KatieMoo94
Member
So I recently took on my second Beardie. Pancake belonged to someone in my work's son who could no longer look after him. We got him about 2 weeks ago and although we expected some teething issues with relocation stress etc he seems to be having a hard time at the minute. Stress marks constantly and a black beard here and there as well. Eating isn't great he ate okay for the first few days but this tailed off and he isn't very interested. He is a very big boy at 23" so no mbd or malnutrition issues from his previous home.
He keeps hiding all the time under his log or branch but I discovered the other day that his basking temperature had been set waaaay too high by the previous owners and the thermostat was keeping his basking spot at 50c!! So I think that may explain the hiding and glass dancing. He has an arcadia 14% UVB brand new just put in this week so that can't be the problem.
He had been kept on sand his whole life, I switched him to sand mats when he moved in with us but I don't think he is impacted, every bowel movement has been big and healthy. He is a bit smelly from the sand but I'm giving him the odd bath with a baby toothbrush to try and sort that out.
So basically I have been firefighting just fixing small problems as they come up but he just seems miserable and stressed out
And I could swear he's dropped a little weight since he got here (hard to tell because he's massive) or if it's just because we've got used to him being so big in comparison to our other beardie who has topped out at 17".
Is this just relocation stress that has been made worse by changes to his home (i.e. change of substrate and basking area) or is there anything else I should be looking out for that would indicate something is wrong physically with him? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
He keeps hiding all the time under his log or branch but I discovered the other day that his basking temperature had been set waaaay too high by the previous owners and the thermostat was keeping his basking spot at 50c!! So I think that may explain the hiding and glass dancing. He has an arcadia 14% UVB brand new just put in this week so that can't be the problem.
He had been kept on sand his whole life, I switched him to sand mats when he moved in with us but I don't think he is impacted, every bowel movement has been big and healthy. He is a bit smelly from the sand but I'm giving him the odd bath with a baby toothbrush to try and sort that out.
So basically I have been firefighting just fixing small problems as they come up but he just seems miserable and stressed out
And I could swear he's dropped a little weight since he got here (hard to tell because he's massive) or if it's just because we've got used to him being so big in comparison to our other beardie who has topped out at 17".
Is this just relocation stress that has been made worse by changes to his home (i.e. change of substrate and basking area) or is there anything else I should be looking out for that would indicate something is wrong physically with him? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!