Need a little confirmation on a new beardies adjustment.

[Wookster]

Hey, I've been spamming the site a bit, sorry. but I'm in flat out information overload and can't figure out what's right, wrong, or outdated. "Happy" our new, 7 week old, ill-tempered dragon has been in his new home for about 30 hours. When we brought him home yesterday he had some light stress marks on his belly, but he did eat a fairly good sized cricket. When we were looking at him at the petstore that day, the owner put a BIG cricket in the tub with the other 4 and this guy leaped from my daughters hand, ran over the other 4 dragons and nailed that cricket. Today he hasn't eaten. Checked all my temps, they are good, running the heat a little warmer in the 115+ range on the top of the basking rock. Essentially I have been playing with the height of the lamp and if it gets too warm, he sits lower on the rock. So I have the lamp just higher than what he wants to move off the top of the rock. It gives him about a 12 inch area of a temp gradient from 104, to the highest spot reading I could find of 118 with an IR gun. The 118 spot is about an inch in diameter. So, it's been about 24 hours since he last ate, 30 hours since purchase, and he hasn't had a bowel movement. He is VERY ACTIVE! stress marks were gone until I rounded up his uneaten crickets about an hour ago. now he has light grey dotted lines in a couple areas of his belly. Gave him a mist of water about 3 hours ago, he lapped it off his head. Sprayed him about 20 minutes ago with a fine mist to see if he needed some more water. He just stared at me like "what the heck was that for?" When I add veggies to the tank or move ornaments around to get crickets he puffs up his body and neck and raises his tail up, but never runs away. If I am moving his basking rock, he jumps over to the "Tiki tower" next to it. All while showing me he means business. He's watching my every move. if I sit down where i'm under his line of sight. I'll see a head poke up from the rock as he moves back into view. If I stand up, he ducks down. If I walk towards the tank, he puffs up. If I get right up to the tank, he will either run right up to the glass, or stay where he is and do this fast up and down bob with his head. He seems spunky. The question is, how concerned should I be that he hasn't eaten in 24 hours, and that there is no poop in the tank? He doesn't look dehydrated, he is nice and plump. I know one of the first things I should do with lack of BM is a bath, but I would like to harass him as little as possible. So when should I start to be concerned and take action?

Thanks again for all the help. This place is an incredible collection of information.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. He more than likely has relocation stress and that can last a week or 2. Second do not feed him any feeders bigger then the space between his eyes as babies get impaced very easily. Also 110 should be the max of the temps. CONGRATULATIONS on your little guy

 

[Wookster]

I would say the average temp is 110 if not a little more with lots of places to find less warm spots. He is really stress marked this morning. Still no poop. I found out that while I was out dealing with a work emergency my wife and daughter took him out so my daughter could hold it for a bit. Even though I've been saying "no touching for a week" . His behavior is still the same. Aggressive, spunky. So I think he is OK. The head bob thing is cracking me up. Not sure why I am the recipient of all this attitude.

 

[destiny1998]

What kind of uvb are you using? Have you been giving him baths for hydration? If he doesn't poop soon I'd give him some plain applesauce with a drop of olive oil. Then stick to the small crickets.

 

[Wookster]

Using the reptisun 10.0 compact in a dual dome mini light. I know lots of people say that the compacts are not ideal, but I have the lamp 12 inches from the basking point as recommended during lamp burn in. I haven't seen him eat, but I just got home and somebody trashed the greens in the food dish and I FOUND POOP!!! granted it was about 60% urate, but it was poop nonetheless. No bits of bugs in it or anything. He has a lot of stress marks when I came home. like a tiger pattern on the bottom, but when I looked at him they seemed to fade in all of about 45 seconds. Now he is on his Tikki house staring at me and watching the dog pace around. Really would like to see him hit some crickets today. What the heck is it with crickets molting as soon as you put them in the tank? Nasty creatures.

 

[destiny1998]

Yeah. I'd replace that coil with a reptisun 10.0 tube. Those coils just don't put off the proper amount of uvb and they cause appetite, lethargy and eye problems. If it's nice where you are I'd take him outside for some natural rays. As for holding I held mine right off the bat. Never had any problems.

 

[Wookster]

Yeah, just put a thread up in enclosures to see what is best. I'm thinking an 18 inch T8 in a cheap wal mart fixture. Just realized I have the Mini CFL. 13 watts, 4 inches off the screen and trying to penetrate a screen probably means hes not getting a whole lot of UVB. Might explain the lack of appetite. Going to fix it tomorrow asap. Thanks for the advice. Sometimes it takes hearing the same thing a couple times from a couple different people to get the point.

