Alright, I'm going to try and make this as short as possible but I want to provide all the info too so that nothing important is left out! I'll start from the beginning...
We bought an almost 2 month old beardy from my brother that lives about 4 blocks away. We have had him(?) for less than a week and a half now. His(?) name is Sparta and I'll attach pics! When we bought Sparta we got his entire viv and setup. Whatever my brother had, we got and set up everything the same at our home. Sparta has always been in a 40 gallon tank since my brother got him. At his home the temps ranged from 90-105 on the basking side and 80-90 on the cooler side. He basked almost all day, and refused to go into his cave. He did not like being held there. They have 2 small cats, a yorkie, a 13 year old and 15 year old girls. He was kept upstairs and his viv was about waist level on a stand.. He ate well from what I was told but was only given greens a couple times the entire time..
Now at my home: We have a small pit/lab mix, a 4 year old girl that runs like a heard of elephants, and a 12 year old boy that we get every other weekend and all school breaks.. His tank is about chest level with my 4 year old and eye level with the dog.. (I know that's gotta be super stressful for him) His tank temp on the basking side is between 80-90 and the cool side is 70-80. He did ok the first couple of days here except for his relocation stress issues.. He ran frantically around for a bit but still rarely hid.. Now a week and 2 days later, he rarely leaves his cave and has very dark stress marks.. I thought it was viv temps.. So we got a higher wattage basking bulb to increase the temps to 90-100. When we did that, his entire body got darker, he hid in his cave all day, cut back on food and stayed in his cave with his mouth open. I've read that gapping is ok to an extent but it was almost like it was too hot for him.. I'll include pics of the bulbs we are using, the tank setup, and all that also.. We currently are using a stick on thermometer and a stick on thermometer/humidity gauge. I already know the humidity is too high and am working to get a dehumidifier for this room. It is currently between and 40 and 50.. If I am correct it should be between 30 and 40??
Anyway... Questions/concerns.. The only thing we have really changed is the tank temps, humidity, and environment in which his viv sits... His color and behavior has changed.. He is almost always showing stress Mark's and is darker in color most of the day unless I am holding him.. Then he lightens up a lot! (he hated being touched at my brothers but appears to love me holding him..) He is not eating consistently (between 10 and 35 crickets a day, give or take.. and is now eating greens-turnip, collard and occasionally kale- and very tiny amounts of fruit- apple and a tiny bite of banana yesterday- every so often) He only has a BM maybe once to two times a day, with very normal appearances. He appears very stressed out. Aside from the humidity issue.. What am I doing wrong? I remove his cave and log when I feed him because the crickets run straight for them and hide.. I keep his cave away from him for about 1 hour after he eats because otherwise he will go straight in there and not bask at all to digest. I do not leave crickets in the tank for more than 15 minutes.. I removed his water bowl that my brother had due to humidity reasons, for now... Could he be dehydrating? Overly stressed? Just hate this house? We had a desert leopard gecko for over 9 years so it's not like it is 100% new to us.. But man he is being difficult so far! What can we improve? I want him to be happy as possible! Sorry for the novel but I didn't want to leave anything unsaid just in-case!
Oh and lights- We had the 100watt in at first, it appeared too cold so we got the 150 and used it for only 1 day as he seemed very hot with it.. Pics coming soon.. Thanks in advance!! I know I've come to the right place for our beardy advice!
We bought an almost 2 month old beardy from my brother that lives about 4 blocks away. We have had him(?) for less than a week and a half now. His(?) name is Sparta and I'll attach pics! When we bought Sparta we got his entire viv and setup. Whatever my brother had, we got and set up everything the same at our home. Sparta has always been in a 40 gallon tank since my brother got him. At his home the temps ranged from 90-105 on the basking side and 80-90 on the cooler side. He basked almost all day, and refused to go into his cave. He did not like being held there. They have 2 small cats, a yorkie, a 13 year old and 15 year old girls. He was kept upstairs and his viv was about waist level on a stand.. He ate well from what I was told but was only given greens a couple times the entire time..
Now at my home: We have a small pit/lab mix, a 4 year old girl that runs like a heard of elephants, and a 12 year old boy that we get every other weekend and all school breaks.. His tank is about chest level with my 4 year old and eye level with the dog.. (I know that's gotta be super stressful for him) His tank temp on the basking side is between 80-90 and the cool side is 70-80. He did ok the first couple of days here except for his relocation stress issues.. He ran frantically around for a bit but still rarely hid.. Now a week and 2 days later, he rarely leaves his cave and has very dark stress marks.. I thought it was viv temps.. So we got a higher wattage basking bulb to increase the temps to 90-100. When we did that, his entire body got darker, he hid in his cave all day, cut back on food and stayed in his cave with his mouth open. I've read that gapping is ok to an extent but it was almost like it was too hot for him.. I'll include pics of the bulbs we are using, the tank setup, and all that also.. We currently are using a stick on thermometer and a stick on thermometer/humidity gauge. I already know the humidity is too high and am working to get a dehumidifier for this room. It is currently between and 40 and 50.. If I am correct it should be between 30 and 40??
Anyway... Questions/concerns.. The only thing we have really changed is the tank temps, humidity, and environment in which his viv sits... His color and behavior has changed.. He is almost always showing stress Mark's and is darker in color most of the day unless I am holding him.. Then he lightens up a lot! (he hated being touched at my brothers but appears to love me holding him..) He is not eating consistently (between 10 and 35 crickets a day, give or take.. and is now eating greens-turnip, collard and occasionally kale- and very tiny amounts of fruit- apple and a tiny bite of banana yesterday- every so often) He only has a BM maybe once to two times a day, with very normal appearances. He appears very stressed out. Aside from the humidity issue.. What am I doing wrong? I remove his cave and log when I feed him because the crickets run straight for them and hide.. I keep his cave away from him for about 1 hour after he eats because otherwise he will go straight in there and not bask at all to digest. I do not leave crickets in the tank for more than 15 minutes.. I removed his water bowl that my brother had due to humidity reasons, for now... Could he be dehydrating? Overly stressed? Just hate this house? We had a desert leopard gecko for over 9 years so it's not like it is 100% new to us.. But man he is being difficult so far! What can we improve? I want him to be happy as possible! Sorry for the novel but I didn't want to leave anything unsaid just in-case!
Oh and lights- We had the 100watt in at first, it appeared too cold so we got the 150 and used it for only 1 day as he seemed very hot with it.. Pics coming soon.. Thanks in advance!! I know I've come to the right place for our beardy advice!