Hey guys, I'm a little concerned for my beardie, because he sleeps in a standing position. During the day he's pretty active.
is that a problem or not? he's something over a month old, the viv temperature is 34 C (94 F).
currently there's a 2.0 uv bulb (10.0 on it's way), but I get him out every day for 1-2 hours on the sun so he can absorb more uv light till I get the 10.0 (should be this week). Eats 3 times a day, around 10 crickets, few worms, once a day dusted with calcium powder.
We have 2 beardies, one of them PREFERS to sleep standing up and the other gets all in some contortionist way to sleep, I wish I was that flexible , so yes it is NORMAL. As long as active and eating,etc nothing to worry about
Thank you very much for the quick reply! I was concerned because I read somewhere that they do that when they have troubles digesting. Is the temperature I noted above fine?
It's an okay temp but since he is only a month old you want the SURFACE of the basking spot about 100-104 . Then I forget the temps for the warm and cool side--I am sure someone one here will chime in for that.
Glad you have the repti sun 10.0 coming in--hopefully it is the TUBE (and not compact or coil)
I'm assuming you're talking about the basking temp, not the ambient temp, correct? If so, then no, it's too low for any bearded dragon, and especially a baby. A baby should be 105-110F (~41-44C). An adult should never be less than about 98F (~36.5C). Are you using a colored light at night? He may be trying to escape it, hence the standing sleep. I haven't heard about standing while sleeping indicating a stomach problem.
EDIT: munchins9802 - 100-105F is an adult basking temp. 105-110F is for a baby.
Also, OP, your photo isn't working. Either make it public, or put it on photobucket or imgur.
I'm not using a night lamp, maybe he just likes it that way. About the temp, I'm afraid I can't measure the basking spot, I only have a paper thermometer on that side sticked to the glass door (so it's probably the ambient temp - the spot might be few degrees more). Btw, he's never exactly under the basking spot, so maybe it's hot enough. I'm using 60W lamp in a 70x50x45cm(28x20x18") viv. I don't switching to 100W would be a good thing.
You absolutely, no questions asked, must get a proper thermometer for the basking spot. Proper temps are extremely important to bearded dragons. You want a digital thermometer with a probe, or a temp gun. Either way, expect to spend somewhere in the range of $15-25 to get a decent one. If you get a probe, the probe sits directly on the basking spot. If you get a gun, you want to use it 2 inches above the basking spot, pointing directly at the basking spot. Remember, looking for 105-110F on that spot. If you can verify those temps, you will go a long way to having a healthy beardie. He may just like standing up, though. Those "paper thermometers," by the way, are often off by 20-40F. So you could be freezing your frying your baby, and not even know it.
Well it's not a question about the money, the problem is, in Macedonia where I'm from, there isn't much choice, not many reptile pet shops around. I'm gonna look for one on the internet.
Thank you for your answers, you've been very helpful!
Sure thing! You can probably get a decent thermometer of the type you need at any kind of hardware store or such - it doesn't have to be made for reptiles!