twitching - what's first thing I should do?

[einsteindragon]

Brought an 8 week old beardie home today. Breeder had plenty of animals who all looked healthy. This guy is about 8 weeks old and was fine this morning. Breeder used regular light bulbs and flood lights. His bigger dragons got outside time in the sun and were fed rep cal and insects (crickets and roaches).

Our little one's legs just started twitching. We have him with a regular light bulb in a 29 gal aquarium and a heat wave rock that turns itself on and off, so it's not supposed to get too hot (he seems to like it a lot).

I plan to get crickets and and calcium powder tomorrow. Should I get the other lights or can I make sure he gets time in the sun? Should I throw out the rock? When is a vet visit warranted?

 

[Menolly]

Hey! Welcome to the group, you couldn't have found a better site. Sorry you had to start off in the Er...
Anyways, usually twitching is a sign of calcium deficiency. Is it in his legs? Did the breeder use a calcium supplement? Just to make sure you know, a baby needs calcium dusted crickets 5 times a week and vitamins 2 times a week.

Can you tell me exactly what brand of bulb you have and the wattage?

 

[einsteindragon]

Twitching is in front and back legs.

The breeder mentioned dusting crickets, but I am not entirely sure whether it was conversation or whether he actually did. Bulb is a 60W incandescent - my husband said his internet research said would be fine - don't know where he was looking, will rectify that tomorrow.

I double-checked the thermometer again and it's only 80 on the side where he is resting on the heat rock. Cage is aquarium with wire screen top. The light was on top of the screen. I hung it lower into the cage to hopefully bring up the temperature.

How fast could calcium deficiency cause permanent damage?

 

[einsteindragon]

I hate to admit that this was somewhat of an impulse adoption. My daughter had been asking for one (she has a snake already) and the opportunity to purchase at a very good price from a friend of a friend fell into my lap while I was out of town. I didn't do proper preparations and am feeling overwhelmed by it. Would normally have everyting set up before bringing a new animal home. Will make it right though.

Saw this on the PetSmart website - don't know if the Repti-Sun UVB 10.0 bulb will fit it. Is this what I need?

ESU Reptile 30" Lighting and Screen Cover Kit - fits 20 gallon long or 29 gallon (12" x 30") terrariums.

Kit includes:

ESU Reptile 30" Tri-Light™ Fixture that holds 3 incandescent bulbs (not included) and on/off switches for day and night lighting.
Two 100 watt Brightlight™ incandescent full-spectrum daylight heat lamps.
100 watt Nightlight™ incandescent nocturnal black heat lamp.

 

[Menolly]

Hey,
Make sure the crickets are no bigger then the space between his eyes so he can get it down alright without any problems. But he will have problems if you don't get your temperatures up. His basking spot needs to be between 95-100 degrees for him to properly digest his food. That bulb might not be high enough to give off the temperatures you need. I wouldn't waste the money on that kit. You really should get the Megaray bulb 100 watt which I have and think that its the best. Now it is 50 dollars but it does last a year. You can also try a ReptiSUN make sure it is a reptiSUN 5.0 or 10....NOT, I mean NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES a reptiglo...those bulbs are very very bad for your bearded dragon. I'm not trying to be demeaning in anyway but I just want to make sure because the bulbs have caused a lot of problems. I'm pretty sure that they make them in different sizes for the cages. You can always go to a hardware store and get the fixture for the light it would probably be cheaper.

As to what the calcium deficiency could actually do I'm not quite sure. Since he is young he needs it 5 times a week since he's growing at a very rapid rate. Is it warm where you are at all by any chance?

PS heat rocks are usually bad because bearded dragons can't sense heat from underneath them and can get easily burned if the temperature gets to hot. I would highly recommend taking it out.

 

[Menolly]

Sorry looks like I missed that post. Mine baby was an impulse buy to. Best impulse buy of my life...spoiled little brat that he is...Anyways...Make sure your reptisun is a fluorescent tube. Oh, what type of thermometer do you have?

And if you are looking for a good nutritional site for foods to feed here is one http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

And here is the website for the Megaray if you want to take a look http://www.reptileuv.com/megaray-sb-100-watt-self-ballasted-flood-uvb-lamp.php looks like its back ordered though.

 

[einsteindragon]

Found this great thread on the site [ Invalid URL Removed / p=689076 t= f= ] that succintlly tells a lot about the lights, just as you have done.

