I'm worried about my guy. :(

[azteacher]

Yoshi is 2 and a half years old.. adopted him exactly two months ago from a less than optimal situation.

His lighting is fine, but he has a loss of appetite lately. He has always gone over to his bowl and taken a bite or two, but he hasn't gone to the bathroom in 3 or 4 days. Normally he goes every day. I've given him warm baths every day in hopes he'll go but so far, nothing.

He has his head up under his light right now but his eyes seem a little sunken in. Am I worrying for nothing? Could he possibly be semi-brumating? What can I do to help him?

 

[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?

 

[azteacher]

How old is your dragon? 2 and a half years old - said this above
How long have you had your dragon? 2 months - said this above
How long is your dragon? I don't know but he was severely underfed so he's small for an adult.
What is the sex of your dragon? Male.
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? Whatever size he came in. He has been perfectly happy until recently.
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? I use ReptiCarpet and clean tshirts.
Do you use UVB lights? Yes.
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? Tube.
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? I don't know.. he came with it. I rescued him.
How old is your UVB bulb? I don't know.
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? About 8 inches. Maybe 6.
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb? Yes. Unsure of the kind. 150 watts. White.
Di you have any type of night time heat source (ceramic heat emitter, colored bulb, etc)? No.
How long are lights on each day? 12 and 12.
What are the basking temps? 98-100.
What is the cool side temp? Somewhere in the 80s.
What is the night time temp? Upper 70s.
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? If I could afford a temp gun, I'd have one. But I have a digitla.
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? As close to his exact basking spot as I can get.
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No.
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. Bok choy, romaine lettuce, baby food (carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, etc), blueberries, crickets.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? Afternoon. Sometimes late morning.
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? Yes.
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? Yes, both. I use the calcium 5x a week and the multivitamin 1-2x.
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? He was pooping daily. Hasn't pooped in 3 or 4 days and has been eating a lot less.
Do you bathe your dragon? How often? Yes. Daily or every other day.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? Yes.
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? No.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? No.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. You might want to get a new uvb. The reptisun 10.0 Tube is one of the best. They need to be changed every 6 months. Make sure there is no screen between him and the bulb. Is the uvb you have now mounted in the tank?

 

[brittani299]

A few things that need to be changed. The tank should be at least a 40 gallon breeder tank. Please find out what size it is. Second the UVB is probably wrong. Get a reptisun 10.0 tube bulb and mount it inside the tank. Third you can buy a digital thermometer at petsmart for $10. It has a long cord so it can reach across the whole tank. Lastly, you said you offer water other then baths. do you mist or have a water bowl. Either way you should be careful humidity can cause uri in beardies

 

[azteacher]

Okay. I'll go buy a new UVB today.

I know you guys try to be helpful, but the way some of you talk to newbies with questions is a little insulting. That's all I'll say.

 

[parodyofagirl]

If money is an issue, you might be able to order the reptiSUN 10 uv tube bulb from amazon.com for a lot less than they cost in the pet store.

My fiance recently purchased two from amazon for our Quincy Dragon. The two bulbs cost less than one from petco or petsmart.

Finally, it is really important that you get the reptiSUN bulb and not the reptiGLO or one of the other typical tube bulbs. We had Quincy under the wrong bulb for years and he has had a lot of health problems recently (some of which can be attributed to using the wrong bulb.)

I really hope Yoshi feels better soon! If his problem really is the UV bulb, he should be back to his normal routine in a couple of days.

Please try to not be offended by the questions. Many people who come here bought a bearded dragon from a pet store without doing any research first. When I first came to this website 6 years ago because I had this miserable little baby bearded dragon who seemed to be dying a little every day in front of my eyes...those questions...seeing them and realizing we had the wrong temps, wrong bulb, no UVB bulb, no calcium or vitamins, wrong size not gutloaded crickets, tiny enclosure, wrong substrate, and were told iceberg lettuce was okay as 'greens' honestly saved Quincy's life.

The questions are asked because they can and do save lives. I don't think anyone meant to make you feel insulted. It seems like the 1-2 people who have been actively answering questions on this board have been trying to answer quickly and concisely because there have been so many recent questions and due to the holidays, not enough people posting answers.

The brand/type of calcium and vitamins are important. Quincy had issues in the past due to the 'wrong' calcium because it had too much phosphorus.

What do you gutload the crickets with? How many does he eat at a time? What size are they?

 

[brittani299]

I am sorry if I came across as rude. I use my iPhone to post and it likes to change things. And I don't always read what I write. And my bird likes to attack my phone while I write too (like right now)

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

How is your boy doing today?

It sounds like your diet regime is good for him. I think getting the new light will greatly help him. Be sure it's mounted 6-8 inches from him, underneath of the screen top (if applicable) to help UVB exposure. Is it mounted in his tank now or on top of the screen?
Is he maintaining his weight right now?
I would increase his basking temps just a little right now to help out his immune system. Try a range of 95-110 to give him a few areas of various heat.
Try getting some bee pollen also which can help boost immune system, too.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie