Extremely Restless

[Pikafuey]

My 11 month old male, Atlas, has been very restless lately. He is constantly clawing at the tank, or tearing up the carpet in it. I came home and his stuff was just everywhere. I take him out often, and he gets plenty of food so I don't understand what's wrong.

Living Conditions:
-He lives in a 50 gallon (wide) tank
-Has a basking light that keeps the hot side of the tank at 100
-Has a basking rock and log on the hot side of tank
-The cool side is 70, with a hide and his hammock
-Has a water bowl, and food bowls in tank
-Has a UV light over tank
-Diet consists of Superworms, Kale, Green Beans, Mustard Greens, and sometimes Carrots. He refuses to eat any other vegetables, as I have tried everything. These are the only four he will eat

I also dust his Superworms with Calcium powder supplement. And he is misted with a water bottle twice a day. Basking light goes off at night. I have no idea why he is acting like this. He has been pooping regularly, and everything else about him seems fine. So what is with him lately?

 

[Pikafuey]

I'd also like to add that his tank has a strong urine-like odor. Like a dirty public restroom smell.

I keep his tank clean, and this is a new smell for me. I've never smelled this odor before in my tank. Is that a reason for his weird behavior? Or what is it?

 

[PatsyB]

Try bumping up his temps a little bit. They are adults at 18 months so 11 months he should still be kept around 105-107degrees. Your cool side also needs to be 75-80degrees so warm the tank up all over.

Superworms are fatty and new research is coming out every day that they aren't the best to feed as an only feeder but as part of a varied bug diet. Try giving him some sort of roach, silkworms, hornworms, bsfl even crickets.

The tank could smell if you are misting inside the tank. Misting really doesn't do anything for them because they don't absorb water through their skin. If you are trying to get him to drink, then drip some water on his nose and get him to drink that way. If his poops are particularly smelly, I would get a fecal done to rule out parasites. I rescued a girl once that had such smelly poops that even after cleaning it up her tank and her smelled horrible. We did a fecal and found she had pinworms. After treatment everything was much better.

He could be running around his tank due to hormones, or he is trying to get away from whatever that smell is.

 

[Pikafuey]

Thank you! I bumped up the heat in his tank earlier, and have been looking into feeding him Hornworms. How exactly do you house/care for them? I can't use roaches, as they freak me out too much...I have a serious phobia of roaches of any kind. Other bugs are good though!

I also cleaned his tank out, in hopes of getting rid of whatever that awful smell was. I also put him in my bathtub with warm water while I cleaned it. I haven't smelled it since, so maybe it was the carpet, him, or one of his objects. This is also his tank set up, in case you see anything that may be lacking (this was right after I cleaned his tank, so he nor his food bowls are in there)

(the log is turned like that because he prefers it that way lol)

 

[Pikafuey]

I also decided to take some pics of his just now, just to see if anyone might see something off that I haven't. Here they are:

Weird bump...?

Werid bump (?) from side

 

[PatsyB]

That's a beardie side boob!!!! You got a healthy dragon there

Tank looks good, the only thing you want to do is overlap the UVB and the basking light. They need to be one in front of the other to reap the full benefit of the UVB. I have the same tank, I put the basking light in front and the UVB behind it. Just don't let the UVB fixture touch the basking dome.

I'm glad you were able to get rid of the smell. I take my carpets out and wash them in the tub once a week. I spray it down with some sort of cleaner, usually vinegar and water but there are also some cleaning products from Beardeddragon.co that I like to use too. Then rinse with real hot water and let them air dry.

 

[PatsyB]

I forgot to answer about the hornworms. Typically they come in a cup with the food on the bottom and air holes in the top. Just leave them in the cup but you flip the cup upside down so the food is at the top. What happens is they climb up to get the food and the poop falls to the lid, so the poop isn't sitting in the food when they eat it. Just make sure they are on something that allows air flow through the cup.

Hornworms grow fast if they are kept real warm, so keep that in your thoughts when you order them. Maybe order a small cup to start to see how you do with them.