Lennon just barfed. Should I be scared?

[boxers]

I am bustling around the opposite side of the room, cleaning a dresser, when I see movement in Lennon's cage; I look over, surprised, and he is up in his new hammock, shaking his head back and forth very quickly. I started to panic, thinking that this is the "seizure" that people have said happens with lack of calcium, so I hurried over, and he suddenly expelled a warm, wet pile from his open mouth. He stopped waving around at once. I moved him down form the hammock and cleaned it out.

My first thought is that the silkworm he was fed a day or two ago may be bad? They were smelly, but I thought that was kind of normal- they are kept in the fridge, and the expiration date is in 2012... could they be bad anyway? He didn't eat much yesterday, and today he only got a cricket or two and a couple munches off some celery. I thought this was because he is beginning to shed (his back looks kind of pale, like he might be soon), but maybe it's that he just wasn't feeling good, instead?

Any insight would be appreciated... it just scared me to see him move that way. He looks okay now, though.

 

[diamc]

Hi, if they are canned silkworms, it's very possible that they were bad, especially if they were smelly. I wouldn't feed them anymore, just in case.

Besides the silkworms, another thing that might have upset his stomach is not having accurate temperatures. If you're using any type of stick-on thermometer, they can be off by as much as 20 degrees. The only 2 ways to get accurate readings are with either a temperature gun or a digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end? Are you using either of those? What size tank is Lennon in and what wattage basking bulb are you using? Could you also give us the specifics of his UVB light?

 

[boxers]

Yeah, they were the canned ones... I threw them away. My boyfriend says his beardie barfed the other day too, and we assume it's the same culprit, since they eat the same things each day.

No, we don't have probes or temp guns. And we were housing them incorrectly until this morning- they were in ten gallon tanks with ceramic heaters and a coil uvb bulb.
But we moved them to their 20 gallon long tanks today, and I had ordered better bulbs online: the mega ray mercury vapor bulbs. I have them, and the deep dome fixtures, but we need to situate some hooks on my ceiling, because the bulbs make the tanks much too hot at 12 inches high. We're going to raise them up to 15 or 18 inches and test the heat there to see what works.

Lennon has been better since the barfing; he ate like twenty crickets when I offered, a couple hours afterward.

 

[leann]

HI,
I'm glad that Lennon is feeling better

I believe that you need at least a 40 breeder tank for any mvb or that could be very dangerous for the beardie.....someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I think that a 20 gallon tank is too small :wink: How old is your beardie and how long is he?

 

[diamc]

If you ordered 100 watt megaray, the bulb will have to be a minimum of 12" away from your beardie when basking but if you ordered th 160 watt, it would have to be a minimum of 18" away. Because the bulbs are so strong and produce so much heat, it's recommended not to get any MVB for a minimum of a 40 gallon tank as leann mentioned. Since you will be suspending it several inches over the tank, that would help but the temp on the cool side will probably be too high. A temp gun or digital with probe is an absolute necessity especially when using a MVB because if the beardie overheats from them, he will literally cook & dehydrate.

 

[boxers]

Oh dear, I'm glad I'm here...

Lennon is, I estimate, almost two months old. He was 6.75" the beginning of this week.
Razual (his next door neighbor) is about two months old as well, and just hit 7" when measured the beginning of this week.

When I talked to the breeder, he said a baby dragon might "get lost" in a 40, and to keep each in a 20 gallon long for just a couple months. He also told me to get a mercury vapor bulb, 100 watts and no higher, and that I'd have to get some new, deep dome fixtures. I've done all that, and am very uneasy to hear different information, because now I don't know what to do.

I'll have to get a better temperature gauging system next I suppose. Our thermometers currently say that the temperature underneath the (raised) light is 115 degrees, and the cool side is 78. But now I'm apprehensive to trust that.

 

[diamc]

It's too bad that you spent all that money and now have heard conflicting advice. We have all been there. A 40 gallon would be too large for a baby beardie but you could have sectioned off half of it for the time being. They grow very fast so unfortunately, the 20 long won't last long before you'll need a bigger sized tank.

Yes, definitely get either a temperature gun or a digital with a long wire & probe on the end to find out what the temps actually are. A temp of 115 is a little too high now anyway, 110 should be the highest it should go as babies can get dehydrated very quickly. If you want a picture of the probe thermometer, let me know and I can post one here. Please keep us updated, ok?

 

[carrbowl]

We got the same advice...now we just keep our crickets in the 20 gallon tank...we tried the rubbermaid containers, but the crickets always seemed to give off too much heat. They live much longer in the 20 gallon tank with the screened top.

 

[xJaZx]

I used a 100w powersun MVB in my 20 gal and it was perfect. It only got a lil too warm if it was in fact really warm out in general. But overall it was fine. Just monitor the temps and you may be just fine.

 

[diamc]

Actually the Powersun is not as strong and doesn't produce as much heat as the Megaray or T-Rex so it is not recommended to use them in anything less than a 40 gallon tank. Yes, a monitoring of the temps would be eminent from either a temperature gun or a digital with a long wire & probe end as those are the only 2 ways to get an accurate reading.

 

[boxers]

If you ordered 100 watt megaray, the bulb will have to be a minimum of 12" away from your beardie when basking but if you ordered th 160 watt, it would have to be a minimum of 18" away. Because the bulbs are so strong and produce so much heat, it's recommended not to get any MVB for a minimum of a 40 gallon tank as leann mentioned. Since you will be suspending it several inches over the tank, that would help but the temp on the cool side will probably be too high. A temp gun or digital with probe is an absolute necessity especially when using a MVB because if the beardie overheats from them, he will literally cook & dehydrate.

just to inform, we got probes and checked the warm and cool side, being about 115 and 76, the temperature was fine. but the worms were defiantly the problem because the next week they were 100% gone bad. thanks for the concern and the help

defiantly staying away from those canned silkworms next time..

 

[diamc]

That's good that you got rid of the canned silkworms, those things are nasty even when they haven't spoiled.

So, you have a digital with probe now, that's good. Make sure you put the probe end so that it is touching the basking area, wait about 45 min for the temp to stop rising before you decide what the final readings are. A basking temp of 115 is still a little too high for a baby & can cause dehydration very quickly, you might want to consider that.