Urgent!!!not eatting!!!!

[Ashley1315]

I have a 10 month old male beardie and the other day he pooped pieces,halves,and whole meal worms. I only give him meal worms when I have them and its only maybe 5-10 max for a week. I give him 12-18 crickets everyday. And now he has not ate since he pooped. He has never done this im super worried. Please help!!!

 

[slices mommy]

Is it possible that he could be shedding soon? Mine has been going on and off food for a few weeks now. He will eat like one cricket and 3 or 4 worms at a time and be done but then the next day he can eat 20 cricket's and 5 worms. It's been about a month first he shed his tail, then his head and now his body all in about a month.

 

[Ashley1315]

I dont think cause ever other time he has shed he usually will eat more. And the poopin whole meal worms he has never done that at all.

 

[Germ]

Please post pics of your setup. Give us a rundown on enclosure size, temps (Both Basking & cool side), What type of thermometer you are using, exactly where you are measuring your temps, Brand, type, wattage & strength of UVB? What type & wattage of bulb you are using for heat? What substrate you are using? All these questions should be answered to give us an idea of the situation, in order to give any helpful advice. This may sound like a strange question, but are you sure it was poop & not puke? How long has it been since he has eaten. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so please post clear pics that shows your lighting arrangement, etc.

 

[Ashley1315]

The hot side is always bout 95/100. And the cool side is always bout 80/85 during the day. At nite its always bout 75.the uvb is a 10.0 and the basking bulb is I think either a 100 /150. I can remeber the brand but I do know we always use the better more expensive brand of things on all our reptiles. Ya it was poop. He hasnt ate bout 2 days. If he has it hasnt been but maybe at most 10 crickets. And I feed him like 12-18 everyday and he always eats everything I give him. And would eat more if I let him.he is usually a lil piggy. he just really hasnt been his self the past 2 days tho. Like almost kinda lazy. Usually he always wants out. Right now his lights off. They come at 9am and go off at 10 pm.

 

[NaTasha Brinkley]

Your heat lamp and UVB should both be over the basking spot and those thermometers are terrible, they are usually wrong. You need a digital thermometer with a probe placed right on the basking area to get the most accurate temps. If the temp is truly 95/100 on the hot side, it may need to be bumped up. If the temps aren't right their digestion gets all wonky. I'm sure Germ will go into more detail, but those are the basics.

 

[Ashley1315]

The uvb is on basking side.we have the long ones and we had him since last november. This is the first time this has happend.

 

[Germ]

That looks like the Pic was taken at night with a red night light. BDs do not need or want night heat unless your ambient room temps drop below the mid to low 60s F at night. BDs should be allowed to cool at night, it slows their metabolism for a good nights sleep. Night light of any color will bother most BDs sleep. If night heat is absolutely needed because the ambient night temps drop below the mid to low 60sF, a CHE (Ceramic Heat Emitter) should be used, heat with no light emitted, on a dimmer switch to regulate it just so it takes just the edge off without heating the enclosure too much. It appears in the pic that you BD has chosen the furthest spot that it can to get away from it.

As Natasha said, those analog stick on thermometers are notorious for their inaccuracy. On top of the fact that Glass mounted thermometers will give you the temp of the Glass, which is affected as much by the outside ambient room temps, as much as by the inside enclosure environment, so will not give you accurate readings even if working properly. Your BD will not spend any time, two thirds of the way up the back wall, so why take the temps there? The Basking Temp should be measured directly at the Basking Spot, not the back wall. To do this, a digital thermometer with a sensor\probe that can be placed or attached directly at the basking spot to take an accurate reading is required. Your basking temp should be in the 105-110F range. Cool side measured low to the floor, at the area furthest from the Basking Bulb, should be in the 80-85F range.

The way your UVB Bulb and Basking Spot are setup in relation to each other, your BD has not been receiving any UVB. A 10.0's maximum effective, usable range from a NEW Unfiltered Bulb (No Screen) is 20" from the center of the Bulb. A screen can & will reflect\block\filter as much as 50% of the usable UVB radiated strength, drastically cutting down it's effective distance. No UVB will be reaching the floor or your Basking spot where it is setup. The Basking spot has to be within 8-10" from the center area of the tube for it to be effective, very little UVB is radiated off the ends.

