Soooo Lazy whats wrong?

[Radioflyr]

So I have had my little guy for about a week and a half now. And I went to the pet store to get some bendy vines and put some in his viv to give him something to climb on. And the only place he ever goes is on his vine he sits up there all day never basks. His basking spot is 101 degrees at its peek so I dont think that is too hot at all. So is this okay that he just chills there or should he be soaking up more rays? Here are a couple pictures.

Plus he is still nameless I have been trying my hardest to think of something but I still got nothing maybe I could name him Lazy.

-Steve

 

[Rukii]

Let's start with the basics:
What do you feed him and how often?
Do you use calcium or multivitamin supplements?
Are you using a UV light? If so, what kind?
What brand of heat lamp are you using?
Do you bathe him? How often?
Do you have a full water dish in his viv?
When did he shed last?
Did you give him a heat gradient? What are the temps in the cool side and the basking side of his viv?
What size viv do you have?
How many hours a day do you keep his lights on? What time do they go on/off?
:mrgreen:

 

[AussieOutlaw]

come on we cant help if you haven't answered Rukii's post
there could be a beardie in danger

 

[Radioflyr]

Sorry I have had jury duty for the last 2 days so I have not beenable to answer these questions.

-Steve

What do you feed him and how often? I feed him small dubia roaches twice a day and squash baby food once every other day.
Do you use calcium or multivitamin supplements? I do I dust 5 times a week with reptocal with D3 (calcium) and I mix Reptivite(w/ D3) into the baby food once a week.
Are you using a UV light? If so, what kind? I am using a reptisun 10.0 tube not coil.
What brand of heat lamp are you using? 75w exoterra sunglo bulb.
Do you bathe him? How often? 3 times a week.
Do you have a full water dish in his viv? No.
When did he shed last? Has not shed yet.
Did you give him a heat gradient? What are the temps in the cool side and the basking side of his viv? (What is a heat gradient?) And it is currently 105 in his baskign spot and 84 on the cool side of the tank
What size viv do you have? 20gal
How many hours a day do you keep his lights on? What time do they go on/off? 12 hours a day 9:30 in the morning to 9:30 at night.

 

[Pravius]

Sounds like your husbandry is good. Out of curiosity how are your lights setup? Like here is an example of what I am asking.

________ O Where ( ________ = UV Bulb) and ( O = the basking light)

The reason I ask this is because dragons do something called photo regulation this is where they will balance out their UV and heat input, what I am thinking is he may not have access to the UV light while he is basking and is trying to soak up the UV, this is just a guess but is a possibility. Also how many inches away is the Reptisun bulb from him? Looks pretty close and that's a good thing.

Another thing you may want to do is kick the heat up on the basking area. I know most here recommend that the spot is around 110 I actually will keep mine a little warmer, this forces them to shutter. This is something they do in the wild and will keep them healthy. I will keep mine from 110-117 about, but when you do this it is imperitive that you give them an area where they can cool down if they get too hot. I keep my cool end a little cooler around 75-85.

Dragons need to maintain a core temp of 85 so having that gradient is important... let us know how your lights are setup I am curious!

 

[Radioflyr]

Okay I will try to draw a diagram the best I can
| O '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''|
|==============''''''''''''''|

''''''''''''' the quotation marks are used to show space on the top of the tank that are free of any light fixtures.
O = Heatlamp
==== and the equal signs are the UVB light

lol I know I probably made it much more complicated than it is.

So thats the top view of my tank.
the heat lamp is in the back left corner and the UVB bulb is layed out in front of the heat lamp extending most of the cage.

and Yes he can get within 6 inches of his UVB.

-Steve

 

[Pravius]

Steve that looks good and gives him the ability to photo regulate if he chooses. Try to increase the temps to see if you can get him to shutter around. The goal is let him get his core temp of around 85 if he goes above that he will go to a cool area, just make sure again that he does have an area to cool off, this is called thermal regulation. See if that helps out at all.

 

[Radioflyr]

So I should try a 100w bulb? the highest the 75 will get is a 108. I really dont want to fry him. I dont know how to regulate the temps other than turning the heat lamp on and off.

Also he has a hide but it doubles as his basking rock and I have never seen him use it to kool off. Maybe I should put something on the other side of the cage for him to chill on I just have no idea what that could be

 

[Pravius]

It depends on your setup alot, and the size of your enclosure. If you have a large enough enclosure and can get the basking area to 115 and keep the cooler side around 80-85 deg you should be ok. The problem you may run into is that if your enclosure is too small that 100W will heat up both the basking area and the ambient temps will rise as well.. that's when you will cook them, when they do not have the ability to cool off. I am not saying this will work for sure, but it is worth a shot.

On a side note another thing you can try to do is increase the LUX in your enclosure, LUX is basically just light levels. Try a full spectrum light low wattage so it does not produce too much heat but Dragons are highly driven on light, they LOVE IT.. I have seen that the higher the lux level is to the natural sun the more active they seem to become.

 

[Radioflyr]

After having the 100w bulb in there for about an hour the temp is at 114 I dint think it will raise much more but I will keep a close eye on it Ill measure the cool side in about 15 minutes and let that sit for an hour to see is that side of the tank is cool enough.

I am not too familiar with lights. As far as the full spectrum light you mentioned what wattage do you recommend? And when i go to buy the bulb do I just ask for a full spectrum bulb?

-Steve

 

[Pravius]

You can honestly use regular household bulbs, they should be labeled as a full spectrum bulb. Here is a link to google shopping link for the bulbs:

http://www.google.com/products?q=full%20spectrum%20bulbs&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wf

You may be able to find them at Walmart of local hardware shops like the home depot, ect. The goal is to increase the Lux levels to mimic that of natural light. Many people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder use these lights to help balance moods. The wattage is going to reply heavily on the temps, if your temps are good then use a very low watt bulb, if you need to increase the heat you can use like a 75 watt bulb.... keep in mind the heat they produce is not substantial just will help increase the ambient temps in the enclosure.

 

[Radioflyr]

Update: Warmside 116 coolside 84. I think 84 is a bit high for the cool side but not sure I think I will only need a low wattage spectrum light but ill also have to pick up and light housing so thanks for the info ill run out and gett the light with the other things I need today.

Also should I be bathing him more often now with the hotter temps?

-Steve

 

[Pravius]

Much of the water he gets will be from greens and other foods like crickets. I give all mine a bath a few times a week just to make sure they are healthy and hydrated. They will absorb some water in the vent area.

84 should be fine for the cool side as long as he can cool down to around 85 and maintain that temp he will be ok. Just let us know how he does with the higher temps and see if he is more active at all. You know another thing that will not hurt is bringing in a stool sample to the vet to make sure he is free of parasites as well. It's always a good thing to do.

-Todd

 

[Radioflyr]

Well last night I checked the temps before I went to bed and basking side was like 122 so Im pretty sure the 100w is a bit too hot. I have a 100w softwhite house bulb I can use. Is soft white okay? Warm side is only 108 with it. But the light its self is much brighter thats why I am asking.

I will definately take a stool sample and bring it to the vet thanks for the ideas appreciate it.

-Steve

 

[leblondb]

Poor little guy does look so lack luster!! I hope that you find a way to help him feel better soon.

Bex