Looking at that kit again - looks like junk. I will look for the MegaRay, but saw T-Rex Active Heat could be a possible option too (?)

Thermometer and hygrometer are cheapo stick-ons. Got a recommendation?

 

[Menolly]

The one I have is an Accurite. It's a really decent probe thermometer that you can find at Waltmart for 12 bucks.

 

[einsteindragon]

Thanks for that recommendation.

Update on Einstein: got the tank temperature up to 82 or so. I left the light on all night to maintain it. No twitching at all this morning.

He is not eating though. I offered RepCal pellets soaked in apple juice, romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, red bell pepper and orange. Went to PetSmart who won't have crickets in until Thursday. They said they usually run out within a very short time - recommending coming to almost meet the truck in order to buy some. I ordered phoenix worms online to arrive tomorrow. Hopefully he likes those. I put a post under "feeding" to find out how many he would need daily. (I like that the worms will live in their little cup for a while. I kept crickets when I had a tarantula and really don't want to have to store lots of them, since they are hard to obtain here.)

I bought the "can o crickets" just in case. They are big so I cut them up, but he wants nothing to do with them. (Neither do I.)

He is active and alert though, exploring the tank and climbing all over.

 

[Menolly]

Sigh....mines being a brat and not eating as well but he has no excuse because he's about ten months old now...Since you've only had yours for a couple of days, bearded dragons sometimes go through a stage of where they won't eat for a week or two due to relocation stress. It is nothing that you did, it's just that the little thing is a wee bit stressed out for moving from one home to a completely new one. These things are all about what is familiar and I know mine HATED it when I moved him into a bigger cage, he would pout the whole time until he realized he had a lot more space.
If you can, go with the worms if your financial situation lets you. They are much better for your dragon then crickets because they don't carry as many parasites. Word to the wise though, you will be feeding your beardie as much has he/she can eat. So if you do end up with crickets buy them in bulk online. They are much cheaper and you can get like a 1000 which might last you a week depending you your beardies appetite. Here is a good spreadsheet of reputable websites and what the have to offer http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=peMbq7ViNqlVaU7bNV3PTFQ
Again, don't stress out to much, just give him a little time to get used to his surroundings because before you know it you will have a little pig on your hands...

 

[akingsley9000]

Hi -

SOunds like you got off to a rough start

We'll get you on track in no time!

Have you gotten a UVB light yet? If you haven't the T-rex is a great light - it is the same bulb as the MegaRay (they were designed by the same guy). however there are some restrictions with these lights.

1. You need an enclosure that is at least a 40 gallon
2. The bulb needs to be at least 12-16 inches from the basking spot.

If you have an enclosure smaller than a 40 gal - you will have to go the the tube light such as the Repti-sun 10.0 (the best tube available)

Stay clear of an coils/compact UVBs.

As far as the kit you are looking at by ESU - to be honest with you it would be a complete waste of money. Your best bet it to go to home depot or lowes and get a fixture for the UVB light and order the reptisun 10 from http://www.petmountain.com/product/fluorescent/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html. You will find it is much, much cheaper to get it here than buying in the stores.

As you will need a clamp lamp if you dont have one already for a basking bulb. A basking bulb can be an ordinary house hold bulb.

 

[Pleaides]

oh im sorry your having a bot of trouble
everyone here has given you great advice, the only thing i could add is that you shouldnt have light on at all during his sleeping time, it disrupts their sleep and you will end up with a cranky dragon, a long period of sleepless nights and you could experience some problems with him, your safe as houses as long as the temp doesnt drop below 65f, if it does id recommend a ceramic heat emitter, it gives off heat and absolutely no light whatsoever, with any coloured light it can disturb them ok, they need their beauty sleep, lol

good luck and i hope things go well with your new addition! oh and what a fantastic impulse buy ay, every day i still learn something new about these little creatures from this forum!

 

[einsteindragon]

Thanks for all the great info. Einstein is doing well today - not eating yet, but very alert. We misted him/her, looked enjoyable. Can't get crickets where we live until Thursday when shipment comes in, so I ordered phoenix worms to be overnighted. Only UVB lights available here were Repti-glo, so I ordered a Repti-Sun 10.0 online. Would have liked a Mega Ray, but couldn't find one and the tank has a hood that will accept fluorescent bulbs. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so we'll spend some time getting UV rays the natural way.

It is a darling little thing. My daughter is thrilled and I am feeling much more confident. This is not a pet to get without much research and preparation.