Ok so just today my sub adult female has been weird. Here's what's happened...
•she started trying to swim in bath and has never done that before.
•scratching head but just finished shedding.
•eating insects but not veggies/greens anymore.
•I've got a hide as a basking rock and she's gone in there 3 times today to nap. Tried to move it to the cool end but she didn't like that.
• yawned 3 times!
•and gaped twice while not on or near basking spot!
Basking temp 36-42
Warm end 29-31
Uvb Arcadia 10% d3 compact
Cool side 23-26
Calcium every other day and multivitamin 1-2 a week.
She's still shedding on her back so a bath every other day.
Good appetite and very energetic and alert. But still napping
Disclaimer everything is in degrees Celsius and it's winter here in australia.
So swimming in the bath, sometimes they will just feel like swimming, so that is no problem. Her head was probably just itchy after the shed, so that is why shes doing that. And it's winter there, which backs up what i thought, shes going into brumation, pretty much hibernation for lizards. She wont eat as much, and will sleep some, or the whole time she brumates. It's different for every beardie, she might do it for a couple days, to a couple months. It's totally natural, and it will go away soon, whenever she is done.
How old is your dragon currently?
She could be trying to brumate, if she is old enough that is.
You could try lowering the cool side temperatures to a range of 26C to 29C so she can cool off a little more if needed.
How long have you been using the Arcadia 10% D3 compact light & how close is it to her?
You might want to consider getting a long tube bulb instead. The UVB coverage is much better & the wavelength of the frequency is safer, too. Arcadia makes a nice tube bulb, the D3 12% tube that you should be able to find in Australia.
Do you have any pictures of your dragon & of your setup?
Thanks. I thought it might of been brumation she's my first so I've never experienced brumation before. She has been very active today, did a really big poo, and ate a little bit of salad and lots of woodies she literally jumps out the Viv to get to them. Hthe tank is a 50 gallon tank with already imputed light connections the uvb and basking light is about 30cms away from each otherand it's 30cms away from the ground I've been using it since I got her about a month ago. The tubes I've seen are to long for the tank but I'll look more into it. I do take her outside when it's sunny so she can get natural uvb aswell.
I would prefer to see the UVB light and basking light side by side to provide a nice combination over the basking area. What you might do is remove the UVB light and replace it with a ceramic heat emitter that you can turn on overnight if it gets cold (below about 18c or so, otherwise no heat is needed). You could also try moving the socket over next to the basking light. You'd probably be better off picking up a tube like this https://www.amazingamazon.com.au/zoo-med-t5-reptile-globe.html and a grow light fixture for it. A grow light fixture would probably be easier to mount to the ceiling than a ZooMed hood which has a smooth top. Probably easiest to find online but Bunnings or a plant supply store may have one. Look for something similar to this https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/EDJ-T5-24W-2ft-ho-t5_60550494610.html