Beardie concerns!

[PumpkinCupcake]

I recently lost my first Beardie, Toothless, due to misinformation from a pet store. Well, I bought a new beardie, Little Foot.

Since Little Foot is bigger than Toothless was, I have him in a 55 gallon, instead of a 20 gallon. I have a 100W basking light, and a UVB Dessert bulb. I don't have a water bowl with him all day, just when I feed him. He gets Dubai roaches, and has fresh kale and collards available. I can't get his humidity to stay below 60%.. And also I've noticed he won't eat, even if we put the food right in front of his face.. And he usually just stays in one spot, really doesn't move.. I don't know if he's just getting use to his new surroundings, or what..

Also, when I have him a bath, I noticed that he has spots on his back that show up when he's in water. what could that be..?

Here are some pictures of everything:


(Don't mind my husband, he's like a little kid at the zoo..)






(^^This is what he looked like when I got him, he's in love with the dinosaur)

 

[Texsdad]

Those types of thermometers/hygrometers are almost never accurate. The best you can do is place the tank in a dry rooms (not a near a bathroom or kitchen) and keep it the tank hot. Taking the water bowl out probably won't help the humidity but will make it so your dragon can't drink proactively. I would try and give your beardie a higher basking spot as your tank looks pretty tall and light and heat only travel so far. As far as the food goes, kale is counterproductive when it comes to calcium intake.

 

[PumpkinCupcake]

I usually dust his kale in calcium powder. As for the higher up, should I move his rock to the other side..? Everything in his tank was bought for a 20 gallon, wasn't really expecting to go up in tank sizes so quickly, so I wasn't really prepared.

 

[anastasia6988]

Aww, I'm sorry to hear you lost toothless. :-(
Good luck with your new dragon. And, he might not be eating bc of just getting use to his new home, could be a little stressed. But also like texsdad said he will need to be closer to the heat, I know you are working on it, but this helps them digest their food.

And even with dusting the kale, it is no good. There is something in it, I can't remember what, that stops them from absorbing the calcuim. I'd stick to turnips, mustard greens and collard greens for a base on your salad. Squash is good for fiber, acorn, speghetti or butternut squash is good.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....Little foot sure is a cutie, looks like a transluscent ? Anyway, Texsdad is right, the tank is too tall for most of the heat and especially the uvb to reach that far to where the baby is. You are best off to put him in the 20 gal., it will be perfectly fine for a couple of months while you are using the desert UVB. Is that bulb the Zilla brand ? They may not give off adequate uvb.....the only long tube UVB that will reach 20" down is the Reptisun 10.0 t5 or the Arcadia 12%. If you have a tall enough branch [ beardies love to climb anyway, so give him some nice tall branches ] then when he's a few months older + bigger you can put him back in the 55 gallon. Right now he'll be better off in the 20 gal long because the UVB will reach him better than in the big tank.

 

[PumpkinCupcake]

I'll put him back in 20 tonight. When I had him in the 20, all I had in there was good log, because I was told his rock is too close to the light. I've also noticed he's been ducking down a lot when my husband stands up, but not me.. I was gonna go in our woods tonight and find some decent sized branches, so he's closer to the lights.

Any idea what the spots could be our why he's not eating? I've tried a different container, and different things, but he barely touches anything..

 

[AHBD]

I love collecting logs/branches from outside + have some beautiful pieces. You can preheat the oven + pop the logs in for an hour at 250 to kill any potential hidden pests . As for his color, if you take a pic while he's in the water it will help....it may be stress/excitement related.

It's good that you switched him back to the 20 G tank. If he's not eating much he is going through relocation stress most likely....that can reduce their appetite until they've settled in. Keep feeding him in his tank, but keep the tank uncluttered and drop just a few crickets at a time. Get an oatmeal container or a jar, put a pinch of calcium powder + about 4-5 crix, shake them up until they are dizzy + slow, then drop them right near the beardie. That usually attracts their attention when the crix are wobbling slowly near them....but just do 2-3 at a time so he's not overwhelmed.

For hydration use an eyedropper or a feeding syringe to drip water on his snout until he drinks.

