My beardie has lines on her belly and not eating

[Harriesowner]

Hello

My little lady is 11weeks old, ive had her for 10 days now and everything was going fine until today. I noticed she started getting black lines on her underneath, which also go green and then disappear, then come back. Also since ive had her she will not eat no more then 8 hoopers, even if i leave them in there she will not eat them (she only wanted 2 today) but she will eat veg and mini mealworms which i prepare for her as a salad after. I feed her once a day, i use to do it twice a day until i got told off by a reptile dealer because they need 8hours of uv to digest and prevent compaction?
My viv set up :- basking lamp, 10.0 uv light, size of viv 4ft x 1ft x 1ft, beachwood as flooring, plant, 2 x wooden ornaments. At night i put a ceramic heat emitter on.
Temperatures :- daytime, 100/105f (hotspot) 90f(middle) 80/85(coolspot)
Night, 80/85f (hotspot) 75/80f (middle) 70 (coolspot, also where the plant/vine is where she sleeps)

If anyone could help and advice me, it would be apprieciated

 

[Onlymediocre]

Hi, Is ur UVB the reptisun 10.0 tube? If not, if its a compact one, that could be why she has stress marks (those black lines) The compact ones are known to hurt beardies eyes and even cause blindness. If u do have the compact turn it off ASAP, and then get u a tube reptiSUN 10.0 mounted inside the tank where she can get within 6-8 inches of it. Make sure its not the reptiGLO, they can also hurt ur beardie, whether the compact or tube. Shell be fine w/o UVB for a few days or a week or so until u can get the right bulb, its def way better than causing eye problems and hurting her.

And Im pretty sure it takes 2 hrs to digest, and u should be feeding her 2x if not 3x a day for her to have the protein she needs to grow. Whoever told u that, reptile dealer or not, doesnt have a clue what they were talking about. Only feeding once a day is going to do nothing but stunt ur beardies growth and cause health problems in the long run. Give greens in the mornings, and mist thruout the day to keep them moist, leave the greens available at all times, then its up to u and ur schedule whether u feed live 2x or 3x. And feed as many as shell eat within a 10-15 min period. And just keep offering on schedule. Uve only had her 10 days so she may still be going thru relocation stress, just give her time.

what kind of "salad" are u giving her? Also mealworms, mini or not can cause impaction, and they have very little meat, so they arent very nutritious at all. Def stop feeding those. Hoppers? is that crickets? Make sure they are no longer than the space between her eyes to hlp avoid impaction.

Is she using the bathroom regularly? Is the feces shaped and kinda firm?

Ur temps seem pretty good, u could up the basking spot to 110, babies tend to like it on the hotter side of the correct range. Give her the option to be hotter.

Ah, I guess go from there. lol. I dont wanna seem like Im downing what u are doing or anything, but it could be the smallest thing thats causing the stress marks. Congrats on ur beardie! And ur def in the right place to find out what u need to do to make her happy Whats her name? And def post us a pic!

 

[Harriesowner]

I have a repti glo fluescent tube, i needed to get a new one anyways as the one i got is not the right size! Hoopers are i think, locusts? For her salad i give her kale and red pepper. Ill stop the meal warms, any ideas are to get rid of them? She poo's every day which are firm. I was feeding her twice a day for the first couple of days, but when i went into this reptile shop, the guy tore me apart and was saying i was doing everything wrong with regards to feeding! Ill post a pic tomorrow of her.
Thanks for the advise

 

[Zach7]

Do NOT listen to pet stores or reptile dealers, they know nothing about bearded dragon care except for Breeding and Eggs. The Nice people on here know exactly what they are talking about. Everything "onlymediocre" told you is correct.

 

[Onlymediocre]

Thanks Zach7.

Also Harriesowner Kale binds to calcium and then ur dragon just poos out the calcium she needs, so U may want to switch it to a green, Kale is ok as an occasional feeder. Ah, u can leave the mealworms in the container they came in and they will eventually die. or better yet, if u can find someone local who uses them, just give them to them, IDK exactly what all reptiles can eat them w/o a problem, but surely theres some. Id just take them back to that "reptile dealer" and tell them to use them if they want to, but ur not gonna risk impaction on ur lizard. Then walk away. (but I can be a little blunt like that)lol. Def turn that reptiGLO off, dont settle for anything less than the reptiSUN 10.0 TUBE. Im willing to bet a day or so after u get the correct bulb ur gonna see a totally different, happy dragon. And def up the feedings to at least twice a day, and leave the veggies available all day. I wish u the best with her. And yes, plz post us a pic

 

[sweetiepie9]

Welcome to this wonderful forum And the wonderful world of bearded dragons!

Mealworms are for geckos, so see if there's anyone who you know who has a gecko. Check out this site for food for dragons, it's wonderful and very complete and explains why some foods are better than others, as well as bugs. www.beautifuldragons.com under Nutrition. I've been using it for the 6 years I"ve had dragons.

What the previous members told you is right on target, the Reptiglo doesn't have enough UVB for dragons which is why it causes health issues and compacts are even worse. So ReptiSUN 10.0 is the right tube. As for fixtures, there are under the counter fixtures you can get at hardware stores so you can put your UVB tube inside the tank, then your beardie gets 100% UVB, which means they get what they really need. Before you change the temps, change the UVB tube first, it might be just what she needs.

Yes, pet shop people tend not to do their homework about dragons and many give out false information. I have a friend who breeds in a small way and she feeds her babies 5x a day, you've never seen such healthy dragons. But then she's home and she also raises her own bugs, so that makes a big difference. Two or three times, all they can eat in 10-15 min is the norm.

As long as you're feeding her the right size of locusts, I know they're good bugs for dragons, the body needs to be no longer than the space between your baby's eyes, so she'll digest properly. And 2-3 hours after eating is the suggested length of time for basking to digest well.

Babies get stress marks, those marks across their bellies, alot. Sometimes it's because something's not right, sometimes it's just because. I think once the UVB is good and you check the temps (she may like higher temps, some babies do like 110, some like 108, some like 105, some like 102, you'll have to fiddle around with those to see which are best for your baby), she should be alot happier.

So any other questions, don't be afraid to ask. Once the set up is right for your baby, she'll flourish! Honest!
Deb

 

[Goonie]

[Moved from General to Health (covers all issues identified above)]

 

[sweetpea1981]

my baby Phoenix had stress marks all the time in his cage, he had all the proper lights and uvb, his temps were good, couldn't figure out why he had them, he would turn all nice and white when we had him out of the tank but we put him in and stress mark city! Well we had ordered a new cage for him ( he was in a 20 gal long with plenty of room cause he is only 9 1/2 inches ) we just got the new cage set it up and bam no stress marks. I guess he just wanted a bigger castle!

 

[WolfMama]

Oh this is the very thing that I've been so annoyed about (NOT YOU - the pet shop)! I completely echo what Zach said - ignore the pet shop owner/breeder - all the advice Onlymediocre gave you is spot on!

Here's a good site on vieggie nutrition (LOL, I think OnlyMediocre may have been the one who referred me there when I first started. LOL. Someone here did ).

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Look forward to the pics

Oh, also, how is the humidity in there? Is it low enough? And you had mentioned that his feces is firm, how is the urate (the white part)? How is he being hydrated? Just some thoughts

 

[Harriesowner]

Thanks for the help guys, ive stopped the mealworms, which ive given to a friend with a gecko. Ive up her feeding to twice a day for a few days now and she hasnt started to shed now (whiter on top)
Ill be sorting the uv fluerescent light on pay day lol. Ill sort a photo out very shortly, hopefully someone will be able to tell me what morph she is?

Thanks again