I too have stress marks

[Elijahsmom]

Hi guys. My big guy Elijah has stress marks out the wazoo. I have made no changes to his environment lately. He is also staying a very dark color most of the time. He lightens up when I put him in the bathtub and when I hold him and he goes to sleep. The stress marks don't completely go away during those times but they get lighter too. I keep him in a 40 gal breeder. I have thermometers with probes, the basking end reads 100 to 103 depending on the weather. On the basking end I keep a 100 watt bulb, directly under the bulb the temps are hotter, like 110 or more but he doesn't like to bask there so the probe stays where he likes to bask. The cool end is 79 to 81 again depending on the weather. I have a 36" reptisun that I bought April 16th. He has a hammock that is about 6" below his UVB light. Lets see, he poops once to twice a day (lately in his food bowel ) I have just gotten in an order of phoenix worms and silkworms that I have started him on and he loves. He gets large crickets daily too, I dust with Ca Mon to Fri and vitamins Sat and Sun. His poos have been solid, no overwhelming smell but a slight oder. They will become slightly loose after a bath or if I have feed him baby food. Hmm what else, humidity is @ 40% it will creep to 50% @ night even after I have removed the water source. We have a vet appointment Friday. Anything I can do to keep him more stress free until then? Thanks for the help.

 

[Goonie]

Sometimes beardies will suddenly dislike something in their viv even though it'd been there from day one.
Another thing that might be going on with Elijah is that the basking side might be too hot for him, thus the stress marks and dark colors and not wanting to be directly underneath the 100 watt bulb. My baby, Pookie, doesn't like his viv any hotter than 103; if it gets even a micro degree higher than that, he'd be hiding as far from the heat as possible.
Are there places where he could hide if he doesn't want to be bothered? Like a rock cave or makeshift tent of sorts?

Could there had been some changes to the room in which Elijah's viv is in? They'd react to changes outside of their viv as well.

 

[Elijahsmom]

Yeah Elijah has a log that he can get underneath to hide, I could try and decrease the bulb to a 75watt, I just want my temps to stay where they need to. He's been a little off since I move him into the 40 gal but thats been over a month ago, the tank is in the same spot as the old one was so no outside changes. I'll try decreasing his heat a little bit and seeing how that goes. He stays in the basement with my husband and me so keeping his temps good are a bit of a challenge as is stay cool down here. I forgot to mention to keep his cool side in normal ranges I have to keep a 60 watt over on that side too. I'll try decreasing the bulb on his basking side and seeing how that goes. I'm going to still keep the vet appointment even if the marks go away as I just want to have him checked anyways and to have a fecal done.

 

[Elijahsmom]

I tried a 75watt on the basking side and his temps fell to 88. Ug...I moved him back to the 100watt. Do they make 80watt bulbs? Oh well vet app. on Fri and we will see.

 

[Elijahsmom]

Just letting you guys know that Elijah checked out great with his vet appointment today, fecal was negative for anything. He still has stress marks so I'm playing with temps a little bit, maybe he is just picky about that. One new thing about his new tank that I didn't have in the old one was I had him on cage carpet in his old tank and now he is on paper towels until I can get cage carpet online. May be this is a cause? Don't know, he can be picky. :mrgreen:

 

[Goonie]

Just letting you guys know that Elijah checked out great with his vet appointment today, fecal was negative for anything. He still has stress marks so I'm playing with temps a little bit, maybe he is just picky about that. One new thing about his new tank that I didn't have in the old one was I had him on cage carpet in his old tank and now he is on paper towels until I can get cage carpet online. May be this is a cause? Don't know, he can be picky. :mrgreen:

Congrats on a clean bill of health!

As for the change from carpet to paper towels, oh yeah! I used to have two boys who were housed on calci sand (before I knew any better), and when I changed over to shelf liner (clear), one of them refused to get down from his basking platform. He had a black beard and attitude out of the wahzoo! I think it took him almost a week to finally get over it.

 

[Elijahsmom]

Hahaha, animals are too funny. I don't know if it is the paper towels it has been over a month since I've moved him, may be the white paper towels and how bright that makes thinks. Who knows. i'll keep playing until I find something he likes. LOL.

 

[jeserah]

Did you ever figure out what Elijah didn't like? I was searching the forums and I'm glad I didn't post a new thread because you seemed to sum up everything that is happening with my Bruce very nicely in this thread (the only exceptions are that I haven't vetted him [although, I got him from bloodbank dragons so I assume he started out very healthy anyway] and my reptisun bulb is in the mail). I hope Elijah is fairing better, and if you have any advice that would be great!

 

[Elijahsmom]

No to be absolutely honest he still has stress marks and I can't figure out why. He seems to only have them in his cage, my temps are good and I have my reptisun 10.0 in with a reflector b/c I have a screen lid. His marks go away in the bath or when I'm holding him, he goes back in the cage and they come back. I've read that some beardies just don't like being caged. I don't know if he gets board or what. He loves to roam so I let him out for as long as he can handle and I cuddle him every night. He seems to be having a rough shed too, he shed his head like a month ago and nothing since. He has some discoloration but no shed yet. I'm hoping soon he will settle down, it could just be hormones for all I know. :roll:

 

[Grimleo]

My Herc is the exact same way. He absolutely loves exploring my room and house and today he was very happy to be outside in the sun but as soon as I put him in his viv he gets his stress marks ._. I am playing around with the temps too to figure out what he likes I hope you find out what's bugging your Elijah