beardie not happy in his cage?

[simpleman]

i have a male white hypo dragon that i have been having since may and for the most part has been doing great...well in the past few weeks/month i have been noticing him not being "happy"... i notice that he is really dark gray/blackish when he is in his cage...but when i take him out, he lightens up nicely and looks like he's supposed to....his appetite has shrunk a little but i attributed that too the weather and shedding...and lately everyday when i take him out, he brightens up...today i changed his cage back to sand (i had taken all the sand out so he had not substrate) so we'll see if this might make a difference.... any ideas as to why he might be "moody"? thanks in advance...

craig morel

 

[definitions]

why would you put him on just straight glass? He probably felt like he couldn't walk anywhere without slipping. I see you own multiple dragons. You should no that no substrate wouldn't be very comfy. Not saying that is the problem with the moodiness but, might be a little part of it.

 

[simpleman]

thanks for the quick response... i actually have him on plastic...it is a sheet of "sign" material on top of plywood...it is a custom enclosure... it is the size of 3 40gal breeders on top of each other... each dragon has there own enclosure... i put him back on sand in a 4x2x2 enclosure so i will see if it makes a difference....2 other dragons have "no substrate" just plastic...and they are doing fine, no issues that i can tell... thanks for the advice, i hope this is an easy fix...

 

[luckydragon]

How old/what type of uv light do you have? Perhaps the uvb output has dropped and he is not getting enough. Most only last max of 6 months. Also, are his basking temps above 90?

Good luck,

Cute dragon!

Tim

 

[simpleman]

he has a brand new reptisun 10.0 and his basking temp stays between 90 and 95.....i put him on sand and i think he is doing better, i checked him last night and he was looking super white.....he was sleeping though, so we shall see today if there is a real change..thanks again for the replies...i appreciate it...

 

[Sangheili]

Sand can cause impaction and other problems. Paper towels, newspaper or heavily textured tile is the way to go, they are easy to clean. I'm getting the sand out of my enclosure and putting in tile very soon.

 

[Looneytoon]

It could of been just a cage change thing ( Like hey wth) and will agree sand is bad to... but what I have done for my female and she luves it, was put a aluminum cooking dish in filled with play ground sand (like for cooking turkeys) and she will get in there and scratch around and dig and some days stay away from it. She doesn't poo in cage or feed her on the sand, and will still do sand changes to keep it clean. Just an idea.