Need Help With Beardie

[AHBD]

If her temp. is 75 she will get a respiratory infection or other serious health very quickly, that is waaaaaaay too cold. The hot spot needs to be at 95-100, only the cool end should be 75. You have to get a large watt heat bulb ASAP. That needs to be next to the uvb bulb. BTW, if it's warm in your area you can take her out to sit in the sun.

 

[alieeni]

I would get the long tube UVB ASAP- the coil isnt going to do any good and in fact are no good - did you get the 26 watt or the 13 watt---- I would order the UVB from here these people are fast and good - http://www.pangeareptiles.com
You will need to order the 22" bulbs ---
If you have greens in the house or go buy some like collards mustard kale or turnip you can make those into a slushy type and feed her that - shes going to need those anyway every day -- your basking temps need to be 95-110 -- please get a digital probe thermometer if you dont have one yet $5 from Petsmart or Petco --- the lighting in the tank and basking temps are the most crucial thing and in her case are critical at this point
Karrie

I got the 26 watt, my local petsmart didn't have the thermometers either I'm using the one my gecko had until I can find one. I'm going to start feeding her greens today.

 

[alieeni]

If her temp. is 75 she will get a respiratory infection or other serious health very quickly, that is waaaaaaay too cold. The hot spot needs to be at 95-100, only the cool end should be 75. You have to get a large watt heat bulb ASAP. That needs to be next to the uvb bulb. BTW, if it's warm in your area you can take her out to sit in the sun.

I think the hot spot where the UVB is at is around 90? I'm going to take her out though, it is pretty warm here so

 

[KarrieRee]

That 26 watt needs to be in a reflector dome and approx 6-8 inches from basking spot - I have not heard anything bad about the 26 watt as of yet only the 13 watts -- please order a digital probe if its going to be faster than waiting for the other ones to come in - you can also get one from pangea reptiles - they would have it to you in a couple of days ---
Karrie

 

[AHBD]

O.K., sounds good ! You're doing a good job with what you were given as sickly as she is. Your willingness to help is really commendable. Just tweak a few things and hopefully she will recover or at least have a much more comfortable life for now.

 

[alieeni]

Gotcha.The current temp of the basking spot is at 85, I'm going to go ahead and order the probe, and see what happens. For now she seems to be putting on some weight, and eating, so I'm going to keep at what I'm doing + offer her the greens slurry you had mentioned. Thank you both so much for all the help!

 

[alieeni]

Hi!! Sunnys gained some weight, hunted three superworms on her own today!! And I've been giving her calcium in her food to give her the nutrients she's missing and to be sure she's getting all that good stuff I started taking her out to bask in the sun, and there's been an instant improvement. She lightened up the moment she went out, her eyes aren't getting stuck shut or dirty anymore (still bathing her though, I found her pores were clogged so I'm going to try and ease those up slowly) and her black beard is actually going away! Best of all, she's RESPONDING! She isn't lifeless or stiff anymore, and seems genuinely brighter and still a little weak, but I'm happy with any improvement considering how I got her. Her little spasms aren't as common anymore, she's got enough strength to right herself if she tips over, and she absolutely LOVES being outside in the sun and chasing a few worms.

Here's how she looks inside her tank now! I went ahead and disinfected the whole thing, and the water is only in there because I was soaking her earlier.

The white spot on her tail is probably some stain, I've been making work of cleaning it off slowly and it is coming off during her baths. She's a little feisty thing though, VERY fussy and loves to cling on your chest and bask in the sun. I've also been watering her skin- and it is much softer, she's very hydrated and gaining back some much needed weight.

I know really anything could happen at this point, she's a delicate little girl, but I'm really happy with her improvement from just proper lighting, heat, and sustenance. She's the sweetest little thing and it's amazing to see her actually walking around in the sun, throwing up a little fuss when she wants to be left alone, chasing her own food and eating it herself!- when she came to me stiff, spazzing, entirely stiff with her head turned up.

Her setup isn't the best- I'm going to work on getting her a better one to ensure she's as happy as can be. But for now, I wanted to thank you two for helping me out with her It really means a lot!

