Bearded dragon glass surfing after changing from sand to a bioactive environment.

[chris100184]

Hi! long story short my GF left her beardie at my place after our breakup. She had him housed on a sand substrate, and not knowing anything about beardies I thought that was pretty normal. After some research, I then discovered that sand is a big no-no. So I decided to house him in a bioactive environment. At first, he seemed pretty happy about his new home, but after sniffing it all out he's started glass surfing. Is this just a side effect caused by the stress of moving to a new substrate, or could there be something else triggering it?

Setup:

EarthMix Arid - substrate
2x 125W Solar glow (1 for basking and one higher up in the other end)
3x UVB at the top of the enclosure.

 

[Skybug]

Do u still have the bags? Idk what earth mix is .-. And can we see some pics, thatd give us a better understanding, sand isnt bad, but having it be 100% of the enclosure and the wrong kind of sand can be a huge problem. Is ur current mix dusty at all? If so it needs to be washed throughly. How long was the beardie on sand?

 

[chris100184]

I only have this picture of the current setup. It's night time so the lights are currently off.

I don't know how long he was on the sand, but at least for 4 years.

I have yet to put all his stuff back, I decided to try and reinduce little by little.

- Granted I know absolutely nothing about beardies. As before stated. he was just left her in an old tank and really not cared for. I was absolutely terrified for him, but we bonded and I decided to try and keep him.

I got some live herbs ordered that I wanted to plant in one of the corners, and also currently looking for some kind of live bush that I could plant.

He lived in a tank where she really didn't clean his poop so the sand was smelly and he generally looked unhappy. So it's been a big change from one day to another.

The earth mix I had to mist down before releasing the custodians so the humidity might be slightly high for a little while, so it might also be a reaction from that.

 

[chris100184]

Do u still have the bags? Idk what earth mix is .-. And can we see some pics, thatd give us a better understanding, sand isnt bad, but having it be 100% of the enclosure and the wrong kind of sand can be a huge problem. Is ur current mix dusty at all? If so it needs to be washed throughly. How long was the beardie on sand?

I accidentally posted a new reply instead of replying*

 

[Skybug]

The substrate is fine, thats a good enclosure but its wayyyyy to high, beardies need floor space above all else, you need to put more things for him to climb and hide in, a enclosure that big you need a minimum of 3 hides , and I assume those are mvb bulbs? Although those can be fine(if the right brand) really a long tubular uvb t5 10.0 with a reflector is what would be best, mercury vapor bulbs can break/get ruined just by moving them.

 

[Skybug]

He’s definitely unhappy and will be acting up for possibly a week ,4 years on sand will do that, its good your putting in the time and care for him, if you can get a clean rag/tshirt and rub it on your clean body to get your scent on it, and then put it where he sleeps, this will help him bond to you, hand feeding is the #1 way to earn his trust, can you tell us the beardies diet? And what supplements he’s getting? Those may need to be adjusted/changed aswell