Hi everyone,
I'm probably being overly cautious, but I've never owned a bearded dragon before, and I have no baseline for his behaviour and/or health... I just want to do right by my beardie, I want what's best for him.
I got Sarkan (an adult beardie, age unknown) from the reptile rescue centre on Saturday. He's not super active, mostly basking, but he seems to enjoy being out of his tank and among people, as he is reluctant to go back. The first couple of days he ate some salad (mostly when I hand-fed him, though I've seen him go to his food to get a bite), but not a lot. On Monday I gave him roaches and he ate 13 adults, with a lot of enthusiasm. He has not shown any interest in salad since. Yesterday I got him to eat two small pieces of salad by putting it in his mouth as he was basking and gaping. Today so far he hasn't eaten. Is he just being stubborn, hoping for more roaches?
He has also been rubbing his beard agains rough surfaces, so I think he might be nearing a shed... He has a grey spot on his back, that means it's a shed, right?
(sorry for the crappy pic, my camera isn't great)
He has been sitting with his mouth open a lot, even outside his tank, is that normal? And he occasionally closes one or both eyes. Is the UV lamp too bright in comparison to the basking bulb? I had to dim the basking bulb to get the right temps.
Sarkan has also been pooping every day, except for yesterday, and his poops are runny:
Does that look normal? They are stinky, but I don't know how much a beardie's poop is supposed to smell...
Also, this morning he was sitting on the cold side of his tank, and he felt cold to the touch. I put him under the basking lamp, where he has stayed (until he had to poo).
UVB: reptisun 10.0 T5 HO tube
Basking temp: 40-41°C
cold side: 25-27°C
substrate: tile
food: dubia's for proteine, salad from the foodlist on beautifuldragons
Sarkan is 45 cm and 435 g.
I'm sorry for the long post, I just want the best for my dragon...
I'm probably being overly cautious, but I've never owned a bearded dragon before, and I have no baseline for his behaviour and/or health... I just want to do right by my beardie, I want what's best for him.
I got Sarkan (an adult beardie, age unknown) from the reptile rescue centre on Saturday. He's not super active, mostly basking, but he seems to enjoy being out of his tank and among people, as he is reluctant to go back. The first couple of days he ate some salad (mostly when I hand-fed him, though I've seen him go to his food to get a bite), but not a lot. On Monday I gave him roaches and he ate 13 adults, with a lot of enthusiasm. He has not shown any interest in salad since. Yesterday I got him to eat two small pieces of salad by putting it in his mouth as he was basking and gaping. Today so far he hasn't eaten. Is he just being stubborn, hoping for more roaches?
He has also been rubbing his beard agains rough surfaces, so I think he might be nearing a shed... He has a grey spot on his back, that means it's a shed, right?
(sorry for the crappy pic, my camera isn't great)
He has been sitting with his mouth open a lot, even outside his tank, is that normal? And he occasionally closes one or both eyes. Is the UV lamp too bright in comparison to the basking bulb? I had to dim the basking bulb to get the right temps.
Sarkan has also been pooping every day, except for yesterday, and his poops are runny:
Does that look normal? They are stinky, but I don't know how much a beardie's poop is supposed to smell...
Also, this morning he was sitting on the cold side of his tank, and he felt cold to the touch. I put him under the basking lamp, where he has stayed (until he had to poo).
UVB: reptisun 10.0 T5 HO tube
Basking temp: 40-41°C
cold side: 25-27°C
substrate: tile
food: dubia's for proteine, salad from the foodlist on beautifuldragons
Sarkan is 45 cm and 435 g.
I'm sorry for the long post, I just want the best for my dragon...