unhappy bearded dragon

Splinter

Hi Folks,

the girlfriends brother got himself a beardy a few weeks ago and he seemed ok at the start, eating fine, happy in his cage and all was ok. he seemed to have trouble catching crickets but we figured its cause he's quite young. we give him veggies (brocolli, cale) but he cant actually get the veggies. its like he cant tell the distance between him and them and just snaps at the air. perhaps a depth perception issue?

as of late he has become very inactive. not too much movement and he isnt eating much. he has just moved into a new bigger cage but cant see how that would be an issue. any ideas/help would be much appreciated

Mark

Hellrazer

If its a young beardie I wouldnt mind the veggies--mine didnt start eating veggies till it was nearly a year old.You could try Dandelions by hand--beardies love them.
Id be more concerned about the inactivity.
Few questions??

What temps have you got the cage at--hot spot should be 95f-115f.
What substrate are you using??Baby beardies should never ever be put on sand--they can get impacted and die.Use paper--ordinary photo copier paper is great.
Has it pooed??If not a warm bath usually gets them going--leave him in it for 15-20 mins just up to level with his shoulders.

Do you have a UVB light?If not why??They need UVB to stimulate feeding.

How long is he in his new cage---it can take a week or so for them to adjust to a new environment.
One more thing--If you reckon hes having problems catching crickets,get some Locusts.Theyre more nutrious and again beardies will eat them more readily than crix.You could also try changing from black to brown crickets--mine would only eat black ones when he was young and wouldnt take the brown ones for anything.

Hope this helps.

Richie.

Splinter

hi Richie, thanks for the quick response, hes about 8months old and as far as i know its sand in the tank. yes its a UVB bulb (was there was that was bought last weekend). he did last week but not lately. we bathed him last night but no poop. not sure about the temp. hes in the cage just under a week now.
when he was in the bath he kept stooping his head under the water so his nose line was under the waterline which was bit strange. we thought he was drinking but not sure as he stayed under for a minute so we popped him out of the water for saftey. maybe the size of the cage is putting him off? he was in a 3foot and now in a 5foot?

Mark

Hellrazer

Well first things first-get the sand out.Then get a thermometer and get those temps right.

Beardies will not eat if its too cold for them and this is easily done especially if you transferred the heatlamp from the old cage to the new one ie bigger space needs a bigger wattage bulb specially if the cage is taller.There used to be a calculator on one of the beardie websites regarding temperatures and the distance and wattage of bulb needed for different cage heights--I cant find it anywhere though.
If its a 24" high cage you`ll probably need a 60 watt bulb to get the temps right and more if its taller.


Mine used to drink the same way as you describe--see if its stomach is moving in and out--if it is hes drinking

If he was eating before being put in the new cage then its just the change of scenery thats putting him off and possibly the temperatures--Beardies like it very very hot.

Splinter

thanks ill mention the sand/paper

any ideas on the depth perception thing? he tends to run into walls and stuff if we let him lose. he has no problems climbing or anything, just cant get the idea of eating the veg...

Hellrazer

You mentioned that the bulb is a uvb bulb-You should have 2 bulbs in a beardie cage--One for heat and one for light.
Heat bulbs do not give out UVB and thats why a separate one is needed.

Splinter

yeah theres a flouesant (SP) strip bulb in the back of the tank also

The Artist

quote=Hellrazer;55912368
Mine used to drink the same way as you describe--see if its stomach is moving in and out--if it is hes drinking

Hi just out of curiosity these dragons,how big max can they grow?I know if im right 2 to 3 feet long?
Are they easy to keep as i have seen very small ones in my local pet shop(about 5 or more inches in size)
Thinking about getting one but i have dogs is that a problem?
Do you have pics of a fully grown one.
Are they agressive or natuarly tame?
thanks.

Hellrazer

davey180 wrote: »

Hi just out of curiosity these dragons,how big max can they grow?I know if im right 2 to 3 feet long?
Are they easy to keep as i have seen very small ones in my local pet shop(about 5 or more inches in size)
Thinking about getting one but i have dogs is that a problem?
Do you have pics of a fully grown one.
Are they agressive or natuarly tame?
thanks.

Mine was well over 2 foot long when it died.Had him for 5+ years.Depending on where you get it they can grow to over 3 foot alright--There are some "german giants" that can get close to 4 foot or so Ive heard.
Dogs wouldnt be a problem--just keep the cage off the ground.
I wouldnt recommend buying a tiny one though as the first 6 months or so they can be prone to problems but then again I suppose so can any baby reptile.
As for aggressiveness--Beardies are the pussy cats of the reptile family.Theyll quite happliy sit on your shoulder for hours and love being handled and hand fed veggies.
Its all about the setup really--get the temps right,avoid sand and a proper UVB setup and they`ll do really well and live for years.
Pics here.
http://www.beardiedragon.com/pages/Main/Lizards/BD_german.html

The Artist

Hellrazer wrote: »

Mine was well over 2 foot long when it died.Had him for 5+ years.Depending on where you get it they can grow to over 3 foot alright--There are some "german giants" that can get close to 4 foot or so Ive heard.
Dogs wouldnt be a problem--just keep the cage off the ground.
I wouldnt recommend buying a tiny one though as the first 6 months or so they can be prone to problems but then again I suppose so can any baby reptile.
As for aggressiveness--Beardies are the pussy cats of the reptile family.Theyll quite happliy sit on your shoulder for hours and love being handled and hand fed veggies.
Its all about the setup really--get the temps right,avoid sand and a proper UVB setup and they`ll do really well and live for years.
Pics here.
http://www.beardiedragon.com/pages/Main/Lizards/BD_german.html

thanks for the link,id suppose id better find a 1 year old for the sake of the problems?
Looked at the links and they seem quite spikey.
As i saw something before as it was the smooth skin type of lizard.As im not going of topic here,it was one in the james bond films(not to sure which one) a leader of the mafia fellow always had one of those reptile on him,he was about 3 ft big and cant seem to think what breed it is.
Hope this makes sense?
ps sorry to hear about your beardie dragon.