Chester is acting quite funny...

[morganhannah]

Hey everyone, I'm new to bd.org, and i decided to read through the posts before i asked these questions, so that way i wouldn't be annoying anyone if the answers were already out there. but, i couldn't find my answers, so here it goes.

1] Chester won't poop. I've had him from about 2 months, and he pooped great when i first got him, but these past two weeks he hasn't been pooping unless i put him in a bath [normally, i'd give him a bath once a week. he hates the damn bath. haha]. it seems that the warm water really helps him, because he goes within minutes of being in the water. but, i'd really like to know anyone thinks that there is something wrong with him because he used to poop with out assistance. and if there is something wrong, what can i do to fix it? none of the settings in his tank have changed, it is the right temperature and everything.

which brings me to another question.

2] when i first got him, he would sit under his heat lamp allllll day long. but now, he seems to shy away from it and just chills at the bottom of his tank in his bedding under all of the logs and such, but still under the heat. he especially does this at night, but on some nights, he goes to the OPPOSITE side of his tank, the farthest he can possibly get away from his heat lamp. could his tank be too hot? or should i rearrange his tank so he can't hide anymore? or could his tank just be too big, and he's scared of it all?

i know quite a bit about beardies, but these two things are puzzling me, and they almost have me worried something is wrong with him all of a sudden. :/ any and all answers would be great! like i said, i know a bit more than your average owner, but not everything. so even if you think i might know it, i might not, even if it's common sense. i just wanna make sure my baby is ok!!

thanks. :]
Morgan

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

I have heard that some beardies just REALLY prefer to poo in the tub. Spot can poo anywhere.. and I mean anywhere.. in the tank, in the tub, on the blankets.. on ME... I wish she was partial to the tub.. but no.

As long as he's not hiding enough to hinder his digestion. I think the general rule is 3 hours of uvb before lights out.

 

[diamc]

Hi Morgan, welcome :wave: to the forum. We're glad you found your way here.

How old is Chester by the way? So, he doesn't like his baths. What really helps them to relax is to put a washcloth down in the bottom of the sink or container as it gives them something to hang on to that keeps them from sliding around so it helps them feel more secure. So, if you're not using anything now, please give that a try. Also make sure the water is warm and just about covering his front legs. Putting your hand in there for him to grab may help too. All of my beardies love their baths and would stay in for an hr each if I let them. Bathing 3 to 4 times a wk is a great way to help hydrate them & also helps with shedding. The more often they are bathed will help them get used to it.

You mentioned that sometimes he totally avoids the basking light. What type of thermometer are you using to check the temps and what are the temps? If you're using any type of stick-on thermometer, they can be as much as 20 degrees off. Sometimes it's necessary to change the bulb wattages as the seasons change, so that may be what is going on now.

What brand and type of UVB are you using and how far away is it from him? There are some dangerous and some useless UVB's, so just want to make sure you have a good one. Make sure the UVB is placed right alongside a bright white basking bulb so that Chester can get the benefits of both bulbs while he is basking. Do you use a lower wattage bulb on the cool side?

Are you using calcium and vitamins, if so, how often?

There are so many things that can affect their basking and pooping behavior so I'm trying to rule some things out to see if we can help him poop more & be a happy & healthy beardie to prevent you from worrying about him. If you have any questions, please let us know. :wink:

[Moved here from the General Discussion forum as it seemed better suited due to his behavior]

 

[morganhannah]

thanks for the input so far. :] i really appreciate it. :]

diane- i've had chester for two months. I'm not quite sure of his age, and here is why. I got Chester from a family who had two beardies, and needed to give them to good families to take care of them. When I got to his previous owners house, they offered me his tank that he was staying in with the other beardie. I declined because I had already purchased a 40 gal breeder for him, figuring he was going to need it one day, anyways. But, i took a peek at his old tank, for gits and shiggles. it was a 10 gallon. :shock: They had the two beardies in the 10 gallon for their whole lives. and she told me she got them in '05. Now, from one opening to another, Chester is 7 inches exactly. about the size of a dragon who is a year old, right? and the others was 5 inches. So, his size, and the families story tells me two different ages. He should be about 4, but he only looks about a year. :/ could he be permanently dwarfed? that is what I and all of my beardie owning friends think. :silent:

i think that he may not like baths because they were never given to him from his old family. like i said, he wasn't in too great of a living condition before, so i can't imagine that they would have bathed him regularly. he barely even got real food [they gave him lettuce. D:] but, i will try to put a towel or washcloth in the sink with him. every time i put my hand in there with him, he trys to escape. haha but, he has gotten better from his first bath. his first bath he tried to bite me. it was pretty cute. :lol: haha

