Please help,Im going crazy,my little Girl isnt doing good

[beardieslave1027]

Hi,Im wonering if anyone out there might be able to give me any clues as to what I could be doing wrong.Ill start out by the history.We got our little baby,in April,the guy at PETSTUPID!!Said he or she was over 2months old,he was 5 inches,and they were feeding him mealworms,I got talked into a "beared dragon KIt"and basically ha to replace everything it came with...So after getting all the correct bulbs,substrate,and crickets.He was doing great,in july he was not eating as much,and having runny poops,so we took him to the vet,Worms..two treatments latter,he seemed much better.
Now we moved up to a new cage 55 gallon glass marty made,in late july
Heres his cage break down
took sand out,it seemed really dusty(i know he mad he loved digging)
carpet bottom,hot end 95-105 around basking area,88 threwout,cool end 80-85
huge rocks to bask on,branches to climb on,2 hiding spots and hammock
his food is always avalible to him,sits in middle more towards cool end,little water bowl(never uses)
the uvb is huge on the screen in the cage by the basking rocks
100wbasking bulb,18"repiglow 10.0,dayglow 50w in middle(light purple).
I had a zilla 50 desert bulb but he was alway closing his eyes,so i switched to repi
Now mind you over the last 2 months I litlerally have been changing and trying different bulbs,branchs,to get his house right
Now heres the deal,he wont touch crickets...He when from eating 50 -100 a day and veggies to nothing,plus he was sheddding all the time now nothing in 2 months,So i started trying different worm,he loved supers(hes about 16 1/2inches long)but was then only going to the bathroom in his bath(lol).so we tried wax,butters,and even horn,which i know all of them are more like treats,but itr was all i could do to get him to eat anything,slowly but surely he doesnt even want them,nor veggies..its been 2 days of nothin,but one horn worm and couple bites of veggies..Please someone..Going to the vet tomorrow,but Im so worrie,hes all lazy,and looks sad...

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....it sounds like one or two things going on. First of all, you've done a great job with him, if he was 5 inches in April and grown to 16.5 inches in 6 months, that's great. He could actually be going into brumation or semi brumation at his age, or....the bulb may be not producing proper wavelenths of UVB. Many people have the best reults with the REPTISUN 10.0 long tube. That may be the answer. If you take him to a vet, be sure the vet is really qualified and has good knowledge of beardies. I hope everything turns out O.K. Try not to worry too much, many sub adult dragons slow down this time of year.

 

[beardieslave1027]

Yeah,I was wondering that?I swear its so confusing and annoying that every pet store tells you one thing,and its wrong,Ive went threw plenting of Bad advice,mealworms,sand,cal sand,plantation soil substrate,it's crazy!!!I think Im just going to order a repisun and see what the vet says tomorrow..Shes pretty good,Its just have sometimes to get advice from people that havent owned a beardie,and to put his little life in their hands you know...I know hes not getting enough calium cause hes not eating so Im seeing his little toes get weaker....

 

[kcarello]

You should get some probiotics for him too...Help get is gut flora back in good shape after the meds he was on.

 

[beardieslave1027]

Well,home from the vets..After waking my poor baby up extra early,bath at the vets(to POOP),and being poked and stared at..The conclusion..They didint find any thing in this Sample,but since he has had a history of worms,treating him once a week for 3 weeks,she always gave me liquid calicum,Im going to pick up a new uvb bulb today,and hopfully with meds and new bulb hell start to feel better soon...He,Well actually SHE was not so Happy about getting the meds,definally felt the wrath of little Rexie's teeth while giving it to her,but the calcuim she loved...Sweet..?Probidic..can i get that at the grocery store?or Ive heard soy yogurt????Not sure....Ill try anything to make my little girl feel better...I literally was up half the night,because Im so worried...But I think Im on the right track..Hopefully..Any suggestions????
Thanks :?

 

[tf2185]

Soy yogurt will work fine for the probiotics. Make sure that it is soy because if you get regular yogurt, dragons can't process dairy.

If your baby is still not eating right, you could try baby food. Squash or chicken stage 1 baby food is what is recommended, make sure it doesn't have any additives in it either.

