Not eating greens/fruit, sluggish, spazzy dragon!

[sanriowned]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum, and am in dire need of some information.

I got my juvenile, female bearded dragon a few months ago from a woman at my boyfriend's place of employment, whose son wasn't taking proper care of her.

She came with a 30 gallon ( I believe ) tank, a heating lamp, and an EXO-TERRA Repti Glo 10.0 UVB. It says it's 26W, 120V, 60HZ. ( Coiled ) Both are in lamps with clamps, and the top of her aquarium was custom made to fit these out of plywood & mesh. The heating lamp sits on one end, the UVB on the other.

Tank temperature is usually around 91 at the high side at this time of year, and 68 on the lower side, read from a digital thermometer.

Everything has been great with her, but, in the last month or so, she has become increasingly clumsy. I was told that this is normal for beardies, and thought nothing of it.

But, recently, she has become even more uncoordinated, and has even been rolling over. Not just onto her back, she rolls over & over & over.

She also has become uninterested in her greens & fruit, but, still eats crickets with a good appetite.

She's also becoming more sluggish than normal over the last few days. She will move around to eat crickets, and if I have her out, but, it seems as though she's sleeping in her tank more & more.

At first I thought the calcium sand which was supposed to be fully digestible might have been the problem, so, I dumped it out, laid down paper towels, gave her a warm bath, and fed her a cricket dipped in olive oil with the success of her pooping today. I was glad for that.

I've been posting about this on another forum, and they are suggesting that I change her UV bulb, and I don't know how old it is. I am going out to get her a new UV bulb today.

( I know that the bulb she has isn't the best, but, I can't afford to get her a hood & different lighting until next month, and we're also getting her a bigger tank, so, I don't want to have to buy twice. )

So, her symptoms are increased clumsiness, rolling over ( barrel rolls ), sluggishness, and loss of appetite for greens & fruit.

Thanks in advance for any advice, I just want my beardie to feel better.

 

[SARBEAR]

Hello and welcome!!
I'm sorry your beardie isn't doing well,
Good job on getting rid of the sand though.
And yes, you should get the reptisun 10.0 TUBE. I think you'll see a great difference when you switch that out.
Her temps are also WAY too low. the temp in the basking should be 105-110, and cool side should be 85.
I'm guessing the lighting is where most of your problems are coming from :/

 

[sanriowned]

That's what the other people I've spoke to about it suggested. And, I thought that the temperatures were a little low, too. Maybe I also need to replace her heating lamp.

I have no idea how old the heating lamp, or the UV bulb is, since they came with her.

I really hate buying these, as I planned on getting her a good hood that a light like you suggested would fit, as soon as we get her larger tank.

But, if it's making her not feel well, I see no way around it. Just hate spending so much money on things that I planned on upgrading within weeks.

I do want her to feel well, though.

Also, thanks for the welcome.

 

[SARBEAR]

I understand that you don't want to spend money if you're going to upgrade, I wouldn't want to either.
As far as raising the heat, you can use just a regular house bulb, just make sure you keep an eye on the temps.
Also, if you're planning on upgrading her tank, (as far as I know) it wouldn't hurt to get the fixture to fit the new tank, and just having it hang off the sides of the 30 gal for a few weeks. That way you won't need to buy it 2 times. (like I said, as far as I know it wouldn't hurt anything)

 

[diamc]

Hi, :wave: welcome to the forum. I also do understand about not wanting to spend extra money right now but I do agree with Sara that having the fluorescent bulb hang over the tank won't really hurt anything as they don't get hot. I think you'll notice a BIG difference when you get the Repti-Sun 10.0 tube and also when you get the temps straightened out. Once you get the new bulb, the basking & UVB lights should be right alongside each other so your beardie can get the benefit of both bulbs at the same time. If the digital thermometer you're using now doesn't have a probe end, then the temps could actually be off by as much as 20 degrees. Does yours look anything like this with a long wire & probe?

Also, how often are you dusting with calcium and vitamins? Those supplements can also affect their health. We are here to help you every step of the way and want to get your baby all straightened out. :wink:

 

[sanriowned]

Hey, thanks for all of the replies.

I have a pretty happy update: I caught Lizzy ( My beardie ) taking a few bites of her greens & fruit. She also climbed half way up onto her rock. ( It has a slope ) But, she's still being spazzy & clumsy, otherwise.

