Is this normal? My beardie's right eye is closed alot.

[landn042101]

My beardie's right eye is closed alot, while his left eye will be open. Is this normal? Also, he has been having his mouth open quite a bit lately. I posted earlier about my concern for my beardie not eating enough. Could anyone help me?

Am I posting right. I see that my post has been viewed 9 times, but I have received no reply.

 

[Tigg]

Can you please answer the following questions to your best ability... Try to be as specific as possible...

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?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side 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 bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?


As for your beardie gaping his mouth a lot lately, is he doing it while he is basking under his light or all the time? Does he seem to be having trouble breathing? Really deep, fast breaths? Can you hear a clicking or raspy noise while he breathes?

 

[Ethelia]

Please pay particular attention to the brand of the UVB when you are answering the above questions.
The brand and strength will be printed on the bulb itself somewhere.

Holly

 

[landn042101]

Thank you for responding and trying to help me.

I have two bearded dragons. A male and a female. I will list and then answer your questions.

For the male, who is named Sweetie Pie. My three year old daughter named him. Cute name, huh? I haven’t really checked his sex out for myself yet by looking on the underside of his tail by the above the vent for the two areas sticking out, one on each side


How old is your dragon?
-The previous owner told me he is two years old.

How long have you had your dragon?
-I have had him for 11 days.

How long is your dragon?
He is about 16.5” long from tip of nose to tip of tail

What is the sex of your dragon?
Male

What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
55 gallon tank-This is the same tank the previous owner had him in.
It is cracked on the right side. I would like to send you a picture of it, because I read somewhere that you should not have them in a cracked or broken tank.

What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
The previous owner said it is some kind of fossil rock. It looks like big pieces of shells on top and smaller pieces underneath. I would like to send you a picture of this as well. If he likes to dig, he certainly can’t do that in this substrate. Is it normal for a beardie to dig? My sister in law said she had a bearded dragon for a year and she kept him in corn cob substrate and he liked to bury in it at night. I have done research on substrates. Today, the lady at the pet store suggested Calci-Sand. But, I didn’t get it. I got Play Sand from Lowe’s instead. The bag says it has been screened, washed and dried. I haven’t put it in his tank yet. I also got him four 12” by 12” porcelain tiles to lay in the bottom of his tank, because I read that slate tiles are a good substrate. I just went and measured tank. It is 12” wide on the inside and 47” long on the inside. So, all four are not going to fit. I’m not sure if they will fit at all, actually. I may have to have Lowe’s cut their size down. They are still in my van.

Do you use UVB lights?
The previous owner had his tank by window and she said she would draw the curtains open during the day so he could get his UVB exposure. But I read somewhere that UVB rays can not go through windows. We have him by a window with blinds, and we keep the blinds open. But after I read that info. about UVB not going through windows, I went and bought a UVB bulb-the day after I got him.

If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
It looks like a spiral to me.

What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
Repti Glo 10.0 UVB by Exo Terra, 26W

How old is your UVB bulb?
10 days old

How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
If he’s laying down on his basking log, about 7”
If he’s sitting up on his basking log, probably 6” (I’m guessing on that right now, because he’s laying down right now)
Also, the UVB bulb is about 2” to the right of the right edge of his basking log.

Where should I have my UVB? Right now it is sitting to the right of my basking bulb (which is on the left side of the tank).

Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
Yes. The previous owner used flood lights. The day after bought him, I went out and bought a 75W bulb from pet store. It was called Sun Glo by Exo Terra, 75W. Yesterday, my son broke it. So, now I am using a flood light that the previous owner was using for one of the dragons. It is a flood light-65W.
The center of the light is 10” over the left edge of the basking log. Also, my dragon can probably get 6” close to the heat bulb ( I’m just guessing on that because he’s laying down on the log right now.) With him laying down as he is right now, the top of his head is 7” below the bulb and 2 ½” to the right of the bulb.

Both of my bulbs are in a silver dome looking thing and sitting on top of screen cover on my tank. The bulbs do touch the screen cover. Is this okay? I didn’t know if they would get too hot to be directly touching the screen cover.

