Bearded Dragon Concerns

[Kstreiss]

I got Nori back in November of 2016 as a baby. Her normal diet consists of greens, different types of worms, and occasionally crickets and cockroaches. I don’t have a thermometer in her cage (I had one but never replaced it.)

Since the summer she has been pretty lazy and barely eats. Sometimes she’ll eat a BUNCH of worms, then almost nothing except greens for the next week. It’s March now, and she loves to be in the coldest corner. When I take her out she’s fine and moves, just not very energetic. Is that just her personality, or am I doing something wrong?

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Well if you can't take temperatures then it's probably temperature related as you have NO IDEA WHAT THE TEMPS ARE.

Theres possibly other problems with her care as well.

You NEED to get a temp gun or a digital temperature gauge with a probe. These are the ONLY accurate options for measuring surface temperature. Which Is what you NEED, mostly for the basking spot.

Basking spot - 100-110*F, No less and No more.
Warm side (Area around direct basking spot) - 88-95.
Cool side - 70-85.
Night time temperature - 65-85. If it drops below 65 you can get a CHE/Ceramic heat emitter, this is the only way to heat them at night with above heat. Any other bulb usually emits red/purple/black/green lighting which is VERY VISIBLE to them, they see the colors we do and more so any colored bulbs with disturb their sleep and possibly mess with their eyes.

At her age lots of greens is definitely good.


This is just a little feeding guide if you need any help with that... as I worry when you say worms.
All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches, possibly earthworms.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-nutrition-data.php#veg
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Make sure you have at least TWO supplements, Calcium without D3 and Multivitamins.
For beardies less than two years, 5x with calcium and 2x with multivitamins a week dusted on at least one insect feeding.
For beardies at or above two years, 3-4x with calcium and 1-2x with multivitamins a week.
I usually dust the salad for this and then on insect days I dust the insects.
Generally weekdays are my calcium days and multivitamin days are my weekends.

Make sure you have a long tube light for UVB and a bright white basking bulb.

The tube light should be a REPTISUN T5 HO 10.0 TUBE LIGHT BULB in a fitting reflective fixture right in front or behind the basking bulb so when the beardie basks it gets UVB.

It's also preferred to have a long enough light that it reaches somewhat in the middle/cool end so the beardie can also get UVB when not basking, and also get to areas with no UVB.


What is her current enclosure size?
What is her substrate/bedding?
What is her current light setup? (Tell me everything, brand, type, colored or not colored, ect)
How big is she (Head to tail)
Can you weigh her? If so tell me how much she is in grams.

How many times a week do you feed her?
How much for those feeding days?
How many times do you dust your insects?
What type of veggies/greens is she getting?

https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/
It would be good to post pictures of her, her setup and everything.

Basically go there, upload a picture, then when you come back hit the XIMG tab above when you reply an select the picture.

 

[Kstreiss]

I am going out today so I will pick up two thermometers. I try to feed her every day, but sometimes she won’t eat. When she does it I feed her until she stops going for it, normally around 8-10. Every time I go to the store I get something different (worms, crickets, Dubias). I give her spinach and kale mostly, occasionally some fruit. I don’t dust that often, which I will start doing more.
Her bedding is Zilla Desert Blend.
I have a red nightlight, basking light, and the UVB.
She doesn’t like to be fed my hand or tongs anymore so we have to put it in a bowl but the worms and cockroaches find a way out!

ALSO: She is shedding her back legs and tail at the moment.

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

There are quite a few problems with the setup.
And her diet somewhat.

She doesn't have correct lighting, that cheap little compact/coil bulb you have is practically useless if its not a Exo-Terra 25 watt 200UVB coil bulb. And even then it's best to have a tube light.
You need to get a REPTISUN T5 HO 10.0 34" UVB Tube light with a fitting reflective fixture.
You can also go for a Arcadia D3+ T5 HO 12%-14% 34" bulb.

In the future you'll eventually have to upgrade the tank to a 75 gallon at the very MINIMUM. 40-50 gallons don't work very well to keep a healthy, active bearded dragon unless you can take her out 24/7 and let her run around while having access to what she needs.

The red bulb needs to be trashed, they see in color just like we do and a bit more. So imagine trying to sleep in a room where theres this red light shining in at you from above, of course it wont be too noticeable to us but its painfully noticeable to them and they barely get sleep when theres a bright light on them.
Unless it gets below 65 at night you DO NOT NEED a night time heat source. And if it does get below that then the only acceptable overhead source is a CHE/Ceramic heat emitter.

EVEN REPTILES THAT LACK THE ABILITY TO SEE RED COLORING STILL SEE A TYPE OF LIGHT AT THE VERY LEAST.
IF A BULB PRODUCES LIGHT AND WE CAN SEE IT, IT IS NOT A INFRARED BULB. WE CAN NOT SEE INFRARED.

STOP THE SPINACH, it is the worst thing to give them and causes many problems. Kale is fine but only if given alongside 1-2 other healthy greens.

If you look at the feeding guide I posted you should try to follow it to have a healthy dragon.
It shows how much of a treat item can be fed, it shows how much to feed depending on age, gives a list and a few links of greens and other veggies and fruits that can be fed.


Now onto that horrible substrate choice, you need to completely clean it all out and throw it all away. Then you want to replace with newspaper, paper towels, rough tiles, non adhesive shelf liner, AstroTurf, or repti-carpet.
I personally prefer paper towels or rough tiles.

The reason for this is SAND IS NOT NATURAL for them, specifically CENTRAL BEARDED DRAGONS.
Their home land in most parts where they are is more dirt, rocks and clay than sand. There may be a bit in some areas but for the most part it has a texture of a nice hard solid substrate.

Particle substrates WILL cause - Impaction, prolapses (This can cost up to 1,000 to fix), stained scales, bad joints, cut up stomach and eyes (Mostly seen in ground-walnut shells), fungal infections, bacterial infections, and much more.

Also impaction happens over time as the substrate builds up over time inside the animals stomach. Once built up enough it becomes a blockage, anything going in doesnt come out. This ends up rotting in the stomach and killing the bearded dragon basically, my easiest way to describe impaction is simply that.

Impaction or really any pushing too hard can cause prolapses.

Here are a few pictures showing what their natural habitat basically looks like.