Sick or stressed?

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Hollyfm

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I feel like something is wrong with my guy and I'm nervous. I (feel stupidly) joined some facebook beardie groups and I think that has me paranoid. Recently received my zen habitat enclosure so he could be stressed but he hasn't come out of his cave in days. Hasn't eaten his greens in days. My son keeps giving him a superworm or two just to try and get him out. He does come out for those but that's it. I have not taken him to the vet since we got him (vet said we didn't need to unless he was sick) but on FB, people kept talking about getting poop checked often? Is that a thing? I feel like looking at other bearded dragons, he looks very little and skinny. I'm a very nervous mom! Can you tell!! :)
 

CooperDragon

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It's possible he is just slowing down for brumation. I would keep track of his weight since that should remain stable if he is going into brumation. Your setup is great. You may want to move the UVB over above the basking rock near the basking light, but that is unlikely related to behavior - just a best practice so high UVB and high heat are over the same area. He looks healthy based on what I can see in the photo, but it is quite small. If you can post a larger photo it would be helpful.
 

Hollyfm

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Ok here are a couple more of him to see his size I suppose. I wondered that too if he was getting ready for that. The weather last week was so cold! Now it's so gorgeous out. I've been checking his temps like crazy since the changes and I'm new to this.

So, UVB light should be under his basking light? I thought they needed to be spread apart? I'm anticipating getting a background today otherwise I'd have a hammock up, which should that be under basking light or on the cooler side?
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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For some reason your photos are showing up as very small/low resolution on my screen so I'm not able to see much detail. Based on what I can see, he is about the right size and looks healthy. Similar build to my dragon. Skinny is OK as long as weight is stable and in (very roughly) the 400-600g range.

Brumation doesn't seem to be triggered by the weather or outside conditions. My guy has gone into full brumation in mid summer before. I think it is some kind of genetic trigger that varies between them. Some of them don't go into brumation at all.

As far as the light goes, I'd probably move it up a little bit, keep it along the back wall, and just slide it over to where the basking rock is so it's next to the basking light. That way you will have a gradient. High UVB and heat on the basking rock, medium exposure/heat to the side of it, and lower temps and little to no UVB on the far side. Providing this gradient lets them move around and choose what they want at a given time. They don't always want to be under the highest heat or the most intense UVB.
 

Hollyfm

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Yeah it only lets me upload the lowest quality image. Sorry! Thanks for the help though. I'll assume he's starting brumation
 
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