Buddy is gettting darker?

[zacwilliams117]

Hey my beardie, Buddy, seems to be getting dark day to day. Is this a sign for him about to start shedding or is there an actual problem. He is also not really eating anything I give him. He'll eat his crickets but nothing else it seems

 

[tweet0302]

How long you had him, how old is he, what type of uvb you using

 

[zacwilliams117]

I've had him for a month. He is more than a year old at least. He is a little less than 1.5 feet in length. His diet has consisted of mostly crickets and not much else before me. I have fed him crickets and an omnivore mix I bought at petsmart. He never eats anything fresh(besides the crickets). I tried to move him to a food called Fluker's buffet blend. its got meal worms, crickets and the pellets that he never touches. WASTE. OF. MONEY. His lamp is a 100 Watt Repti Basking Spot lamp from Zoo Med. It gets his basking area between 90-100 F. He also has a night light that keeps the opposite area around 80 during the night. Otherside drops to 70 most nights. I also have heatpads underneath his cage. At this moment, I switched his cage bedding to reptile carpet. I adopted him and his cage had the walnut sand. Found out that was bad and switched it ASAP. Humidity bounces between 30-60.

 

[tweet0302]

You didn't mention what kind of uvb your using hope its not a coil one reptisun 10.0 or arcadia 12% is best have you ever taking him to a vet and second if he a yr old he should be eating more vegs then live foods

 

[zacwilliams117]

I have to be honest. I just realized that his light that came with him did NOT contain UVB. I have corrected it

 

[tweet0302]

I hope it was one of those lights i mentioned because they give the best rays an since you says you corrected it he should be good but like i said before he might about to brumate they go into a deep sleep

 

[MissFirefly]

I have to be honest. I just realized that his light that came with him did NOT contain UVB. I have corrected it

Yes, UVB is VERY important for bearded dragons so not having one could easily have led to darker colors. Is the one you got a tube or a coil bulb?

Also, you shouldn't really allow the humidity to get above 40% as much higher than that can cause URIs.

 

[zacwilliams117]

I got a coil one. Is that bad??? Is there a good way to regulate the humidity? The only thing buddy has is a water bowl that I change out every day

 

[MissFirefly]

I got a coil one. Is that bad??? Is there a good way to regulate the humidity? The only thing buddy has is a water bowl that I change out every day

The coils do not put off enough UVB and have been linked to eye issues with bearded dragons. You'll want to get either a Repti-Sun 10.0 (available at petmountain.com or Amazon) or an Arcadia 12%. You'll want to mount it inside the tank using an under-the-shelf light so the screen doesn't reflect any of the UVB.

I would take out the water bowl as you can hydrate through baths a few times a week. You might also want to set up some fans for better air flow or look into getting a dehumidifier. I have to use a dehumidifier at night in my house.

 

[tweet0302]

The under cabinet fixture is ten bucks at walmart but yes the coil ones are horrible hurry up and get a long tube one