Beardie is acting weird

[Mullisar2]

I've had my baby beardie Natsu for a little over three weeks. I turn his lights on at 10, feed him at 11 and let him bask for an hour or two before bath time. Lately he's been a lot more eager to be relaxed, not jumping around and spends less time on his basking area(at least from what I've seen). But my main worry is that he usually would eat quite a few crickets and even veggies in the morning and during the day. He'd eat up to I wanna say 20-30 crickets a day. For the past several days, he's only ate a few crickets here and there. Could he be getting sick? I also have noticed some peeling around his neck but it doesn't seem like it's progressing.

 

[Mullisar2]

Honestly I'm unsure of how old he is, but he seems to act a lot more younger, at least he was. He's maybe six inches including his tail, possibly a little longer?

 

[CooperDragon]

He's still pretty little and will shed frequently. It doesn't always go quickly and is sometimes patchy and that's OK. It often affects their mood and appetite so just keep offering food and let him take what he wants. If he stops acting alert and is lethargic something may be up but I'd guess it's just temporary due to shed.

If you want to provide details about your setup/lighting I'd be happy to go through it with you and make sure everything is just right for him.

 

[Mullisar2]

Well I'm unsure of the watts for the basking bulb but his basking area I try to keep at least 98, no more than 100 But lately it'll fluctuate more. I believe that my boyfriend got a higher watt bulb because we got a taller tank. But we have rocks for him to climb to get to whatever temp he wants.
Then he has a regular light towards his colder side and that I try to keep around 83-85. He has a hide over by his cooler side, a water and food bowl bowl(even though he never drinks any from that) and a climbing log which he uses the most. He ate a few crickets after I posted but only because I took a lot of the stuff out of the tank and circled them towards him. But he wouldn't have anything to do with anymore after.

 

[Mullisar2]

 

[CooperDragon]

The tank looks quite nice. The cool side temps are OK but I'd try bumping the temps on the surface of the rock basking area a little bit. I try to keep the basking site between about 100-110 and they can move around and self regulate a bit.

is the main bulb a mercury vapor bulb? If not, you may need to add a good UVB source.

 

[Mullisar2]

Thank you. I've never had a pet even remotely close to a beardie before so I'm still trying to figure stuff out. And yes I do know it's a mercury bulb. But I'll definitely bump the temp up a little more, thank you. Today he hasn't touched any crickets but I got him to drink a little bit of water during bath time. But all he wants to do is lay by my window sill and not do anything. It's hard for me to tell when he gets too cold by the window so I put him back in the tank. Buuuuut little buddy just is hanging by the cooler side of the tank and staring at the window. Hopefully his little mood gets better by shedding.

 

[CooperDragon]

OK good. If you can find out the brand and wattage I can help with the placement of the bulb. The MVBs need to be set at a distance according to their UVB output otherwise they can be too weak or too strong. They're nice because they're all-in-one, but the downside is you can't control UVB output and heat independently.