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Brumation or other problem young dragon

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
Hello,

My dragon believe to be a male dragon has not been eating very well and has been sleeping a lot during the day. I believe he is too young to be brumating, but all the symptoms he shows makes me believe he is.

I'm not sure on his age but I got him October 26th and he was about 20 cm ( 7,8 inches ) head to tail. Now he is only 22 cm ( 8.6 inches ). Like I said he barely eats, specially veggies and fruits. Most he has eaten in one day was maybe 10 small crickets in a day. What I sometimes do when he eats a cricket or meal worm is just adding some greens in his mouth while he is still chewing. No problems with his stool as far as I can tell.

I just ordered a colony of dubia roaches so going to stop feeding him crickets since they always escape on me some how. Meal worms I already have a small breeding colony off and will probably continue to give these to him as treats.

I did read some other threads on here that his lighting might have something to do with this. So I will more then likely order a new light and possible a new heat source very soon.

His basking area is right around 40 C ( 104 F ) cool side of his tank on the opposite side is 27C ( 80 F ) these temps where taking with a infra red gun. Also have some small analog temp gauges in his tank.
At night tank stays between the 18-20 C ( 64-68 F )
Humidity is always just above 30%, no water source in his tank.

Maybe should mention he has only shed once since I have had him but he hasn't grown a whole lot so maybe that is why.

Here is his tank, it is about 95 gallons. 120x60x(55 at the widest part and 45 at the narrowest part)
Tank was made using foam and lots of plaster with a water based clear coat on top of it. He is always on the left side of his tank. But sleeps all over the place. That little grey stair case thing he likes to get under and tries to dig.
( I turned his UV off so I would not get as much glare.
tank2.jpg
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This is where he normally sleeps even during the day.
tank.jpg
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These are the lights I got, if I need something better let me know I can order it ASAP. Only thing is since this actually an aquarium it is kind of hard to mount a T5 or T8 so I went the easier route with a bulbs. But I can figure something out if needed.
lamp.png
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heatlamp.png
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Thanks in advance for the help. Hope I can have a more active and healthy dragon
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
Just to update this, I did order a 36 inch reptisun 10 t5 light and the zoo med reflector that goes with it.
Just need to figure out the correct wattage to replace that basking light with.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
Length should be fine its 100 cm and tank is 120 cm. Should work out perfect because the support beams in the top of the tank where it will attach to some how, will see how I will figure that out. Is about 11 inches sway from his basking spot and about 15 inches away from his brance that is on the right side of the tank. So hopefully that is fine for that T5 reptisun light. I ordered it from the German Amazon. I live in Belgium and we have like no good reptile stores around. Even the "bearded dragon expert" in Antwerp barely sells anything if he is even open.

So today I offered him pear for the first time and at the size of like one cricket. First time he ate a fruit or veggie by him self. But other then that didnt eat anything.

My dubia roaches should arrive tomorrow or wednesday so hopefully that is something new for him and is interested in it. I will keep you updated on this.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
Just a small update

The light did not arrive yet, but I put him under the UVB bulb I have now and he sat there for 1.5 hours instead of just running away in his cave and sleeping. Then today he was back at that same spot. He also finally ate 3 dubia roaches and 1 meal worm, and then he climbed to his basking spot. That is the first time he has done that since I have had him.

So I guess even though its not the right bulb it did help him a little bit and is a little more active plus he ate can't wait for the T5 to arrive.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
ok well when the T 5 comes if you need help getting it set up please ask - remember on top of screen basking spot needs to be 6-8 inches no cover on fixture if your putting inside the tank basking spot 12-15 inches from basking spot and again no cover on the bulb -- you can hang the fixture w/ plastic zip ties---3M velcro fastners --- shoes strings -- fishing line --- picture wire hangers--- just make sure you hang from each end of fixture


I asked this question on the other forum but he just gave me more scientific data haha. Is it ok if the light is closer then what is that recommended distance? so lets say like 9 inches away in the basking spot?

