Bearded Dragon Very Lethargic

I've had my male bearded dragon for over 3 1/2 years. He's around the age of 4. I never really looked into my bearded dragons behavior as I thought he was just lazy. Turns out, he's lethargic. He's been like this for a year or so, can't remember. He is in a well-sized tank (dont know the gallons) and has a UVA lamp with a heating lamp (both 100W). I have a thermometer and it reads to be 35-44 degrees celcius throughout the day. He doesn't move when presented crickets, he needs to be nudged to move. Even then he still doesn't move. He has no impactions considering I don't use sand and don't feed him large sized crickets/veggies. I also just recently took him outside so he could run around and it seems that he continuously keeps tripping on his legs when running. It gets to the point where each time he runs he is shifted side to side. There have been times where he almost flipped over b/c of his running. I feed him calcium once every 1-3 days. He has regular baths and does run around in my room. He isn't like the bearded dragons I see on videos which this led me to investigating. I don't know what i'm doing wrong, I just want him to live a happy life and not suffer from my improper care. Any information and replies would be much appreciated as I apparently don't have a reptile veterinarian near me...

Hello,

You mentioned he has a UVA light but what about a UVB light?
What type of thermometer do you have, a digital probe or a temp gun?
Please post some pictures of your dragon & of the tank, too. That way, we can see if there
is anything that needs to be changed or updated.
Based on your description, it sounds likely to be a calcium deficiency. Please let us know
what your UVB lights are.

Tracie

The bulb is a zoo med powersun UV Mercury vapor lamp 100w. And for the pictures I'm not sure how to send that. I also forgot to mention that he has issues with throwing his tongue out to eat a cricket for example. His head jolts towards the moving cricket and he just can't eat it unless it's in his face. Also has terrible awareness. His belly is usually cool so I don't know if I should get him a proper heat pad considering the last one I used I binned because at night when he slept on it he would inhale rapidly. This would go on for 10-15 minutes even after being removed from the heat pad. Any recommendations/suggestions?

To post photos just hit the "XIMG" button above, upload the photo, then put the cursor in the body of the message where you want it to be and hit the "XIMG" button again, and choose the photo, then hit submit. You actually have to upload your photos to the forum before inserting them, instead of just uploading them one at a time from your computer or phone.

How old is your MVB? Any other lights used besides the MVB? If so, what are they? What is the distance between your MVB and his main basking spot?

I'm assuming you don't have a digital probe thermometer or a temperature gun, and are rather using a stick-on thermometer of some type, like those round gauge ones, or aquarium strips? If so, then this could very well be his problem, as most stick-on thermometers are not at all accurate, and are off by up to 20+ degrees, especially the round gauge ones meant for reptile tanks. And you have no way of measuring his basking spot temperature with a stick-on thermometer, only ambient temperatures. Most people don't realize how important having the correct temperature gradient inside their enclosure is, as well as a correct basking spot temperature. If any of the 3 major temps are too high or too low it causes a lot of issues, lethargy being the main one. You should know the Basking Spot Temperature, the Hot Side Ambient temperature, and the Cool Side Ambient temperature exactly at all times. I take all 3 temps once a week in all 3 of my enclosures.

A digital probe thermometer is the most accurate thermometer and you can place the probe right on his basking spot. They cost $10 at Petco or PetSmart, both ZooMed and Petco make them. I have two in each of my enclosures, one that is zip-tied to the basking spot and one that I move to measure both the Hot Side and Cool Side temperatures. You must make sure that you allow the probe to sit for at least 20-30 minutes in each spot you're measuring BEFORE reading the temperature. If I were you, I would go out and buy a digital probe thermometer (a gun is accurate as well, more expensive though), and take all 3 temps in his tank, and then go from there, because lethargy, if not caused by an illness or infection, is caused by inefficient UVB light or inappropriate temperatures 99% of the time.

Just for reference, your temperatures should fall between the following ranges:

Basking Spot: between 98-103 degrees Fahrenheit for an
adult...Each beardie can be a bit different on
this temperature, but adults typically like it
around 100 degrees. If it's at 103 and he's mouth
gaping, it's too hot. Absolute max is 110.
Hot Side Ambient: between 88-93 degrees Fahrenheit

Cool Side Ambient: between 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit maximum. Very important it's no hotter because he needs a place low enough to go to and cool down at all times.

***Nighttime temps should drop much below daytime temps, just as they do naturally in the desert. 99% of people do not need ANY nighttime heat source at all. As long as the enclosure stays at 65 degrees Fahrenheit or above you need no nighttime heat source. And his nighttime temperature should drop at least into the 70's for him to sleep comfortably.

I can never seem to get 80 degrees or below for the cooler end. I have a computer in my room which seems to contribute to the heat around my room. There are times where the cooler end reaches 90 degrees and nothing would lower that unless I turned off both the UV lamp and the basking lamp. At that point, the temperature would drop, but his underside and body itself wouldn't be warm. This usually leads to him not running after food as he should and just laying around. I've also noticed that there are many times where when I present him food in my hand, i have to continuously move it from the left to right of his head to get him to get interested. He seems to only get interested on one side of his head (ex. he would only notice and try to eat food when presented on the left side of his head). He also has many times where when he does TRY to eat the food, he sends his tongue in a very sluggish matter as if he were just trying to poke it. There are many times where I try hand feeding him from tongues reach so he moves to get it but he usually never does. This is when he sends a sluggish tongue to something that isn't within tongues reach. He just has no motivation or excitement to move his body to eat.