New guy

[Ludford]

Hi everyone, just picked up this guy yesterday and I've been noticing a few weird behavior issues so I thought I'd sign up and ask some questions.

Firstly he's barely eating, He's had about 4 small mealworms and some bits of cabbage. I put some crickets in with him but he completely ignored them, even when they started eating his salad.
He's much more interested in watching me, as soon as I glance at him he'll lock eyes with me and not move.

This is very different to the lightning fast killers I've seen feeding on youtube.

He seems averagely tame, he was letting me handle him yesterday and he's sit on my shoulder. But today he attempts everything he can to get out of my hands when I pick him up (Short of actually biting)

Right at this moment he's out on the floor, as he was scratching at the glass, with his beard jet black but not puffed out.

 

[Ludford]

He just let a cricket sit on his head for 5 minutes and didn't do anything to it. He's acting so strange.

 

[rempop]

If you just got him then I would guess stress from the move? I just got my baby Blaze on Saturday, but in reading as much as I could here it helped prepare me for the cautious behavior that seems to happen for week or two.
I am sure that people with more experience will chime in.
This is pretty much what Blaze did for the first couple of days and is still like in the morning. Sleepy head baby.

 

[Ludford]

He's also scratching the glass a lot and he just grunted which he's not done before.

I checked my temps and it's not too hot. 90F according to the rear gauge behind the basking spot so must be about 100F on his basking spot.

It is a bit dry in their, I'm reading just below 30% and I read you are supposed to keep it 30-50%. I've put him a larger water bowl in to attempt to increase the humnidity.

 

[zandi202]

It's a little daunting, all these questions, but answering them helps.

1. How old is your dragon?

2. How long have you had your dragon?

3. How long is your dragon?

4. What is the sex of your dragon?

5. What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?

6. What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?

7. Do you use UVB lights?

8. If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?

9. What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?

10. How old is your UVB bulb?

11. How close can your dragon get to the UVB?

12. Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb?

13. What are the basking temps?

14. What is the cool side temp?

15. Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?

16. Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?

17. Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?

18. What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.

19. How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?

20. Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?

21. Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?

22. Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?

23. Do you bath your dragon? How often?

24. Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath?

25. Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

26. Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?

 

[Annalee]

Congrats on the new dragon, since you just got him, he's probably just going through relocation stress. If he starts losing weight or acting lethargic or sleepy, that would worry me. However, he's probably realizing that this is new home and he's scared. I'd cut the handling down to a minimum and get him used to you by just having your hand in the cage. The eating should just come in time as he gets settled in.

 

[Ludford]

1. How old is your dragon? It's unknown around 6-8 months

2. How long have you had your dragon? 2 Days now

3. How long is your dragon? Probably about a foot, not including his tail

4. What is the sex of your dragon? I am told male

5. What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? Just under 4 feet

6. What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? Calci sand

7. Do you use UVB lights? Yes

8. If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? Fluorescent tube

9. What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? Reptiglo 20W

10. How old is your UVB bulb? Unknown, However I was told to replace it in september.

11. How close can your dragon get to the UVB? Just under 1 foot if he gets on his log

12. Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Is it a white or colored bulb? Yes I do, It's a white prorep 100W. It's above his log and piece of slate.

13. What are the basking temps? Rear gauge shows 90F so I'd imagine right under the bulb would be 100F

14. What is the cool side temp? Not sure not got an IR thermometer yet

15. Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? Gauge in tank.

16. Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? The gauge is about 6" from the basking spot.

17. Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? No he's hot a big slate rock that retains heat though

18. What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. I've tried to feed cabbage, red pepper, carrot, blueberries and grape. He's only ate some cabbage. For live food I have fed him meal worms and small 1" silent crickets. He has eaten maybe 6 mealworms and 4 crickets in the 2 days I have had him

19. How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? Morning with live food and he has a salad bowl in their all day

20. Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? No I just buy them from the pet store

21. Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? He has prorep calcium powder on the food and I've put it on the food both days I've owned him

22. Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? I put him in a bath yesterday and he had quite a large one

23. Do you bath your dragon? How often? Well I've only had him 2 days but he's had 1 so far

24. Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? He's got a big bowl of water in his viv and I mist him in the morning

25. Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? No

26. Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? No

 

[Buddysfam]

He doesn't look like a baby, so he's probably just going through relocation stress. Give him time to get used to his new "home" and just let him know you're friendly and he should be fine. When we got ours, it took about a week until he settled in and got comfortable. He'll be fine, keep offering veggies and crickets, just don't leave the crickets in with him if he's not going to eat them.

 

[zandi202]

2. Definitely relocation stress is some of it. When they are moved around, even within the same house, it can set them off of eating a pooing for up to a week if not a little longer.

6. I would switch out the substrate. Sand in general isn't a good substrate because beardies like to lick everything and can get impacted from sand.

9. Switch the UVB to a ReptiSun 10.0, PowerSun, or Arcadia 12%. The Arcadia and ReptiSun should be mounted inside the tank. You can find an under the counter light fixture at Walmart for $10. Having UVB on top of the screen, the screen filters out about 50% and they need a lot.

10. UVB's should be replaced every 6 months.

11. He should be about to get within 6"-8" of it.

13-16. You should invest in either a temp gun ($10 online from Petco) or a probe to get accurate temps. The gauges can be known to be off by 20 degrees. As an adult his basking spot should read 105 when you put the temp gun against it or the probe on it. Cool side should be 75-80 and night temps shouldn't get below 65. If they do, get a CHE.

17. Just a tip even though you don't have a heat rock or pad. It's best to never use one because beardies can't feel heat through their bellies and can burn themselves on it.

18. For live feeders: crickets, dubia, phoenix/calci/repti worms, hornworms, silk worms, and super worms (only if your beardie is at least 16" or longer) for staples and wax worms as treats. For greens: ditched the cabbage and carrots, red peppers, blue berries, and grapes should be more like once a week treats. Here's more info on what to feed: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

20. It's best to gut load the live feeders so then your beardie gets extra from their food as well.

21. He should get calcium 5x a week on his live feeders and vitamins 2x a week on them.

23. You should bathe him every other/every two days and every day when shedding for good hydration.

24. I would remove the water dish and stop misting as that can raise the humidity on the viv and cause URI. The baths as mentioned will hydrate him as most beardies do not drink, but absorb the water through their vent.

 

[Ludford]

I've got a temp gun coming in a few days.

As for the water bowl, I put it in their as the humidity seemed low. It was below 30% and is 30% with the bowl.
I can replace the substrate with slate.

One problem at the moment is there are two crickets in his viv which he's not eaten and I can't seem to catch to remove. Can I wait till they die then remove them?

 

[zandi202]

I wouldn't because it will take too long for them to die and they will go after the beardie

 

[Ludford]

Any easy way to catch them? They're too fast for me to get the tongs on them.

EDIT: Never mind. Got a glass over them and did the old paper slide trick :wink:

I gave him 5 and there was only 2 left in the tank so he must have eaten 3 today

 

[zandi202]

Back when Jace was on sand my boyfriend would bury them then catch. You could also take out your beaedie and his stuff and use a fly swatter. Dunno how it will work on sand but might daze them

 

[Ludford]

Here's a question, you turn off ALL the lights at night right? The previous owner was only turning off the UV light but not the heat lamp, which throws off a large amount of visible light too. Wouldn't this make it hard for him to sleep?

I turned off all the lights last night and checked the temps throughout, they never drop below 75F

 

[zandi202]

Turn off all lights when he goes to bed. If he's in a living area where lights are on, you can cover him up with a blanket or shirt or cover the whole cage with a blanket (make sure to leave room for ventilation). If his viv gets below 65 at night, you can by a CHE which emits heat but no lights.