Looking for some advice

[Stac561]

Hello, I am new here and a newer bearded owner, I have looked over these forums the past couple of days for countless hours. I have a bearded who is almost 7 months old now, I've had him (I believe it's a he) since he was 10 weeks. Over the past couple days I have noticed that he is spending most of his time laying around, sometimes with eyes shut in the day time and other times half closed almost sick looking and on occasion gaping. If I take him out he's very active and wants to move! I gave him a bath 4 days ago in which he went to the washroom at that time. The follwing day he went in his aquarium which was dried up before I got to see what it looked like. Yesterday I waited the entire day and he did not do business so I gave him another bath in which was successful again. Today he's once again back to nothing, and I have decided to leave him the night and see what happens tomorrow.
-He's eating 12 medium crickets dusted in Rep-Cal daily along with Romaine lettuce and mixed fruits and other greens that I have gathered info from the beautiful dragons website.
-He's in a tank that is length 29in height 16in and width 13in (given from a friend who had it custom made).
-He has a Zoo Med Repti Basking spot lamp 100w which I have noticed has not heated so well the past couple days so I've had to add a lower watage additional light to maintain 95-100.
-His uvb light was one of the coil lights 10.0 that sat on top of the aquarium which I will replace tomorrow with what I see most people prefer reptisun 10.0. Once I get it tomorrow should I use it right away? I read something about waiting a couple days because of the coil uvb.
-I use a probe thermometer by Exo Terra on his hot side (i'm not sure how far the probe should be down into the aquuarium) and was told if the temperature on his hot side is right then his cool side should be right and just to move the thermometer to the cool side every once in awhile to check.
-I had him on a carpet up until about 3 months ago then moved him to something I got from a pet store not the sand like kind, but as of yesterday I put him back to the carpet.

What could be causing him to act this way? any ideas?

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Hello,

I'm going to try to help you out with your questions. For starters your beardie is more than likely closing his eyes and not very active due to the UVB you have. You said you read about the coil bulb and will be replacing it with a ReptiSun 10.0, that is a great uvb bulb. You should see major improvement with your beardie once you start using it. To answer your question about when to put it in the tank, the answer is as soon as you get it. You should go ahead and remove the coil bulb, your bd will be fine without it until you put the new one in.
As for measuring your temps, put the probe from your thermometer directly on the basking spot for the most accurate reading. Do the same with the cool side, put probe on the floor of your tank on cool side. I'm not real familiar with the Exo Terra therm. Just to be sure, is it a digital therm. with a wire and probe end? I think it is, but want to be sure!!
The basking side needs to be around 100-105 degrees and the cool side needs to be around 80-85 degrees. The basking spot should be 10-12" from your basking bulb and your beardie needs to get within 6-8" of his UVB bulb.
It's good that your bathing him. Try to bathe him every day or every other day.
Your little guy should be eating a little more also. Feed him crickets 3x a day, all he can eat in a 10-15 minute period of time. The crickets should be no larger than the space between his eyes.
Dust his crickets for only one feeding a day. Calcium 5 x a week and Multivitamins 2 x a week.
Unfortunately the Romaine lettuce really does not have a whole lot of nutritional value for your growing beardie. You could try collard greens or mustard greens,which are on the nutrition list you already have.

I hope this helps. Let us know if your beardie does not improve, but hopefully with the changes he will be fine..

Dawn

 

[Stac561]

This is the thermometer I use. It has a max min and what I assume to be the current temperature at the time. It is placed half way down the side wall on his basking side

The highest he can get is 8" from the top of the aquarium

For the multivitamins is there a specific brand or kind that is the best?

I have looked of the collard and mustard greens and have had no luck finding them at the grocery store, I will go look again.

Thanks


Landen before I switched back to his carpet

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

Rep-cal is the best that you can find for multivitamins as well as calcium

That's strange that you can't find those greens around you. Here is a site to help you find alternatives:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

Be sure to be aware of the color codes. It'll help you out a lot when it comes to finding "treats" for your bd vs. a healty staple green.

 

[Stac561]

I have used that site since the day I got him. I'm going to go look for those again and this time I'll ask if they have any, they should know their products right hehe

Thank you

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

Yeah, I've never known anyone to actually eat mustard greens, kale or collard greens, but I find them in abundance at the grocery store!

 

[Stac561]

Ok I shall go look right now along with my quest for a new UVB thank you once again

Stac

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Does your thermometer suction to the glass or does it have a probe that you can set on something?
Where are you located? Some places have a harder time locating the greens?

Dawn

 

[gulfbrzdawn]

Yeah, I've never known anyone to actually eat mustard greens, kale or collard greens, but I find them in abundance at the grocery store!

HeHe.....Erin, that's because you don't live in the south... .... I happen to love collard and mustard greens. Now the kale....couldn't tell ya!! My husband is originally from Wisconsin, it took him a few years to get used to them.


Stac561......I checked on that thermometer and it seems to be a very good one. Make sure you take the temps like I had previously mentioned and see what kind of temps you get.

Dawn

 

[Stac561]

Hello Dawn
I put the probe on the bottom corner of his cool side and i'm getting a reading of 86.2
For the basking temp you want me to put the probe right where he'd sit if he were basking to get the read out? or is the bottom corner of the basking side efficient enough?

He has his new UVB on and going he's looking a little more alive today. He's eaten crickets but has yet to touch any greens and has not pooped yet either.

 

[Stac561]

I also got the multivitamins when should I start using that? He's had calcium today

Thank you in advance

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

use it the multivitamins 2-3x a week on one feeding.

 

[Stac561]

ok thank you. I will start tomorrow for that then. I notice it does say to mix the multivitamins 1/2 tablespoon of herptivite with 1/2 table spoon of rep cal calcium per pound of food. Is this what I am doing?

 

[ErinMeetsMachine]

I hope not that's not what I do. I just dust with calcium for one feeding 7x a week and multivits one feeding 2-3x a week. so the 2-3 days that i dust with multivits.. I would dust one feeding iwht the calcium and the next feeding with multivitamins. Hope that helps and I hope that I'm right!!

 

[Stac561]

I don't know what kind you are using. I have Rep-cal for both. If you look at the dosage on the back of the multivitamins that's what it states. Just wondering though because Dawn had said multivitamins 2 times a week and do not give the calcium on those days.