Acting unusual this morning!

[braydensdad]

So last night Spike fell asleep on his Repti-Hamik about 7 inches from the heating light. I have a thermometer about the same distance and at night it reads about 98 degrees. After I gave him his meds for internal parasites and let him rest on my chest for a bit he ate 9 crickets in about 2 minutes. After that he went to his basking rock where he is now, about the last 15 minutes. He has been showing his beard very rapidly 3 times now and when he shows his beard it goes in and out quickly like he is about to vomit. I am worried that he may have damaged something internally while sleeping under the light all night. I would like to know what others think, is this common for a beardie to do? Thanks

 

[peera]

It's relativly common, Dora's actually basking with her beard out right now. If they do it after feeding, it's because they have a pouch right inside their throat (think birds or hamsters) where they store food for short periods of time, and bearding is how they dislodge it. However, you shouldn't have a light on him at night, it can disrupt his sleep because he can still "see" the light and it keeps his brain active. Temps can and should drop significantly at night inside their tank, as long as they don't drop lower than 60* it's actually good for them.

 

[braydensdad]

I didn't have the light on, sorry that is what I said, I had the night heat lamp on. Thank you so much, that is a huge relief to know that he is fine. And just before you replied he had a bowel movement so that also cooled me down some. I learned something new today and I am sure I will contuing learning new stuff about beardies alot. Thanks again and you just saved me a vet bill. Spike appreciates it to.

By the way,
Your Awesome