Bearded in desperate need of help!!

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Hello, I have a female bearded dragon that I got when she was about 6 months old and was a normal dragon. After about 2-3 months of owning her we realized she went into a sort of sleep which at the time it was winter so we suspected a brumation. After the winter pasted we went into spring and summer and she still never moved, picked her head up or ate. Another winter passes and still no movement despite 24/7 interaction, bathes and trying to feed her EVERYTHING. Now fast forward to the present, she has started to eat superworms which we are switching to grubs but she still only wakes up when put outside then brought back in to eat after that it is straight back to bed. We bring her outside and she wakes up and picks her head up and even walk a little bit. It was bad walking at first but with being fed and taken outside daily she is getting better. Bad part is right when she is brought back in she goes right back to head down and eyes shut. Even outside she will let me flip her upside down with little to no care. We want to breed her due to her amazing colors but we cannot until she is "alive" again. She currently has a UVB bar across her tank with a 100 Watt powersun and 100 Watt red heater. She has the bar on morning to night with the red heater. Hot side is about 100 and cold side is about 80 (Fahrenheit). Even when put on the hot side she always climbs down to the cold side. We are not sure what more we can do at this point. We are replacing the UVB bar in her cage and getting grubs for her and just crossing our fingers so hopefully we can breed her late winter to spring. ANY help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You!
 

Drache613

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Hello,

Can you review your tank setup with us, such as the type/brand of UVB lighting, the
supplementation, etc & some pictures of your dragon so we can take a look at everything.
They can brumate for awhile but, it sounds like she has been inactive for too long. Is she
having any trouble walking, climbing, etc?
I wouldn't turn her upside down though, because they have a hard time breathing while on
their backs. It sounds like she may have calcium issues or some other type of nutritional
issue going on.
Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Yes please go over the UVB brand and bulb and where in the tank ---- but you MUST get rid of the red heater light --- colored bulbs are bad for the eyes and if used at nite it will keep them up all nite long- there is a eye on the top of their heads for predators and that red light is NO GOOD! Please shut it off -- you do not need heat at nite unless the tank is dropping below 65 --- then you would need a CHE ceramic heat emitter --- the only 2 lights you need in that tank are a bright white basking bulb that keeps temps 95- 100 taken w / a digital probe thermometer and a good UVB --- a long tube fixture NO coils please!!!!!!!!!!!
 

brandostoked

Member
Original Poster
Thank you both for such quick responses I appreciate it. Lets start, in her cage she has a 10.0 UVB ReptiSun bar by ZooMed, a 100Watt basking light (PowerSun) and used to have a red 100 Watt heat lamp as well. The bar spans across the whole cage and the basking lamp (powersun) is above her hammock for easy access. Her hot side is usually about 100 and cold around 80 but she is only ever on the cold side. She has a hammock on the hot side and for substrate she has a mat. We are using Repti Calcium by Zoo Med without D3. The first time we took her out she did have trouble walking not really using her paws just limping along but now has progressed to walking on paws and almost normal. Doesn’t move AT ALL in her cage, keeps her head down and only way to get her up is to be outside then bring her in feed her and you only get like 2 min while back inside before she goes back to sleep. No coils are used in her set up. I look forward to hearing back.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
The UVB is what bulb? T 5 or T 8? Inside or on top of screen? Distance and placement is different from the 2 bulbs--- how are you taking basking temps? No stick ons please they are inaccurate--
 

brandostoked

Member
Original Poster
T5 placed on top of the screen. I am taking the temps both with a temp gun and with a thermometer I can put in the cage and move around.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Please get the UVB moved into the tank --- the screen is blocking 30% of the rays -- shes not getting enough UVB and please get rid of the red bulb----------------- distance for the UVB should be 12-15 inches directly over the basking decor piece ---
 

brandostoked

Member
Original Poster
I will definitely get that moved. Would it be fine is the UVB is closer than that to the basking area decor? I think it would be about 6 inches from the hammock. But she does have sticks to climb on that would get her anywhere from 6-15 inches under the UVB bar. Would lack of UVB cause all these issues? We have 2 other dragons with the same set ups and they have been normal. One has been a little lazy lately but she did just lay 26 infertile egg 4 days ago. They were all infertile because she wasn’t bred she just laid them some normal females do.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Start there but she is definitely lacking UVB --- and that red light is not helping either --- 6" is too close you want it 12-15 inches - if you haft to move the hammock or cover up the part that is so close
 

brandostoked

Member
Original Poster
Okay so her cage is only 14-15 inches deep so the hammock would have to pretty much on the bottom of the tank. That’s where she is always hanging anyways so that should work. We will have to see if the powersun can keep the bottom at the desired temp. I’m going to put her UVB bar under the screen, move her hammock and then get rid of the red light. Maybe she hangs on the cool side because the red light isn’t on that side and that’s what is keeping her from hanging on her hammock. The red light is also 6inches from her hammock so I’m sure it was beaming in her eye at the top of her head.
 
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