Hey everyone,
i would like to hear your opinion on my dragons behaviour and my veterinarian, which i contacted a week ago.
Data first:
- tank size is 120x60x60cm (4x2x2f)
- substrate is a bioactive deep mix of reptisoil, desert sand and excavator clay, topped with a layer of exoterra stone desert
- cleanup crew with springtails and woodlice (using translator here, hope i don't butcher the names)
Lighting:
- arcadia 12% uvb tube, his basking spot uv index is around 4-6,5 depending on where he sits on his branch, measured with solarmeter
- arcadia 75w par 30 halogen heat lamp for the main basking spot, dimmed to around 41°C (105°F) basking spot surface temp
- arcadia 100w par 38 halogen heat lamp for overall enclosure temps on the warm side
- arcadia 34w jungle dawn led for general lighting
- cycle is 12/12 (light from 10am to 10pm, all lights are completely off at night)
Air temperature on warm side is around 28°C (82°F), measured in the shadow below his main hangout spot (picture).
Surface temps are from around 23°C (73°F) on the cool side, to max 45°C (113°F) on the warm side, measured with infrared thermometer.
Night temps are around 21°C-22°C (70°F - 72°F)
Humidity is 35-45% depending on where its measured and when its watered, up to 60% at night time.
My dragon:
- male, age 14-15 months, i got him on the 6th of february this year at around 11-12 months of age
- current length is 44cm, measured from nose to tail end
- current weight is 345g
I feed mainly crickets and dubia roaches 2x a week/10 days as much as he wants (he usually eats from 4-8 good sized insects), dusted with calcium (without d3) and every 2-3 weeks reptivite (without d3) instead, with occasional (2-4 insects a week) wax worms and superworms, greens (endivia, lollo rosso, pak choi, ruccola etc) are offered every day.
The problem:
For his first 2-2,5 months with me he lived in a slightly smaller tank with less uvb (around 3,0, i realized only after getting the solarmeter).
So i got him for about 3+ months now, from day 1 he was kinda lethargic/sleepy and didn't had much of an appetite. First i thought he was in brumation, but he would bask on his spot up to 5-8 times a day, after each basking he would go back to his hide an just sleep, or be half asleep (eyes slowly closing and opening) and doesn't do anything besides that, no walking around etc. Sometimes he would only bask in the morning and hide in the hole he was digging the rest of the day.
His poop times increased from 7 days in between to 10, 14 and his last poop took almost 4 weeks until it came out, shortly after that i contacted a vet, which is now waiting to get a sample the next time he takes a poop.
The only time he would show what i would consider "normal behaviour" was around the first week in his new enclosure 2 weeks ago, when he would walk around a few times between his basking sessions for about 2 days. This changed after he got his 4 week poop out.
The other times he wasn't sleepy were when he wanted to poop, he always had the same spot and would only go there when he needed to poop. He would glass surf on that spot for around 10 minutes after his morning routine and if he didn't poop, would often go inside his cave, staying there til the next day.
After pooping he would return to his usual, sleepy behaviour, no glass surfing.
When he walks he does without any problems as far as i can tell, he doesn't drag any limbs and even jumps down his branch, as well as pulls himself up with his arms, he has a soft belly with no hard spots, his cloaca looks normal, not swollen or red.
Currently he is showing a different behaviour, it started right after he got his 4 week poop out 10 days ago:
The last 10 days he is way more sleepy, he just stays in his cave for days, no basking etc, just sleeping or half asleep. I am currently carefully getting him out of his cave and placing him on his hangout spot near his basking spot after every 48 hours to make sure he gets his UVB and knows where to bask if he wants to. I need to do this 1x a week anyway to give him his digestion medicine with some salad (it's called "Bene-Bac Gel", it's recommended by my vet and is very common for digestive problems here in EU).
After placing him there he stays on that spot for a few hours, he normally ends with going further up the branch himself to his basking spot for a bit, after that he just goes inside his cave sleeping.
I don't know if its better to just let him sleep in his cave except the 1x a week to give him his digestive medicine, i will ask my vet about this the coming days.
My vet:
The vet i contacted a week ago is specialized in exotic animals and has good reviews in general, so far we only had contact per email where i sent him pictures of my beardie etc. He sent me an article he wrote about beardies, as well as some tubes for poop samples so far.
My vet told me to:
- never give a beardie calcium dusted insects, he said this could lead to "calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease, CPPD", insted i should offer him a bowl of sepia powder, where he can get his calcium based on his instinct. Which i did, so far he didn't touch it.
- he said my beardie looks overweight and grew too fast for his age and i would feed him too much "at this age they only need 2 insects the size of their mouth a week"
- he said roaches are not a good feeder insect in general, because they are hard to digest, i leave them out for now
- he said i shouldn't give him salad, just herbs, "salad is not natural"
- he said i don't need to give him reptivite
- he told me a "bright sun desert uv spot" basking light would be better than my setup
- i told him i would drop some water on his nose like 1x a week, which he would drink just to be sure he is hydrated, he never touched his water bowl and his poop never looked dry, i was told to stop that and give him a waterbowl so he can drink when he needs to. "every animal needs access to water!"
- besides that he told me to give him "Bene-Bac Gel" once a week for now
I would love to hear your opinions on that and my beardie in general, i will add pictures below. Feel free to ask me for more specific pictures or information.
greetings
(couldn't find a way to get those pics in order, the last one was 2 days before he could get his 4 week poop out, the poop picture was the 4 week one)
i would like to hear your opinion on my dragons behaviour and my veterinarian, which i contacted a week ago.