 

[Texsdad]

As far as your lighting situation I would start there. Especially when they're young, the hotter the better. As I have it now I have a basking lamp on one side and uvb on the other with perches and hides on both sides of the viv. I have one of the reptisun compact fluorescents (that I will eventually change to a long tube) and a ge halogen light on the other. Halogen lights put off significantly more heat than regular bulbs, especially those that are actually marketed for basking. You should be able to put your hand on your beardie's basking spot and at least be able to tell a difference between that and the rest of his home. Also the best piece of advice I can give you is get a temp gun (infrared) thermometer. Deadly accurate and the just thermo/hygros that they sell at pet stores are notorious for being way off.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Is your dragon a hypo or trans morph by chance? His eyes look somewhat like it.
I was just wondering because they tend to have trouble with stronger UVB lighting pretty often. The UVB that you are using doesn't emit the right frequency & has been known to cause health & eye issues. If you do change UVB lights to the Reptisun 10 tube bulb, it would be a good idea to keep it at a 10 inch distance if he is a specialized morph to help keep the intensity down a bit. Or even one of the T5 High Output bulbs would be good also, but at a distance, too.
The basking light you have now, is it a bright white light also?
Does he like the 20 gallon better?
I think once you get the UVB lighting changed & make sure the temperatures are good, he should start to improve pretty rapidly.
Let us know how he is doing, he is a beautiful boy.

Tracie

 

[PumpkinCupcake]

Hello,

Is your dragon a hypo or trans morph by chance? His eyes look somewhat like it.
I was just wondering because they tend to have trouble with stronger UVB lighting pretty often. The UVB that you are using doesn't emit the right frequency & has been known to cause health & eye issues. If you do change UVB lights to the Reptisun 10 tube bulb, it would be a good idea to keep it at a 10 inch distance if he is a specialized morph to help keep the intensity down a bit. Or even one of the T5 High Output bulbs would be good also, but at a distance, too.
The basking light you have now, is it a bright white light also?
Does he like the 20 gallon better?
I think once you get the UVB lighting changed & make sure the temperatures are good, he should start to improve pretty rapidly.
Let us know how he is doing, he is a beautiful boy.

Tracie

The guy I got him from said he was a Red Hypo Trans. The basking light I have now gives off a yellow light, and his UVB(13W) gives off the white light. On out next paycheck we're going to get the tube bulb.


As for the crickets, we don't feed him crickets. When we got him, they threw in some Dubai roaches for us.

When my husband goes to work, I'm going to take my dogs for a walk and find some branches to put in the 55 gallon, so when he gets to the point of going in there, he has things, and everything has already had time to settle.

Texasdad, do you think you could send me a picture of your set-up? I'm pretty interested on what it looks like.


He is eating his greens though.. I put some collards in with him this morning.


-Sorry if I missed anyone else's comment-

 

[PumpkinCupcake]

I love collecting logs/branches from outside + have some beautiful pieces. You can preheat the oven + pop the logs in for an hour at 250 to kill any potential hidden pests . As for his color, if you take a pic while he's in the water it will help....it may be stress/excitement related.

It's good that you switched him back to the 20 G tank. If he's not eating much he is going through relocation stress most likely....that can reduce their appetite until they've settled in. Keep feeding him in his tank, but keep the tank uncluttered and drop just a few crickets at a time. Get an oatmeal container or a jar, put a pinch of calcium powder + about 4-5 crix, shake them up until they are dizzy + slow, then drop them right near the beardie. That usually attracts their attention when the crix are wobbling slowly near them....but just do 2-3 at a time so he's not overwhelmed.

For hydration use an eyedropper or a feeding syringe to drip water on his snout until he drinks.

I did this with his roaches, and he ate about 3/4 of them!

 

[AHBD]

Good, looks like he'll be settling in O.K then.

 

[PumpkinCupcake]

Any idea why he's this dark...? He's been this dark all day, and hasn't moved very much.

 

[AHBD]

He's probably still just stressed...you might want to put paper or cardboard around 3 sides of the tank so he doesn't feel so vulnerable.

 

[PumpkinCupcake]

He's probably still just stressed...you might want to put paper or cardboard around 3 sides of the tank so he doesn't feel so vulnerable.

Will do! I talked to the guy I had bought him from, and he said they stop eating around this time of year, since it's getting to be colder.. He also said he had his basking at 105.. And his ambient(I'm guessing that means cooler side) at 74. Next pay day I'm getting the tube bulb and a higher basking.