IS IT NORMAL???

[Susan Gebbie]

Hello,

I have a beardie who I thought is done brumating, it's been 3 months since he started, he has been off and on eating and sleeping. His temps are good everywhere. He is hydrated when I pinch his skin-- it goes back. My problem is he eats about 1 or 2 times a week and only poops 4 or 5 days after he eats. I stopped giving him superworms for now thinking this was part of the problem. He gets salad and twitching crickets in it. He does not like to chase them anymore. He will eat phoenix worms every once in awhile. I give him daily bathes and try to keep a routine for him. Could he still be brumating? Should I take him to a vet? He has never been seen yet and he is about 13 months old. His environment is in our basement with no outside view. Some days we are not down there but he is brought up and his needs are taken care of. Could he be lonely? What can I do, ideas?

Susy

 

[Canicke]

Susy – it's great that you're concerned enough to seek advice. I do have a couple of thoughts - yeah he could be lonely why do you have him in the basement isolated from you life? What kind of lighting do you have? What are his temperatures?he probably doesn't need a bath daily – mine get a bath at most once a week. When you say veggies – what kind of veggies? How large is his cage? Can you upload a photo?

 

[Susan Gebbie]

Ok so he is in the basement because he lives in 180 gal tank. We have a Long UVB bulb on top of tank that I am waiting for new to come any day. Spot heat lamp that gets his rock to 105-110. Ceramic light to keep tank warm. one side tank temps 87-90 other side 79-83. Veggies he eats dandelion, turnip greens, & cilantro.

 

[PatsyB]

What kind of UVB are you getting? Is it a T5 bulb or T8 size bulb? The tank is real nice but if you are using a T5 size bulb he will need to be able to get much closer to the light, like 6 inches, in order to get any benefit from it.

He could also just be lonely or bored. They are visually stimulated and love to watch people and things move about.

 

[Susan Gebbie]

It is a T8. My husband did reserach and looked at this forum to decide what kind of lights we would need. So if the tank is to big to move upstairs and we are down there 9 monthes out of the year because I teach

 

[Susan Gebbie]

meant to add more above, just realized. Could a tv on or something that cause him to get distracted when we are not down there help?

 

[PatsyB]

TV or radio might help when you aren't there. When Dexter was small we used to leave sports talk radio on for her all day long. It's what my boyfriend listened to when he was home and he hangs out in her room we thought it would help make her think he was still home with her. I think it helped.

Actually, now that I think about it, we didn't do that with Luci and he is very wild and runs his tank all day trying to get out. Where Dexter is very chill and lovable. Maybe the radio has something to do with it....