Newbeardiemom
Juvenile Dragon
- Messages
- 148
My Charlie is a few days from 6 months… just got a wellness check… all is good.. no parasites (we did treat for parasites and coccidia) but was free as of yesterday at vet check. He weighs 312 grams.. obviously eats good… refuses anything green and I’ve tried it all as well as all the types of squash and fruit… refuses!… he has been with me 6 weeks now… is in a 72x24x24 wooden enclosure with tile substrate… a Reptisun T5 ho 10.0 uvb that hangs inside the enclosure and is 2/3 the length…his basking decor is 13 inches from uvb and directly under it…I’m using a halogen flood for basking light and a zoomed basking bulb for ambient heat (I know that sounds like a lot but the enclosure seems to be hard to get temps up… I’ve tried many many combinations of lights and this combo seems to work) they are both bright white lights.. basking surface is kept at 101-102…hot side ambient temp is at 90… cool side stays at 80 and the middle is usually 82-84. I’ve tried upping the temps and lowering them… These temps are measured using digital probes (I have a prove on cool side, in the middle, and hot side...3probes total) hot side basking surface and ambient temp is regulated with the Herpstat dimming thermostat. Humidity is always between 25 and 40… averaging 35 most times. He has plenty of enrichment in his enclosure..a rock back wall .. several pieces of wood and flagstone ….. he is soaked every 4-5 days… no sign of shed yet although he is really growing…so finally my question…. I have to get this guy outta his hide that he sleeps in in the mornings ..(lights on at 6:30 and off at 6:30 every day)… I put him in his basking area where he will stay a couple of hours.. then he eats and heads straight to the top on the cool side… every day I put him in his basking area off and on or he would stay up top on the cool side… why??? Is this normal? I thought it would stop after he got acclimated but it’s not stopped… should I change something? Advice please? Also, when should I expect him to begin to shed..? The vet never gave me a clear answer… just that he’ll shed as he grows. But he weighed 158 grams upon arrival to me and now 312 grams… I think that constitutes a lot of growth!… what am I doing wrong???