How do you know if your bearded dragon prefers a hotter or cooler viv? One of the bearded dragons we adopted gets a nice and light orange/yellow when I give him a bath. However, the rest of the time he is in his viv he stays darker. He is not black bearded, but he is not a nice bright orange color. His basking spot right now is 100 to 105. His baths are also nice and warm. About 100.
Or is it that he just likes his bath and it's the only thing that makes him happy?
He used to be housed with another dragon and we have separated them. He recently went to the vet and is now on panacur. Otherwise is healthy. We have had him for just about 30 days. He eats great. Lots of crickets and greens. Does not drink water but does like strawberry water in a syringe. He is on paper towels, has a fleece hammock, and three brick paver bricks for his basking spot. He is only in a 40 gal tall fish tank because I cannot afford to buy another tank just yet. I take him out to run around every day. He sits in the window while I work. Head held up high.
It sounds like he may just enjoy baths which is fine. Your basking temperatures are good. What are the temperatures on the cool side of the tank? It's good to give them a 20-30 degree (f) gradient across the tank so they can move around and get what they want temp and UVB wise at a given point. They won't always want to be basking so it's best to give them options.
interesting thing to consider, the type of light you use will also make the colors different... color temperature of bulbs will change the appearance of things.
We have a reptisun 10 compact UVB that is over his basking spot. The cool side of his tank, where his hammock is, is 80 degrees.
At some point I will need to get the long UVB bulb.