Hey folks!!
Well Im new here and new to beardies. This is a big hello and a plea for some advice lol. This is gonna be long so please bare with me lol
So I got my beardie last Sunday from a guy that breeds snakes. He came with a tank, heat lamp etc etc and is 4 months old. I went and looked at it and it seemed fine. It didn’t run about or go mad when I had it in my hand or anything like that but I assumed it was just nervous. It had also lost a toe but this did not concern me at all.
Anyways, I got him home and noticed when he was fully stretched out he actually had a lump on his leg just above the missing toe. It didn’t affect movement or seem to cause him any distress what so ever as when he got settled he was running about chasing food like a mad thing. So I thought he had prob got a bit of an infection after the toe thing.
My girlfriend was a little more concerned and wanted me to go to the vet. We went yesterday and the vet said it was a blocked wall abcess ( meaning it wont spread or get any bigger, thank goodness!! And it came from an infection from losing a toe) and that he will be fine. The vet also said he was unusually lethargic and that he probably wasn’t reaching his optimum heat as he spent most of his time heat seeking under the lamp and rarely at the opposite end of the tank other than to run about the odd time.
He also hasn’t been eating very well the last day or so and had a greenish dihorrea. This could be due to the heat issue and due to the fact during the day he had very finely chopped apple. The apple as now been taken off him as I assume its too acidic for him. Ive replaced this with some shredded veg. Im going to try a few meal worms in with the veg to help him eat it.
All I had initially was the tank, news paper as substrate, food and water bowl, a wee hideout cave and a big bit of driftwood. Then heat lamp and uv lamp. Heat lamp and uv were on and then off for the day night cycle. The vet advised to keep heat lamp on throughout the night to help him get his temp up and even a hot water bottle wrapped in a good towel ( which my girlfriend actually used for her iguanas and they loved it ). I still turn uv off though.
I usually don’t feed him until the afternoon but do leave a small bowl of the shredded veg ( correct me if this isnt the best feeding pattern ) and due to the fact he hadnt eaten properly in a while I decided to give him a couple crickets this morning before I went to work … he ate one and even at that he let them just walk by about 3 or 4 times before he went for it.
I am getting my thermometers today, one for cool end and one for heat lamp end to see what it is sitting at. Is there any other advice you can give me to increase the heat for him or should one heat lamp suffice? ( It’s a 40w I think, above the drift wood log) and as he is only small at the min he is in approx a 2ft long by around just over 1ft depth tank. Should I think about placing a heat pad at the cooler end of the tank also where I have the hot water bottle so as to keep a constant temp there rather than having to refill the bottle?
Excuse me for my ignorance but I read up and see nothing but conflicting advise from different sources like use heat pads, don’t use heat pads or feed them this, don’t feed them this.
Anyways, essay over lol, and all advise would be greatly appreciated so I can get this wee fella just perfect!! As I say at times he is full of beans, other times he just doesn’t want to know ..
Thanks in advance
Gary
Well Im new here and new to beardies. This is a big hello and a plea for some advice lol. This is gonna be long so please bare with me lol
So I got my beardie last Sunday from a guy that breeds snakes. He came with a tank, heat lamp etc etc and is 4 months old. I went and looked at it and it seemed fine. It didn’t run about or go mad when I had it in my hand or anything like that but I assumed it was just nervous. It had also lost a toe but this did not concern me at all.
Anyways, I got him home and noticed when he was fully stretched out he actually had a lump on his leg just above the missing toe. It didn’t affect movement or seem to cause him any distress what so ever as when he got settled he was running about chasing food like a mad thing. So I thought he had prob got a bit of an infection after the toe thing.
My girlfriend was a little more concerned and wanted me to go to the vet. We went yesterday and the vet said it was a blocked wall abcess ( meaning it wont spread or get any bigger, thank goodness!! And it came from an infection from losing a toe) and that he will be fine. The vet also said he was unusually lethargic and that he probably wasn’t reaching his optimum heat as he spent most of his time heat seeking under the lamp and rarely at the opposite end of the tank other than to run about the odd time.
He also hasn’t been eating very well the last day or so and had a greenish dihorrea. This could be due to the heat issue and due to the fact during the day he had very finely chopped apple. The apple as now been taken off him as I assume its too acidic for him. Ive replaced this with some shredded veg. Im going to try a few meal worms in with the veg to help him eat it.
All I had initially was the tank, news paper as substrate, food and water bowl, a wee hideout cave and a big bit of driftwood. Then heat lamp and uv lamp. Heat lamp and uv were on and then off for the day night cycle. The vet advised to keep heat lamp on throughout the night to help him get his temp up and even a hot water bottle wrapped in a good towel ( which my girlfriend actually used for her iguanas and they loved it ). I still turn uv off though.
I usually don’t feed him until the afternoon but do leave a small bowl of the shredded veg ( correct me if this isnt the best feeding pattern ) and due to the fact he hadnt eaten properly in a while I decided to give him a couple crickets this morning before I went to work … he ate one and even at that he let them just walk by about 3 or 4 times before he went for it.
I am getting my thermometers today, one for cool end and one for heat lamp end to see what it is sitting at. Is there any other advice you can give me to increase the heat for him or should one heat lamp suffice? ( It’s a 40w I think, above the drift wood log) and as he is only small at the min he is in approx a 2ft long by around just over 1ft depth tank. Should I think about placing a heat pad at the cooler end of the tank also where I have the hot water bottle so as to keep a constant temp there rather than having to refill the bottle?
Excuse me for my ignorance but I read up and see nothing but conflicting advise from different sources like use heat pads, don’t use heat pads or feed them this, don’t feed them this.
Anyways, essay over lol, and all advise would be greatly appreciated so I can get this wee fella just perfect!! As I say at times he is full of beans, other times he just doesn’t want to know ..
Thanks in advance
Gary