Tracie,
The UVB I'm using is 24" a ReptiSun 10.0. It is getting close to replacing the bulb (I replace it every 6 months, give or take a couple of weeks). He can get within 6" of the bulb as well at his basking spot. I just got our new 4'x2'x2' enclosure, so hopefully, I will soon be moving everything over there in the next few days. As you know, it's difficult tell if bearded dragons are sick or not. He probably only spends about half of the day basking...if he ever has stress marks at all, they're so minor that it may only look like tiny dots, but any stress indicators for Smaug seem very small or rare, his belly is usually all white.
Smaug is about 12-13 months old now, around 455 grams and 16" long.
The one thing I know that changed was my basking light fixture (same wattage bulb), which was prior to the changes I've noticed in him. My larger fixture broke, so I'm using the smaller one I had, however the peak center reading of the basking spot is usually 100-110 degrees, surrounding areas in the low 90s, upper 80s. I'm hoping that my new hard top wooden enclosure I got will retain heat a little better and provide a better heat gradient. Because of our work schedule and light schedule (timer), I'm only able to feed him once a day, at night when we get home from work. We have a basking spot for him on the back of the couch (clamp lamp) which is usually where I feed him and let him have social time with us out of the enclosure, which he seems to enjoy a lot. I let him chill here for the 2 hour period to digest his food, then mist him, put him back under the basking spot for 15 minutes, or until dry, then put him to bed. I figured a couple of hours away from the UVB should be OK, since he's exposed to it all day while we're at work. We usually let him out for a couple of hours a day on weekend days as well. Smaug will move out of each basking spot as he needs to to thermo-regulate, and will move back when he's ready. Sometimes I put him back though if he spends to much time away from it after eating (I check his body's surface temps with my temp gun).
The only things going on with Smaug lately, that seem "out of the ordinary" are as follows:
Spending less time basking than he used to.
Slightly cracked open mouth, fairly often.
He has this patch of scales on top of his head (above the mouth) that are abnormally dry and feel slightly raised.
He also has this ONE spike scale on his back that has a shed attached, that will NOT come off (going on 2 months now), despite daily to every other day misting and warm soaks twice a week.
He has also started eating less (20-30 crickets) + veggies for his meal. He used to eat 80-100 crickets a day, and very little veggies. I wrote on this in a different post and was told that it's normal for their food intake to slow down as they get older. In regards to his eating as a whole, I don't recall him ever going a day without wanting to eat. When I weigh him, I try to not weigh him after eating, and not before pooping, but it doesn't always work out that way as I usually weigh him on Sundays. Sometimes he seems to have weight loss, but he has consistent weight increases over time, since I've had him.
I keep a log of everything he eats, dustings, poop and weekly weight measurements, in an excel sheet. I'm currently dusting crickets with Calcium+D3 (ZooMed) 6 days a week, and a MV (ReptiCal) dusting once a week. His crickets are feed staple veggies that I would feed him, usually alternating between collards, mustard greens, butternut squash and green beans. I also keep a 'Fluker's High-Calcium Cricket Diet' (8% calcium) in food bowls for the crickets, mainly for the crude protein, as it stops them from cannibalizing each other. If anything, I've recently had a concern of "am I giving him too much calcium?"
Smaug gives me a lot of troubles eating his veggies. I often have to gently rub a veggie around his mouth and wait for him to open up and eat it, but I've never once gotten him to willing eat veggies on his own. He will even turn his head away or dodge it when he doesn't want anymore veggies...just like a stubborn child. He LOVES cricket time though and willingly goes for them, although I feed him "trough style" from a Tupperware container (he's so spoiled, won't work for/chase his food anymore).
For the most part,, Smaug is pretty chill and sits in one place, but occasionally he gets adventurous and wants to explore or he'll come over to cuddle and be petted.
I haven't noticed any labored breathing, or coughing sounds coming from him, he usually stretches his beard out in the mornings when he wakes up, before basking. His poop schedule isn't very predictable, sometimes he poops daily, sometimes he may not poop for 3-5 days. On average though, I'd say he poops every other day.
I know that's a lot of randomly put together info, but maybe something in there stands out to you all who more experienced beardie owners than me.
Thanks again all.