What are the basking temps?
It has been reading 96 degrees.

What is the cool side temp?
Right now it is reading 76 degrees but I have had the lights off for two hours.

Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
At first I bought a round stick on thermometer, with like a hand like on a clock. But, I have read that those are not too accurate. So, I recently bought a Zilla (brand name) Battery-Operated Digital Thermometer from the pet store that has a 39” temperature probe (has a wire with probe on the end-I guess the wire is 39” long). I haven’t taken temps with this thermometer yet. I will do this tomorrow after the lights have been on for a few hours. I will take temps on both sides. On the basking side, I will take the temp on top of the basking log. On the cool side, I will take the temp on the top of the fossil rock on the right side of the tank.

Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
on the back corner of the tank where the basking log is-to be more specific:
About 5-6” higher (the basking log slopes downward to the left as you are looking at the front view) and 1” to the left of the basking log

Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
No. My husband is trying to get me to get a heat rock. But I read that is a big NO NO. I read that you are never supposed to use heat rocks with beardies. My husband said that a pet store he used to work in (probably about 20 years ago) used them for all of their reptiles. He has even suggested having like a big bowl or pile of rocks with the heat rock on the bottom covered of course by the other rocks.

What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
-On 6-6-09, the day I got him, I didn’t feed him anything, because the previous owner had already fed him some Rep-Cal Maintenance Formula Adult Bearded Dragon Food pellets that morning. She gave me these pellets, so these are the brand of pellets I’m feeding them. She told me he normally eats 4 a day, and sometimes 6.
-On 6-7-09, he only tried one bite of swiss chard (fed to him by hand)-ate it in morning, and then wouldn’t eat anymore of it. He didn’t eat any of the shredded carrots I had in a bowl for him(in the afternoon). He did eat 4 superworms( in the afternoon).
-On 6-8-09, He ate some pellets (in the morning), (I don’t remember the exact number, but at this point, I was not concerned yet that he was not eating enough.) He ate 4 superworms(in the afternoon).
-On 6-9-09, He only ate pellets (in the morning). (probably about 4). These were sprinkled with ReptoCal Powdered Nutritional Supplement. The bottle says it Includes Calcium and Vitamin D3.
-On 6-10-09, He ate 3 superworms (in the afternoon), green pepper-He ate 8 small pieces out of bowl (in the morning).
-On 6-11-09, He would not eat any of the pieces of apple in his bowl (in the morning). He ate 2 pellets with ReptoCal sprinkled on them (in the morning).
On 6-12-09, He refused to eat any pellets(in the morning). He ate 3 superworms (in the afternoon). He ate several bites of mustard greens (some fed to him by hand and he ate some from on top of his basking log) (at 10 pm at night). We left his lights on all night so he could digest his food. Then the lights stayed on the following day and evening until 10 pm. So, his lights were on for 24 hours straight. (But, normally I turn them off around 11 pm and turn them on again around 9-10 am)
On 6-13-09, He ate a little bit of mustard greens (in the morning).
On 6-14-09, He refused to eat any of the mustard or turnip green pieces in his bowl (in the morning). He also refused to eat any pellets (in the morning). Crickets-He ate 11 medium sized crickets (around 11:30 in the morning) that were dusted with a white powder that the previous owner said came with the Cricket Care kit she had gotten before. She said it was Calcium. The previous owner only gave him crickets once in a while as a treat. When I asked how often was that, she said whenever she went to town she would stop at a pet store and get them some, which really did not answer my question.
The girl at the pet store that I talked to today said that could be part of his problem-being fed more crickets at one time than he is used to getting)
On 6-15-09, He only ate two pellets (refused them in the morning, but finally ate them in the afternoon)-I had to handfeed him.
On 6-16-09, He ate 4 pellets and some mustard greens from on top of his basking log (refused them in the morning, but finally ate them in the afternoon).
On 6-17-09, He refused to eat any mustard greens (in the morning). He refused to eat any butternut squash pieces (in the morning) I left the veggies in his tank until afternoon. He ate 3-4 pellets from on top of his basking log (gave them to him at about 2 pm but he did not eat any of them until in the late afternoon, and the last one (which he ate at about 7:30 pm)he only ate because he was sitting on top of his basking log with his mouth open a little and his eyes closed and I stuck a pellet in there just to see what would happen and he opened his eyes and ate it).
I went to the pet store tonight. The girl said I shouldn’t get more crickets at this point-since he just had 11 on Sunday, and that I should wait several more days before giving him more crickets or worms. In the meantime, just give him pellets and veggies. What do you think about that?
I’m so worried because he looks skinny to me. There are times when his skin on both sides of his body looks wrinkled-like it’s not filled out enough because he’s too skinny) but then other times like when he’s napping that you can’t see the wrinkles.

