Baby beardie acting distant and wild?

Hi, Grace here!

I’m a first time beardie owner, and I’m constantly nervous about how my new baby Julianos acts.

While buying him and supplies, I was unfortunately very unprepared for what I would actually need and I’ve made multiple store runs getting the right and wrong things and subsequently learning from them as I try to research more and more.

Julianos is very young, about “a few weeks old” was what the petsmart employee had told me. As of now, I can’t even tell if Julianos is actually a “he”! Either way, when I first brought him home almost six days ago, I had set him up with a 20-gallon tank and a 75 watt basking lamp along with some water and small crickets. During this time, I hadn’t read much about beardie behavior and didn’t know that I had to give him some space after his move. After the 2nd day of his stay, I read that apparently he wouldn’t want to eat for a while because of the move and I was panicking because the only two stores I knew of that sold crickets had crickets that were already dead or running out of the crickets that were alive (at least I knew not to feed him the dead and molding ones)!

Cue the next few days passing, with just me cleaning off the little hut he uses as a basking spot since he often poops on it and never moves from it. I had also upgraded his light to 100w and plan on moving the hut closer to the light. His current light right now is a Zoo Med desert UVB and heat lighting kit. The UVB is 10.0 and I switched the 75w it came with to the 100w. I keep both lights on since I read that apparently the UVB and the basking heat go hand in hand.

As of now, based on my digital thermometer, the area around his basking spot can reach about 91 degrees Fahrenheit. I know it needs to be hotter for baby beardies, which I am working on.

For now, Julianos often stays on his basking spot all day long, and the only times he does come off it is to glass surf... These past few days I have also tried to give him some warm baths, though I’m not sure if this helps with the whole “getting used to/adjusting” thing.

The stress marks on his belly are prevalent almost all the time unless he is sleeping (one time, he had slept with his belly up to the glass...it was all white and very cute!).

Like I said, he often does his business on his hut and I have to take it out so I can clean it, though I’m also worried if this just makes him stressed more since I’m taking a big thing out of his habitat and putting it back in. Whenever I put my hand in to do so, he is very adverse to me grabbing him to move him from the hut or when I have to bathe him, and he often turns his head away from my hand entirely and opts to stare at the glass instead.

It has been almost six days now, and he still continues the glass surfing/basking all day/prevalent stress marks. I have also started feeding him small Dubia roaches, which definitely piqued his interest, though his behavior remains the same. I am still looking to fix his basking spot so that it’s closer to the bulb in hopes that it will help.

But is this behavior still just him adjusting to his new home? Should I wait longer and continue with my current routine? Is there something else that I can do to help him?

First off what size tank is he in? He is in a 20 gallon? He is not going to be in that 20 gallon tank for long maybe a few months- It is best to get him into a bigger tank now if you can -- look for tanks on Craigslist or FB marketwatch - look for as big as you can find preferably one w/ front doors--- 40 gallon and up the bigger the better --- you will haft to sanitize it really good if you find one --- next you will need to get rid of that UVB / combo kit lighting if that is what your using -- as of this point the 13 watt bulb is NO GOOD--- I would invest NOW a good UVB your gonna need a fixture of 24" w/ reflector and a Reptisun 10.0 T 8 you can upgrade to a T 5 later when you need to replace the bulb and w/ the 20 gallon tank hes in its gonna be better w/ the T 8 -- you can set that fixture width wise across the tank on top - as the UVB needs to be 8-10 inches from basking w/ NO screen on top -- I am gonna give you a website to order from if you cannot find a 24" fixture in your store - most of the Petsmarts do not carry that size as far as I know --- go here and order if your able to these people are good and fast and they ship Fed Ex--- if you cant afford the more spendy fixture there is one there that is $32 you can order and its a 24" and you will need the Reptisun 10.0 bulb T 8 22" ---
Your little guy is going thru relocation stress -- that is normal - his eating will slow down but should not quit completely --- he needs salads first thing in the morning w/ some BSFL and some small super worms if you can find them or butter worms NO Mealworms --- you can use these worms to lure him to the bowl - use a glass or ceramic bowl --- thats great your feeding dubias they are way better for him anyways --- I am going to giver you some websites for the worms ---
http://www.dubiaroaches.com these people are fast and good they are out of Kansas the BSFL known as nutrigrubs phoenix worms or calci worms
http://www.symtonbsf.com they have the BSFL - feed as many as you want they are another good staple feeder --- add to the salad to get the attention -they are good lure to the bowl
http://www.mulberryfarms.com they have good silk worms small as of now they are good staple feeders as well --- if you order them please order food -- they will need it -- as you will haft to grow them out for a little while
https://reptilianarts.com/ these you can get in a cup of food but they are a bigger worm -
Use your worms to get her to the salad and only use 1-3 supers or butter worms let her eat out of the bowl for a hr or so then add your staple feeder like your roaches ---- you want her eating salads now even if its only a little bit
here is a website for nutrition http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
I am posting a pic of my 20 gallon tank I had set up ------------ You must have a digital probe thermometer to get a accurate basking temp - NO stick ons!! You can get a digital probe from Petsmart or Petco for $5 please get one before changing out the basking bulb -- I am thinking the 100 watt is going to be too much I had a 75 watt in my 20 gallon tank

the clamp on the end of the tank is the 75 watt basking bulb the fixture running across length wise is the UVB ----
Karrie

Hi Karrie,

First of all thank you for the reply! I have since then upgraded his tank to a 40 gallon tank with doors that open the front side of it. Very conveinient! And I have also ordered a uvb light which will be coming in later. He also has more decor so he doesn't have to rely on his habba hut anymore as a basking spot, though he still likes chilling on it I am looking to make more improvements to his home in the future!

Ok sounds good --- what did you get for the UVB brand and bulb and coil or tube? Did you get the digital probe that I recommended?
Karrie