i am using the stick on ones for his tank, i'll admit. but, for the most the basking temp is anywhere from 90-100. i'm using a 150 watt bulb.it's an infared, so i can leave it on all night (it gets cold in my room). the UV light that i have for him is an Exo-Terra Repti-Glo 10.0. i got it from the family. should i replace it? the mom said she bought it just a month before i got him. so that bulb is about 3 months old. i have it centered on the screenlid for his tank, but i'll move it closer to the basking spot so he can get more out of it. but then, he still isn't high enough to get all of the benefits of it, right? because he just lays in his bedding under his logs where the lamp is. i don't use a lower wattage bulb on the cooler end of his tank. do you think i should start?

i use a calci-dust with vitamin d3 added to it. it's by rep-cal, the one with the pink label. :] i dust his crickets about 3 times a week, and i'll throw a bit on his veggies once a week. whenever he gets mealworms, i'll dust them too. but he gets those sparingly. he also gets softened pellets everyday.

i think that is about everything. thank you so much for helping me out. :]

 

[Doesj]

*ding* problem found

first of all, a 150W might be too much, from what I've read - I only read for now , i plan on purchasing my first beardie in a couple of months - 75 to 100W should really be enough for a 40gal. I guess experimenting is needed. If your room gets cold at night, you can add a Ceramic Heat Emitter, CHE's don't give off light, just heat.
CHE:

and more importantly: infrared! Beardies can get eye damage from infrared light, so that's probably why he says away from the light...

and as a third result: people on the forums here are strongly against the repti-GLO 10.0 , these are known to be quite bad for your beardie. So yes, replacing it is a good idea!
Good UVB lamps would be reptiSUN 10.0 or a Megaray MVB

It's good that you're giving him calcium WITH D3 for now, since he's probably not getting the correct amount from his repti-glo (because it doesn't give the right amount and - like you said - because he doesn't get close enough)

 

[Freeie]

I agree with Doesj it seems hes getting way to hot and is hiding under things to get away from the heat. 7 inches is the size of a month to 2 month old beardie. Our 3 1/2 month olds are at 11 1/2 inchs. I'm so glad you took him Im sure that once you turn off the infared light (they really dont like them at all) and get a lower wattage bulb that should fix him hiding. We use a 75watt/100watt most of the time depending on how warm the weather is we have to switch them in and out. Id get the therm with a probe at the end so you can place it on his basking spot so you can tell how warm it gets and if its to hot you can either change to a lower bulb or lower his basking area. You can use household bulbs for basking. Much cheaper.

Some of our beardies will poo in the tub so we give them daily baths they poo in the tub no poo in the viv Its so nice to not have to clean that up

BTW welcome to bd.org!

 

[morganhannah]

wow. and here i thought i was doing everything right. :| i used to work at a chain pet store, so a lot of what i have/know is because of how i was trained. that, and alot of my beardie owning friends gave me advice. i never really had any reason to look anything up. :[ now i feel so bad for all of the advice that i've been giving to people these past two years!! :silent:

so, now here are my next two questions: i was planning on getting a CHE soon anyways as his primary source of heat. should i just get one and forgo a light entirely? or should i get a light for the day time, and have a CHE for night? :dontknow:

thank you all so so so much for your input. :] i really appreciate it. :]]

 

[Doesj]

beardies like at least 14h of sunlight during summer, so i suggest using a normal bulb. CHE's are only "useful" for nighttime heating.

if your temps don't go below 65-70 (lol, I don't even know how cold that is, I count in Celcius!) you don't need heat at night. If it gets colder => get a CHE

for day time heating use a 75 or 100W household bulb, they provide nice heat and light. Another option is installing halogen spots. They provide more heat for the same wattage, so you'd only need a 75W max orso (not sure about wattage)

either way, just a CHE won't do, beardies need a SUN-sim and a uvb tube doesn't have the right kind of light (too white)

 

[beardie parents]

Personally, with the size of your tank, (40 breeder) I would get a brooder clamp lamp fixture (this is what they are called in Home Depot and they run about $13 and they are rated for 300 watts). Anyway get one of these and a Mega ray or T-rex and you can use only these. The 100 watts of these, they do need to be between 12 and 18 inches of your beardies basking spot. I just started using these in my girls' tanks and they both have gotten more active. I also got two reptile lamp hangers and they work great, once I figured out how to hang the lamps on them. I have the t-rex's in the broder clamp lamps and you can raise them up or lower them (as long as you don't get the bulb closer than 12 inches from your basking spot.