I’ve noticed lately, (ever since I gave him his first bath-which was 99 degrees) many times he has been sitting with his mouth open (a little bit) on his basking log.

How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
mostly in the morning (9-11 am), but sometimes in the early afternoon (11 am-12 pm)and sometimes in the early evening (5-8 pm)

Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
The previous owner gave me some brown powder that she said was cricket food. So, the one time he has eaten crickets since I’ve gotten him, I put a bowl of that in with the crickets about a day and a half before I fed them to him. I also put a spoon full into a bowl of that Cricket Quencher (yellow gel) which is Calcium fortified, which is the crickets’ source of water. The bottle says it offers a source of calcium for “gut-loading” insects prior to feeding them to your reptile.
I didn’t feed anything to the worms. They were in a container with some oats (looked like oat meal).



Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
I do. I have ReptoCal and Rep-Cal Herptivite (multivitamins). I have put the Herptivite on his greens once, but that was a day he didn’t eat any of them.
ReptoCal on 6-9-09, 6-11-09 (so twice last week)
Repto Cal on 6-14-09 so far this week

Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?
I have read that beardies should poop every day and other places I have read that they should poop every 2-3 days. This is another area where I am concerned about him (and my female too for that matter). It was 5 days after I got him for him to poop for the first time (4 days for her). Then, he pooped again the next day (2 days after her first poop, my female pooped again, but that was on 6-12-09, and it has been five days since she last pooped.) He just pooped again today, which is 5 days since the last time he pooped. And his poop today was runny looking but it was brown.

Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Yes, I gave him his first bath 4 days after I got him (at 9:30pm). After his bath, there was a little bit of his skin in the towel I used to pat dry him off with. After this bath, is when I noticed his behavior of sitting on his basking log with his mouth open. I made sure to leave his lights on for several hours after his bath.
I noticed more shedding (like 3 more pieces) in the bottom of his tank about a day and a half after 1st bath
4 days after 1st bath, I gave him another bath. I think he peed in this bath. Some stuff came out from under his tail. It looked white.) I scooped it out immediately with a cup.
Both times I gave him his bath, the water temperature was 99 degrees.
Oh, and before I gave him his first bath, I disinfected the tub with Clorox because it smelled like cat litter when I started filling it with water. (I think my cats had been walking around in there and still had cat litter on their feet). But, I rinsed it really well, I think.

Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?
I had a bowl of water in his cage from 6-7-09 to 6-11-09(which I changed daily) at which time I stopped putting bowls of water in his cage because I had read that it can mess up the humidity in the tank and that it is better to just mist your dragon every other day on their heads. Other articles have said make sure your dragon has a fresh bowl of water daily in his cage. So, I am confused about this. Some articles I have read have said to mist your dragon’s cage every day and others have said don’t. (also confusing)
I didn’t buy a water bottle until 6-12-09. I sprayed him the next morning.
I misted him again on 6-16-09.
The girl at the pet store thinks that this could be part of his problem -that he needs a water bowl in his tank to drink from when he wants to, that maybe he’s dehydrated., and that could be why he’s not pooping often or eating well.

Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
No. I have another bearded dragon, a female, but she is in another custom built tank in a different room than him. However, he can probably hear her moving around in her tank.

Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?
No. The girl at the pet store today told me that there is only one vet around here that will treat reptiles and it is very expensive, like $600 if they have to do anything.

