I need help, my dragon is acting weird

hello everyone,


I purchased my 2nd bearded dragon a little less than a month ago, and have recently been experiencing problems with him. The other dragon i own has been with me for almost a year, and she's doin great, so i guess i have some experience haha. Any way when i first got this little guy, he was a little jumpy and scared, but nothing out of the norm. He was eating hardy, including greens and crickets as soon as he saw them, and always active. Just a week ago i realized he wasn't eating his greens, and kinda slowed down with the crickets, also his eyes are kinda squinty. Everytime i come to his cage he gets scared and runs to a corner, but he still lets me handle him every now and again and stays pretty calm when he's with me. I know he is eating at least a little because i find a poop in his cage every morning, i just don't understand why he is acting so scared, and has this tired look on his face all the time. His basking is at 108-110 and cool side is 80-85. He has a infrared night lamp and flourescent 10% UVB. Substrate is childrens playsand, and furniture includes a piece of wood, and a small tree. Pretty much the same setup my other beardie grew up in. Am i doing anything wrong I wan't him to feel at home and not trapped, but so far i don't think im doing a very good job of it.

Hello,

Sorry your baby isn't doing well. Let's run over your setup first. I think I may know what the problem is already though.
What are you using to measure your temps with? A digital probe, a temp gun or a stick on type of thermometer? If you are using either a digital probe or a temp gun, then the 108-110 temps are just fine, & so are the cool side temps.
What type of basking lamp are you using, you mentioned an infrared one? That is not a bright enough basking lamp to be used with a flourescent tube bulb. Also, if you are using that for nighttime also, that will be disturbing his sleeping patterns. IF you need any heating for nighttime, use a ceramic heat emitter which just puts out heat but no light.
For daytime basking, you will need to purchase a bright halogen light, or you even even use a daytime bright white household light bulb.
What brand is the flourescent tube UVB light? You mentioned it is a 10, is it a reptiglo? It is a long flourescent tube bulb or a mini or compact or coil light? How close to you have it to your dragon?
IF you have a reptiglo 10 in any shape or form, I am sorry to inform you but you will have to get a new one. They have not been deemed very good lights, by preliminary testing. They are not as bad as some of the others, but we have been seeing increasing numbers of problems such as squinting of the eyes, lethargic behavior or other strange behavior like hiding, etc. They are stronger than the reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulbs, but, they are putting out poor quality of UVB. The UVB that they are emitting is low wavelength which is near UVC. It just is not a real good quality.
IF you need to use it until you get another UVB light, put it at 10 inches away, & place a very bright basking light directly beside it to offset any negative effects until you can get another light.
My personal opinion though, right now, since he is already exhibiting eye squinting behavior, that it is already affecting his eyes. Turn the flourescent tube bulb off & just get a bright halogen for now. We will go from there.

Tracie

Hi Tracie,

Thanks for the reply, i really appreciate your time. I am currently using a Flucker's digital thermometer to keep track of the temps. The basking lamp is an Exo-terra 50w day spotlight with neodymium or something, and the UVBs are 2 Exo-terra Compact flourescent(curly bulb) 10.0 bulbs. They are roughly 8-9 inches above the dragon. His enclosure is a Visionarium terrarium 30x12x12, and almost all of the equipment i use is from LLLReptile.com if you need picture refrences or more details. You mentioned the night lamp is bad, should i really replace it with a ceramic heater? I'm kinda scared he might burn himself at night.

the porblem very well may be the uvb lights, http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=104473

Hello,

How is your dragon today?
The coils are most likely causing your dragon to be lethargic. At least you don't have them at 1-2 inches from your dragon, or he would likely be much worse.
The daytime basking light, is it real bright? If it isn't bright then, I suggest getting a bright household daytime lightbulb that you have at home. That is probably brighter than the reptile basking lamp you have.
Well, honestly, if the tank isn't getting any cooler than 60-65 at night, he really doesn't need any heating at all.
Alot of people use a ceramic heater. Just place it on top of the screen & he wont burn himself. Or, get a heatpad & put a towel inbetween him & the pad overnight if it's getting too cold.
They cannot sleep at night with any lights on, black, red, or any other type of light.
I hope he is doing better. Do read the thread that was posted. It has the report that I posted explaining alot of the problems. Though the reptiglo was not mentioned in that particular report, data is being compiled currently due to some problems that are occurring with these lights now.
If his eyes seem to be bothering him, place some herbal tea bags, warmed up, on his eyes while he is going to sleep at night for about 15 minutes.

