Hi all! I’ve been looking around and doing some research and haven’t come across any certain answers. I’m wondering if anyone had found anything that can reduce the reflection on the inside of the terrariums yet to stop our beardie from seeing their own reflection and being stressed? My beardie sits on his basking rock and stares at the front of the tank and is always puffing his beard at I’m assuming is his own reflection and is always stressed for no reason. He is very well cared for daily and has no reason to be stressed from anything I’ve done or lack for him, so I’ve come to the conclusion that’s it’s his reflection. Any ideas on how to reduce this without covering all sides of the tank? I’m ok with covering the sides, but don’t want to cover the front. Please help!!
Are you sure its not the lighting in the tank? To determine its not the UVB or basking temps and we can rule those out for sure tell us what your using for the lighting -- brand and bulb of UVB is it a coil or tube and what are the basking temps and how are you taking them? NO stick ons! As far as the reflection you can use wrapping paper / newspaper / magazine pages to cover the outside of the tank sides -- stress marks can be caused by improper lighting as well -- that is why I asked - if the reflection does not go away you can move the tank to a different area to where the sun is not hitting on it to cause the reflection as well -
Karrie
Are you sure its not the lighting in the tank? To determine its not the UVB or basking temps and we can rule those out for sure tell us what your using for the lighting -- brand and bulb of UVB is it a coil or tube and what are the basking temps and how are you taking them? NO stick ons! As far as the reflection you can use wrapping paper / newspaper / magazine pages to cover the outside of the tank sides -- stress marks can be caused by improper lighting as well -- that is why I asked - if the reflection does not go away you can move the tank to a different area to where the sun is not hitting on it to cause the reflection as well -
Karrie
Basking temps are fine 95-100 basking and 80-85 cool side and I use an infrared thermometer to check, the bulbs I use are the zoomed basking bulb, and the T5 Reptisun hood with the uvb tube. He’s not always stressed or have the dark belly and beard. But when he’s on his basking rock and facing the front glass he puts his head up and puffs his beard a few times, more so in the morning. The rest of the day he’s ok but at times he turns darker underneath. It comes and goes. I’ve got a live feed camera on him and this is how I catch his behavior throughout the day. It’s hard to explain in words lol
Puffing beard in morning is normal - also he could be going to shed- your T 5 is 12-15 inches from basking decor inside the tank? Or is it on top of screen?
Karrie
Puffing beard in morning is normal - also he could be going to shed- your T 5 is 12-15 inches from basking decor inside the tank? Or is it on top of screen?
Karrie
Right now I just have the 5.0 and it’s about 10-11 inches inside the lid. I’m getting him a new tank this weekend that is 21in deep and not 18. So I will be putting the 10.0 bulb in this weekend with him so he will be in that 12-15 threshold.
Ok sounds good let us know what his behavior is like after you switch this out- he will go thru relocation stress again so his eating may be off for awhile slow not quit eating all together tho
Karrie
I plan on using everything from his tank now and having the same exact setup in his new tank, it will just be a 75gal instead of the 50gal. But it will all be the same way, so I’m hoping it won’t stress him that much if at all!