I decided not to waste the money on a coiled UV bulb; I will just wait to buy all of the good stuff, even if it has to hang off the edge of the smaller tank.

I did take her outside for a few minutes, today, to help her get some more UV, if that is part of the problem.

I talked to someone at PetSmart ( I actually DID go there with the intent to buy some things for her, LOL ) and they suggested I bring her in & gave me the times that some of the other employees who know about lizards & dragons would be working. Unfortunately, there's no way I can make it there at that time, so, I am supposed to give them a call.

As far as calcium dusting, I do dust her crickets.

My digital thermometer does NOT have a long wire, but, it supposedly tells me the humidity, and the hot/cold side of an area.

Will add a better thermometer to my list for her.

 

[peera]

Be careful about pet store advice. Many of the so-called reptile "experts" are the same people who got A LOT of our members off on the wrong foot. It helps to remember that while lizards may seem similar, dragons, geckos & anoles all have VERY different husbandry needs, so even if you know everything about one of them it won't help you know anything about the others.

 

[SARBEAR]

Be careful about pet store advice. Many of the so-called reptile "experts" are the same people who got A LOT of our members off on the wrong foot. It helps to remember that while lizards may seem similar, dragons, geckos & anoles all have VERY different husbandry needs, so even if you know everything about one of them it won't help you know anything about the others.

Yep, unfortunately I had to put my first bearded dragon down because I listened to pet store advice.
They gave me the wrong lighting, and told me to feed the baby 10 crickets every other day, when babies should eat 40-60 a day.
I had the wrong UVB light in there, which led to MBD, which then led to a spinal fracture, which led to him being paralyzed mid back down
I felt horrible and was devastated. I couldn't even look at beardies for about a year and a half. Then Howie just kind of fell into my lap, and I love him!
This site has helped me so much!

 

[diamc]

I have to agree with the others about pet stores giving wrong info. Most of them are just trying to make a sale so will try to get you to buy a certain item, some others try to be helpful but don't really know beardies like most of us here do, they are our lives and also "our babies." Many of us have spent hours, days, weeks, trying to help get a beardie straightened out when the owner was given wrong info and sometimes the damage has already been done and we aren't able to help the owner make the needed changes in time. We have nothing to gain here except the satisfaction of helping an owner get their beardie well and the tank set up perfectly that will help the beardie grow up nice & healthy.

That's great that your beardie ate a little greens and fruit today and climbed up her rock. I wanted to mention that being clumsy, spazzy, and rolling over is not normal for a beardie. There have been a lot of problems associated with coil and compact bulbs which you can read about here: [ Invalid URL Removed / p= t=65424 f=1 ] And also if you do a search on the forum by putting in "coil UVB's" a lot more info will pop up explaining issues with them. Have you noticed any twitching or muscle spasms?

That's great that you took her outside today. We agree that you shouldn't waste your money on another coil bulb in fact, if you are going to be getting a Repti-Sun 10.0 strip fluorescent within the next week or so, turning the coil off that you're using now would be a good idea as she would be better off without any rather than continuing to use that. Here's a site where you can get the strip fluorescent for a very reasonable price: http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html For the hood, you could go to Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe's and buy a standard fluorescent light, remove the plastic & the bulb that comes with it, put in the UVB and leave the plastic cover off. You should be able to get one for a very reasonable price. The thermometer that I posted the picture of can also be found at Walmart and costs about $12.00. It should be in the area where the outdoor plastic thermometers are sold. If the temps are off, it can affect their total health and can cause them to sleep a lot, not be able to digest or poop normally, lethargic behavior and all sorts of other symptoms.

Could you fill us in on her age and what wattage basking bulb(s) you're using and the dimensions of her tank? That should help us kinda figure out if the heat bulb is too low or too high a wattage for that sized tank so you will know if an adjustment needs to be made before you get a probe thermometer. Also, their age affects how often you should be dusting their feeders with the calcium and vitamins, so once we find out how old she is, we can help with that too.

 

[peera]

Oops, I wanted to weigh in on that too! I assure you that "clumsy" is not a normal thing for older dragons. My old man, who will be 9 in a couple months, moves around more carefully than my girls because I'm sure his old body can tend to hurt, just like all animals, people included (usually, anyhow, if he sees Dora he forgets how old he is! Men!) but is definitely not clumsy.