New Beardy

[ChanBing]

Hi everyone! Me and my fiance are new owners of a beautiful bearded dragon! We have had her/him (haven't looked yet) for 3 days now and I am worried she isn't adjusting well. I think she is about 4 months old (about 10 inches from nose to tail). We got her a 40 gallon breeder with reptile carpet (we are getting gritted tile tomorrow). We have a 150 watt basking lightbulb and a uvb/uva light bulb, ceramic for at night. The heat in the cage is a little low on cloudy days (having trouble getting it above 95 on those days) and a little hot on sunny days (cool end at 90 on those days). She hasn't eaten much at all (maybe 12 crickets in the last 3 days) and hasn't touched her salad. I gave her a bath yesterday and since then she's been way more reclusive that when we first brought him home. She hissed at me when I tried to pick her up, and when we first brought her home she was totally fine with us touching him and picking him up. He also hasn't been moving a ton and having no interest in the crickets we put in her tank.
I would like to post a few pictures but am not sure how.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

You can post pictures by going herehttps://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ uploading them, then when you go to make a post hit the XIMG tab to select the pictures.

Its most likely just relocation stress. Wouldnt worry too much.
As for her lighting usually 150 is way too hot for a 36x12x18 or a 36x18x18. In most cases a 75-120 watt would get it at perfect temperatures.
The three temperature zones needed are this and all should be monitored with either a temp gun or a digital probe thermometer.
Basking spot 100-110
Warm side 90-95
cool side 70-85.
If your using a stick on thermometer than it is most likely not telling you what the actual temps are.

You dont need a ceramic heater unless the night time temp drops below 65.

As for your uvb you'll want a T5 HO 10.0 Reptisun or arcadia tube light thats 22" or 34", i recommend the 34" personally with a reflective fixture to fit it. You can get it off amazon, make sure to replace this every 6 months.

If needed i can provide info on how to feed your beardie throughout its entire life time.

 

[ChanBing]

Here's my Beardy and their set up. He basks under the hammock; I think the hammock dissipates the heat well. I also have a heating pad under the carpet on the basking side to try and keep the heat up, but I know these have a bad wrap. I don't think I will keep it on the bottom once we get tile.

 

[ChanBing]

Edit: With the ceramic bulb the cage gets down to 65 on the cool side

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Ah okay so this is a uvb and temperature gauge problem then, along with relocation stress now that i see the pictures. Definitely want to get a new uvb and fixture, that is depending on what brand that is and if you can mount the uvb at the top going along the back with the light facing down and not outwards. This is because t8's do not produce enough uvb on top of screen. As screen blocks out at least 40% of all uvb, t8's are one of the weaker bulbs so that is why i recommended a trustworthy reptisun or arcaidia t5 HO 10.0 before seeing this.

If this isnt a reptisun or arcaidia bulb it will have to replaced with one of those as all uvb bulbs are not created equally. And will also have to replaced if you can not mount it underneath the screen.

I also can not tell if you have a plastic cover going over that bulb or not, and if you do take that off as uvb can not go through solid items.

The uvb can be purchased on amazon along with a fixture, same for the temp gun/temperature guage.

 

[AHBD]

I agree with Venus, get her a new uvb bulb ASAP, she can become very ill [ can not absorb calcium ] without the proper uvb. The 150 watt heat bulb is necessary since the bulb is far from where she basks, to raise temps. even more you can put a towel over the half of the screen top to keep the heat in.

She is going through relocation stress, don't bother bathing her since it already seems to have made her very unhappy as you described. For a drink, just drip water on her snout every other day. Do so slowly [ drip, stop, repeat ] until she starts drinking which may take 30-60 seconds at times. If she's thirsty, she'll drink.

Once she settles in she should start eating more. She looks closer to 12" from what I can see. I hope she does well for you, she's very sweet looking .