Beardie not eating enough

[Mysticsilk]

I have a 4 month old beardie and for the past week his appetite has dropped, I don't think he is shedding but he used to eat like 30ish medium crickets a day and now I Struggle to get him to eat 10 medium crickets. He doesn't seem interested and closes his eyes a lot, he was fine before this (I bought him 3 months ago) and my temps go up to 95-105f hot side 84-88f cool. He is regularly in the cold side btw and only basks for a short time. He seems to want to hide a lot and basks more when I am out of the room but anyway, I am using repti-carpet and a probe thermometer on the hot side and digital cool, he also has a reptisun uvb which is about 12 inches away from him and a exo terra solarglow bulb so I am not sure what is causing it.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

The solar glos have been known to cause problems in beardies. Solars glos produce uvb too, so its not really needed to have both that and a reptisun.

I would switch out the Solar glo and just use a normal household Bright White bulb in its place. As long as the bulb is a bright white, and gets your temperatures to what you need, thats all that matters really.

The reptisun, is it mounted inside the tank?
Is the bulb covered by anything?

Can you clarify on your temps?
Basking SURFACE?
Hot side?
Cool side?

Are you leaving the probe on each surface for 45 minutes to an hour before getting the final temp reading?

-Brandon

 

[Mysticsilk]

The reptisun is on the back of the viv near the top not covered but I moved it down a bit because I was worried about him not getting enough uvb, i do not have a temp for the basking surface (sorry i'm a beginner ) how do you go about measuring that? Hot side is 38-40c and cool is about 30c. Not sure what you mean by the last question but I wait for a few hours and the temp normally stabilises around 38-40c so I think thats a good temp. He is pooping normally so I do not think it's a matter of digestion. And I am thinking about trying a new bulb for the reasons you say cause that might be the problem.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Don't worry about being a newbie! Thats why we are here, to teach and help dragons

What are you measuring your temperatures with? A dial stick on thermometer?

-Brandon

 

[Mysticsilk]

Oh dear I typed solar glow instead of sunglo Lol sorry I am not using solar glow but Sunglo 75w is this ok? and I am using an Exo Terra Digital Thermometer with a Probe one side, stick on cool side. btw today he only ate 5 crickets all day my mum is convinced nothing is wrong but I'm not liking this loss of appetite, he also looks skinnier.

 

[ShannyBeard]

Oh dear I typed solar glow instead of sunglo Lol sorry I am not using solar glow but Sunglo 75w is this ok? and I am using an Exo Terra Digital Thermometer with a Probe one side, stick on cool side.

I was just about to ask you that - I knew you mean Sunglo. That is perfectly fine for a basking light.

 

[Mysticsilk]

Well he only ate 3 crickets this morning, but 2 hours later i managed to get 4 more into him. I think he might be perking up a bit because he looks brighter today than the day before but i'll be keeping an eye on him.
Also bought some locusts, hoping it's just because he wants some variety.

 

[Claudiusx]

That is good that he has ate a bit more.

Keep us updated on him.

-Brandon

 

[Mysticsilk]

Well he only ate 2 locusts this morning and won't eat any more..it's getting frustrating for me as my bugs are dying because he's not eating them. He also has been trying to hide under his basking log all day and i took his hide out as he was hiding under that as well. is 35-37c too cold for the hot side or ok as i am wondering if it is not hot enough for him. Pondering whether I should try a vet visit, I thought maybe it was pre-shed behaviour as this has been going on for a week but no sign of shedding...
Also I did catch him eating a bug when i left the room and re-entered and some veggies..hmm

 

[Mysticsilk]

i'm taking him to the vet on monday..he looks really scrawny and wrinkly today, though you can't tell as much in the photos. Hopefully i will get some answers. Here's some pics of him http://flic.kr/p/buPcys http://flic.kr/p/bHHT4v if you see the older pictures you can tell he has lost some weight. He was grey most of today and had stress marks btw and he hasn't pooped.