Hates his viv??

[Fury1212]

We got our beardie on Christmas. He is still probably dealing with relocation stress, I understand this. However. Yesterday he turned very dark. He only averages about 7-10 crickets a day and I've only gotten him to eat mustard greens 2x. Yesterday he didn't poop and hadn't yet this am so we figured he was so dark due to constipation. We read on here to bath him, stroke his belly, give him a few drops of olive oil and baby squash. We did all those. When we put him in the bath he lighten significantly. We then let him roam around in the sun from our back door. He was so active and pooped a ton right on our floor! He then became very light again!! As soon as we put him back in his tank he became even darker than before. We left him alone the rest of the day until right now. He ate one cricket earlier. We got him out again and let him explore again and what do you, he lighten up a bit again. We put him back in the tank and he's super dark again. We are wondering about if he's concerned about his reflection? He tends to stare at his reflection from the glass quite a bit. If this could be part of the problem do we let him get used to it or cover another side of the tank? We really don't want to because we like to have all 3 sides (back has a landscape scene) to view him and so he can view us! We've checked on here and his temps, lights, etc are all correct. So we can rule that out. We put the probe on his fave spot and its 102 there. Is it possible that at such a young age (6 inches) he already wants to be out of his viv?

 

[Fury1212]

Anyone?

 

[Derobmi]

You could try covering the inside of the glass with some paper or cardboard for a few days and see what happens. That will allow you to rule out the reflection issue as the cause. I'm prone to thinking the reflection is a problem because I had a very difficult time with my male beardie when he was younger and it was due to his reflection.

 

[Russell84]

Normally they turn dark when they are cold, because it enables them to absorb heat more efficiently. The temperature of your basking spot sounds ok. How about your thermometer, what type is it? I find that a digital one is the best. I use an external one with a probe that goes inside the viv. At least you can rule out temperature as a cause.

 

[Fury1212]

We have a digital 2 channel thermometer. Theres a probe on the basking spot and the actual thermometer is on the cool side. We just gave him a bath this am and he goes so much lighter in the water. He seems to like the baths! But as soon as we put him in the tank he gets all mad and dark again Our daughter (his mom ha!) thinks he's gonna peel but we know he peeled right before christmas, so less than 3 wks ago. He isn't eating much at all and didn't poop last night again. We'll do squash and maybe olive oil again and see if we can get him to go. These first couple weeks are going to be terrible until we know he's ok!!! He's so tiny!

 

[Russell84]

Actually, I thought that their colours turn brighter when they are excited/stressed? Could it be that he's excited when he's in the bath and dark is just his usual colour?

My previous BD was orange brown coloured and darker if he was cold. Once when I took him to the vet he he was dark because he was cold from the journey. Then when the vet had to pin him down and open his mouth to examine his teeth, he became very stressed and turned bright yellow and started puffing up his beard!!