Bearded dragon hiding all day

[Kirst817]

My beardie Rex is about 2-3years old, I got him from another owner last year due to him not getting enough attention and exercise.

He has been great and very active and recently he has been hiding on his cool side under his log, this is the 3rd time he has done this now.

He doesnt come out to bask and he doesn't come out to eat his hoppers or his kale. He goes a dark colour rather than his usual light colour.

The 1st time he was there for 2 days and then came out for 2 days.

The 2nd time was the same but he was out for almost a week.

I feed him hoppers twice a day and he has clean water twice a day and a bowl of kale, the only greens he will eat. I also give him a jelly pot once a week.

Temps are between 70-80f on his cool side and between 90-100f on his basking side. I have a heat emitter that I change over for the night time as I have read that they need complete darkness to sleep.

His tank is 4 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet.

Is this normal behaviour or do I need to get him to a vet for a check up?

Thanks

 

[CooperDragon]

It is not unusual behavior but it would be best to provide details about your setup to help rule out any possible issues with that. Are you keeping track of his weight? If that's staying steady that's a good sign. Can you post some photos of him? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

At 2-3 years old he is an adult so he doesn't need so many bugs in his diet. Once or twice a week for a bug meal is enough in most cases. He should get a nice big salad every day though. His primary diet should be vegetarian with only about 20% being live bugs at this point. I would work on getting him into a wide variety of veges for better overall health.

 

[Kirst817]

He has come out now and is under his basking light and he keeps bobbing his head up and down now.

He has a 100w basking solar spot, I'm not too sure what the long light is as it came with the tank. I have took a picture but not the best as the light is on.

I normally give him 4 hoppers in the morning and 4 in the evening. Is this too much for him? I do try him on different veggies but he doesn't eat them but I will keep trying.

 

[CooperDragon]

He looks OK and the head bobbing is a good sign (active/alert). If he is basking now I wouldn't mess with the setup much. Might have just been a quick phase which happens. I would reduce the frequency of bug meals. That may be part of why he isn't going after veges. Try holding off on the hoppers for a week or two and offer a salad every day and see how he reacts. Generally one or two bug meals per week is enough for an adult.

How old is the tube light? Their UVB output decays over time so if it has been a while you should probably consider replacing it with a new one.

 

[dlquick]

He has come out now and is under his basking light and he keeps bobbing his head up and down now.

He has a 100w basking solar spot, I'm not too sure what the long light is as it came with the tank. I have took a picture but not the best as the light is on.

I normally give him 4 hoppers in the morning and 4 in the evening. Is this too much for him? I do try him on different veggies but he doesn't eat them but I will keep trying.

It looks like he’s stressed out. Possibly seeing his own reflection, thinking there is another beardie with him.
Are three sides of the terrarium covered? I can’t tell from the photos.
I would focus on a diet consisting of 80% Veggies, 20% insects a day. Sounds like his diet is okay, as long as he eats plenty of veggies.

 

[Kirst817]

Ok great. I will replace the tube light in the week and hold of on the hoppers.

I give him fresh kale every day so I will go and buy a variety of different stuff and mix it up.

Thanks for your help and advice

 

[HippieLizards]

Hello,

I Agree with the others, He seems stressed out. Can he see any other animals or things that could be stressing him out from his tank? How long do you keep the lights on/off? His setup and lights look good and the tank looks nice. The only problem I spotted was that he's on calci-sand. Calci-sand can be lethal to beardies because they can lick it up when exploring the tank and when it goes into the bowels or stomach it turns into cement and forms a impossible to pass rock which could lead to impaction. Please take him off the sand and switch to something else like slate tile, paper towel, non adhesive shelf liner, or newsprint.

The head bobbing is probably from springtime and beardie breeding season. My two males have been going crazy with breeding season because I have two females (all of my beardies have separate enclosures of course). The behaviour will go away in a few months (or at least lessen down a bit).

How is he doing today?

-HippieLizards.

 

[Kirst817]

Yes it is only the front of the tank that is glass.

He has been with me since January and I do have cats but they aren't bothered about him and don't seem to care even when he is out of the tank running around.

He has been out most of the afternoon and seems to have gone back under his log again now.

The lights go on from 7-8am and I turn them all of from 6-7pm. They are always turned of by 8pm though.

I have always used sand as I use to have a painted dragon and had him for years with no problems. He did have bark when I first got him but was worried about it hurting his little feet.

 

[Kirst817]

I have just been to the shop and brought him carrots, melon and savoury cabbage so hopefully he will like these and I find something else he likes other than kale haha

 

[HippieLizards]

I Highly recommend switching to paper towels or tile. Even if he has been on sand for years it Is still very dangerous and In my opinion it's an unnecessary risk.

Also when he's out and about always make sure to have the cats locked up in a different room so they won't get to him. Cats are natural predators and it only takes a slight scratch or bite from the cat and the beardie will get infected by the viruses that the cats claws carry and get very sick.

The times you turn it off and on are much to little. I Think he's thinking it's winter and going into brumation. Beardies should have a 14-13 Hour on 10 hour off Photo period as they would in the wild. The 12 on 12 off photo period you're doing is what beardies would have in winter in the wild. I Think he's trying to brumate.

Keep us posted,

-HippieLizards.

 

[Kirst817]

Ok, I have seen carpet in the reptile shop I use. Is that ok?

The cats are normally outside or in another room while he is out just in case they do go for him.

I will start with the 13-14 hours on and 10 hours of and see how he gets on by the end of next week.

 

[Kirst817]

I have read up on brumation and rex definitely has all the signs for it. So no more need to be worrying as much.

I am going to keep bathing him once a week but other than that, leave him be until he is ready to wake up.

I will get him a new uvb tube light, change his sand to something else and change his diet so he isnt having as many hoppers and having more veggies.

Thanks to everyone's help and advice and I'm happy that I finally know he is just doing what he would in the wild and he isn't poorly ?.