loose substrate in his tank. Are his urates
hard or soft?

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Drache613":3ij6ln4m said:

Hello,

Your tank is good sized indeed for him so that is great! I bet he loves that, too.
The Arcadia tube bulb, is it a 12% or a 14% & is it a T5 high output UVB light? They do need a
bright white light for basking, in combination with the UVB light to simulate daytime. Even
though the tube UVB gives off light, it isn't quite bright enough. How far is the tube bulb from
him, is it mounted on top of the screen or underneath of the screen?
I would recommend putting in a bright white basking light such as a halogen flood bulb, they
are terrific for basking & they get hot too for basking. What do you use to measure the temps
with?
He could be a little slown down like a lot of dragons do over the winter to spring, but he should
be coming out of it. Try brightening up his tank to see how he does with those changes.
You could consider getting a fecal if possible but might be hard if he isn't eating much.
I doubt he would be impacted since you don't have a loose substrate in his tank. Are his urates
hard or soft?

Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

Click to expand...

Yeah he absolutely loves it! I believe it's a 12% and yeah it is a T5. My enclosure is made of wood so the uvb bulb is held by heat resistant clips on the top of the viv so there isn't a screen between it( don't worry, he's in no danger of being burnt or having the light fall on him). The hight depends as I have branches that go to different heights. Earlier today I added a wooden table that gets him about 10 cm away from the light though.
Is there anyway to add pictures on here? I think it would be easier if people could seem my set up. The issue I'd have with installing a third bulb would finding the space to screw in the holder. My current heat source has a holder made for ceramics that is screwed into the top of the viv and it is central leaving little to no space for another holder to be installed. Is there a way around this?
I know they are unreliable but I have the little thermometers that stick onto the side of the viv. I do have a good thermostat though so I trust that the bulb is heating up properly. Hopefully that's all it is.
Once I've got him eating and pooing again I'll be taking him to the vets to get a screening done, but it would currently be almost impossible.
I haven't seen any urates recently as they normally come out with the rest, but the last ones seemed normal.
Thank you for the help,

Lorin

I've actually just had a look at all the packaging for my lights and it seems my holder can be used for any type of bulb as long as it has the right end to it.
I'll be buying a new bulb shortly. Would I be better off getting a basking solar spot bulb or a basking solar floodlight? From what I can tell the spot lamp focused the heat in one area while the floodlight spreads it? Does anyone know? I won't be able to get a halogen bulb as that is way above my budget. I'll bemail using a light emmiting bulb during the day and switching to my ceramic at night. I'm hoping that this will solve the problem.

Hello Lorin,

To add pictures, you can simply click on the XIMG on here to upload your pictures to the
photo gallery. Then, copy/paste them here using the IMG onto here. That's great he likes
the T5, they are really good lights.
I don't think you need to use both a basking bulb & a ceramic heater, it might be too much
heating. Try using just a basking bulb. I'm glad you had a good thermostat, that helps a lot.
This should get him out of a lethargic state hopefully, having a brighter tank.
What solar basking light are you looking at? A flood light is better than just a spot light so he
has a wider basking area. That is fine to switch the bulbs out by day & night. If the temperatures don't fall under 60-70 in his tank at night, you could get away with
not using heating all of the time overnight.


Let us know how things are going.

Tracie

Drache613":1xglvbey said:

Hello Lorin,

To add pictures, you can simply click on the XIMG on here to upload your pictures to the
photo gallery. Then, copy/paste them here using the IMG onto here. That's great he likes
the T5, they are really good lights.
I don't think you need to use both a basking bulb & a ceramic heater, it might be too much
heating. Try using just a basking bulb. I'm glad you had a good thermostat, that helps a lot.
This should get him out of a lethargic state hopefully, having a brighter tank.
What solar basking light are you looking at? A flood light is better than just a spot light so he
has a wider basking area. That is fine to switch the bulbs out by day & night. If the temperatures don't fall under 60-70 in his tank at night, you could get away with
not using heating all of the time overnight.