I am sorry that I wrote so much. I just wanted you to have as many details as possible.
I just want to be the best mom to my beardies that I can be. I have never had a lizard, so this is all new to me. However, I have been wanting a beardie for about 7 years. And, I got two of them at once. That I didn’t plan on, but the girl was selling both of them for one price.
Thank you for your help.

Ashley-
mom of 3 yr. old daughter Bethany, almost 2 yr. old son Landon, 2 cats (Sammie and Sasha), and 2 beardies (Sweetie Pie and Honey)

 

[Ethelia]

Hi there!
Well I want to say what a great job you are doing. You have obviously done your research and want the best for your little ones.

There is good and bad news. Good news is I can see what the problem is. Bad news is it means $$$.
Repti-Glo coil bulbs are just about the worst bulb possible. They put out a very poor level of UVB and the brightness of the light often causes lethargy and occular irratation in dragons. Keeping one or both eye closed is a sign of this that we have seen in alot of our members using repti-glo's. Any coiled or compact bulb can carry these hazards but repti-glo's are the worst.
It is absolutely criminal that they sell these bulbs because they are not only useless, but dangerous aswell.
If you need further convincing as to the bulb then please do type in Repti-glo into the search engine on the Health topic and see the amount of sick beardies that come up.

You will need to switch out the bulb ASAP, and I would leave the bulb off until you replace it.
To help give him some nice healthy UVB you can take him outside for a couple of hours a day. Make sure to keep a leash on him or a tight grip because we've had alot of escape stories.

You need to get yourself a Repti-SUN 10.0 strip bulb, or and Arcadia 12% strip bulb. Its a long thin bulb.

Im sure his appetite will pick up with some lovely UVB.
11 days is still well within the times of possible relocation stress. His appetite may pick up soon


The choice you've made on your substrate sounds like a wise one. Way to go for avoiding the calci-sand!
Alot of our members have sand and tiles in their viv. Sand on one side and some tiles on the other for feeding. Perhaps it might be a comprimise for you if you cant get the tiles cut down easily ^_^

Gutloading wise any store-bought brand is fine but I dont buy it because of the expense.
My crickets are on oats and bran (economy basic brad museli) and are given fresh veg daily which is dusted with vits.
My worms have veg every other day dusted with vits and calc.
My roaches have oats and bran and potatoe mainly.

My two are very fussy about their vitamins They wont touch their veg if they see it on it.
I now only dust their feeders which they never seem to mind.
For my youngster I dust vits twice a week and calcium 5 times a week on one feeding.
For my sub-adult he has vits twice a week and calcium 3-4 times a week.

Poop wise not all adults poop daily. 2-3 days does sound fine. Juvies and babys will often poop 3 times a day, but adults seem to slow down.
In terms of worrying about your guys bowel movements, and I understand considering the nasty shell stuff his previous owner had him on, it might be a good idea to help his digestion along a bit.
You can do this naturally and stress free by giving him some sugar-free apple sauce or a couple of drops of olive oil. Apple sauce is the easiest because most dragons love it. My two will lap it off their noses if i give them a dollop.
My eldest gets applesauce once a week to keep him regular because he was badly impacted when he was young.


Holly

 

[Buggsy]

Ok, so theres ALOT of info to go throungh lol, but ill try and help out some:

Firstly the UVB you have bought sounds like a coil, which can be very harmfull to beardies. Their UVB output is not reliable, and should be switched off IMEDIATLY! If you still have the recepit you want to swap it for a reptiSUN 10 tube, which are just about the best you can get. If you want to spend a bit more you can get a mercury vapour bulb (MVB) which is heat and UVB combined, but i dont know much about these. The eye closing is a sign that the UVB may be damaging the eyes. If you search coil UVB in the thread search you can find alot of similar stories. It can also casude loss of appititae and lethargy. But saying that, you have only had them a while, so they may well be going through relocation stress.

You are right that UVB dosnt get through windows, which may mean they havent every got any. If this is the case they may suffer fro metabolic bond disease. when there mouth is closed, does the top meet the bottom flush, or is there a lip?

