undigested food/lighting

[beardie osk]

Hello everyone,

I have a rescue beardie thread: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=91221&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=45, about my new girl Bella, but I'm playing around with her lighting because she poops her butterworm/phoenix worms out whole. Temps have been good, etc, but I'll copy/paste a question below that I had in her thread:

(Things are going well, but I'm trying different lighting, which is proving interesting. I've always used MVB, but Bella's tank is not quite 40 gallon, so I'm using Repti-sun 10 and a 100W basking, which has really brought out her colors. However, I'm going away for Thanksgiving and am bringing Bella with me, so I'm using a power sun, being careful of temps, testing and raising the light to accomodate, and Bella's color has darkened, not the vibrant orange/red she has had. (Just didn't want to bring all the lighting, etc. with me while traveling.) Also, was trying different lights to see if Bella would digest the worms better. Has anyone experienced darkening with the MVB's or anyone have any thoughts to share about this? I have used the Mega ray, powersun,(with my boys) and Reptisun 10, and the Reptisun brings out the best colors, does this sound right? Lighting has always been a challenge)

That's what I posted, I certainly like the reptisun 10 the best which brings out her beautiful color, but I can't figure out why she's not digesting all her food, any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thank-you,

 

[LQDragons]

you say the temps are good, what is the surface temp @ the basking area. It sounds like you need to up the temps, but without knowing what they are, thats just a guess

 

[beardie osk]

LQDRAGONS They are between 103 to 105, using a digital thermometer, have a powersun in place right now to see if it makes a difference.......do you think I should go higher?
Thanks for replying, it means alot!

 

[LQDragons]

yes, I would go higher. Right now my 4 month olds basking temp is 113*, she was not digesting very good below 110*. I have heard of temps as high as 125*(not recommending that). Since all beardies are different, I would bump them up a little and see what effect it has. But be careful & go up only a little at a time. What I use is a 150 watt narrow flood light, connected to a dimmer, so it's easily adjusted.

 

[beardie osk]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try and bump up the temps this week-end when I'm home, I just want to make sure I'm here for the day before I do that.
Yesterday was the first day that Bella hasn't pooped, she has slowed down a little with her salad, but I'm hoping she is retaining because she's digesting better. It is such a dilemma, I want her to poop............. but I don't want her food to come out so fast that it's whole. :roll:
I'll keep you posted.

 

[LQDragons]

yes, please keep us posted

 

[fresnowitte]

Christine with the MVB if your viv has a painted back like I think I've seen on Bella's viv it is much like Z&W's. You may need to add a regular low wattage household bulb to make it brighter. I've noticed this with a couple of my other viv's too or beardies seem dark. The viv's that I have that don't have any backing or painted backs or sides on them seem to be okay without adding an extra bulb. Plus have you tried to up the temps just slightly to 105* to 110*?

 

[beardie osk]

Thanks Barbara,

I don't know if you read Bella's thread update regarding the ice storm, but since we got home, I put the mega-ray on her today to see if the higher temp will help. The power sun made her very dark, and she would move away plus skiddish, even though the temps seemed high enough, (my Ollie had the same response with it), so this is the first day with the mega-ray.........her color is back, she is pointed up to the light and gapping with no stress marks. I've only heard good responses with the powersun, but I haven't had good luck with them, :dontknow: Only time will tell, I'll keep you posted.

Christine

 

[fresnowitte]

Yes Christine I've been following Bella's thread an I know of your bad weather right now. My thoughts and prayer go out to you an all of our members that are having such bad weather right now.

I use to use only the PowerSun, but now I only use the PowerSun 100watt on my small viv's as most brands of MVB's don't offer a 100watt though I have not checked into the Mega-Rays yet. But I started useing the Exo-Terra Solar-Glo 125watt in the past year an I have been very happy with this product. It is much brighter than the PowerSun. They don't flash off an on when you turn them on first thing in the morning when it's really cold like the PowerSun seems to do for me until they warm up. Don't know if you've every experienced the off an on thing but I found it to be very annoying. I've recently consider or should I say discussed useing a reptisun 10.0 because of our high electricity bills, but I'm worried to change. As I don't like making any changes to my beardies enclosures. An I'm stuck on believing that the MVB's are the best for them.

Yeah keep me posted on how the Mega-ray works for you. :wink:

 

[beardie osk]

I hear you Barbara, I always used powersun 100 at first, then went to mega-ray for Pyrex and Ollie d/t their AV,(it's the best light for sick beardies) but Ollie couldn't take it even with all the adjustments, Pyrex has done fine with it. When I got Bella, I used the powersun, but noticed the darkness and moving away, so I ordered reptisun 10 and used a 75 watt spotlight for heat, which she seemed to do well with. I've been having trouble still with Ollie, he's been constant black bearding and not content (neither boys are eating very well right now), so I took Bella's reptisun and spotlight to see if it would help. He seems a little better, at least he's basking and pointing toward the light (appeared depressed before), which left Bella with the powersun, that's when I noticed that she became dark and moving away, skiddish. Then of course, the ice storm hit, Sooooooooo, I'm trying the mega-ray now with Bella (was afraid to do that because her tank is just under 40 gallon) but I'm home sat, sun, and mon so I can monitor temps closely. She acts and looks like she did with the reptisun, ie: color, temperment, etc. Now to see if she digests her food. WHEW, did you follow all that? :shock: I'll keep you posted.

Christine