Double check my enclosure, also relocation stress? :(

[angrycheeto]

I just adopted a beardie three days ago, he's about nine inches long, nice and healthy looking. I'm not sure how old he is, the previous owner had him for 4 months and got him when he was very small. He had been in a 20 gallon long with a zoomed 75 watt basking light and a compact florescent.

I have him in a 40gallon glass terrarium (36x18x13) with a 24'' florescent tube UVB Reptisun 10.0 T8 mounted inside the cage, and his basking bulb is a 75 watt zoomed basking light. I can't seem to get the temps consistent. The temperature in my house fluctuates a lot so sometimes the basking spot is 105 and sometimes it's 95. :evil: I measure the temps with a Reptitemp digital infrared thermometer. Substrate is paper towel but soon to be tile when he seems to settle in a bit more.

The old owner had a compact florescent uvb so I didn't even take that since I read they could be dangerous, only just last night I got the new uvb mounted in his cage so I'm waiting to see how that goes today. The dragon has been acting weird, though. The first night he was really suspicious of me, and would puff his beard and body at the sight of me. The next day he ate around 20 crickets and some sweet potato and orange bell pepper, and pooped. I took him outside for uvb since there wasn't any in his cage. He sat perfectly still in my hands while outside and when I took him inside I set him on the bed to clean up something out of his cage and he held perfectly still. Then he went to sleep in a corner of the cold side and did not move from that spot for a whole day. I gave him an hour to move to his basking spot this morning and he didn't budge, so I put him there.

I guess I just wanna know... am I doing it right? Should I be worried that he didn't move or bask all day yesterday? Should I give him a hide?

 

[brittani299]

Hello Sounds like relocation stress. Give him a week or so. he should warm up to you

 

[Taterbug]

He is still adjusting to his new life, it's a lot if big changes for a little dragon.

Since your temps fluctuate, you can raise your basking spot temp so that when it is cooler it's the right temp. (95 gets bumped to 105-110). This means that your high temp will go up too, but you can add another platform or branch so that if the first spot does get too hot he can move to a cooler one. This will give him options so that he never has to settle for too cool of a spot.

 

[timisimaginary]

by 40gal i assume you mean 36x18x18, not 36x18x13?
13" would be pretty short for a dragon enclosure.