Ok, the substrate, i would remove the shell type thing right away, you were right to avoid calcisand and get washe kids playsand, but many people just prefre not to have any particle subsrate to avoid impaction ( a blocking of the system, like constipation, that can be fatal)

The UVB should run the lenght of the tank, and the basking spot should be on one end, it dsnt matter which, with a nice spot to bask on underneath. When measuring the temps, you should place the probe directly on the basking spot, and leave it to equilibrate for 45min before taking the reading. Its really good you have gone and got the digital one already!

It is also brill that your not giving in to a heat rock! Beardies sense heat through a third eye on the top of their heads. This means if they were to sit on a boiling rock, they would just burn. Now i know it wouldnt be set high, but if it were to short, the poor baby would just fry. For the same reason you should avoid undertank heaters.

The lack of food would be normal, if it were relocation stress, but as i said the UBV may be damaging him, so he would go off food.

The mouth being open, as long as its not all the time, is perfectly normal. Its a way of thermoregulating, to cool down when their too lazy to move!

Gutloading, i chose to feed the feeder all the veggies the dragin should be getting. This way they are more nutritious. If you go to the beautiful drgons nutrition chart, it gives a really clear list of all the things they can have, and its colour coded.

i think thats all the questions coverd. BUT it is really important they have a vet check up. If they have gone this long without UVB they may well need liquid calcium (which is stronger that the powdered stuff we use normally) I think as soon as you replace the UVB bulb with the tube i recommended you will see a change. In the mean time, you can try and take them out to get some natural sunlight until it can be replaced (weather permitting). Just be sure to keep hold of them as for the first time out they can be quite skittish.

If i have missed anything out, please fill in the gaps,


Buggsy

 

[Buggsy]

Woops , sorry for the double post!

 

[Tigg]

Lots of good info from Ethelia and Bugsy here! I will, second... errr... third that the Repti-Glo is the main culprit! And as Bugsy suggested, it IS a good idea to turn it totally off right away. No UVB is better than BAD UVB. You can go up to a couple of days without the UVB light to give you some time to find a ReptiSun 10.0 or Acadia 12% This will also give your little one's eyes some time to heal before you introduce him to a quality bulb.

Just to point out a few things that I also saw in your posts (I will try my best not to over lap anything that previous posters have already said)

Be sure to get an accurate reading on the temps tonight as stated, if you read 96* on the analog (dial style) thermometer, they can be off by as much as 20* at times.'

Using flood lights for basking is perfectly fine. Don't worry about replacing that expensive pet store bulb!

This may just be my own opinion, but I would refrain from misting your little one inside or outside of the cage, Rather nice warm baths daily or every second day are much, much better for them. They will be able to absorb some water through their vent, the trip to and from the tub will give you all some bonding time, and it will help greatly with bowel movements.

Offering a small water bowl in the enclosure is not horrible, but it is very important that the bowls are kept away from any heat source. Setup permitting, if you have the room to place a small bowl on the cool end of the tank I would say go for it.

And I am not sure how others feel about the beardie pellets, but I have always thought of them as being horrible for dehydrating beardies. If you really must use them, I would recommend soaking them in water beforehand if possible, or at the very least be sure to offer oral fluids on a daily basis.

The open mouth while basking is perfectly normal, although if it's happening too much it may be a sign of your temps being too high. Just double check to ensure they are not over 110*.

Sounds like you have already done a lot of research, and you are doing a great job! There is loads of good info to be found, and friendly, knowledgeable people to chat with on this site. Just keep up the good work, and don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions!

Welcome to BD.org

 

[landn042101]

Thank you all very much for helping me.

