health issue or beardie loneliness?

[ziggydoodles]

Hi all, I have a lovely male beardie, Ziggy, who's approximately 9 months old. Lately he's been much less active than usual while hanging out in his tank (40gal, with ZooMed and Zilla lights - 150w for his basking, 75w UVB & a 50w heat lamp for nighttime). He's still eating normally, aka like a little piggy (superworms, dandelion greens, mustard greens, acorn squash, occasionally strawberries & apple) and his BMs are pretty regular, but only occur every 4 or 5 days.
The problem is that he used to spend all the time in his tank running around, or leaping to & from his basking spot, and now he usually just sits on a little ramp on the cool side of his tank all day (which is about 75 degrees). He also stopped eating crickets a couple of months ago, he refused to eat them anymore so I switched to calcium-dusted superworms. He also lays strangely, with both of his back legs splayed out behind him, and I'm not sure if that's just comfy for him or could be a problem, because he moves normally when he actually decides to move.
When I bring him out of his tank he doesn't move around as much as he used to either (unless it's to go visit with the cat), but he's MUCH more active outside of his tank. I'm wondering if he might just be lonely, because his tank isn't in a super-high-traffic area, or if some kind of internal issue could be causing his change in activity. I'm really just a paranoid beardie momma and I don't want anything to be wrong with my ziggydoodle.

Here's my Ziggydoodle, givin' you the eye....

 

[TheDragonKeepers]

Sounds like Sandy.
Sandy likes the cool end, prefers her veggies and stretches out
There's nothin' wrong with her, she's just bloody awkward
If Zig's isn't coming up with any other signs, I wouldn't worry a huge amount. Get a fecal done just in case, and remember to boot him out of the cool end regularly.

 

[shygurl0189]

Hi im sorry to hear that ziggy less than normal. In my experience i have noticed that when dragons reach about the 1 year mark they stop acting like an over grown child haha. My casanova did the same thing he slowed down likes to veg out. as far as the laying with legs streched all my lizards lay like that once in a while. But i do have some questions regaurding the lighting that you discribed.

1) you stated that your using a 75 watt UVB bulb. is it a compact coil (looks like energy saver bulb) or a florecent tube? The compact coils have been known to cause ALOT of problems with reptile health. some including digestion problems, which can lead to lack of energy and lathargy. And also the most common is blindness. So i would highly recommend switching to florecents if you currently use compacts.

2) What are your house temps at night? Most of the time a nightly heat source isn't needed. my house at night drops down to 68-70 degrees and my lizards dont seem to mind at all. IMO i think it helps with the day/night cycles. if its too hot during the night i have noticed that my lizards move around alot throughout the night, so they arnt as active during the day.

hope you find this info a tad bit helpful.

-Tammy