Too much or too little calcium?

My bearded dragon (3 and a half ish years old, rescue) Cadmus is just waking up from brumation and I am not sure if this is related.
I had him out today feeding him some dusted wax worms and meal worms (he’s a bit skinny, hence the regular waxworms) as well as dusted fresh kale and a beardie safe veggie mix, though he never eats his greens. He’ll eat the worms right away like he’s really hungry, and then always pass on the greens. He will eat some fruit (banana or strawberry usually, but I don’t give him too much, just as a treat).
When I had him out he walked across the room a bit (carpet) and was walking very erratically, jumping a bit as well. His front legs seem to be working fine, and his back legs aren’t dragging or anything but he seems like he’s having a harder time moving than before. I’ve never seen this before and this is my first time having him come out of brumation, so I’m just a little worried!

His UVB lamp (exo terra desert 36” UVB 150, about 3 months old) covers most of his enclosure, but he does have places he can go and be out of the direct UV. His basking lamp is a 150W black ceramic heat emitter (Thrive brand). The highest point he has (where he hung out most until he began sleeping, more so now underneath his furniture and things not in direct UVB) is about a foot underneath the UVB tube, as well as about that far from the heat emitter as well. His basking spot gets up to 110 F in the hottest spot, but has a hammock he can use to get closer/further to the heat/UV.

Note - enclosure is in the middle of being fixed as it had to all be taken out to find some bratty crickets that were hiding. Usually has a hammock bridge that leads to the left (cooler side) over to some rock steps over a cave hide.

Hi. Ceramic heat emitters are for night time. Only if your house is 65 or colder. He needs a bright white basking light. Also you want a better uvb light. Reptisun T5 HO. Your uvb does not need to be as long as the tank.

Also, I can't tell if it is just the picture angle or not, but the UVB needs to be pointing down at the bottom of the tank and the fixture needs a reflector behind the tube. If it is just the picture angle for that, you are good to go on those two things.

Where is your basking light please? And I would recommend you move your uvb off the back wall - it should be directly above the basking decor- is the uvb a T 5 or T 8

Thanks for the replies!
His UVB fixture is angled downwards a bit but I’ll definitely angle it out and further down and get the reflector behind it just in case. It’s a T5, I’ve decided I’ll replace it early and possibly get either the Arcadia D3+ Desert or the D3+ Dragon brand (both T5s), has anyone had any experience with those?

I’ll also get him a white basking light, I was misinformed about needing the actual visible basking light in addition to UVA from the lamp so thank you for that! I’m probably going to try the Arcadia brand one for that one as well, the mercury vapour D3 basking lamp. What would be the best wattage for him if his basking platform is ~12” from the lamp? This one is (supposed to be) specifically for longer/larger enclosures.

Thank you for all the help, I really appreciate it!

madilian9 said:

Thanks for the replies!
His UVB fixture is angled downwards a bit but I’ll definitely angle it out and further down and get the reflector behind it just in case. It’s a T5, I’ve decided I’ll replace it early and possibly get either the Arcadia D3+ Desert or the D3+ Dragon brand (both T5s), has anyone had any experience with those?

I’ll also get him a white basking light, I was misinformed about needing the actual visible basking light in addition to UVA from the lamp so thank you for that! I’m probably going to try the Arcadia brand one for that one as well, the mercury vapour D3 basking lamp. What would be the best wattage for him if his basking platform is ~12” from the lamp? This one is (supposed to be) specifically for longer/larger enclosures.

Thank you for all the help, I really appreciate it!

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One good solid bright white basking bulb that keeps temps to what you need I would not go w/ a MVB they are spendy and getting a regular basking bulb is going to be sufficient if your getting the Arcadia Pro T 5 -- I recommend the 24" Arcadia Pro T 5 for a 40 + gallon tank -- anything over a 120 gallon tank is going to need a longer fixture -- we recommend the pro T 5 all the time on here --

KarrieRee said:

One good solid bright white basking bulb that keeps temps to what you need I would not go w/ a MVB they are spendy and getting a regular basking bulb is going to be sufficient if your getting the Arcadia Pro T 5 -- I recommend the 24" Arcadia Pro T 5 for a 40 + gallon tank -- anything over a 120 gallon tank is going to need a longer fixture -- we recommend the pro T 5 all the time on here --

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Which basking light would you go with instead of a MVB?
My tank is over 120, the T5 Fixture goes across almost the entire tank.

madilian9 said:

Which basking light would you go with instead of a MVB?
My tank is over 120, the T5 Fixture goes across almost the entire tank.

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Please post a pic of your tank

KarrieRee said:

Please post a pic of your tank

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There is a photo attached to the original post.

I’ve bought the 100W Arcadia halogen basking lamp (E26) and I’ll be using it with the Arcadia lamp cage just in case.

madilian9 said:

There is a photo attached to the original post.

I’ve bought the 100W Arcadia halogen basking lamp (E26) and I’ll be using it with the Arcadia lamp cage just in case.

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I am gonna have another person on here help you w/ the bigger tank
@CooperDragon

Thankbyou

KarrieRee said:

I am gonna have another person on here help you w/ the bigger tank
@CooperDragon

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I appreciate that, thanks!
I lied, the 100W halogen basking bulb is too hot (above 110F) so I’m going to switch it down to the 75W and see how that is for his basking temps.

with the plain bulbs it comes down to bright light and surface temps more than anything. If the 100w was too much, then moving to a 75w is a good move and you can keep trying different options until the surface temps in the basking area are in the high 90s-low 100s.

CooperDragon said:

with the plain bulbs it comes down to bright light and surface temps more than anything. If the 100w was too much, then moving to a 75w is a good move and you can keep trying different options until the surface temps in the basking area are in the high 90s-low 100s.

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Thanks for your reply, I switched it down to the 75watt and it was still too hot for his platform (could be the material I used to make it), so I moved the basking light over a bit so that it’s sort of slightly diagonal from the platform instead of directly on it, and the temps on the platform are in the 100s and I have a log under the basking light where it’s reading 105-110 ish.

His far side (cool side) says it’s around 78-80F, does this seem like an okay gradient for him? He’s been monitoring himself quite well with the change, sticking around the middle of his enclosure for now.

That gradient sounds about right. If he continues to avoid the basking area and sticks to the middle for an extended period, you might want to try an even lower wattage bulb or raise it higher away from the basking zone to try and cool it off a bit more. He'll move to get the temps he wants, as you're seeing, but you also want to be careful not to close off too much of the space with temps that are too high for his preference.