Head-bobbing?

[Liung]

So for the past few weeks Chico's been extremely lethargic—I poured in some crickets at one point and he didn't even move, usually he's a little piggy who starts going nuts the moment he sees us with a bag in hand—and I was really worried about him, especially as it turned out that his UVB light had gone out. After much conferring, my hubby admitted he doesn't remember ever changing it before, and that he'd been so impressed at how long that bulb was lasting.

"... don't UV lights lose effectiveness and stop giving off UV rays even if the light hasn't gone out??"

"... uhhh..."

Chico was rescued by my hubby off a previous owner who was pretty much about to toss him if he didn't find a home, so I can't say that either of us prepared ahead of time for taking care of a beardie. And having been given instructions on how to care for him, we did, for years. I think Chico must be... about 7 years old now? Maybe 8.

But more recently I've been doing some research and finding that the instructions we've been operating under are woefully incomplete. We were told beardies like baths, and we give him a bath occasionally, but then I read that actually they should be given regular baths? A bunch of things like that, where it's turning out the instructions were very spotty in places and didn't place enough emphasis on what is important for continued health.

Anyway so the point is that I've become increasingly worried that we haven't been taking as good care of him as we thought we were, and while I asked my (exotic!) vet about Chico's lethargy, the vet said he is likely just brumating. And we immediately went out and got him a new UVB lamp.

So now, after a solid two weeks of inactivity since we got him a new lamp and staying slumped in the corner of the tank, Chico had suddenly become extremely active, doing laps around the tank before bobbing his head vigourously. Almost looks like he's trying out head banging. He's not doing this against the glass, either, though I don't know how well you can tell.

The lethargy was concerning, but the head-bobbing looks neurotic. If I saw a dog or cat doing this I would be rushing them to the vet for fear of inner ear infections, or a brain injury or something equally horrible.

And he's STILL acting completely uninterested in food!

 

[Aerries]

Head bobbing is normal, it shows dominance. Mostly in males. For the lack of food intake or interest, it’s brumation totally normal, my two are doing the same thing. UVB bulbs should not be a lamp it needs to be stretch from one end to the other and should be changed out every six months. Now as far as baths go, remember, dragons come from Australia, desert animals, they don’t need to be bathed, their water/hydration needs come from their food(if gut loaded and properly hydrated) roaches and crickets and the daily fresh greens/veggies. Never feed them anything with the name lettuce in it....it has no nutritional value for them. Collard greens, endive(which is what I feed mine daily) kale(not too often because of the calcium) and squash. I think I’ve covered everything if I missed something please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m very active on these forums, both here and BP.net


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[PatsyB]

It’s funny how a little UVB gets them going! I just changed my UVB bulbs and my normally lazy girl acted like someone put a match under her butt! Just make sure the UVB covers at least half of the tank, tube style bulbs are great for this.

As far as the head bobbing goes, do you have other animals in the house? Is he head bobbing at you?

 

[Hdrydr31]

Welcome to the head bobbing lol I have a 21/2 year old male that is a head bobbin' glass surfing fool trying to find my 3 yo female... It's a boy thing.. he could be bobbing at his reflection..

 

[Liung]

Wow that's reassuring! Chico has just never done this before, ever, and I have two bunnies so I'm used to immediately assuming any sudden change in behaviour heralds DIRE IMMINENTLY FATAL PROBLEMS (rabbits are not in any way built for health and longevity and my boy just turned 11 years old, so. He's lasted this long by dint of me being the most obsessive helicopter mom ever—defaulting to immediate panicking falls under "it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you)

But like I said I think that one UVB lamp has been there for literal years so when we realized it had gone out I felt so horrible that he might have been deprived of UV for so long. Visions of metabolic bone disease flashing before my eyes!!

I'm also super happy to see, now that I'm actually researching, that Chico frantically scrabbling at the glass for ages isn't a bad thing. In mammals that would be stereotypic behaviour prompted by poor welfare, lack of stimulation, and boredom behaviours that can turn into self-harm, so I always felt really bad for him when he did that. But it's an actual thing?! "Glass surfing", that's adorable. Chinchillas wall surf when they're happy, Chico's a little too pudgy to manage actual bouncing though I think!

I'm not sure what he would be bobbing at. Like I said he's never done this before and nothing in the room has significantly changed recently, save some new glass succulent globes I don't think he can even see from where he is. The dog was down with us and staring perplexedly at him but that's nothing new for Chico.

He certainly seems happy and energetic today!! Ate a hornworm on Saturday, and thus of course, this morning pooped the moment my hubby left for his business trip. Ughhh.

 

[Aerries]

Wow your bunny is 11!! That’s amazing! We actually just had to have our put to rest this past Wednesday because of cancer...he was 7 or 8 but one spoiled bunny! My boy Cleo bobs his head at anything really. I mimic him and that’s when he starts to glass surf lol [emoji23]


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[Hdrydr31]

My guess is that he is indeed bobbing at his reflection as if I can see his reflection in the picture he can see it in real time lol You can put up some background on some of the sides of his enclosure although it won't take it all away just so you know that.. lol I'm adjusting to my Simon being a nut lol I get him out and into a safe room for him to run off some energy but he still surfs and bobs lol

 

[Liung]

Right and that wouldn't surprise me to know he's looking at his reflection, except then why hasn't he done this before? I didn't clean the glass recently or anything. The reflection he sees now is the same reflection he's seen since the last time I cleaned it (which honestly knowing me is months).

I have noticed his beard is quite dark, black with bright orange highlights, and I guess that ties into the whole bobbing=dominance? But I'm coming back again to why now? Especially since it's so cold right now, with brumation you'd expect him to not have this kind of energy. Does the new UVB lamp just feel that good?? That's the only major change here: first new UBV bulb in ages.

The head bobbing still looks a whole lot like head-banging to me. We were watching him bob away and my hubby leans over to me and whispers, "LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR! LET THE BODIES HIT THE FLOOR!"

But now that I'm sure it's not a bad thing, I watch him do it and I start humming "I feeeeeel good! Nana-nana-nana-nah! I knew that I would! Nana-nana-nana-nah!" I'm so relieved.

As to what someone said about how the UVB shouldn't be a lamp... I don't think we can change that. The way the tank is set up, it's a plastic mesh top with one end cut off to make room for the two lamps side-by-side over his basking rock. The lamps are just high enough that Chico can't burn his face on the heat lamp (though he puts a great deal of effort trying anyway, when he really gets going he stands on his tail to boost up another few centimetres) and are on a timer so they turn on/off at 9am/pm. Typically he spends the day on his rock, glass surfing periodically, and occasionally hopping up onto the shelf for some water; then curls up in the corner under the shelf to sleep. So, is it super bad that the UVB bulb is just a lamp? He only spends great amounts of time away from the lamp when it's off, and when he's under the shelf more coverage wouldn't reach him regardless.

He loves his rock.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Well with your current set up you could use a MVB (mercury vapor bulb) these give off heat and UVB so you wouldn't really have to change anything except make sure you get a hood/fixture that can handle the heat it would give off. They are pretty pricey but good alternative given your set up and the great need for a good UVB source.

 

[BeardedHippy]

It would be easy enough to swap the plastic mesh for something more durable. The holes in your mesh look very small, they must block a lot of light, no wonder you had to cut it. The UV bulbs aren't that horrible, they just arent very powerful so need to be a lot closer to your dragon than a tube (6 inches for a bulb, 1 to 2 ft for a tube), a tube obviously has a lot better coverage.

 

[PatsyB]

You could also mount the UVB fixture inside the tank at the very top back of the tank. Just make sure he can't get to the light.