Holly,
Thank you for your encouragement.
How old are your beardies?
Update:
I have removed the awful UVB Repti-Glo bulb and now Sweetie Pie just has a flood light for a heat lamp.
I plan on going out tonight and buying a quality UVB bulb (Repti-Sun 10.0 strip bulb) for both of my beardies. The previous owner already had a Repti-Glo 10.0 UVB bulb that she was using with my female beardie. That is one reason why I thought it would be okay to use. I didn't know any better. And, I agree with you, I can't believe they sell these bulbs in the pet store. Amazingly, my female doesn't display any of the bad signs from it (eye closed, loss of appetite, lethargic) that my male did. Maybe that's because she was used to it, and he wasn't.
Right now taking Sweetie Pie or Honey outside for a few hours every day is not going to be possible. I don't want to let my children stay outside that long. So, that's why I will hurry up and get them a good UVB bulb. But, I will probably get them a leash for the amount of time I do take them outside for short periods.
What kind of leash do I get? And, isn't there a danger that they might eat some crickets outside that have been exposed to pesticide?
What kind of veggies do you feed your crickets? How many and how often do you feed your older Beardie crickets?
What kind of veggies do you feed your worms? What kind, how many, and how often do you feed your older Beardie worms?
Thank you for your advice regarding their digestion. I am worried about Honey. Now it has been 6 days since she has pooped. Sweetie Pie pooped again today. The poopie part of it looks dark green, but on the top of the white part there is some light brown with a hint of red color. Probably after my kinds wake up from their nap, I am going to go to the store and get some sugar-free apple sauce and give it to my beardies. I have some applesauce already but it says Unsweetened applesauce(Food Lion brand) but it says 11g of sugar per serving on the nutritional chart. Should I give them that?
Regarding the pooping issue, I also plan to give them both a bath tonight. I know that I need to start giving them a bath every other day. Right?
Again, thank you for your help.

Ashley

 

[landn042101]

Buggsy,
Thank you for help also. It is greatly appreciated.
As you probably read above, I have no more Repti-Glo bulbs. I threw the one that the previous owner had in Honey's cage away. And, I am going to try and get my money back for the one that I've had for a little over a week. I've got the receipt, but I don't have the box anymore.
In regards to your question about their mouths, the top meets the bottom flush when their mouth is closed.
Do you think it will be okay to use the sand and the tiles? I will throw his worms/crickets down onto the tiles. Beardies don't just eat sand for the heck of it, do they? Isn't it mostly when they're catching crickets or worms that they would accidentally eat some? What type of substrate do you use? If it's sand, does your beardie like to burrow or dig in the sand?
I have taken new temps, and I did let it sit for 45 minutes before taking temp. (great advice by the way). By my digital thermometer, basking side is 108.5 degrees and cool side is 80.9 degrees.
I am relieved to know that his mouth being open is normal. He has had it closed a lot more today.
His right eye has been open almost all day, unless both eyes were closed. I think it was just one time that I saw him with his right eye closed and left eye open. He has been more active already, like going to the cool side for a while, and when he’s basking moving his head around a lot more. I am so grateful to you guys to have found out about that awful UVB bulb. Because since I have removed it I have seen those improvements I just talked about.
However, he hasn’t eaten yet today, and it’s 4:30 pm. We offered him some turnip greens, fresh cherries, and fresh grapes today. I guess I will try and feed him some pellets that have been soaked in water for about 5 minutes and see if he eats any of those.
Thank you for referring me to the Beautiful Dragons chart. I actually had already found that the other day, printed it out, and have been using that as a guide.
Unfortunately, I can’t afford to take him to the vet for a check up right now. I have already spent $387 on them (This includes the purchase price I paid for them and their cages and the cricket tank of $200.) I would take them to the vet if I could.
I will call the previous owner and find out how long Honey (the female beardie) had that Repti-Glo light on her.
Again, thank you so much for your help and advice.

Ashley

 

[landn042101]

Tigg,
Hey. Do his eyes need time to heal before I get him a Repti-Sun 10.0 strip bulb? Because I was planning on going out to PetSmart and buying one tonight. I saw them there the other day. Once I get it, can I just sit it on top of the screen cover?
Please see my earlier post to Buggsy where I listed the new temps I took earlier today with the digital thermometer.
Whoo! I'm so glad to know that I don't have to buy any more of those expensive heat bulbs from the pet store.
There is room on the cool side of the tanks for a small bowl of water. What is a hydrometer thing? does it measure humidity? do I need one? What should the humidity be?
Thank you for your help. Thank you for the nice words of encouragement.
Ashley

 

[Tigg]

Your temps sound perfect!

