Help my beardie is sick!

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Zeebeard

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His underside has changed color slightly baby blueish, but not completely. I'll post pictures, if I can figure out how. Plus his beard area is super dark, which signifies stress. His head is yellowish, which normally it's tan. His mouth area is a little goopy. He was eating good yesterday. He had 5 live worms. He hasn't moved cages. He has good light. His cage is slightly cold, but we're working on it. He's probably 2 feet long. He's older. Probably 8 years old. I don't want him to die. Thank you for any help!
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Alright, calm down, because I have no idea what is actually wrong with your beardie, or rather, I have no idea what you're saying the problem is that you're worried about. We need a TON more information about your beardie's enclosure, lighting, temperatures, and diet to be able to make recommendations or point out potential problems. So as AHBD already asked, please post photos of your beardie (head to tail, complete body, head, underside, mouth, any other things you're worried about) and his entire enclosure and lighting, and then give us details about his UVB light, basking light, his normal daily diet, supplements, etc.

You say your lighting is "good", yet you also said his "temperatures are cool", so obviously something is not good with your lighting...And a very important question is WHAT TYPE OF THERMOMETER ARE YOU USING? If you're using any type of stick-on thermometers, like the cheap, round, gauge thermometers for reptiles, or any "aquarium" strip thermometers, then your temperature readings are likely off by up to 20 degrees. You absolutely must get a digital probe thermometer (preferred in my opinion) or a temperature gun. Not only are the stick-on thermometers highly inaccurate, but you have no way to measure his basking spot temperature, only the surrounding ambient temperatures. So if you don't already have one, run to Petco or PetSmart and spend $10 on a digital probe thermometer.

If his enclosure is "too cool" then you have a major issue that must be corrected immediately, because without proper temps your beardie cannot properly digest his food, which results in possible impaction (you say he eats "worms", but if they are mealworms or superworms they are very hard to digest in the first place with appropriate temperatures), but more dire is that low temps make it impossible for him to digest food, absorb nutrients, process nutrition, etc. With a 40 gallon breeder tank you should only need 2 total lights to give your beardie proper UVA, UVB, and a proper temperature gradient across his tank, that's it, #1 a single, bright white basking bulb, usually a 100 watt puts a 40 gallon breeder tank within the appropriate temperature ranges, and you do not need a "reptile specialty basking bulb, just a regular, household halogen indoor flood bulb, 100 watt (typically for a 40 gallon breeder tank), and then #2 a long, flourescent 10.0 UVB tube and matching length flourescent tube fixture, for a 40 gallon breeder tank either an 18" or a 24" 10.0 UVB tube will do. That's it, those 2 lights are all you need for a 40 gallon breeder tank, a single, bright white halogen indoor flood bulb, around 100 watt as your basking bulb, and right alongside the basking bulb should be an 18" or 24" long Reptisun 10.0 T8 or T5HO or an Arcadia 12% UVB tube in a matching fixture. So I'm not sure why you're temps are too cool or his lighting is messed up, but if his tank has been too cold for any length of time, which it sounds like it has since you said that "you're working on it", that may have been or is causing serious health issues.
 
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