Another he wont eat thread. Also, closes one eye a lot

[beardedgibbons]

We got our beardie a week and a half ago. He has been good about eating his crickets about 12-20 a day, and didn't start eating greens until sunday. I had a basic starter setup and spent the week getting him a better setup. As of yesterday he now has temp monitoring and a reptisun 10.0 tube. The tube runs 90% of the length of the tank, which I know is a lot, but we will be upgrading to a larger tank in the near future, he currently has a 20 gal. He gets 13 hours of light/heat and 11 hours off. His basking spot reads 106 right now and the cool side is 79. As of yesterday he stopped eating crickets. I did catch him eating a couple small pieces of collard greens but that's it. We started taking him out every day or two (with a 2 minute or so bath) last sunday. Anyhow, he appears to be shedding, and today when we let him run around the room he went to the corner and stared us down and his beard turned dark. He didn't puff it out or turn it completely dark, but it was not white like usual. We had a repti glo 10.0 coil in there until yesterday morning, and when I checked the basking spot when I got the digital thermometer it was around 120 :shock: , so I moved the light away. He never hangs out off his rock, usually is on it all day. Any help is appreciated. We also just switched crickets to some online ones that came in much larger. He may have eaten one that was too big? Thanks!

 

[beardedgibbons]

Oh and he poops once or twice a day and has not yet today, thanks.

 

[chickcasa]

It looks like you have fixed the coil problem, which is likely why your little one was closing his eye a lot. His lighting and temps should be good now. Are any of the larger crickets longer than the space between his eyes? If so, make sure you only feed him the smaller ones. Some beardies will be less likely to eat crickets that are too big for them. If he is pooping regularly though I wouldn't worry that he ate one that was too big already.

It's common for beardies to eat much less when they are shedding. This could very likely be the issue. If he stops having regularly formed poos or starts acting lethargic I would be more concerned, but for now give it a few days for him to finish shedding, and give him and extra soak to make the shed come off more easily. I wouldn't be too concerned about fewer poos, because he hasn't eaten much to poo out.

~Katy

 

[beardedgibbons]

We woke up this morning and his entire back and tail skin is hangin on by a thread where they meet. He was very excited for crickets too . Thanks for your help. We're gonna get him some calciworms at the store today. His colors look great now too!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How long was he under the other bulb & when did you place the Reptisun 10 over him?
It is usually recommended to wait a week or so after they have had eye irritation from the previous light to allow sufficient time for the affected eyes to heal up before placing another UVB light over them.
Are you using a bright white basking light for him?
Shedding does greatly affect their appetites most of the time.
That is great he already ate well for you today!
Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[beardedgibbons]

He was under the other bulb for a week and a half. I gave him a half day after sleeping with no UVB and then came home with the tube. His basking light is white. Should I give him time off from UVB? He was doing the one eye thing again a bit this morning. Thanks

 

[beardedgibbons]

Well he chowed down yesterday morning and did ok in the evening. Then this morning he seemed uninterested again. I thought that was over :/. Also he is still doing the one eye thing. Should I leave him with no UVB for a bit?

 

[beardedgibbons]

So should I leave him with no UVB for a week? He is still doing the one eye thing with each eye just one at a time. He also seems a bit lethargic and scared. He is pretty much done shedding except te end of his tail and a small spot on top of his head. Hasn't eaten greens either. No crickets again tonight :/