Will sleep all day if I let her

[Nihilist]

In the last week or two my 5-6 month old Beardie will sleep all day if I let her. I have to force her to wake up and if I place a bowl of small dubias in the terrarium with her she will eat them and maybe munch on some greens but then will heat up a little and go back to sleep. Could she be brumating? I have a 22 inch Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB and ceramic heaters. the temp on the warm side is 100-110.
She is close to 17 inches now, doesn't mind being held. She will poop on her own but only after 3 days or so of eating, otherwise I can give her a bath to make her poop daily. I haven't been doing baths but prefer them because the smell is horrible and cleaning her carpet is a pain.

 

[diamc]

You mentioned "ceramic heaters", did you mean ceramic heat emitters? Are you using a bright white basking bulb? Is the HO bulb on op of the tank or mounted inside? What is the distance of it to your beardie when in the basking spot?

What type of thermometer are you using, digital strip, round gauge (dial), temp gun or digital with long wire & probe end? What is the basking SURFACE temp? What is the temp of the bottom of the cool side? It sounds like the temps aren't to her liking if she will only warm up for a few minutes and then go back to sleep. A 5 to 6 mo old beardie would not be brumating and most that were asleep, are waking up now.

She probably isn't pooping every day because she isn't basking so her food isn't digesting properly. It is good that a bath helps her to poop. Her poop shouldn't smell horrible so would be a good idea to have a fecal checked for parasites as soon as you can. Carpet is very hard to clean, other easier options would be NON-adhesive shelf liner or slate tiles.

 

[HKzForDayz]

Ah, yes I missed that little bit, I just assumed the CHE were for supplementary heat.

Bearded dragons require a constant white light as their primary heat source. If your enclosure is too large for one bulb to provide enough heat for a proper heat gradient, then CHE would suffice for supplemental heat, or they would also suffice if you need additional nighttime heat.

If you are using CHE as your primary source of heat, I would swap it out for either a incadescent flood light or a basking spot bulb. Not sure if you are using them or not, but I have found lamp stands and dimmers work wonders at helping to achieve proper basking temps.

 

[Nihilist]

I just have the T5 for light and the CHE as primary heat. The only white light I have is a Mega-Ray 100 watt bulb and I can put it back up. I also have a 100 watt basking bulb but it emits yellow light.
The T5 is outside the enclosure sitting on the wire mess top and is about 9-16 inches away from highest spots in the tank. I did not know they needed a white light at all times I thought the Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 HO T5 UVB would be enough light. Only thermometer I have is a digital one I have to place in the terrarium. I am trying to get money together to get one of the guns but on a Ramen noodle budget right now so no wiggle room for extras at the moment.

 

[HKzForDayz]

I would go with the basking light as the mega ray will supply additional UVB as well, and those t5 provide plenty. When we say white, we dont mean exactly white, just basically meaning not one of those red or blue heat lamps, It needs to either be a basking spot bulb or a halogen flood light. In the wild , the sun is their primary source of heat , so in creating a basking spot that is how we recreate the sun. CHE do great at adding supplemental heat , but they dont allow for basking .

 

[Nihilist]

I would go with the basking light as the mega ray will supply additional UVB as well, and those t5 provide plenty. When we say white, we dont mean exactly white, just basically meaning not one of those red or blue heat lamps, It needs to either be a basking spot bulb or a halogen flood light. In the wild , the sun is their primary source of heat , so in creating a basking spot that is how we recreate the sun. CHE do great at adding supplemental heat , but they dont allow for basking .

Thanks you everyone for the help. I put the yellow basking light back up. I hope she goes back to being active. She basked in it for about 15 minutes tonight, ate 10 medium dubias, watched what was going on outside her terrarium for a couple then went back to her home. Tomorrow I will giver her a bath and maybe try and keep her active more, if sunny I will take her outside. She is, was, starting to do ride-alongs on my shoulder.

 

[HKzForDayz]

Awesome! Keep us updated, hopefully that was it!

 

[Nihilist]

Awesome! Keep us updated, hopefully that was it!

First night a success! I had a lot to do yesterday but when I got home I pulled my beardie out of her home gave her a bath, she pooped, I set her under the yellow basking light for about 30 minutes, put some medium sized dubias in her terrarium, she ate them, then went back to basking, gave everyone in the room a dirty look while she went over and ate her dandelion greens (she really hates being watched while she eats), went back to basking and then finally fell asleep on top of her home (under the CHE). She is closer to the T5 when under the CHE. Thank you all again, it's always the simple things that get me. If anything else changes I will be back with more questions lol

 

[HKzForDayz]

Glad to see good news