Unusual behavior?

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Menidia

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Hi! I am new to posting here, but have gained lots of information through my lurking of the site, and have used much of it for setting up my beardie's vivarium.

A month or so ago my bearded dragon seems to have lost energy and is spending a decent amount of time hiding. For the first couple of months (have had for about four months) she was out in the open usually on a branch or other decoration all day. Now around 3pm she tucks away under a large piece of mopani and either sits up and is alert, or is asleep/sprawled. Other times she's near it in the back corner (out in the open) and either up and alert or sprawled. If she sees or hears something she is quick to respond, still. Also she is taking a little longer to start moving in the morning. She used to start looking for food after about an hour of the lights being on, but now she doesn't move for two-three hours, and rather just sits up wherever she went to sleep the night before.

All the above started shortly after her UVB lamp went out. It was only out for two days before I rushed in a new bulb and fixture (wasn't sure which part went out-bought both) I got it off Amazon and maybe it was a dud bulb ( the new one)? I didn't see her use the UV spot nearly as often as before. I reinstalled the old bulb (it was the fixture that broke), and she was okay for two days and now has on-off days.

On the other hand she is still eating both insects and greens pretty well. If presented with a piece of greens or squash, or a roach when sprawled/hiding she will rush out to eat it and then bask for a bit. She is still basking but not as much as she used to.

Some stats about the viv and care: 48" X 18" 75 gallon, Reptisun 10.0 T8 tube in an undercabinet fluorescent fixture mounted inside the tank (had it in a fluorescent aquarium hood on top of screen before, current bulb about 5 months old), Incandescent basking bulb 150 watts, basking temperature 107 degrees, ambient hot side 90, cool side 80. Offered two different greens daily, alternated between dandelion greens, collards, escarole, and endive. Sometimes kale, butternut squash, bell pepper. Given ~20 dusted dubia roaches every other day. Not sure how old, but is about 15" nose to tail. Have had since February and was about 10". Has shed twice, poops every 4 days or so.

Sorry for the large amount of information, but I figure the more I give the better information I can receive. Thanks for any ideas! (Also does anyone have an reptile vet suggestions around Cape Cod?)

Here's her now
oa9a2h.jpg
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
How far is the UVB from her basking spot? Can she get under it? How about water? Does she drink from a bowl - or are you giving her baths and is she drinking from the bath? It could also be the basking spot is too hot-- you might want to try lowering the temp and see if that doesnt help w/ the basking -- she should be basking for 4 hrs --- if you take her outside in the sun 15 minutes will be like 4 hrs of in the tank ---for reptile vets google it --- put in your town or city and see what comes up
Others will haft to weigh in on ideas I just gave you what I thought could be issue--
Karrie
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
She looks OK in the photo. It's a good sign she is eating. She may be just going through a phase in which she wants to seek some shelter or shade for a while. They do that sometimes. If she is still fairly alert and isn't losing weight then she's probably OK. Due to the age of your UVB light you may want to consider a replacement. It might be a good opportunity to upgrade to a T5 tube with a high quality fixture. I'm sure she would enjoy having some stronger UVB available. I think that since she's still responsive and eating she's probably OK.
 
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