 

[diamc]

Hi, thanks for giving us more info. I have to agree that a 150 watt basking bulb is too high for a 40 gallon tank and that it being a colored bulb, is not good for Chester, very hard on his eyes. The fact that it is red, will not help at all with the glare of the not so good Repti-Glo bulb. I suggest you put a 75 watt household light bulb in to replace the red one and to make sure the basking bulb and UVB are right alongside each other. The distance from him to the Repti-Glo should be NO closer than 10", otherwise damage could occur if it hasn't already. Getting a Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent bulb would be much safer and better for him. Or you could get a mercury vapor bulb like a 100 watt Megaray or T-Rex. They both put out ultra violet rays superior to the fluorescent bulbs. But, you have to be sure that you have an accurate way of checking the temps and the distance would need to be a minimum of 12" from your beardie or the rays & heat will be too strong.

It would be a good idea to get a digital thermometer with a probe end. Here's a picture of one you should be able to find at Walmart for about $12.00 and should either be in the area where the outdoor plastic thermometers are or in the garden center. With this one, you can get the temp of the basking and cool side at the same time as well as the humidity readout.

When you said Chester is 7" long, did you mean from nose to tail tip or from nose to vent area?

 

[morganhannah]

wow wow!! i have been getting so much information from everyone! thank you all so much!! :love5:

after reading through the forums last night, i discovered everyone's mutual feelings of distaste of my repi-glo. so, i went out and purchased a repisun, as everyone had suggested. i also got some regular bulbs for him too. since everything has been replaced, he has been basking on his own, without me trying to coax him to the logs so he could soak up some heat. he is also started to shed some skin that has been looking like it was ready to shed for about a week now. thank you guys so much for everything. i am so glad he is acting more towards normal now. :]

i had him out and about with me today while we got new bulbs, got food, etc., and he pooped outside of being in the bathtub. that place being all over my car. :bleick: haha but i am glad to say that he did it out of the water, so maybe the ACTUAL sun helped that out a little, and a better UV bulb will help for more normal, cage pooping.

diane, i will pick up a thermometer like that tomorrow. thank you for the suggestion of a good one. :] about the lighting situation: now that i have different lights, should they really be that far away from him? and when i said he was 7 inches, i meant from nose to vent area. 'from one opening to the other'. haha his tail is about 9 inches.

 

[diamc]

We are very happy to help and thrilled that you have noticed a change in him already. 8) That's great that you got a Repti-Sun fluorescent today, with that particular bulb, it should be 6 to 8" from him when he's in his basking spot. So, you replaced the red bulb with a bright white one instead, that should make a difference in his basking and activity level too. What wattage did you put in? Great signs that he is basking on his own now AND starting to shed.

A lot of us here use that thermometer, works great and is also a good buy. Let me explain now how to use it because it doesn't come with instructions on how to take reptile tank temps. :mrgreen: Place the probe end so that it is resting on (actually touching) the basking site with the thermometer part way over on the bottom of the cool side. Wait about 45 min for the temp to stop rising, then the "out" reading will be for the basking area and the "in" reading for the cool side. You'll want a basking temp of about 100 to 110 although adults prefer it 100 to 107 approximately and the cool side should be 78 to 82 with 80 being ideal. Once you get those temps, we can help you with any adjustments that might be needed.

That's good that he pooped other than in the bath but sorry to hear that he pooped in your car. That must have been difficult to clean up. So, he is actually about 16" then, that sounds much better for an adult beardie.

If you have any other questions, let us know. Thanks for making the changes so quickly, sounds like it is paying off already. :wink: :wink:

 

[morganhannah]

yup i sure did replace it all!! i just wanna make sure he is in tip top shape. i have waited for YEARS to get one, so it was going to be spoiled anyways, but with the conditions he came from before me, i guess i'm trying to make up for lost time. lol my mom says that i spoil him rotten, but how could you not spoil something with a face like that?! :wink:

the new bulb that i put in for him is a 100w because my room tends to be on the cold side. it feels kinda cold to me where his basking spot is, but i will find out how his tank is running once i get that thermometer.

the poop wasn't too difficult to clean up. i got to it pretty quickly. but it was still pretty gross. :bleick: i still feel like he is on the smaller side of the spectrum for supposedly being 4 years old. and a boy. :/ he has grown a little bit since i got him, but do you think he might be permanently dwarfed?