New Bearded Dragon, Some New Owner Stress

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KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Odd that the UVB would be raising the temp- but you want the basking temps 105-110 for a baby-- as far as the dusting goes you need to dust the insects not the salad --- that way you know hes getting the supplements he needs - the phoenix worms do not dust they are high in calcium - the silk worms dust them - w/ either the calcium once per day and vitamins 2 x per week once per day --
Yes it is common for them to close their eyes when they bask -- if his eyes start to swell or get watery then there is a issue but if your basking bulb is a bright white regular basking bulb NOT a coil type and directly over head he should be fine- its when people are using NON bright white bulbs like off white yellowish type is when issues arise and coils--
Karrie
 

erodred

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":s4lzwd9g said:
Odd that the UVB would be raising the temp- but you want the basking temps 105-110 for a baby-- as far as the dusting goes you need to dust the insects not the salad --- that way you know hes getting the supplements he needs - the phoenix worms do not dust they are high in calcium - the silk worms dust them - w/ either the calcium once per day and vitamins 2 x per week once per day --
Yes it is common for them to close their eyes when they bask -- if his eyes start to swell or get watery then there is a issue but if your basking bulb is a bright white regular basking bulb NOT a coil type and directly over head he should be fine- its when people are using NON bright white bulbs like off white yellowish type is when issues arise and coils--
Karrie

That is the thing, the daytime exo terra heat lamp bulp looks like a regular bulb but its glow is more on the orange-y side. I am wondering if I need to put another one in maybe from zoo med or something. Even their intense basking bulb looks like it will be orange from their picture?
 

erodred

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":b42i5azy said:
Ok so change it out -- you want a bright white bulb --- you can get a Exo Terro intense basking bulb - they are white and look like this https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-basking-spot-bulbs.html but you would want the 100 watt and then it would be trial and error w/ the temps
Karrie

Okay, will change that one during a lunch break today. Hopefully he will be okay. Thanks for letting me know.

EDIT: He also closes one eye and keeps the other open often. Is that a concern?
 

erodred

Member
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So an update:

He went and ate 6 phoenix worms just now. He ignored my hind leg-less crickets (maybe he doesnt like them after a few hopped away when he tried to eat them?)

I bought a ceramic dish for him and while its contained the crickets and worms easily... I think it is a little too deep for him to even see the food inside, so I may give up on this dish.
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He ate the worms when I dropped them down in front of him. So he is eating insects, the dish thing makes me worry about his veggie intake. I also put a blue berry in today and he licked it but didnt go for it.

As for the light bulb, the zoo med bulb totally over powers my exo terra daylight bulb. It is brighter and takes away the strength that the fluorescant bulb was displaying.

I got black construction paper that my fiance will soon be applying to block the nasty side reflection of his tank.

Thanks for the help, hopefully we can get this guy opening up his belly to more food soon and have him learn to bond with us easily. He has yet to poop now for over 24 hours so hopefully the butter worms didnt impact him. He did just shed and there are some shedding everywhere.

PS. My fiance thinks you should give us your address Karrie so that we can send you a christmas card haha.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You dont need two basking bulbs -- I am assuming the Exo Terro daylight bulb is a basking bulb correct? You only need one good basking bulb that will keep your temps to the 105-110 for a baby and 95-110 for a juvie/ adult -- it is good to offer a gradient heat for them so they can pick a spot to bask at the temp they want -- this is what I am talking about https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-and-decor/habitat-decor/thrive-driftwood-reptile-decor-54734.html?cgid=500116
here is a pic of Blaze in the bowl
97951-7323218365.jpg
they will get in the bowl
Karrie
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Tell your fiance thanks for the thought of the Christmas card but I do this in hopes of keeping these dragons healthy -- we seem to lose alot of them due to bad lighting bad care among other things --
Karrie
 

erodred

Member
Original Poster
Hello all.

Thanks again for all the help so far.

The bulb looks brighter than the UVB and so he seems to be walking around a bit too. I have black construction paper on the sides of the tank to cut off his reflection and hopefully reduce the stress of him thinking there are neighbouring dragons nearby.

Today feeding was a challenge for him. He still is being fussy. He wont go near the bowl at all for the salad when dropping the worms in. I think I frightened him when adding one while he was approaching and looking at the bowl. I might try giving him worms tomorrow morning without the kale and seeing if he will get used to the bowl that way and then bring in the veggies. Hopefully that can give him the habit of going to the bowl?

I managed to get him to eat 3 worms today by dropping them in front of his basking spot. He would immediately stand up and eat them. But after 3 he would run away from the spot.

