early brumation?

[Bella313]

Hi,
I've had my Bearded Dragon for about 3-4 months and he was a baby when I bought him. He has been doing fine so far but these past two days he has been very slow to wake up and eat. This morning I found him curled up in the corner of the cool side of his tank. After 30 or so minutes of his lights being on I tried to feed him to get him to perk up a bit but he even let one cricket walk under him and climb on top of him to get away. I know things like this can be signs of brumation but I thought he was way to young for that. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kornel351]

Any pictures can help?

 

[Bella313]

Since posting my original question he has slowly made his way to the warmer side of his tank, but if you still think a picture would help I'm happy to take one.

 

[kornel351]

Since posting my original question he has slowly made his way to the warmer side of his tank, but if you still think a picture would help I'm happy to take one.

Some times dragons are weird it's not uncommon for them to only brumate in cooler temperatures but what concerns me is the age of the dragon .Brumate on mostly occurs in dragons one year old or older . Could be many things that a wrong .

 

[Bella313]

If there is anything else that would be helpful for you to know to figure out what is wrong I'm happy to give information, just let me know what you need to know. He hasn't moved since he made his way to the warmer side.

 

[kornel351]

I would suggest you do a fecal exam on the bearded dragon as it could be him just being weird and just in case he is actually going into brumation at a young age you will want to know if there is any other issues like parasites that need to be cured first.He could also maybe just be waking up and warming up his body when u turned on the light and simply just didn't want to eat yet.

 

[diamc]

Hi Bella. Any idea how cool it gets in the tank overnight? Are you using a ceramic heat emitter or any type of heat overnight now?

They usually need about an hr or so to warm up right under the lights before their appetite kicks in. Did he eat anything later on?

We would love to see pics of your little one. And, if you'd like to give us a rundown of your setup, we could make sure that there isn't anything that needs a little twinking. Also, the type of thermometer you're using and anything else you feel would be helpful.

It's always a good idea to get a fecal checked just to be able to rule that out.

 

[Bella313]

Hi,
my house gets pretty cold at night, somewhere in the low 60's maybe even high 50's, so I do use a night heat bulb that is around 75 watts I believe (I will check all this info when I get home today). Usually with the heating bulb i manage to keep the temperature in the low 60's in his tank at night. I am pretty sure I am using a ceramic heat emitter, it is ceramic on top with a metal dome around it I will take pictures when I get home. I gave him some phoenix worms later am he did eat them but still wasn't moving too much. Although when I took him out to handle him later in the day he seemed to have some more energy and eventually fell asleep on me, and after I put him back he was more active in his tank. He has a hide and food bowl on one side of the tank and some climbing branches and basking spots on the other side with a 150 watt basking bulb (my house is generally kept around 62 so this is not over heating him) and a 10.0 repti sun uvb bulb. He gets a mix of crickets and phoenix worms everyday and I always leave pellets in his bowl. He also gets salads a few times a week. I have recently added a water bowl to keep the humidity at a reasonable range because it has been from 13-27% area. I'm using a Walmart humidity and temperature gauge. I hope this helps and again I will provide pictures when I get home.

 

[kornel351]

Hi,
my house gets pretty cold at night, somewhere in the low 60's maybe even high 50's, so I do use a night heat bulb that is around 75 watts I believe (I will check all this info when I get home today). Usually with the heating bulb i manage to keep the temperature in the low 60's in his tank at night. I am pretty sure I am using a ceramic heat emitter, it is ceramic on top with a metal dome around it I will take pictures when I get home. I gave him some phoenix worms later am he did eat them but still wasn't moving too much. Although when I took him out to handle him later in the day he seemed to have some more energy and eventually fell asleep on me, and after I put him back he was more active in his tank. He has a hide and food bowl on one side of the tank and some climbing branches and basking spots on the other side with a 150 watt basking bulb (my house is generally kept around 62 so this is not over heating him) and a 10.0 repti sun uvb bulb. He gets a mix of crickets and phoenix worms everyday and I always leave pellets in his bowl. He also gets salads a few times a week. I have recently added a water bowl to keep the humidity at a reasonable range because it has been from 13-27% area. I'm using a Walmart humidity and temperature gauge. I hope this helps and again I will provide pictures when I get home.

.The ceramic heat emitter that we are referring to is a special bulb that releases heat but no light.The ceramic on the metal dome however is different it is there because it can take heat unlike plastic which would melt. Also it is recommended for the temperature to be 65 degrees.

 

[Bella313]

Okay then I do not have a ceramic heat emitter, I use a night heat lamp. I have a 150 watt repti basking spot lamp from zoo med and a 10.0 reptisun uvb bulb. Here are pictures of his setup and him. Also the temperature is lower than it's ever been right now and I'm not sure how to fix that other than buying an even higher wattage bulb. I also have a picture of the night bulb I'm currently using.

 

[kornel351]

These lightbulbs are pretty much nonsense ,they can affect the sleeping patterns of the dragons through the light them emit that enables u to see the dragon.They also have a very short live span as they last about 6 months maximum while heat emitters don't produce light so they don't affect sleeping patterns and last about a year saving u money .All because they don't produce any time of light just heat .

 

[Bella313]

Okay then I will need to buy one, what wattage do you recommend?

 

[kornel351]

Aw a 75w -100w would be perfectly fine