Beardie hasnt shed in a long time

[DeniedByFleury]

Hello everyone,

Its been quite some time since I've been on here but i had a few questions..

My beardie has not shed in quite a number of months..

She is starting to shed on her mouth but that's about it.. I've been giving hr a bath every couple of nights but not sure why she still isn't shedding..

Also, she hasn't had a regular bowel movement in a while as well. I've used the olive oil trick and that will get her to go but then 2-3 weeks goes by and i have to do it again.. i came home from work today and noticed that she DID go to the bathroom without my assistance so i am assuming everything is ok now.. I don't believe she is impacted because she continues to eat crickets every few days and her greens disappear when i get home form work.

I've been trying to handle her a lot more daily too. Her skin is very rough and dark.. not sure what that means but when I just picked her up she turned orange..

When i take her out of her cage, the past few times shes run off to a dark spot and just lays there... doesn't really move.. and shes also been sleeping or laying with her feet tucked behind her if that makes sense...
Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

- Joe

 

[zillathakilla]

Hmm perhaps shes going into brumation? as far as the shedding goes,i know my beardie Zilla hasn't shed in like...6 months?hes almost a year and a half now and they usually stop shedding once there full grown because shedding is there way of getting rid of there smaller old skin, he did start a small shed on his mouth like yours did,and sometimes he doesn't have a bowl movement for a couple of days too so i don't think this is an uncommon thing

 

[DeniedByFleury]

Awesome, thanks for the info!!

Just looked at her right now and her skin is really dark. like REALLY dark.. not her normal orange but now its a dark dark brown... not too sure what that may mean..

 

[zillathakilla]

Mostly likely means there cold,or just trying to keep warm,they absorb more heat that way or something,idk my beardies that colour in the morning till he heats up,or sometimes when i take him out of his cage.

 

[DeniedByFleury]

Well,

I recently bought a hiding cave for her to merely act as a ramp for the UVB bulb that i just replaced. ( Found out that the one i was using was merely acting as a fluorescent light). The cave has been in her tank for 2 days now and last night she managed to crawl into it to sleep. Usually she sleeps directly under her basking bulb when its off for the night. I took her out from the cave because i feared she wouldnt be able to make it out.

About 2 minutes later after i returned from the kitchen she was right back in the cave.. When i left for work this morning i once again removed her just in case she couldnt get out, i didnt want her to be trapped in there all day. I will have to wait to get home from work to check on her behavior.

She has also been "digging" like she is trying to burrow lately. Not sure if thats a sign of brumation or not. She is still eating regularly when i feed her.

My main concerns are the pooping and shedding, but if shes brumating wont expect her to poop regularly.

-- a few other concerns --

1 - Her lights come on around 8-830am and go off at 11pm.. Is that too long?

2 - i have her water and food on the cool side of the tank. Should i move the cave over there as well?
i really dont have room to do so but if i need to ill re-arrange things.

Ill try to post a picture of her setup tonight so you can see whats going on.

Thanks again for any info!!

 

[zillathakilla]

The light times are fine,mine are on from 7am-9pm, as for the arrangement, i don't think you need to move the cave either b/c she probably just likes the option of colling down while she's lieing under the heat,she could be brumating but i really don't know b/c my beardie hasn't brumated yet

 

[DeniedByFleury]

Heres her Viv

 

[tlittle10]

what kind of UVB light? and as mentioned in other post put the UVB on the inside of the tank by using velcro or 3m command hooks from home depot or other places like that! Having a junk UVB light can cause problems like that so ive read

you should be using a repti-sun 10.0 UVB tube light for your UVB

 

[DeniedByFleury]

Thats exactly what im using, just got a new one last Wednesday.

 

[tlittle10]

Ok well maybe try to get those command hooks or heavy duty velcro to mount your UVB on the inside of the tank, that screen is most like blocking out a significant amount of uvb unfortunatly...

As for the no shedding I am in no way an expert but it hasn't even been a week yet so just give him a little bit to let the lights get to him ?

 

[DeniedByFleury]

She has shed fine in the past, every other month or so. But now like I said earlier its been 4-5 months.. the UVB wouldnt affect shedding that much would it?

I've had her for a year and a half.

 

[tlittle10]

Ya I'm not sure man sorry someone will a little more expereience will help ya out soon im sure !

Although aside from temps im pretty much positive UVB is an extremely important aspect to the beardies health maybe even more important than the actual temps?