Advice Needed??

[frazz]

Hi i have posted a few times on here before as im new too keeping a bearded dragon and most of the advice here i get is invaluable

Now i've had my dragon coming on 2 months now and he had grown a bit but no where near what most people say he should be (about 40 grams). He will eat about 20 - 30 small hoppers a day though and does poop every 1-2 days.

Now the problem im having is hes permanently stressed marked no matter what time of day it is and over the last couple of days has gotten lethargic (wont move for food unless i put it in front of his nose, and sits in the same spot)

Our temps are all fine only thing is we have a reptiglo UVB which ive heard are no good??

He has always closed his eyes a lot since we got and today we've noticed his eye has swollen a bit, can anyone advise :


I've now turned his uvb off, is there anyway it could be the other light thats affecting him??

I've left his tank like this will this do for a couple of days till i source the problem??



Any help will be greatly appreciated as will save me a fortune from a trip too the vets.... :study:

 

[chastityx]

you should get him a reptisun 10.0 tube bulb. i've heard that incorrect uvb rays from the bulbs can cause them to be lethargic & eye problems etc. it might be why he's acting weird but it could always be something else. good luck with your baby!

 

[Nathan1995]

Yeah the wrong UVB bulb can indeed cause lethargy, which sounds an awful lot like what your baby is having. My baby's had this problem for about 2-3 months when I first got them, sat still all day permanently stressed, not even eating, but as soon as they got the new bulbs they loved it. Good luck!

 

[snazzyglasses]

Or if you're in the UK, you could get an Arcadia 12% tube. That and the ReptiSun 10.0 tube are currently the only UVB sources that give off the correct wavelengths of UVB for bearded dragons.

 

[frazz]

So ill set out tomorrow and get a new UVB light for him I found this one that I can probably find tomorrow will it be okay

http://www.aquacadabra.co.uk/Arcadia-39w-D3-T5-Reptile-Lamp-12-UVB-FD3P39T5.html

I take it the over 40w basking lamp will be okay though??

 

[snazzyglasses]

Yep that bulb is fine! It's strong enough that you won't need a reflector behind it either
If you're having issues finding a High-Output T5 fixture for the bulb, the T8 Arcadia 12% tubes are great as well (I don't see very many decent-looking HO T5 fixtures by me anyways, and T8's are everywhere. But then again I'm in the US so things may be different here! )

You'll still need an additional bulb for heat though, if that's what you were asking? A regular household incandescent bulb is fine, as long as it gets the temps up to the recommended range and doesn't have a Neodymium coating

 

[frazz]

I do have a fixture already so should be good too go...

Would anyone recommend leaving him without UVB for a day or 2 until his eye heals and his stress marks go away??

 

[chastityx]

I do have a fixture already so should be good too go...

Would anyone recommend leaving him without UVB for a day or 2 until his eye heals and his stress marks go away??

if you can get him out into natural sunlight for an hour or so it might make him feel better & you could turn off the light for a day or two

 

[snazzyglasses]

A couple-few days without UVB should help his eye heal faster. It did for my adult anyways! (I had a ReptiSun 10.0 tube but I accidentally dropped it, and it started flickering weird and hurting his eyes. Oops. I kept it turned off while I was waiting for the new ReptiSun to come in the mail.)
If there's any gunk or discharge coming from his eyes, you can flush them out with a sterile saline solution and that'll help with healing too. Make sure it's plain saline though, not the kind with contact lens chemicals in it. I think the kind I use is called "sterile saline eye wash".
You also may want to put a towel underneath him or flush his eyes in the sink; if your little guy makes a huge fuss like my adult did then there will probably be saline everywhere, lol! :shock: