Health problems?

[LizardLad11]

My 2 year old dragon won't eat. I think he may be shedding or he isn't hot enough. I have a 250v lamp during the day. At night I turn all my lamps off. Should I be doing that? I feed him salad, tomatoes, and apples. I also try to give him superworms( powered in calcium) but he won't eat them. The last thing he ate was a superworm and four pieces of lettuce. That was a about two days ago.

Please help! I want Phoenix to be healthy!

 

[brittani299]

Can you answer these questions

How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb?
Di you have any type of night time heat source (ceramic heat emitter, colored bulb, etc)?
How long are lights on each day?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
What is the night time temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
Do you bathe your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?

 

[Fishercat]

Hi.

The answers to the questions Brittani pasted in will go a long way towards helping to figure out what's going on with Phoenix.

In the meantime, the basic answer to your question of whether or not you should turn his lights off at night is yes. But he might need a night-time heat source. The only way to know that for sure is to measure the temperature at various spots in his tank with an accurate thermometer at night before you turn his lights off, and then again in the morning just before you turn them on. If the warmest spot in his tank is too cold in the morning, then he needs a different source of heat for night. Bearded lizards are active during the day and sleep at night, like people. And like us, they have trouble sleeping if it's not dark. But they need to be kept warm, too.

Tell us about what Phoenix's life with you is like, and we'll do whatever we can to help you figure out how to keep him healthy and happy.

 

[LizardLad11]

2 years
3 days(he ate on the first day i got him..hasn't eaten since)
Maybe a little over or under 1 ft
Male
36x24x24
Sand(i am going to change to tiles soon)
Yes
compact
Villa Night(i don't know a lot about wattage, but the lamp said 660W and 250V?)
I don't know maybe 2 years old?
Almost right next to it
Yes i use i separate basking bulb.(660w is what the lamp read) Not colored.
No
15 hours
78 degrees
70 degrees
Next to the basking bulb
Stick thermometer
I use a stick that he rests on for basking.(Don't have a heat rock or heating pad)
The only time i fed him was one super worm and four pieces of lettuce.
Well before i got him he had eaten 12 crickets. The day after i got him he ate four pieces of lettuce and one super worm( dipped in calcium). And that was the only time i fed him.
No
Yes
I use Armstrong worms. And LizardCalcium.
He has pooped 3 times since i got him.
Haven't bathed him in the 3 days i have had him.
No
No but he had already been checked by a vet.
No

 

[Fishercat]

Hi.

Thanks for answering all those questions.

------------------------
How old is your dragon?
2 years

How long have you had your dragon?
3 days(he ate on the first day i got him..hasn't eaten since)

How long is your dragon?
Maybe a little over or under 1 ft

What is the sex of your dragon?
Male

What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
36x24x24

What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Sand(i am going to change to tiles soon)

Do you use UVB lights?
Yes

If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
compact

What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
Villa Night(i don't know a lot about wattage, but the lamp said 660W and 250V?)

How old is your UVB bulb?
I don't know maybe 2 years old?

How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Almost right next to it

Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb?
Yes i use i separate basking bulb.(660w is what the lamp read) Not colored.

Do you have any type of night time heat source (ceramic heat emitter, colored bulb, etc)?
No

How long are lights on each day?
15 hours

What are the basking temps?
78 degrees

What is the cool side temp?
70 degrees

What is the night time temp?


Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Stick thermometer

Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
Next to the basking bulb

Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
I use a stick that he rests on for basking.(Don't have a heat rock or heating pad)

What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
The only time i fed him was one super worm and four pieces of lettuce.

How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Well before i got him he had eaten 12 crickets. The day after i got him he ate four pieces of lettuce and one super worm( dipped in calcium). And that was the only time i fed him.

Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
No

Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Yes. I use Armstrong worms. And LizardCalcium.

Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
He has pooped 3 times since i got him.

Do you bathe your dragon? How often?
Haven't bathed him in the 3 days i have had him.

Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
No

Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
No but he had already been checked by a vet.

Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
No
--------------------------------------------

There are three things that jump right out at me as potential problems:

Temperature
If Phoenix's basking spot is really only 78 degrees, that's much too low. It should be between 100-115 degrees. Dragons bask on warm surfaces to get their bellies hot enough to digest their food. If the surface they rest on isn't warm enough, it will definitely affect their appetite. If the cool side of the tank really is 70 degrees, that's fine, but the warmest spot should be a lot hotter.

I bought stick-on thermometers at first, and my dragon was too cold also. Stick-on thermometers only measure the temp exactly where they're stuck on the glass, and even there, they are not very accurate. There are a couple of better options for accurate temp measurements: probe thermometers, and "heat gun" thermometers. Probes have wires with a sensor at the end attached to a digital readout. You place the probe on the surface whose temp you want to measure, wait, and then the temp will show up on the readout. Heat gun thermometers are kind of "point and shoot."