If so its going to be super easy to install and it will be close enough on the otherside of the tank where that branch is laying down
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
ok thanks, was wondering on the T5 though if it can be 8-9 inches away. its the 36inch reptisun 10.0
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
tank342.jpg


so you see that glass support piece at the top. If I attach the light fixure to the bottom of that I wont have any glass blocking UVB rays but the bottom of the fixture would be roughly 8-9 inches I think from the top of that basking platform.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
pic of the tank is higher up in the thread.

That beige looking stuff I cant move. Made that my self with Styrofoam, plaster and waterbased clear coat.

If I put it on top of the glass then the basking spot would be ideal but rest of tank will be too far away from they light. plus the glass section would block any UVB from getting passed.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
ah ok I get it now. Right now the basking light is hung so that the basking spot is between 100-105 F so might have to get a stronger bulb then. But then I have this feeling the over tank will heat up more.

I did get a 36 inch light so I can kind of hang it lower towards the front of the tank so that the whole ground area is covered with UVB. I will try to take some pictures as soon as the fixture comes in should be tomorrow and upload some ideas and post them here first.

Again thank you for all your time it has been very helpfull
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
I think I have figured it out! 10-12 inches is ideal with this 10.0 t5 bulb.

So its really easy to attach this fixture to the bottom of these glass support beams you see in the picture below (picture 1). Since it is hanging below I dont have to worry about glass blocking any UVB.
The bottow of the fixture is then 9.8 inches away from his basking spot so right around that 10 inch mark. basking light is between 20-30cm (8-12 inches) from basking spot depending on where you measure it from. (hope these arrows are clear with the dots where I measured from.
basking spot.jpg


Picture below just shows you roughly where im going to put the fixture. Could go more towards the back maybe.
light tank.jpg

This last picture shows you entire tank friom the front view. Again T5 to basking spot 9.8 inches away.
On the right you have the branch that is on the cooler side of the tank. He could soak up some rays here and light will be 11.8 inches away. Again perfectly in that 10-12 inch range.
Everything else that is the ground will be 18.5 inches away from the light. He can get shade under the basking spot and that small stair case. and there is a little half tree trunk think in the back right corner he can hide under.

lighttank1.jpg


I think I have it all figured out now what are your thoughts on this?
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
If I do that the basking bulb would be too close maybe 4 inches away.

Only way I can get rid of the light shining onto him like that is maybe go with a ceramic heat bulb
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
I did not know this was going to be an issue when I ordered this light but yes its almost the length of the tank. I could slide it all the over to the right like this picture.
45641.jpg

Another option to lower the UVB rays is with this mesh that has 1mm holes. Could drap a small piece under the light where his basking spot is. According to the other forum with all those charts should block around 40% of the UVB if I remember right. Would have to check first how hot a T5 gets but if I draped it I could get some space between the bulb and the mesh.

4564156.jpg


Another option is to possibly paint a section of the reflector so its less efficient in that area.

Just some ideas on how I could fix the issue where the spacing is only 9 inches.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
Perfect I wll just keep an eye on him and maybe or a ceramic heat thing soon so he doesnt have light directly pointed at him.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
The light finally showed up. After 2 broken ones arrived. So let's see how this goes.
He has been more active past week. Running around and stuff but still not eating good.
between 5 dubia roaches one day following by 1 dubia roach next day and its like that the whole time. So lets hope this light will turn my little buddy around.
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
I think this light will be fine. He still has shade to hide. front of the tank the levels of UVB will be a lot lower as well. Just need to hang some mesh under the light where his basking spot is since that is little too close.

Also he got really dark laying on this branch and was soaking up some rays for about an hour before he decided to sleep. It is pretty late here 10 PM now. Guessing he was darkening up to catch some more of that light?

1.jpg
2.jpg
3.jpg
4.jpg
 

travis ward

Bearded Dragon Egg
Messages
25
No veggies, averaging about 4 dubias a day now. I try to give him some veggies when he is chowing down on his dubia but he just spits it out. He is more active though and lays under the light now by him self. Plus 3-5 dubias a day before I was lucky if he ate a 5 insects in a weak. It is kind of force feeding though he wont eat them by him self. He was really skinny and is starting to get a little bit of his belly back.
 
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