Beardie Not Shedding 8 months old, new owner

[Nikkideefit]

Hi friends!! I am a relatively new Beardie owner, as Kava (my beardie) is my first reptile. We got him back in March 23, 2021. We bought him at Petsmart (in retrospect I know, but we love him now anyway) and they told us he was about 8-12 weeks old. He was around 5 inches at the time.

He was pooping almost daily in the first months, shedding different parts of his body around once a week. Around august he started to slow down with his shedding & pooping. He started pooping once a week and shedding went down to once a month. If that. He still eats his crickets, salad daily. I give him 3 feedings a day with crickets, usually he eats 10-20 in each sitting. I give him calcium once a day 5x a week on his crickets. And the other 2 days I do the calcium with d3. I do a multi vitamin supplement on his crickets the same day as the d3 so also twice a week. I leave a water dish out too that I refresh the water daily. I add the reptisafe to it. His salads usually consistent of a mix of collard/turnip/mustard greens and some times a bit of squash, carrot, broccoli, or orange bell pepper. Rarely a raspberry piece as a treat.

His poops are usually normal looking. He did have coccidia that he was treated for months back and they said that he had pinworms too but the level was fine and didn’t need to be treated. Some days the urate part of his poop has been looking very thick and hard and discolored. I thought possibly too much calcium? Other times the poop looks normal. Others diarrhea. BecUse it’s only happening like once a week now. I give him baths too about 2-3 times a week. And he is about 13 inches long to date. Which I’m not sure if he’s a little small?

Right now he’s in a 40 gallon tank I will upgrade to 75 or larger soon. He has a mega ray 160 watt at 18 inches from his basking spot. It gets to about 105. I don’t have a screen over where the basking light is but over the rest of tank. The cool side is about 77 degrees F. The humidity is around 45 which I know is a bit high but even with dehumidifier it’s not getting much lower. With the winter coming it should lower though.

Any thoughts on why his shedding and pooping has slowed down or if this is normal? Or any recommendations to tank/lightning/feeding are welcome. I’m trying my best & new so help is appreciated!

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi friends!! I am a relatively new Beardie owner, as Kava (my beardie) is my first reptile. We got him back in March 23, 2021. We bought him at Petsmart (in retrospect I know, but we love him now anyway) and they told us he was about 8-12 weeks old. He was around 5 inches at the time.

He was pooping almost daily in the first months, shedding different parts of his body around once a week. Around august he started to slow down with his shedding & pooping. He started pooping once a week and shedding went down to once a month. If that. He still eats his crickets, salad daily. I give him 3 feedings a day with crickets, usually he eats 10-20 in each sitting. I give him calcium once a day 5x a week on his crickets. And the other 2 days I do the calcium with d3. I do a multi vitamin supplement on his crickets the same day as the d3 so also twice a week. I leave a water dish out too that I refresh the water daily. I add the reptisafe to it. His salads usually consistent of a mix of collard/turnip/mustard greens and some times a bit of squash, carrot, broccoli, or orange bell pepper. Rarely a raspberry piece as a treat.

His poops are usually normal looking. He did have coccidia that he was treated for months back and they said that he had pinworms too but the level was fine and didn’t need to be treated. Some days the urate part of his poop has been looking very thick and hard and discolored. I thought possibly too much calcium? Other times the poop looks normal. Others diarrhea. BecUse it’s only happening like once a week now. I give him baths too about 2-3 times a week. And he is about 13 inches long to date. Which I’m not sure if he’s a little small?

Right now he’s in a 40 gallon tank I will upgrade to 75 or larger soon. He has a mega ray 160 watt at 18 inches from his basking spot. It gets to about 105. I don’t have a screen over where the basking light is but over the rest of tank. The cool side is about 77 degrees F. The humidity is around 45 which I know is a bit high but even with dehumidifier it’s not getting much lower. With the winter coming it should lower though.

Any thoughts on why his shedding and pooping has slowed down or if this is normal? Or any recommendations to tank/lightning/feeding are welcome. I’m trying my best & new so help is appreciated! View attachment 65207 View attachment 65208 View attachment 65209

Please add another uvb long tube fixture a Zoo Med or a Arcadia pro T 5 or a sunblaster nano tech 24"-- you can set it length wise across the tank- often times the mvb do not give enough uvb and given the distance I would say this is the case

 

[Nikkideefit]

Please add another uvb long tube fixture a Zoo Med or a Arcadia pro T 5 or a sunblaster nano tech 24"-- you can set it length wise across the tank- often times the mvb do not give enough uvb and given the distance I would say this is the case

View attachment 65210 Thank you so much! I am going to check out the Arcadia bulbs and get one of those. Up until about a month ago I had this second light up on his tank but I was worried it was too much bc he started hiding under his hut a lot. The bulb in it is not a good one though it is thrive brand, I was using it for just light purposes. I thought the mega Ray was good for both uvb/uva so good to know. So I will definitely get an additional tube light for uvb. Thank you again

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, I've read that some people use just the Megaray with good results but it's always good to have a long tube linear uvb as well. You can even use the linear bulb just 2-3 days a week , that way your dragon is definitely getting great exposure but not too much by accident. Once the Megaray no longer produces uvb [ check to see, it may be 8-12 months ] it may still produce the same amount of heat so it can be used as a heat bulb. Then you can have the Arcadia uvb on every day. As for not shedding as often, that's normal as they get older. You can also cut back on the calcium a little, just lightly on one meal a day and only on a few of the insects rather than on all 10-20.

 

[Nikkideefit]

Hi there, I've read that some people use just the Megaray with good results but it's always good to have a long tube linear uvb as well. You can even use the linear bulb just 2-3 days a week , that way your dragon is definitely getting great exposure but not too much by accident. Once the Megaray no longer produces uvb [ check to see, it may be 8-12 months ] it may still produce the same amount of heat so it can be used as a heat bulb. Then you can have the Arcadia uvb on every day. As for not shedding as often, that's normal as they get older. You can also cut back on the calcium a little, just lightly on one meal a day and only on a few of the insects rather than on all 10-20.

Thank you so much!!! I will definitely cut back on the calcium and not put on all of them. I really appreciate the advice & tips! I just ordered the Arcadia pro t5 14% for his tank, do you think that would be good choice?

 

[KarrieRee]

Thank you so much!!! I will definitely cut back on the calcium and not put on all of them. I really appreciate the advice & tips! I just ordered the Arcadia pro t5 14% for his tank, do you think that would be good choice?

The 14% bulb is a good strong bulb -- you need the height for a 14% bulb or a screen to cut out some of the rays -- if your height on the tank is 24" it can go inside the tank w/a distance of 17-18 inches if its on top of the screen I am thinking 12 but we need @CooperDragon to way in on this distance for sure

 

[AHBD]

I agree, that's a great bulb ! In that tank with the lack of height you can set it on top of the screen. If you go to the larger tank which will be taller you can measure to see but you'll probably be good with it mounted under the screen as long as it's about 16 " away from your dragon.

 

[Nikkideefit]

Thank you all so much!!!