 

[CooperDragon]

I commented in your new thread with my thoughts and I think you're on the right track. Just wanted to add to this as well. I don't have exact data for the ReptiSun compact but I have some data for a similar bulb. Through a screen you get optimal UVB approx 6'' below the bulb and no further than a couple of inches to each side. That's not enough for an entire dragon to bask evenly. I like seeing a UVI of 4-6 in the basking area and a gradient down to <1 on the cool side of the tank. You'll see how these bulbs provide an intense cone of UVB close up and then diminish quickly. Going with a tube UVB is a better bet. They'll provide a wider area of more consistent UVB exposure.

 

[Wookster]

and people told me keeping fish was hard. :shock: This is making the Mbuna tank look like childs play.

Thanks again coop and everyone else. I'm hoping some good rays and his appetite will be back up. Heck, he might even start to like me.

 

[CooperDragon]

He will start to like you don't worry. Just be gentile and patient. The info I posted above is definitely extra credit. I just wanted to back up what I was explaining with some data. I'm always trying to learn and test and figure out what works best for these little guys.

 

[Wookster]

oh trust me it is much appreciated. There is a lot of info out there. seems stuff on the internet is preserved forever. all the CFL's were reformulated in 2009 and they have the correct spectrum, but the spectrum is very narrow and its hard to wrap your head around what that means as a noobie. I look at it like my transmitter emmisions for my model aircraft. the CFL is like a radio with a wonky antenna. You need a nice long straight antenna to radiate the signal efficiently. Seems bulbs are the same.

Again, you all are lifesavers (literally in the case of "happy")

And don't worry, I don't mind him being cranky. He refuses to let me touch him. When I gave him a bath today I had to get my 4 year old daughter to pick him up. He gladly walks into her hand, flares up and runs away from mine. It's her dragon, so I thin
k its cool.

 

[Wookster]

So, new T8. Plus the addition of a T-Rex skull. Still hasn't eaten a cricket in front of me. I may need to reconsider his decorations. I put in 12 crickets yesterday morning and intended to count them that afternoon to see if/how much he ate. That afternoon when I cleaned out the tank........15 crickets. He had a HUGE poop yesterday. He drinks water when I spray him. Still spunky and alert. Decided I would try and give him some babyfood squash. My son hates it, so why not see how the lizard reacts. I put some in a shot glass and mixed in some rept-cal just for good measure. Sucked it up in an eye dropper and as soon as it came into view, the dragon walked right to it, put his head straight up and started licking before i got the dropper to him. He loves babyfood squash. Got maybe a dropper and a half in him over the course of the evening. His belly is visibly more full. I'm hoping this is relocation stress. We have a busy house, lots of new and loud sounds. Just concerned that on day 5 he isn't eating. Is squash going to hold him over till he gets in the mood for some crickets?

 

[CooperDragon]

The bugs do like to hide in furniture and substrate. I've found it easiest to offer just a few bugs at a time in batches so I can easily track them. Others like to use feeding tanks but that can sometimes stress dragons out. The squash baby food will give him some nutrients and keep him hydrated which is good but ultimately he will need plenty of protein so I'd keep trying with the crickets or maybe try some Phoenix Worms. I try to reserve baby food for sick dragons who aren't eating on their own. Since he seems to like squash, try cutting some yellow squash up into small worm shaped pieces and see if he'll go after those.

 

[Wookster]

I'll give that a shot. He never leaves the basking rock when we are home. I did a complete clean out of the tank yesterday. There are three crickets in there right now that I put in the fridge for a minute to slow down and give him plenty of time to think about eating. didn't go for it. Still, during the day something happens that causes him to plow through his veggie dish and he pooing on opposite sides of the tank from his basking spot. I suspect he may be getting an errant cricket or two while we are gone. I mixed a pretty good amount of rep cal in the babyfood so hopefully with the new lights, good nutrition, and a little time. He will start eating like he should.

 

[Wookster]

Well, I'm out of ideas. This guy is going to have to figure it out on his own. No more babyfood for the naughty dragon. It refuses to eat crickets. In an attempt to see if it would eat anything I put a very small mealworm in there. Instant kill, looking for more. cricket comes walking by right next to him after eating a mealworm. no go. So can I feed him a couple small (worm itself is the length between its eyes) mealworms a day until it takes to the crickets? I know there is an impaction risk, but these are some seriously tiny worms. His poop is three times the circumference (approximately...cuz yeah, eww. Don't need to be that scientific) of these worms. Think I will be ok for a few days?