Tracie

Wow, you guys are geniuses!!!

I shut off all the twisty lights and placed a temporary uvb tube ontop of the enclosure, its an old light so its due for a change. After only a couple hours i saw a huge improvement in his eyes, and his appetite came back! He gobbled up all the crickets i gave him right infront of me. I can't believe those twisty uvbs were affecting the poor guys health that much, why would they even sell that crap? Now what kind of UVB should i use, and what's the best type of basking bulb for the promotion of bearded dragon health? I really wanna make him better and prefer to do things right this time.

Hello,

Hey that is awesome!!
I am glad to hear that he is acting better. Well, unfortunately, the companies are putting out lights that were made incorrectly & were not tested prior to selling them. The reptile industry is not regulated very well so they can sell junk for UVB lights.
The best 2 flourescent tube UVB lights are either the reptiglo 8 or the reptisun 10. You will need to get a reflective type of fixture that you can get from Home Depot or Lowes. The reflective fixtures are better than the cheap ones, but they still are not that expensive. I believe most of the standard flourescents are T8 or T10. I have not used flourescents in so long I would have to look. Just the standard type are the types that the reptiglo 8 & the reptisun.
You can order the flourescent lights offline if you want because they are cheaper. Try going to either www.petmountain.com
www.reptilesupply.com
www.bigappleherp.com

If you have a 40 gallon tank or larger, you could opt for a Mercury vapor lamp which are heat & UVB in one. In that case, you will need to get a ceramic dome fixture rated for at least 150-200watts, just to handle the heat & watts on the lamp. If you want more information on those, let me know. Otherwise, the flourescent light combined with a halogen or a bright white daytime household bulb will do fine for him.

How tall is your tank? Do you have screen on top of it? If so, how far away is the basking spot from the light? When you do get a new light, it is good to have it from 6-8 inches from him, but placed directly beside a bright white basking light to protect his eyes. Remember, screen can filter out alot of the UVB's, so, if you are using screen try to see if you can rig up some way to mount it on the inside & underneath the screen with wires so he can get good UVB's from it.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am very happy you caught it early on before his eyes swelled up. That is great he ate alot as well.

Tracie

Hi Tracie,

The whole tank is about 12" tall and the basking light is about 7 inches from the bottom. Im going to adjust the layout though with all this new info you gave me. I have just one more question, how long is it going to be before he starts acting normal again? He always presses himself against a wall whenever i come to see him, or he'll try to hide somewhere. I really hope i didn't screw him up.

Hello,

Well, so was the Reptiglo 10 coil bulb 7 inches away from him also when you were using it? If so, that was fairly close.
What type of basking light are you using right now? That is fine, at 7 inches as long as he cannot get to it & burn himself. The reptiglo 8 or reptisun 10 can be 6-8 inches from him, with no problem as long as you are using a bright white halogen or a daytime bulb in conjunction with it.
I do not think you messed him up too badly, but, it will take him a little while to recover. It may have affected his balance a little bit, if his eyes were hurting somewhat.
Are you hydrating him daily?
You may need to handfeed him for a bit until he begins to get his appetite back. It could take a few days to a couple of weeks for him to return to normal.
You could get some bee pollen, royal jelly & brewer's yeast & mix just a pinch up with some water & syringe it to him. They are very good appetite stimulants & safe for reptile use as well.
At 12 inches tall, it would be better for you to get a reptisun 10 flourescent tube bulb or a reptiglo 8 flourescent tube bulb at one of those hyperlinks that I gave you. A mercury vapor bulb would end up being too close by the time you add in the basking area distance.
Please keep me posted on him.

Tracie

Hi, Arthur.

I'm Frances Baines, I'm a retired vet and the author of the website www.uvguide.co.uk. I'm the person researching the possible problems with the compact lamps.
I'd like to thank Tracie (Drache 613) for telling me about your post here, and I'm hoping you can help me.
Would you like to take part in my study by helping me put together a case history for your little dragon?
If so, please could you send me a private-message so I can get in touch by email?

All the best
Frances