 

[KarrieRee]

I am glad shes improving --- the sun has probably helped alot -- and shes eating on her own - keep the diet balanced between the bugs and the salads --- she will gain weight slowly and thats good - you can order some different worms for her as well --- www.dubiaroaches.com has good worms like butter horn worms and BSFl or calci worms --- all those are good variety - the calci are a staple feeder as well and full of calcium so you would not need to dust those if your order them - get large as they are small -the horn worms are a hydrating worm so order a small amount as they get big really fast --- did you get the UVB situated?
Karrie

 

[alieeni]

I am glad shes improving --- the sun has probably helped alot -- and shes eating on her own - keep the diet balanced between the bugs and the salads --- she will gain weight slowly and thats good - you can order some different worms for her as well --- http://www.dubiaroaches.com has good worms like butter horn worms and BSFl or calci worms --- all those are good variety - the calci are a staple feeder as well and full of calcium so you would not need to dust those if your order them - get large as they are small -the horn worms are a hydrating worm so order a small amount as they get big really fast --- did you get the UVB situated?
Karrie

My local petsmart has calci-worms, I'll go ahead and get those then once I need more? She didn't like crickets at all sadly, but she is enjoying the worms!

It had to be around 7 inches away from the basking bulb right? That's the distance it's at at the moment, she really enjoys sitting below it !

 

[AHBD]

That's great, what improvement ! The sun does wonders for them + helps the uptake of calcium better than any bulb. She is probably a bit spoiled on the superworms like most beardies, that's why she ignored the crickets. Only give her 3-5 supers at a time to be sure she can digest them. See if she'll eat the crickets if you pull off the back legs + cripple/slow them down. Calciworms are really small for big dragons so they won't last long. Be sure to open the container in the store to check that the worms are alive + good size when you buy them. Sometimes if you don't check them you find that you have dead worms when you get home .

 

[KarrieRee]

Yes 7" is good --- if she doesnt like the crickets I would order her the dubias--- its good to supplement them between the two calci and dubias - she will eat alot of the calci worms since they are so small ---the dubias will fill her up and they are more nutritious anyway than crickets
Karrie

 

[alieeni]

I've been giving her 5 super worms every morning and at least two table spoons of squash babyfood mixed with calcium every night, she seems to enjoy it once it's in her mouth. The reason for the babyfood is the fact that I'm positive I'm going to have to train her to drink water, and I'm pretty scared about having her get dehydrated too.

Honestly crickets are really hard to handle and from what I've read and seen with other reptiles they have no real perks, and if you forget to take one out they're going to irritate your baby, so I'm going to cut those out of her diet. I only really got them to see if their moving around would get her to go eat, but the worms seem to be doing just fine, + they're easier to handle and she does enjoy them. I'm for sure going to order those dubias though- I've heard a lot of good stuff about them and beardies seem to really like them!

With calci-worms considering their size how much would I have to feed her? Around ten? Or?

 

[KarrieRee]

No try around 50--- I know some others on here feed as a staple and they would be able to help in more of how many - I only fed as a supplement to train Blaze to eat his veggies -- they were used as a lure to get him to the salad bowl - now he wont eat them anymore he got tired of them so I havent fed him those for a while now- I am using supers to get him to the food bowl along w/ silk worms and butter worms--- and then add the staple dubias later to the bowl - silk worms are good for staple feeder and they get big too - you can order them from here --I just got a order in this morning - my husband stopped and picked them up from the post office
https://reptilianarts.com/
Karrie

 

[alieeni]

50 in one feeding? :O Our pet shop sells them in little containers of 50, I'm going to stop by it today to see if I can get a few for her. One thing she isn't keen on is veggies- very very picky and hated them. She had only eaten worms before so thats likely why. I'm going to have to train her to eat those as well, I may just use your worm trick!

 

[AHBD]

Calci worms are very expensive + not really worth it for adult beardies when there are so many other bugs you can use. And keep in mind that a " biting " cricket problem is not common at all and is eliminated by pulling off the back legs + partially crippling the cricket. Crickets have been the staple feeder insect since the 80's and are actually very nutritious. You just can't leave them roaming the tank in numbers , but that goes for any insect. But I'd pass on the calcium worms and order the dubias if you want. Keep offering greens every few days and at some point when the dragon has put on a bit more weight you can with hold insects until she eats some greens. Sometimes bugs on the salad works , but sometimes the dragon knows how to fish them out and still avoid the greens.