lizard not eating vegetables

[keithsrambo]

I feed my bd cactus pad & every now & then carrots with the cactus pad. I feed him supers and phoenix worms at night always eats all of them. He is a year and three months and 18 inches long. his lighting is a reptisun 5.0 uvb. temps are hot side 102 and cold side 80 and tile is used for the tile substrate. any suggestions on how to make him eat his vegetables. :? :|

 

[smurfthebeardie]

Try prickly pear, collard, endive, or escarole. Peppers are hit and miss, but worth trying.

 

[gini]

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
This is a great nutrition page that tells so many great things for them to eat. Maybe you could put one of your worms in there to entice your beardie. I've heard it works great. Good luck.

 

[Leo123]

You could try putting a few Phoenix Worms in the salad to encourage him to atleast taste it, he may not like cactus pad. Also i know it sounds cruel but try not feeding him his Phoenix worms/supers for a day or so, if he's hungry enough he will eat the salad.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

You have the reptisun 5.0 UVB I would like to suggest bumping up to the reptisun 10.0 UVB!

 

[keithsrambo]

i had that but it started burning her

 

[diamc]

i had that but it started burning her

Did you mean that you had the Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent but it burned him? The UVB's don't actually get hot, could you please clarify for us?

 

[keithsrambo]

i had that but it started burning her

Did you mean that you had the Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent but it burned him? The UVB's don't actually get hot, could you please clarify for us?

not a burn from heat but from sun(light)

 

[diamc]

Keith, were you using the Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent or a coil/compact bulb? How far away did you have it?

 

[keithsrambo]

Keith, were you using the Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent or a coil/compact bulb? How far away did you have it?

Repti-sun 10.0 fluorescent and it is 10-12 inches from basking area. It is mounted inside the cage below the screen.

 

[diamc]

That doesn't seem right. At the 10-12 inch distance, the UV rays shouldn't be strong enough to burn her. Did you have a white basking bulb alongside the UVB? What did you see that suggested a burn from the UV rays?

 

[keithsrambo]

That doesn't seem right. At the 10-12 inch distance, the UV rays shouldn't be strong enough to burn her. Did you have a white basking bulb alongside the UVB? What did you see that suggested a burn from the UV rays?

the lizard hid under the cave all the time. When she hid she always put her eyes in the opposite direction of the light. I described how she was acting to the local reptile shop and she said to use a 5.0. Immediately she started basking again and stopped hiding. Most people put the bulb above the mesh screen and that blocks a lot of the rays. I use a 100watt ceramic heat bulb for her to bask under.

 

[diamc]

I think I found the reason for the UVB bothering her. It's recommended to use a bright white basking bulb alongside the UVB so that their eyes can dilate correctly so that sounds like what happened, it irritated her eyes so she was avoiding it. I'll bet if you used that bulb again & with a bright white basking bulb alongside it, she would be much happier. I would recommend that you use a white bulb now even with the 5.0. The 5.0's aren't really strong enough for a bearded dragon.

 

[keithsrambo]

I think I found the reason for the UVB bothering her. It's recommended to use a bright white basking bulb alongside the UVB so that their eyes can dilate correctly so that sounds like what happened, it irritated her eyes so she was avoiding it. I'll bet if you used that bulb again & with a bright white basking bulb alongside it, she would be much happier. I would recommend that you use a white bulb now even with the 5.0. The 5.0's aren't really strong enough for a bearded dragon.

how does the lizard get heat at night then?

 

[diamc]

You would use the bright white basking light during the day and if the room temp drops below 65 at night, then you would use the ceramic heat emitter. For a daylight basking bulb, you can even use a standard household light bulb.

The Repti-Sun 10.0 fluorescent is the best UVB you can get in the U.S. and since it is so trusted and has done so well with all the testing done on it, it's recommended to have it 6 to 8" from the beardie as long as it is used right alongside the white basking bulb. I have been using them for years and have had nothing but positive results when used that way.