Beardie acting strange!

[sugaryoshi]

I have two bearded dragons, both around one year. One is definitely a male, and I believe my other one is a female, however it is really hard to tell because there is no definite one bump or two bumps that show on her. I am concerned about her because she has been acting strange lately. I haven't seen her eat any crickets in a long time, and I'm not sure if she eats any while I'm gone during the day. When I get home she will usually be all the way underneath her log, and it looks like she is asleep or half asleep. She barely moves around at all in her tank. I haven't noticed any significant weight loss and she is always a bright yellow/orange color. She always seems to drink water when I spray her and I do think she is eating some of the romaine lettuce I give her. I stopped giving her superworms because people told me that they can be addicting to bearded dragons and that sometimes they will stop eating crickets becaus of it. Since I am so worried about never seeing her eat, I tried to give her a superworm the other day and she seemed very uninterested in it at first. It took her a few minutes before she finally ate it. I know females need to lay eggs, fertile or infertile, so I did make her a lay box. She digs a lot in her tank, but I don't know if it's because she is trying to find a spot to cool down or if she is trying to find a place to lay. When I put her in the lay box she just freaked out and tried escaping everytime. I have a 100 watt heat/UVA bulb and a 10.0 UVB bulb above her tank. I can't seem to feel any eggs inside her, but I don't know if you're supposed to be able to or not. I'm mostly worried about why she isn't eating much at all and if she does need to lay or not. Otherwise, I have no clue as to why she is acting so strange. My male bearded dragon is very active and eats like a hog...she is the complete opposite of him. Is this behavior normal?

 

[munchkins9802]

the simple question for now is are they housed together? If so, please seperate ASAP as that would be why she isn't eating. There are many more questions I have for you but will need to type them later as I need to do a few things before coming back on the computer

 

[sugaryoshi]

No, they are definitely not housed together. I rarely even put them by each other because she seems to be more dominant than him and charges at him a lot, which stresses him out. They are in seperate tanks

 

[sugaryoshi]

Is anyone going to help me? I would greatly appreciate it.

 

[kcarello]

What type of UVB lights do you have and how old are they? Have you always fed them romaine lettuce?? It is really not good for them. Beautifuldragons.com has a wonderful food list that most of us go by. Collard greens, turnip, mustard or dandelion greens are much better. Do you use calcium and vitamin supplements..how often??
If she is digging around alot and has stopped eating, it does sound like she might be going to lay eggs...but I'm not sure if its a little late in the season for that or not. I will do my best to help you out.

 

[sdunfee77]

My girl is acting the same way. No weight loss but not eating much and sleeping a lot. Shell devour hornworms if I have it but I'm out and it's too hot here in tx to get them shipped. Little over a year old. 17in 430grams

 

[sugaryoshi]

I was told romaine lettuce is fine for bearded dragons and to just not give them iceberg lettuce. I do give them a calcium supplement around every other day. I just got brand new 10.0 UVB bulbs for both of them, so those are fine. Every now and then I dust their veggies with a vitamin.

 

[kcarello]

You should never give your dragon any food with the word lettuce in it,,,iceberg, romaine, none of it...It needs to be greens. Also, do you have a ReptiSun or ReptiGlow uvb tube light? There is a huge difference. Did you go look at the food list at beautifuldragons.com?

 

[sugaryoshi]

I don't have the tube UVB bulbs, they are just the normal spiral UVB bulbs. Yes, I have bought them collard greens and mustard greens before. I have also tried squash, but they don't seem to take to it too much. Also, they don't seem to like fruits very much. They will just taste a little and then be done with it.

 

[kcarello]

You need to turn off the coil uvb lights, they are known to cause eye, health problems and lethargy. They are better off without any for a few days till you can replace them with either ReptiSun 10.0 tube uvb or the Arcadia d3 12%. Please go look at the nutrition chart I have told you about, it explains what they can and cannot eat along with what is ok to feed sometimes..but its is up to you how healthy you want your dragons to be. Good luck!

 

[sugaryoshi]

I honestly don't think it has anything to do with the coil UVB bulbs because we actually only had the UVA bulbs over their tanks because the pet store told us that's all we needed. Then I researched into it and found out they need UVB bulbs and that the bulbs we were using only had UVA. So we just recently put the UVB bulbs over their tanks. Maybe that's why she is acting this way? Howcome the coil UVB bulbs cause problems, but not the tube ones?

 

[kcarello]

Apparantley they put out way to many uvb rays at first, which can damage their eyes and cause health problem then quickly they stop utting out enough uvb rays. There are alot of discussions on this forum regarding them. You don't have to just take my word for it,,,read around on here and you will see. But, you really should turn them off until you get the right ones. If your pet store does not carry them you can order them online.
Kelly

 

[sugaryoshi]

Okay, thanks. I plan on getting the tube ones.

 

[munchkins9802]

but make sure you get the ReptiSun 10.0 TUBE not the repti GLO. Best place to order online petmountain.com

 

[sugaryoshi]

Okay, thanks for your help. I think I am just going to take her into a vet because I'm really worried about her :-(