Data first:
- tank size is 120x60x60cm (4x2x2f)
- substrate is a bioactive deep mix of reptisoil, desert sand and excavator clay, topped with a layer of exoterra stone desert
- cleanup crew with springtails and woodlice (using translator here, hope i don't butcher the names)
Lighting:
- arcadia 12% uvb tube, his basking spot uv index is around 4-6,5 depending on where he sits on his branch, measured with solarmeter
- arcadia 75w par 30 halogen heat lamp for the main basking spot, dimmed to around 41°C (105°F) basking spot surface temp
- arcadia 100w par 38 halogen heat lamp for overall enclosure temps on the warm side
- arcadia 34w jungle dawn led for general lighting
- cycle is 12/12 (light from 10am to 10pm, all lights are completely off at night)
Air temperature on warm side is around 28°C (82°F), measured in the shadow below his main hangout spot (picture).
Surface temps are from around 23°C (73°F) on the cool side, to max 45°C (113°F) on the warm side, measured with infrared thermometer.
Night temps are around 21°C-22°C (70°F - 72°F)
Humidity is 35-45% depending on where its measured and when its watered, up to 60% at night time.
My dragon:
- male, age 14-15 months, i got him on the 6th of february this year at around 11-12 months of age
- current length is 44cm, measured from nose to tail end
- current weight is 345g
I feed mainly crickets and dubia roaches 2x a week/10 days as much as he wants (he usually eats from 4-8 good sized insects), dusted with calcium (without d3) and every 2-3 weeks reptivite (without d3) instead, with occasional (2-4 insects a week) wax worms and superworms, greens (endivia, lollo rosso, pak choi, ruccola etc) are offered every day.
The problem:
For his first 2-2,5 months with me he lived in a slightly smaller tank with less uvb (around 3,0, i realized only after getting the solarmeter).
So i got him for about 3+ months now, from day 1 he was kinda lethargic/sleepy and didn't had much of an appetite. First i thought he was in brumation, but he would bask on his spot up to 5-8 times a day, after each basking he would go back to his hide an just sleep, or be half asleep (eyes slowly closing and opening) and doesn't do anything besides that, no walking around etc. Sometimes he would only bask in the morning and hide in the hole he was digging the rest of the day.
His poop times increased from 7 days in between to 10, 14 and his last poop took almost 4 weeks until it came out, shortly after that i contacted a vet, which is now waiting to get a sample the next time he takes a poop.
The only time he would show what i would consider "normal behaviour" was around the first week in his new enclosure 2 weeks ago, when he would walk around a few times between his basking sessions for about 2 days. This changed after he got his 4 week poop out.
The other times he wasn't sleepy were when he wanted to poop, he always had the same spot and would only go there when he needed to poop. He would glass surf on that spot for around 10 minutes after his morning routine and if he didn't poop, would often go inside his cave, staying there til the next day.
After pooping he would return to his usual, sleepy behaviour, no glass surfing.
When he walks he does without any problems as far as i can tell, he doesn't drag any limbs and even jumps down his branch, as well as pulls himself up with his arms, he has a soft belly with no hard spots, his cloaca looks normal, not swollen or red.
Currently he is showing a different behaviour, it started right after he got his 4 week poop out 10 days ago:
The last 10 days he is way more sleepy, he just stays in his cave for days, no basking etc, just sleeping or half asleep. I am currently carefully getting him out of his cave and placing him on his hangout spot near his basking spot after every 48 hours to make sure he gets his UVB and knows where to bask if he wants to. I need to do this 1x a week anyway to give him his digestion medicine with some salad (it's called "Bene-Bac Gel", it's recommended by my vet and is very common for digestive problems here in EU).
After placing him there he stays on that spot for a few hours, he normally ends with going further up the branch himself to his basking spot for a bit, after that he just goes inside his cave sleeping.
I don't know if its better to just let him sleep in his cave except the 1x a week to give him his digestive medicine, i will ask my vet about this the coming days.
My vet:
The vet i contacted a week ago is specialized in exotic animals and has good reviews in general, so far we only had contact per email where i sent him pictures of my beardie etc. He sent me an article he wrote about beardies, as well as some tubes for poop samples so far.
My vet told me to:
- never give a beardie calcium dusted insects, he said this could lead to "calcium pyrophosphate deposition disease, CPPD", insted i should offer him a bowl of sepia powder, where he can get his calcium based on his instinct. Which i did, so far he didn't touch it.
- he said my beardie looks overweight and grew too fast for his age and i would feed him too much "at this age they only need 2 insects the size of their mouth a week"
- he said roaches are not a good feeder insect in general, because they are hard to digest, i leave them out for now
- he said i shouldn't give him salad, just herbs, "salad is not natural"
- he said i don't need to give him reptivite
- he told me a "bright sun desert uv spot" basking light would be better than my setup
- i told him i would drop some water on his nose like 1x a week, which he would drink just to be sure he is hydrated, he never touched his water bowl and his poop never looked dry, i was told to stop that and give him a waterbowl so he can drink when he needs to. "every animal needs access to water!"
- besides that he told me to give him "Bene-Bac Gel" once a week for now
I would love to hear your opinions on that and my beardie in general, i will add pictures below. Feel free to ask me for more specific pictures or information.
greetings
(couldn't find a way to get those pics in order, the last one was 2 days before he could get his 4 week poop out, the poop picture was the 4 week one)
Last edited:
) just post them up 
