Not sure if anything wrong with beardie?

[Pigeoncracker]

Hi,

So our beardie has been slowing down and not eating much, she just sits on her rock all day and basks but is perfectly alert and runs around when we pick her up. Her appetite is massively decreased and her poop is noticeably smaller but with still very healthy calcium deposits.

She's about 6 - 7 months old I believe. We just changed her UVB and are about to switch her to a larger rank. Ambient temp is 80F. We always calcium powder everything we feed her (mostly live and she hunts them down) but lately her lack of appetite has decreased. She's lost a little weight, not much.

I think we give her enough water, maybe not enough greans but I wanted your guy's input on this.

Do you think there's a problem at all?

 

[CooperDragon]

She's an adult correct? She probably won't eat a lot compared to a young dragon but should be into salads a bit (which don't need calcium supplement) and a bug meal once or twice per week. If she's alert and active she's probably fine. Their appetite comes in waves sometimes and that's normal.

You say the ambient temperature is 80. What are the surface temps where she is basking and on the other end of the tank? What do you have in place for a UVB source for her?

 

[Pigeoncracker]

She's an adult correct? She probably won't eat a lot compared to a young dragon but should be into salads a bit (which don't need calcium supplement) and a bug meal once or twice per week. If she's alert and active she's probably fine. Their appetite comes in waves sometimes and that's normal.

You say the ambient temperature is 80. What are the surface temps where she is basking and on the other end of the tank? What do you have in place for a UVB source for her?

She's still a baby. 6 - 7 months old. I don't know what the basking rock's temp is nor how to check that, but the other side of the tank is around 71F. My UVB is a Repti-sun 10.0.

 

[EllenD]

You need to get a $10 digital probe thermometer ASAP, the stick-on thermometers are junk and often off by 20 degrees or more, and you cannot measure the basking spot temperature with one. My guess is her temps are far too cool for her to function properly, digest food, etc. You need to put the probe on the basking spot and let it sit for at least 20-30 minutes before reading the temperature, then move it to the floor of the Hot Side (surrounding the basking spot), let it sit for 20-30 minutes, then read the temperature, then move the probe to the floor of the Cool Side and let the probe sit for 20-30 minutes and read the temperature. Her Basking Spot must be between 105-110, Hot Side Ambient between 88-93, and Cool Side Ambient between 75-80 degrees for her. And is your Reptisun 10.0 a long, 18" tube (T8) or a compact, regular lightbulb shape? If it's the regular, compact, lightbulb shape it's not adequate at all for her, it's only 13 watts, and you need to go and buy an 18" or 24" Reptisun 10.0 T8 UVB tube, and it must be mounted inside the enclosure, under the mesh lid with either 3M Command Hooks or by poking holes in the mesh and strapping the tube fixture to the underside of the mesh with large zip ties, and it must be within 6-8" of her basking spot, and replaced every 6 months because they no longer emit UVB light at that age even though they still light up... The mesh blocks up to 50% of the UVB light from a T8 UVB tube (the T5 High-Output 10.0 Reptisun tube is strong enough to sit on the mesh, but must still be within 11" of her basking spot, and the T5 High-Output tube must be replaced every year). So she most likely has temperatures far too low and inadequate or no UVB light.

Also, the white parts of her poop are not calcium deposits, but rather the "urates", which are their version of urine basically.

 

[Pigeoncracker]

Alright! I will be moving her to a different tank and buying a bunch of fixtures. Time to ask some favors since I don't have any money right now.

I didn't know that about the screen that it blocks the UVB. Thanks for the information!