New beardie owner, stressed out, need guidance!

Blitzie":324bbyqg said:

Hello everyone!

Dragon name: Quintessa (female)
Tank size: 40G long
<<< the 36x18x18 viv shown will do her until she's about 18 months old , she'll then need a 4ft L x 2ft W x 2ft T viv for her forever home.

Basking temp: ~111F
Cool side: ~84F
Beardie age: Approx 4 months (16 weeks)
Substrate: tile
Lighting: Reptisun 10.0
>>> 13W or 26W or T8 tube ?
>>> on top of lid trying to shine through ?
>>> how far from the basking spot ?
, 100watt basking bulb

My fiancé and I have spent the last few months gathering supplies and reading as much as possible in preparation of getting our very own beardie. We finally got one this past weekend.

We bought her from the Reptile Expo in White Plains, NY. We got her from a breeder who seemed to really love his dragons and talked our ears off about them. She seems to be in great health. On the way out of the venue, we dropped a superworn into her container and she ate it right up.
<<<< please , hold off on the superworms , she's only 4 months old and way too young to cope with their very hard to digest exoskeleton ( no superworms or mealworms until she is about 12 months old , they have a tight kink in their gut that is prone to blockage which straightens out at about 1 year old. Also superworms are very high fat content.
See viewtopic.php?f=76&t=234999&p=1807834#p1807834 for comparisons of common feeder insects.
At 4 months old she is still a hatchling, so should be getting three live insect feeds per day if at all possible (until she is about 6 months old when it cuts back to two feeds of insects per day), as many insects per feed as she wants, and if fast movers (crickets/roaches/locusts) give a few at a time until she looses interest.
Offer fresh high calcium greens daily, if she nibbles on them , it's a bonus at her age, she really needs LOTS of HIGH QUALITY LIVE insect protein each day as she is growing fast.
Next when she's settled in she''ll be eating you out of house and home wrt the insects ....

We've had her home two days and she's been behaving in a way we didn't expect. Considering her age, she's barely eaten. Less than 10 crickets in total, no offered veggies and no mealworms. She's even refusing superworms. She did poop today. She seemed to panic when I put my hand in her enclosure to measure the temp of her basking spot.
<<< this is very common, it's very upsetting and stressful for them when they come into an new home , with lots of new sights and sounds, different animals, new carers, new viv, often as hatchling they go from having to share with lots of siblings and other hatchlings from other clutches to being by themselves (it's a shock) , and they are then confronted with new routines and feeding schedules and different feeder insects and different vegs, and people with a different daily schedule = relocation stress and it can last up to a week.
take it slowly with the handling and keep it to necessary only , and let her adjust - she will adjust and will soon have you trained and up to speed with her requirements .

We gave her a bath to ease her a little and to facilitate her appetite. She behaved the whole time and drank a lot,
<<< that's good , if she was stressed by the experience I'd advise keeping the bathing to a the absolute minimum , but if she enjoys it , it's OK to endulge her.

it seemed like she needed the water, which would make sense because she hasn't gotten it from her food but her stress marks on her stomach didn't go away and she hasn't moved since we put her back on her basking platform.

She isn't moving around a lot, exploring her tank, eating or doing anything that we expected her to do.

Could this be simple "relocation stress" or should we be concerned? It's upsetting to us and especially my fiancé, who was looking forward to a scaley dog of sorts. I'm mostly concerned about her health and lack of appetite. I've read that dragons her age should be eating 50 insects a day, she probably hasn't eaten 10 in the last 48 hours.

What is happening here?

https://ibb.co/hWMnc5

<<< is a nice setup : if the UVB tube is a T8 it's too far away to be any benefit to her ,especially since it's is ontop the lip.
<<< a long thick climbing branch to get her closer ( say 6 - 8 inches from the T8 tube ) will be helpful.
<<< better option would be to return the T8 hood and T8 tube and exchange for a 24in T5HO reflector hood + T5HO 10-12% UVB tube and mount these UNDER the lid.

Those dial type thermometers are hopelessly inaccurate , these are much better ( accurate +/- 1 degC ) : http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aquarium-LCD-Electronic-Digital-Thermometer-Fish-Tank-Water-Detector-Practica-BU/252762165947?_trksid=p2385738.c100677.m4598&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20160908110712%26meid%3D6ac464a2a1b24339be32c744b2ff5cf9%26pid%3D100677%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D15%26sd%3D201577608563 , I have 3 per viv and 3 per rearing tub.

TL;DR - four month old bearded dragon is not eating or behaving as we expected. What is the issue?

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AHBD":lu0nkgvw said:

Hi there....her tank is a little too warm on each side. Basking should be aout 105, cool nd about 80. Water is important for a baby, although 4 months is not like when they are hatchlings. They do need water offered daily , via spray bottle gently + directly on the snout or dripped with a dropper/syringe on the snout. They may not drink like that every day [ and only every 7-10 days as adults ] but will usually do so regularly.

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Blitzie":27duslvv said:

Wow, thanks for all that! I'll address your points in order.

The bulb is currently the Reptisun 39w T5-HO. The bulb is pretty far from the basking spot, probably 12 inches at the moment. The tank is so tall.

It was indeed explained to us that the superworms were for special treat only. We've only offered them in a desperate attempt to get her to eat ANYTHING. We've been trying to feed several times a day but she's shown no interest.

Do I need to replace the lighting fixture entirely? This is what I have;
Zoo Med 26062 Reptisun 10.0 T5-Ho Uvb 39W Fluorescent Lamp, 34"
<<< it's fine .... it's good to have an area in the viv where they cool off and get away from the UVA and UVB for a while.
<<< I'd try to get a branch for her to climb so she get within 10 inches of the tube, but no closer to the basking globe. (A good UVB flux is about 190 microW UVB / sqcm.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AQU8HKO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_0v1DzbVS7Y6J7
Zoo Med 26054 Reptisun T5-Ho Terrarium Hood, 36" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AQU8FR4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_1w1Dzb0ETE8R1
I'm not sure how to go about mounting it inside the tank.

We've been using an infrared heat gun 2" away from the basking spot to measure temperature. The thermometer that is stuck on was just something to make my fiancé feel better :mrgreen:
<<<< that's fine probe for the digital thermometer like this
already suggested can be held in place with some heavy duty cloth tape or even nylon cable ties.

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kingofnobbys":28ewt0j6 said:

Have you tried silkworms ?

Have you tried BSF maggot / phoenix worms ?

If he's a worm junky, they are much better options and can be given as staple feeder every day , even every meal.

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AHBD":hgujvbor said:

Oh, and your bulb is a powerful one and does not need to be mounted in the tank . Just be sure her basking brannches or platforms reach within 12" of it, which I'm sure they will.

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AHBD":1dzdy0kb said:

One more thing I would recommend is a nice branch about the thickness of a broomstick or a bit thicker that is propped up from one end on the floor to high on the other end , up near the top. Beardies love to climb, sticks are better than a hammock, although some beardies do like them.

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AHBD":3629p667 said:

Yes, that sounds like improvement. And you can get a piece of wood ouside, be sure it's not new + sappy, and pop it in a preheated 225 F oven for an hour [ be sure it doesn't touch the heat elements ]

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