If you have had that UVB bulb since November, it should have been replaced at least 2 months ago, even had it been close enough. This really has to be done & a Basking Spot setup so it can get within range to receive any benefits from it, with the proper temps measured at the right spots to enable proper food digestion. Again, likely why you are finding undigested food in it's waste.

Your BD seems to have outgrown it's basking stick. May be a good plan to offer it something more substantial & it must be closer to the center of the UVB Bulb.

All these issues should be rectified asap. It could very well be that is is finally beginning to take it's toll on your BD & why it may be acting strangely. Regardless, these issues have to be taken care of for the continued health & wellbeing of your pet.

Example of a Basic Setup: Showing the recommended Basic requirements, proper Temperatures & the points at which they should be measured from, in Red & the optional choices that are actually used in this particular example enclosure, in Black.​

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Read more: http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/index.php?threads/basic-bd-care-sheet-a-place-to-start.5177/#ixzz23jfXnY8I​

A few good links that you may want to go over a couple times to give you a better understanding of you pets needs ...

Basic BD Care Sheet - A Place To Start

Bearded Dragon --- Exclusive Care Info Library

Beautiful Dragons Nutrition Chart

Is Bearded Dragon Co-habitation a good plan?

Good Luck

 

[Ashley1315]

The uvb is on basking side.we have the long ones and we had him since last november. This is the first time this has happend.

 

[Germ]

You asked for help, I'm giving it to you, if you don't want to accept it, that is entirely up to you. It's not you, me or my pet that is going without what is necessary.

I understand that you say this is the first time this is happened. I can see that you have a long fixture, what I'm saying is your setup is not properly arranged to be effective so your BD will receive the benefits of it. If you have not replaced that UVB bulb since you got it, it is looooooong overdue.

Good Luck

 

[Ashley1315]

Ok first off thanx for ur advice. We just changed his uvb a few months ago. And we have a long one that gives uvb all over the tank.the thermometers we are going to get real soon cause we will have to buy 2. We have 2 beardies the other is bout year n a half male also. I have read everything I dont have a computer im on a phone n I have 2 kids so I cant always respond or may repeat things by accident. I do everything from my phone.

 

[Germ]

You seem to be missing the point, just because the UVB bulb extends across the length of the enclosure, does not mean that it covers everything in the enclosure. It has a very limited range, as described in the previous post.

The way your UVB Bulb and Basking Spot are setup in relation to each other, your BD has not been receiving any UVB. A 10.0's maximum effective, usable range from a NEW Unfiltered Bulb (No Screen) is 20" from the center of the Bulb. A screen can & will reflect\block\filter as much as 50% of the usable UVB radiated strength, drastically cutting down it's effective distance. No UVB will be reaching the floor or your Basking spot where it is setup. The Basking spot has to be within 8-10" from the center area of the tube for it to be effective, very little UVB is radiated off the ends.

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Read more: http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/index.php?threads/urgent-not-eatting.6528/#ixzz23lpwn2O2​

Effective, usable strengths\amounts of UVB do not reach out as far as the visible light does. You still have to arrange to bring your BD close enough to it. Because it is mounted above the screen, it's strength & effectiveness is seriously inhibited & there is no place in that setup, that it can get close enough to the bulb to be effective. The strongest UVB is emitted from the center of the tube, diminishing in strength as you go towards the ends. There will be no effective UVB reaching the floor areas. In order to provide effective, usable UVB to your BD, you must setup the Basking Spot, so it has access to an area within 8-10" of the middle areas of the UVB tube bulb, not the ends. And that area needs to be kept in the 105-110 range, keeping in mind that you must also provide a heat gradient to a coolest area in the enclosure of 80-85F. The strength & amount of the UVB emitted deteriorates fairly quickly as the Bulb ages\used & is why we must replace them regularly. If mounted above a screen, it must be replaced at least every 6 months, providing the BD has close enough access to it in the first place.

Your temps must be measured in the right spots. For the time being, until you acquire the digitals that you mentioned are coming, take the thermometer off the back glass, arrange the setup so the BD has closer access to the UVB at the Basking Spot, place the thermometer directly on the Basking Spot, leave it there for a half hour or so, being sure the lights have been on for a few hours to be sure the enclosure is warmed up to normal temps. Then take a reading & adjust your heat bulb accordingly to provide the proper temps in the 2 areas required, leaving a half hour between adjustments to take the temp reading.

Good Luck