I guess this is a small victory. But if there is any more advice to get him up to eating please let me know.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Your basking bulb is going to be brighter than the UVB- he will be skitish at first at coming to the bowl but once he learns it food he will start coming - it's called trust- try hand feeding him first when feeding him in the morning - I used to feed blaze a couple of bsfl by hand w/ one super worm then w/ the bowl in front of him add the worms to the bowl and he would watch
- do this every morning and he will be waiting for you eventually- blaze would be sitting in his spot in the morning when he was ready to eat--
Karrie
 

erodred

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":6fi49kd7 said:
Your basking bulb is going to be brighter than the UVB- he will be skitish at first at coming to the bowl but once he learns it food he will start coming - it's called trust- try hand feeding him first when feeding him in the morning - I used to feed blaze a couple of bsfl by hand w/ one super worm then w/ the bowl in front of him add the worms to the bowl and he would watch
- do this every morning and he will be waiting for you eventually- blaze would be sitting in his spot in the morning when he was ready to eat--
Karrie

I have tried the hand approach and he is usually hesitant until I drop it on the ground in front of him. But I will try that again tomorrow morning. I will keep you all posted.

Thanks!
 

erodred

Member
Original Poster
So today's update:

He won't eat out of my hands or with tongs. He did drop one worm in front of him and he ate it, but wont eat a second. I left him alone in the room for a few hours and came back to see he was inside his dish, but he just looked at the worms and didnt bother eating. He ignored a few more offered or dropped in front of him. And now he is back on top of the basking spot. So he has only had 1 phoenix worm tonight. I am an hour away from hitting the 2 hour mark before lights out for him and if I read correctly, he needs to be fed within that time so he can digest his food properly.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Yes 2-3 hrs before lights off ----is he getting water? You need to keep him hydrated - what is his behavior like? Is he running around the tank and basking like he should -- the not eating is scaring me because if temps are good and the UVB is correct he should be eating --- and not one phoenix worm -- he needs more than that -- give him some water - either by dropping on his nose or misting him - see if he will drink - keep offering his worms - what are you using for a staple feeder?
Karrie
 

erodred

Member
Original Poster
KarrieRee":1c8krjy5 said:
Yes 2-3 hrs before lights off ----is he getting water? You need to keep him hydrated - what is his behavior like? Is he running around the tank and basking like he should -- the not eating is scaring me because if temps are good and the UVB is correct he should be eating --- and not one phoenix worm -- he needs more than that -- give him some water - either by dropping on his nose or misting him - see if he will drink - keep offering his worms - what are you using for a staple feeder?
Karrie

My staple feeder is now phoenix worms. A good 3 worms a day, one for breakfast, one for lunch, one for dinner is what his routine is. Will supplement with crickets and butterworms for variety if he learns to eat for me. The worms are much better than crickets. I do mist and/or drop water on him in the morning when lights turn on. Trying to capture the morning dew effect. Before he would drink it off his noise quite readily. Since moving UVB bulb inside and doing some other home modelling I feel like I restarted the timer for relocation stress....

Yesterday and the day before he sort of just let the water run down off his face and did minimal licking...

As for activity, he occasionally will get up and run around a bit in his tank, but for the most part he just perches on his branch and soaks in the sun. The hot side ambient is in the 90's with the basking spot 105-112. Cool side in the 80's. Humidity around 50% in the morning but when heat comes on it drops to about 35-40. I placed two socks of rice in the enclosure so he gets used to my scent as well as to help maintain the humidity a bit. Yesterday I found him in his dish below but no eating. But I did notice while I was out of the room that the count of worms was two that he ate from the dish on his own.

He used to show aggression to his reflection with hand bopping or he would submit and wave at them. He also closed his eyes lots. Since using the black construction paper to cover the sides, his eyes are always open. He still has a bit of reflection on the back of the tank with his scenery picture but he has not really shown aggression to it. He has shown aggression to the tank front glass reflection but that did not seem to last long.

This morning he just did a hand wave, followed by some beard bulges and head bobs... maybe that is at me. I have yet to interact with him apart from coming to the computer in the room. He didnt drink much water today...

I made a vet appointment for this coming Wednesday so will hopefully provide a "fresh" fecal sample and the vet can at least rule out anything internal.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
The hand waving and head bobbing is a mating thing - the waving is submission the bobbing is dominance thing - the beard bulging could mean hes stretching and going to shed
3 phoenix worms is no where near enough he should be eating a ton of those - supplement w/ dubia roaches and he should be eating anywhere from 8-10 at one time ---
www.reptilianarts.com they have medium roaches 200 for $35 --- I am not sure how them come in a plastic cup or in a box -- you can put them in a 10 gallon glass aquarium or tote and feed them dubia food and carrots and squash for hydration --- they will last longer than crickets and better for him they also have silk worms I get them from here and usually order in bulk like 50 they come small and are a great staple feeder as well - you will need to order food to feed daily and clean containers out daily as well
www.dubiaroaches.com they are currently not shipping roaches but you can order small super worms- they have good butterworms when in stock and horn worms a good hydrating worm but you need to order medium they usually come small they grow really fast so order small amounts --
www.coastalsilkworms.com
www.melberryfarms.com they are high on shipping
www.joshsfrogs.com
www.abdragons.com
Unless he actually needs to go to the vet I would hold off - its gonna stress him out even more --- he needs to adjust to his new surroundings --- make sure your washing or rinsing the BSFL -- and drop a lot in the bowl glass dish all the movement will get his attention - do it in front of him -- I think he is too young for parasites at this time - if he has poop that is smelling so badly its driving you from the room then yes a fecal is in order
Karrie
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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