It will depend on how much damage was done to the eye to determine how long it will take before she is able to open her eye again, ocular irritation can be compared to a human looking into the sun, a welders arc, or going snow blind... Kind of feels like sand in the eye. She will keep her eye shut until it irritation is gone then go back to normal... But just to be safe I wouldn't turn the Reptisun 10.0 on until tomorrow just to give her a little break from the light.

As for the set up of the reptisun, it would be best to cut away any screen that will get between the light and your beardie. screen can filter out up to 50% of UVB rays... If you have a slide top, then just slide it back enough for the light to clear.

A hygrometer is good to have, and can be found very cheap at your local pet store, and even Wal Mart. Ideally you will want to keep the humidity levels throughout the enclosure below 30% anything higher may lead to trouble breathing, and eventually Upper respitory infections.

 

[Buggsy]

Its brilliant youve made so many changes already, and its really nice to speak to some one who has done alot of research before getting one (dont worry we all fell into the bd lighting trap at one point or another!)

With the sand, most do ingest it whilst eating, but some just eat it, they are all different, my Gizmo is a licker and will lick everything, so i chose not to give sand just in case. If you did decide you want sand, you can choose to feed live food out side of the cage, and put the greens in a place away from sand, or where sand could be pushed into the bowl, this minimizes the risks. I use slate tiles, as they are easy to clean and retain heat well. As she is a girl, in the spring she gets a big box of sand to burrow in if she wants to lay eggs etc, but im sure youll find out all about that in time! lol

Like i said, it may be a touch of relocation stress, its a big change! but he may not have been 'trained' to eat his veggies. Most dont like them and need to be shown just how nummy they are. Im trying to this with a stubbourn beardy atm, i put the fresh veggies in the morning, and spendsome time trying to hand feed her some bits, then when i get home after a few snuggles, she gets worms dropped into the veggies, hopefully she accidentally eats some, but more often then not, i have to slip a few pieces into her mouth while she chews a worm. Its a slow process but its what ive heard work best!

At 16" you can offer them superworms. They are a great feeder, and really easy to look after (and they dont smell like crix do!) Gut load them the night before feeding, and like i said dro them in the vegges, they make it wiggle and move, enticing your BD to eat them! Other good worms are butters, silkies and phoynex (SP?) or if your in the UK Locusts are an alternative to crix.

Hope all this helps!
How is he doing today??

 

[landn042101]

Sweetie Pie is doing better, I think. Both of his eyes stay open now constantly. He still is not eating very much. only 2 pellets yesterday that had been soaked in water. My female is on her 6th day since she poopied last. I tried to give her unsweetened applesauce last night but she did not want it. I put some on her nose and after about 5 minutes she licked it a little. How much does she need to take in before it will help her poopie? I also gave her a warm bath last night. But she didn't drink any water. So the only source of water she is getting is in the water soaked pellets she eats (about 6-10 per day). Sweetie Pie will get a bath tonight. I am getting ready to go to the pet store, I guess, to try and get 2 Repti-Sun 10.0 UVB tube UVB lights and some small crickets for them to eat. He's got to eat something. How many should I give him at the time? Should I get him some superworms also?
Thanks.
Ashley

 

[Tigg]

I would avoid super worms right now for your female until you are certain everything is ok, they are a little hard to digest. Be sure the crickets are no bigger than the space between their eyes, and you should offer them as many as they will eat within 15 min.

For your female you may want to consider switching her over to a soft diet until she has a bowel movement... You can use chicken or turkey baby food, dilute it with some water or pedialite/gatorade to help with hydration. If you own a blender you can even puree some crickets and veggies with the baby food. And be sure to add the unsweetened applesauce or olive oil to the mix, the soft food will keep her nourishment up, while helping move things along.

If you are not able to get her to eat herself, or off her nose, you may want to pick up a syringe from your local drug store to squirt very small amounts into her mouth little by little. it's very easy and they usually don't mind too much.