So I became a new beardie owner 4 days ago and after spending quite a bit of time reading these boards I believe I've diagnosed his problem but I want to double check.
First I'll give you the vitals. Little Norman is a pretty young juvenile, no idea of age but his body length without tail is about 3" (he fits almost perfectly sideways in my hand with his tail hanging off). He's in a 20 gallon Zilla tank with the front opening doors and the styrofoam fake rock backing with paper towels lining the bottom. On one side of the tank is a 100W Powersun all-in-one bulb in a 13.5" dome with a ceramic socket, resting directly on the screen (as a side note, I originally had it in an 8.5" dome with a normal plastic socket and started smelling burning plastic both from the socket and the bit of plastic on top of the tank that it was resting on so had to go with whatever the hardware store had while my new lamp is on order). There is a log on the basking side standing on an angle, spanning about half the tank and reaching the top. On the cold side I have small water and food dishes that I have been filling with chopped carrots and turnip greens.
Day 1 - Was a short day since it was already evening by the time I got him home and set the tank up. He seemed really alert and inquisitive. Did not eat anything, spent most of the night just crawling around on the styrofoam backing before falling asleep. No poop in the tank.
Day 2 - Literally spent the whole day sitting on the log with his eyes shut. I don't remember exactly what color he was when I got him but his body did seem darker than I thought it was. Did not eat anything and I tried giving him water by dripping on his nose but didn't want that either. No poop in the tank.
Day 3 - More of the same, just sitting on the log with his eyes shut. I tried hand feeding him small dubias with some long forceps and he happily gobbled 3 of those up before I left for work. Again refused eating any veggies or water and still no poop in the tank.
Day 4 - Seemed a bit more active but still quite a bit of sitting in the light with eyes shut. Hand fed him more dubias, I think I gave him 5. Still refusing greens. I would bring a dubia up to him and he would get excited and grab it, then I would bring up a piece of greens and he would close his eyes, then again get excited when I would bring up another roach. Not sure if this is the toddler equivalent of throwing a tantrum when they don't like food. I decided to give him a bath in some shallow lukewarm water. He sat there for about 5 minutes with eyes closed, then pooped and then got really active and seemed like he wanted out. Ended up sleeping in the far corner of the tank away from the light.
Day 5 - A bit better than the day before, but still keeping eyes closed when he sits on the log. Decided to see how many roaches he would max out on so just kept em coming. After he downed the 9th it seemed like it was starting to get excessive and I stopped. Again, he hasn't touched any veggies since I got him, or drank any water and just had that one poop in the water.
I measured the temperature at various points in the tank and here's what I came up with.
109.2F near the top of the log, ~3" from screen
~103F around the middle of the log
86.4F on the floor at the base of the log
76.8F in the farthest corner of the tank
So one conclusion that I drew from my limited knowledge is that it seems the bulb is giving off too much UV light which is hurting his eyes, but he has to stay there to get the heat he needs/wants. I ordered a new, smaller dome that is rated for 100W along with an adjustable stand so I can raise the light up higher. I also noticed that I had a heating rock in the garage, so I just put that in there so maybe he can sit there and get heat out of direct UV light. I also ordered a hide since I'm sure he'd like a dark cozy place to go to sleep in.
I feel like he's getting better over the past couple of days but it still doesn't seem like he's completely happy so I'm trying to fix what I can. Not touching the veggies and only eating roaches when I shove them in his face is also obviously not great, is this just a phase?
First I'll give you the vitals. Little Norman is a pretty young juvenile, no idea of age but his body length without tail is about 3" (he fits almost perfectly sideways in my hand with his tail hanging off). He's in a 20 gallon Zilla tank with the front opening doors and the styrofoam fake rock backing with paper towels lining the bottom. On one side of the tank is a 100W Powersun all-in-one bulb in a 13.5" dome with a ceramic socket, resting directly on the screen (as a side note, I originally had it in an 8.5" dome with a normal plastic socket and started smelling burning plastic both from the socket and the bit of plastic on top of the tank that it was resting on so had to go with whatever the hardware store had while my new lamp is on order). There is a log on the basking side standing on an angle, spanning about half the tank and reaching the top. On the cold side I have small water and food dishes that I have been filling with chopped carrots and turnip greens.
Day 1 - Was a short day since it was already evening by the time I got him home and set the tank up. He seemed really alert and inquisitive. Did not eat anything, spent most of the night just crawling around on the styrofoam backing before falling asleep. No poop in the tank.
Day 2 - Literally spent the whole day sitting on the log with his eyes shut. I don't remember exactly what color he was when I got him but his body did seem darker than I thought it was. Did not eat anything and I tried giving him water by dripping on his nose but didn't want that either. No poop in the tank.
Day 3 - More of the same, just sitting on the log with his eyes shut. I tried hand feeding him small dubias with some long forceps and he happily gobbled 3 of those up before I left for work. Again refused eating any veggies or water and still no poop in the tank.
Day 4 - Seemed a bit more active but still quite a bit of sitting in the light with eyes shut. Hand fed him more dubias, I think I gave him 5. Still refusing greens. I would bring a dubia up to him and he would get excited and grab it, then I would bring up a piece of greens and he would close his eyes, then again get excited when I would bring up another roach. Not sure if this is the toddler equivalent of throwing a tantrum when they don't like food. I decided to give him a bath in some shallow lukewarm water. He sat there for about 5 minutes with eyes closed, then pooped and then got really active and seemed like he wanted out. Ended up sleeping in the far corner of the tank away from the light.
Day 5 - A bit better than the day before, but still keeping eyes closed when he sits on the log. Decided to see how many roaches he would max out on so just kept em coming. After he downed the 9th it seemed like it was starting to get excessive and I stopped. Again, he hasn't touched any veggies since I got him, or drank any water and just had that one poop in the water.
I measured the temperature at various points in the tank and here's what I came up with.
109.2F near the top of the log, ~3" from screen
~103F around the middle of the log
86.4F on the floor at the base of the log
76.8F in the farthest corner of the tank
So one conclusion that I drew from my limited knowledge is that it seems the bulb is giving off too much UV light which is hurting his eyes, but he has to stay there to get the heat he needs/wants. I ordered a new, smaller dome that is rated for 100W along with an adjustable stand so I can raise the light up higher. I also noticed that I had a heating rock in the garage, so I just put that in there so maybe he can sit there and get heat out of direct UV light. I also ordered a hide since I'm sure he'd like a dark cozy place to go to sleep in.
I feel like he's getting better over the past couple of days but it still doesn't seem like he's completely happy so I'm trying to fix what I can. Not touching the veggies and only eating roaches when I shove them in his face is also obviously not great, is this just a phase?
