Im not sure?

[dnardini]

Hi, Buddy slept well last night. at first when i turned all his lights off im sure he got cold and stated to darken quickly, so i decided to put him in a smaller enclosure on top of his basking rock with a heating pad on top of the enclosure to keep him warm. (the heating pad was not touching him at all). When he woke up his beautiful tan color came back. He ate 6 crickets and actually got them on his own. He is not that quick at getting them but he did it. He is now basking under the heat lamp and has darkend up a slightly, im sure my temps are incorrect, today iam going to get the proper thermometer to make sure my set up is correct. I am also going to get some silk worms for him to see if he will more. He does like the bath and thats where he gets all his water from, he will put his head down just enough to allow the water to flow in and he will swollow any where between 15 and 23 times. (Is that enough water for him, or too much)?
If any of you have read my other posts and this one do you think everything going on with him is due to the improper lights and temps?
Please give me your opinion,
Thanks,
Dawn

 

[ReptileAddiction]

I cant help you but DO NOT USE A HEAT ROCK. please it will urt your dragon in the end

 

[NightFury]

What you are doing sounds ok, if you wanna provide extra heat at night then you could get a Ceramic Heat Emitter bulb, they give off great amounts of heat with no light so it doesnt disturb their sleep cycle. Getting a digital probe thermometer or a Laser temp gun is a must have, get one of those as soon as you can so you can accurately monitor the temps. Temps are important for their health and digestion. As long as the temp doesnt drop below 65 at night then he should be ok, daytime basking temps should be around 100-110F. It is great you are giving him baths, you can give those 2-3 times a week if you feel necessary. It is ok for him to drink as much as he wants, it should be enough for him. Beardies dont need alot of water, they get most of it from vegetable matter and other foods. Could you give a rundown of your setup? that way we can help you with any problems that need corrected.

 

[dnardini]

Im not sure how many gallons the tank is but its almost 4 ft in length, 2 ft deep and 2 ft high. I have the retisun UVB light no plastic covering the tube going across the back end of the tank where the light is directly going in not on top of the screen, I have a 100 watt incondescent bulb on the basking side where both thermometers (strip, and dial) read at 100* the cool side reads with the same kind as the basking side between 80* and *5*. I use brown paper from a huge roll that i cut to fit the bottom (I got rid of the sand he came with). The Tank sits in front of a window and nothing covering any of the sides. Thats about it other than his basking rock and logs, water dish. By the way buddy will lay in his water just for a few minutes every day to drink and then move forward to poop in it. Is that funny of what. of course I take it out right away, but i think its kind of cool that he does it there like its his toilet.
Any way thats for helping. I will feed him out side! He loves it in the sun.

 

[NightFury]

Sounds like you are doing everything ok, he could be getting ready for a shed. Beardies will sometimes soak themselves in their dish to help loosen the scales. He is probably ok, doesn't sound like there is any problems. Sometimes my beardie doesn't eat as much as other days, it's no biggie.

 

[dnardini]

I brought buddy out side to eat and he was too interested in everything that was going on (wind, sun, birds trees) that he didnt eat a thing, after about 10-12 minutes I brought him back in and I think he was unhappy because his beard started to darken, and still hasnt eaten. Oh well off to the store to try other things to eat!
Thanx