That's what I have. I choose what option I want (lowest temp, highest, just keep measuring, etc.), then just move the thermometer around to the various spots in the tank that I want to check. It took some time to read the directions and learn how it works at first, but once I did, it's very easy to use, and it's fast. I seem to recall reading somewhere that probe thermometers take a pretty long time to work. I got my thermometer at Petco; it was $30, and from what I remember, the probe thermometers were about the same price.

The only heat source I'm using for my viv (48x21x13) is a ceramic heat emitter. It only gives off heat, not light, so I can keep it running all the time. If you're interested, I can tell you more about that.


UVB
If your UVB bulb could be as much as 2 years old, it needs to be replaced right away. There are some very high quality UVB bulbs that can last as long as a year. But most of them are only good for 6 months. So it's possible that Phoenix has spent most of his life without enough UVB.

There are some compact fluorescent UVB bulbs that have been shown to cause a painful eye condition called photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. It's caused by over-exposure to UV radiation, and it's like their eyeballs get badly sunburned. Many folks on here will recommend a particular brand of long UVB tube as being much safer than compact bulbs. (I don't know which one.) I've done some research, and am content with the brand of compact UVB bulb I have, but I'm also being careful to pay close attention to how my dragon's eyes look, and how he responds to light. I'd suggest you ask around and make up your mind about what kind of UVB bulb to get, but it should be done soon.

The distance from the UVB bulb to his basking spot should be between 6-8 inches. "Almost right next to it" could be 6 inches, or it could be 2 inches. Two inches is too close. You should use a ruler or measuring tape to make sure it's the right distance.

Diet
There's an excellent resource that most people here use to figure out what to feed their beardies. It lists a bunch of different foods, and they're color-coded to tell you which ones are good to feed every day, which ones are okay once in a while, and which ones you should save for special treats. It also tells you about foods that are known to be poisonous to them. Here's the link: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html.

Phoenix probably isn't going to want to eat much until he's warm enough. I'd recommend that when he does start eating, you gut-load his prey. That means you make sure that the crickets (or whatever) are fed good stuff a day before you feed them to him. You can either feed them the same veggies you feed Phoenix, or you can get special feed from a pet store.
--------
I mentioned the problems in the order I think they should be taken care of. First temperature, then UVB, then diet. If he's cold, he probably feels rotten, and is more likely to get a respiratory infection. The UVB bulb isn't going to make an enormous difference immediately. It'll take a few days to start making a difference to him, so a couple of days to make up your mind about what kind to get isn't a big deal. Don't put it off, though. And Phoenix isn't likely to want to eat much until he warms up. Still, there's no harm done by finding out what to feed him and picking up the good stuff at the same time you get the thermometer.

Good luck, and let us know how things are going.

 

[LizardLad11]

OK! I went to PetSmart today and a guy told me that Phoenix is most likely just not hungry because i found out someone had fed him 12 crickets 4 days ago. But i will get a temp gun. Last question. I bought a 75w Zilla NightBulb. Is it possible that i could use that during the day? Thanks!

 

[LizardLad11]

Just figured something out...He is only shedding! I noticed upstairs while i held him his bottom legs( originally yellow) had turned a dark brown!

 

[Fishercat]

Hi.

I'm glad you're going to get a better thermometer. Good going. With regard to his appetite, I'm afraid the guy at PetSmart didn't know what he was talking about. My dragon, Teach, is a 3 year old male. He gets about 20 crickets at a time, 3 times a week, and chases after them every time as if he's starving. (He isn't.) He's also getting a plate of veggies every day, including the days he gets crickets. Today, he ate all but one of his crickets, and about one cup (dry measure) of chopped collard greens and shredded spaghetti squash. Healthy beardies whose vivs are warm enough (and aren't shedding) eat a LOT.

I know shedding makes reptiles stop eating, but I don't know enough about shedding in beardies to say if the color change you're describing does mean that he's shedding. I haven't had mine long enough for him to go through a complete shed.

Sorry, I don't know enough to answer your question about the night bulb.

 

[XiDiS]

There is no reason for a night bulb.... even in the day time. If you need more heat in the tank just put a regular 60,75,100w bulb in a fixture... it will throw off enough heat.

 

[brittani299]

Night lights are not good for them. They dont sleep well with lights on them. If your house gets too cold get a ceramic heater bulb. It only puts out heat.

 

[LizardLad11]

OK. Lately he has turned a dark brown..what does that mean?

 

[brittani299]

He is too cold. You need to fix the basking light asap

 

[LizardLad11]

OK. Where could i buy one?

 

[brittani299]

Go to petsmart or petco and buy a new fixture and light bulb.

 

[bumblebee]

You can also just use a regular household bulb as long as it's bright white. They're usually a lot cheaper than a reptile "basking" light at Petco or Petsmart. Since he is 2 years old, you want his basking temps to be between 100 and 105F.