Make sure when you get the UVB, it's the reptisun 10.0. I would hate for you to get the wrong UVB and have to go exchange it or something.

 

[beardieslave1027]

YEAH RIGHT!! :twisted: I even printed the picture out,Because I have seen a bunch that say arepisun but then aren't made by Zoo Med! I don't know how half of these pet shops are even open!! If I had a dollar for every piece of wrong advice I got, Or wrong size something wrong brand wrong substrate Wrong food Wrong calcium and vitamins, My bank account would be looking pretty good right now!! I took the repi glow out and just put it on top! Pet store was closed today so I'm getting it tomorrow.And To my surprise she ate twice only wax worms but she still 8!!!Man I can't wait til she's feeling better.She's Like a kid to me,part of our family!and its upsetting when people that are supposed to help me do the opposite! From Now on only advice from people that own beardies and have experience. Question my 100 watt basking Bulbis getting way too hot no matter how high prop it can I use like a 50 watt flood light for basking instead??

 

[beardieslave1027]

And All I know is that if she perks up within a couple days when i have a new Bulb I'm definitely going back to the pet store with the other 1 that they praised..And Requesting a refund!! :wink:

 

[tf2185]

It would depend on if you could get the temp right but I'm pretty sure people use them. For our dragons, we use just regular bright white light bulbs. One of our dragons has a sixty five watt, another has a one hundred watt, one with a seventy five, and our last one has a seventy two watt. Even with the different wattages, the basking temps are all the same because the various positioning of their tanks. If we bought the lights that Petsmart tries to sell us, we would have been broke a long time ago. Lol

 

[kcarello]

Ha ha,,isn't that the truth tf2185!!!! There is absolutley no since in spending the big bucks on the pet store basking lights!!

 

[diamc]

I'm glad to hear that she is eating a little again.

I noticed that you are using a 100 watt bulb on one side and a 50 watt in the middle? That seems like a lot of wattage for a 55 gallon tank and wouldn't really allow for her to thermoregulate because it sounds like there isn't a cool side. What type of thermometer are you using and where exactly are you taking the temps?

 

[beardieslave1027]

Yeah,I'm going to Walmart to get the under counter mount for the new UV later, I'm thinking about just getting a bright household bulb,couple different Watts to get the temperature right. I'm using a digital with probe on her hot basking spot and another one in the middle, constantly checking them as well as little digital on cool side, she really is just hanging out on her rock cave in the middle, goes to the cool side to explore and eat veggies or lay in hammock to look out cage at our huge bay window and investigate the neighborhood, LOL So funny when she comes out she'll walk back and forth in the window watching cars, people and the squirrel! Its seems she likes the 50watt bulb in the middle best, but its not (white light),more of a really light purple? I'm wondering if that could be used as her basking light as long as I get her close enough to get warm?

 

[beardieslave1027]

Yeah tell me about petsmart! Like I said I got talked into the "bearded dragon complete setup"NOT! I LITERALLY used the cage and light fixtures, and cage only lasted few months,I have 2cabinets full of stuff never been used! I love how people that work at these places call themselves "Professionals "@NOT!!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The UVB change to the Reptisun 10 from the Reptiglo 10 will be good.
As Diane asked, how much total wattage are you using for the tank, with the purple light? I would take the purple light out though as they don't need a colored bulb in their tank. Is the basking light a bright white light or a daytime light that is coated with neodymium?
The Reptiglo 10 just doesn't have the wavelength that the Reptisun 10 does & seems to contribute to calcium issues. The wavelength is not conducive to D3 absorption.

Let us know how he is doing.
Tracie

 

[diamc]

When you ck the temps with the probe, are you making the probe is actually touching the basking spot and then waiting at least 45 min to an hr for the temp to stop rising? Seems like she is totally avoiding the basking spot so the 100 watt basking bulb is probably too hot. I agree with Tracie that you need a bright white basking bulb, maybe try a 75 bright white household bulb instead of the 100 watt and remove the purple tinged bulb.

Good that you're gonna be switching to the Repti-Sun 10.0 tube.