New Beardie Owner Concerns

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resamille

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Beardie name(s)
Lio, Micah (deceased)
First post, bear with me.

I just bought a new beardie from Petco on Monday. First-time owner. They're (sex TBD) about 8" so I'm guessing 2-ish months. Over the past couple of days, they haven't been eating very much. I got them to eat about 5 crickets over the course of an hour yesterday, and this morning they ate 2 crickets and a tiny bit of salad.

Now, I'd reasonably write this off as relocation stress if not for the fact the first night I got them home they had blood in their stool/urate. I think it's cleared up by now, but they've only pooped once since then, so I can't confidently say. Even once there was no blood, the poop was still pretty soft. Granted, I did give them a few baths yesterday and got them to drink quite a bit of a water because I was worried they were impacted, so they may have just been overhydrated.

They're also shedding/about to shed (body and head are still dull, but legs and tail are clean). Between that and the change in environment, they have plenty of reasons to not being eating right now, but I'm worried about the poop. (Things I didn't think I'd be so concerned about upon buying a beardie: poop.)

I've got a 4'x2'x2' DIY'd enclosure, glass sliding doors, wire mesh top. The Child (as I've been calling them until I sex them) isn't super active, but they're alert and don't seem to be having any problems moving. I have a long lounger that I've set up like a ramp so they can get closer to the basking light that they don't seem to have any issues scaling.

Arcadia T5 12% UVB bulb sitting on top of the cage. Basking spot temps 105-115F, cool side sits at about 80F. The basking spot is about 10"-12" from the top of the cage. I have a bit of an issue with humidity that I'm working on because the cool side sits at about 60%, but the basking side where The Child spends most of their time is usually around 20-30%.

I've had them for less than 48 hrs, but I'm just concerned/paranoid. If it's serious, I'd want to take them to the vet ASAP, but if it's just relocation stress, taking them on a big car ride to the vet is the last thing I want to do. I'm really torn about what the best move is, so rather than stew in indecision, I figured I'd try and get some advice. Thanks in advance.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Your UVB needs to be inside the tank - decor piece needs to.be 12-15 inches directly underneath- basking temps need to be 105-110 for a baby and taken w/ a digital probe thermometer-- if you need help hanging fixture I can help w/ ideas of how to hang-- this should straighten out the poop issues-- lay off the baths for now-- he needs to settle in- are you feeding salads?
Karrie
 

resamille

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Lio, Micah (deceased)
Thanks for responding!

I was under the impression that 12% T5 bulbs should be placed about 12" above basking areas and could reach 18-24" before becoming ineffective. Is this incorrect?

Today's progress has been 2 circkets at about 2pm and I just finished feeding another 5. The Child also ate some more bits of salad this afternoon. I've been trying to feed them some greens for the past two days to see if they'd eat anything, but today's the first day they took to any.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
That's good that he's eating greens-- you want him eating his salads-- the screen blocks 30% of the rays-- your T 5 is too far if it's on top of screen plus it's being blocked so basically he's not getting enough UVB- please get it into the tank or he will stop eating - plus other health issues--
Karrie
 

resamille

Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Lio, Micah (deceased)
I thought I had the setup correct, but I looked into it some more. The mesh I have on my enclosure is 1/4" wire gardening mesh, (similar to chicken wire but less terrible to work with.) So I'm assuming that it doesn't quite block the same 30% that most viv screens would. My UVB fixture also has a reflector on it, which I had thought would compensate for any loss because of the mesh. Based on that, shouldn't 12" from the light (through the mesh) still be the correct distance?

I don't mean to be contrary. I just thought I had this figured out already.
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Larger holes in the screen like that will block much less of the UVB, so it should be fine. With that bulb I'd say optimal range to the main basking area is about 10-14'' but allowing access a little closer is OK, and having areas further away is good as well.
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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