Update about my sick Beardie -lighting questions

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Hey everyone,

I’m back again with an update. Quick recap - I took my 2.5 year old boy to the vet on July 14 because he wasn’t eating or pooping. They did an enema (which I didn’t know until after was a bad idea), and gave him antibiotics. He was never really diagnosed with anything, but his white blood cells were a little high. He was on 2 weeks of injectable antibiotics. I also gave him 3 weeks of probiotics in sweet potato baby food. Since that date, he hasn’t eaten anything on his own (no bugs or salad) and he still acts like he doesn’t feel well. He doesn’t move around much and when I give him a bath, his beard gets black and he acts dead.

I’ve been feeding him critical care herbivore, repta + boost, and last week I gave him pumpkin baby food with olive oil to get him to poop (for the first time in 3 weeks, granted he hadn’t eaten any real food). He isn’t losing weight, and I’ve been alternating the critical care and repta boost. He never drinks in the bath or when I mist him, but I can get him to lick drops from a dropper.

My issue now is his lights. I’m wondering if it’s why he is lethargic and not eating. I’ve tried everything ugh. I had a herpstat ez1 to try to regulate temps, but I kept having issues with it and getting error beeps. I’ve tried 75, 100, and 150 w bulbs on dimmers and off. I’ve tried the basking fixture inside the tank and on top.

Right now, I have a 150W intense basking bulb on top of the tank, and it keeps the temp around 95 with his hammock close to the bottom. I have a 36 inch Arcadia t5 14%. My main question is if it is positioned correctly. I need to raise his hammock (his favorite basking thing) to get the temps a little warmer, but I think the UVB Is too strong for that. See the pic below. Should I get a 12% instead, or would it be better to get a reptisun T5? I’d like to keep his hammock about 12 inches from the uvb fixture.

Also, is it okay in the back like that? It is a reflective fixture.

106434-9094278430.jpg
Ignore the basking bulb fixture inside, I plan to remove that. I was just messing around with the fixtures trying to figure out which worked best. If I keep it inside, it gets too hot with a 100 watt. 75 gets pretty close but it just didn’t seem bright enough. Keeping it on top is the best option.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
That 14% bulb is good - you have it strapped to the top of the tank and the basking distances for that should be around 17 inches - that is what I had in mine - I had to recently drop to the Rep T5 because when I went to order the Arcadias everyone was out - so now I have T 5's in the tanks - it is up to you if you want to drop to the Rep T 5 or Arcadia 12% - they would need to go the distance of 12-15 inches -- and I have my basking bulb 150 on top of the screen as well too --
Your hammock is how far from the UVB ? You want him to be able to sit directly under it around 17"
here is a pic of my tank
97951-8462642594.jpg
Karrie
 

Teach88790

Member
Original Poster
Right now it’s about 16 or 17 inches, but I want to raise the hammock to get his basking temp a little higher.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
You cant move that 14% any closer -- its too strong of a bulb -- get another piece of decor for the basking piece like this or get a the Rep T 5 or the Arcadia 12% bulb then you will haft to lower the fixture to the 12-15 inches
https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-and-decor/habitat-decor/thrive-driftwood-reptile-decor-54734.html?cgid=500116 this piece offers different heat gradients -- if you look at my tank I have that same piece my basking spots are different areas - they dont need to be in the same area he will go to the light he needs -- that piece is great for offering different temps for basking
Karrie
 
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