Let us know how things are going.

Tracie

Click to expand...

HI again Tracy

Sorry for the quality of the photo, this is my set up.
Thank you so much for all of the advice, I had an idea that the lights were the problem( as they so often are) but I wanted to check with someone else before I went out and wasted money.
I'm looking at the arcadia 150W basking solar floodlight. To your knowledge is this a good quality light?
I'll keep you posted on how things go.

Hi, I got a clearer photo of my set up and I thought I'd also include a photo of Seb. He looked brighter today, but I had him in the garden in the sun so it was probably that.

Hello,

He is very colorful great picture! The sunshine always seems to make their day.
Your tank looks good. The Arcadia Solar basking light should be fine. I haven't personally
used one, but I use Arcadia tube & the Arcadia Mercury vapor bulb. As long as it isn't a
colored bulb or coated with neodymium, the light should be bright enough. The T5 will be
good to use with the basking light.
Let us know how the change of lighting helps out & how Seb is doing.


Tracie

Drache613":34ccduu6 said:

Hello,

He is very colorful great picture! The sunshine always seems to make their day.
Your tank looks good. The Arcadia Solar basking light should be fine. I haven't personally
used one, but I use Arcadia tube & the Arcadia Mercury vapor bulb. As long as it isn't a
colored bulb or coated with neodymium, the light should be bright enough. The T5 will be
good to use with the basking light.
Let us know how the change of lighting helps out & how Seb is doing.


Tracie

Click to expand...

Hill

So I've finally managed to get his new light today( I had to order it into my local shop) and I've got it all set up. He's already seemed to perk up! I have discovered a problem though. I have the light connected to a thermostat that stops it going over 35°c. The problem is that whenever it reaches this temperature, instead of just stopping the lamp from heating up further it just turns it off. Do you think this will be a problem? I really like the light but my thermostat seems to be the new problem. Are there any that don't do this or does this happen with all of them? It was never a problem with my ceramic as it wasn't emitting light, but this one does. What uses is it if it keeps turning off?

Any advice would really be appreciated

Lorin

That sounds like an on/off thermostat. Those are good for overnight ceramic heat emitters but not really good for basking lights. What you want instead for a basking light is a dimming thermostat.

CooperDragon":cbir0zi3 said:

That sounds like an on/off thermostat. Those are good for overnight ceramic heat emitters but not really good for basking lights. What you want instead for a basking light is a dimming thermostat.

Click to expand...

Thank you. I've had a look around online and found a few dimmers. Does anyone know if the microclimate or the habistat is better? It's a lot of money so I want to get it right. My beardie's wellbeing is my priority, so I can't be reckless.

Thanks

They're both pretty reputable but I haven't used them personally (I have a Herpstat). How many lights are you trying to attach to it? Are you looking at any models in particular? I can help compare them if you'd like. I agree with such an investment (they're worth it) it's best to get it right the first time.

CooperDragon":gom039bx said:

They're both pretty reputable but I haven't used them personally (I have a Herpstat). How many lights are you trying to attach to it? Are you looking at any models in particular? I can help compare them if you'd like. I agree with such an investment (they're worth it) it's best to get it right the first time.

Click to expand...

Sorry for the late reply. It's only for one bulb. The two I'm looking at are the Habistat classic dimming thermostat or the microclimate B1/HT dimming thermostat. Any idea which I should choose?

Okay. So, I've had a new basking light in for 6 days now and there's been no change. He's still sleeping/hiding through the day on the cool side of his vivarium, he is eating waxworms but no locusts/crickets, he won't touch his vegetables and he hasn't went to the toilet at all despite giving him baths when I can. I can't feel any lumps in his belly and his legs are working fine so I don't think he could be impacted. He might just be constipated? Is there anything I can do to help with this? I am looking to get him a vets appointment but I want to try to help him at home first and get an appointment just as a general check up. I will take him though if he seems to deteriorate. Does anyone have any ideas? I love my beardie a lot and want to see him being himself again. Thanks.