• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

How often should I use the reptical?

As long as you are feeding the crix. I can't stress enough how important it is to feed her well fed and hydrated crix. Are you feeding the crix before you feed them to her?
 
No, I bought them directly from petco so I thought they were already gut loaded and since I only got ~50 I saw no reason to spend money on food for them theyll probably be gone within 2 days. I did leave a carrot in their bucket though, they seem to eat it.

I dont want them to grow much either, these are a mouthful for her but she can take them.
 
Its not about keeping them alive. Much of the beardie's nutrition comes from what the crickets eat and still have in their guts when she eats them. Also, if she is a little dehydrated and you feed her dehydrated crix, you run the risk that she will become impacted on one.
 
That makes sense! Ill fix up their bucket tomorrow when I go to petco again.

Rosebud its because of you that my beardie has no more stress marks! Thanks a lot!
 
I am glad to help! Its one less beardie that ends up at my house as a rescue! You are a good sport and an obviously caring keeper to want to do the best you can by her. :thumbsup:
 
Shes doing ok.
Im still very worried about her eating :(

Heres a pic of her:
I just got my worms today (50 silkies, ~100 phoenix).

I had to feed her with tweezers for her to eat a couple of the worms. I tossed some on her salad plate and she didnt even look at them.

I closed her enclosure door and she just started to glass dance (though after those worms her stress marks faded for a while).

Im not sure what to do... She doesnt seem very interested in the worms? They wiggle and move a lot though and she ate it whole instead of eating it and spitting it out (she did this with the waxworms).

I tried to feed her a phoenix worm but she wasnt even looking at it, she seems pretty nervous ATM so im gonna let her be for 30 mins-1 hr and retry.

This is a pic of her from the morning:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02980.jpg

Not sure what to do here... I have fed her collard greens with the tweezers before and I noticed that she loves how shiny the tweezers are so she strikes at them(its pretty funny but i move them away so she doesnt hurt her jaw). After seeing that behaviour I thought feeding her the worms would be a piece of cake. Im pretty worried now...
 
Was she eating the crix okay?

I think I would go ahead and get the soy yogurt, and try dabbing it on the front of her nose. Also, Can you post a pic of your enclosure? I am interested in the lighting and position of the basking spot. Also, can you take a side view shot and an overhead shot of her?

If she strikes at the tweezers but not prey, I am worried about her vision, and if she is having vision problems, it could be related to the lighting and/or the UVB bulb. Did you say the UVB bulb is a linear florescent or does it look like an energy saver bulb?
 
This is pretty much her whole set up:
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02987.jpg - Top view
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02988.jpg - Front view
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02989.jpg - Thermometer probe on her rock.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02991.jpg - Water dish and glass dancing
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02992.jpg - The only thing UVB bulb says
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02993.jpg - Id say UVB covers 3/4s of her enclosure.
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j19/funker666/DSC02994.jpg - Bulb is around 10'' above her rock


As you can see its pretty meh, I just got her and she drained a whole lot of money from me so and I live in NYC so its not like I can go outside and pick up some logs for her(not gonna pay $16 for petco wood...) with time ill make sure it looks nice (also to stop her from dancing I got some bamboo blinds to put on the glass, looks pretty neat! but i havent set them up yet.

The aluminium you see there is because the enclosure has some plastic at the top and Im very paranoid with fires and all that so its there JUST in case.

As for the crickets... no she wasnt eating a lot of them. She had probably around 4 yesterday. Same thing though, theyll be running around her enclosure (i taped everywhere so they wouldnt hide hahaha) and jumping everywhere and she would just bask she wouldnt chase them around or show any interest its like she pretended theyre not there.

Side view and head shots coming up.
 
Okay, I see a few things that could be adjusted and could make a huge difference. She still looks okay, but is losing weight, so we need to get her setup straightened out ASAP.

As I suspected, there are two things that are less than great about your lighting. First, that ESU UVB bulb is junk. Toss it! It does not put out quality light or UVB. You really need to get a better UVB bulb ASAP or she will start to develop MBD. It could also be hurting her eyes.

The second thing is that her tank, except for the basking spot, is rather dark. Beardies are full daytime critters and need bright ambient light with hides where they can retreat if they want to. I bet she is simply having a hard time seeing. So, I urge you to get a Reptisun 10 UVB bulb, and remove that tape from around the hole where your basking beam is shooting in. We want to brighten up that tank, and get another hide of two for the cooler parts of the tank. But we want to do that without raising the ambient temps. Did you get that cool side temp down some more? There needs to be a cool spot that is below 80 in case she is overheating.

Now, with Florescent UVB bulbs, you need to expose her to within 7-8 inches of the bulb, or it won't do any good, so I would go down on the wattage of the basking bulb and get a different basking setup that raises her a bit, to within 7 inches of the top, then re tweek your basking temps. Then make sure that the uvb bulb is right along side the basking bulb so that she definitely gets uvb while she is basking.

These bulbs can be trusted for 6-8 months, and then they need to be replaced. I use Mercury Vapor bulbs that last 3 times as long, put out much better uvb, and provide heat, so it is the perfect basking bulb. But you might need to wait, because it looks like you do have a 20-30 long, and MVBs are too hot for small tanks. They are the best, so that might be an idea for the future.

You might want to visit this thread. It is full of setups and can add a visual to what I am saying
http://www.beardeddragon.org/bjive/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=66704&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=vivs+only

Then do get the soy yogurt. It will give her a boost of fluids, protein and gut flora. I have found that beardies love it and it really perks them up. I buy Stoneyfield Farms O'Soy at Walmart or Super Target.

Well, let me know if I have just given you way too much to process! :laugh: Beardies are really hard to set up, but I promise it gets easier and a lot more fun once you get it all working. ;)
 
BTW, on that UVB and distance recommendation, don't let her get any closer than 7-8 inches, either or it becomes dangerous. Its a balancing act! ;)
 
Alright, I figured itd be the UVB. Theres no way it was impaction because shes been pooping quite a few times now!

Ill take your advice about the foil in the top and take other measures to prevent a possible fire, as you can probably tell im a pretty nervous person...

If my PetCo doesnt have the 10 ReptiSun which other one should I get? Or steer clear from?

Should I order it online, can she wait a few days? Or is the situation dire or getting there by like tomorrow?
 
BTW I do plan on switching to MVB, but as you said it needs to be a bigger tank. Itll come soon though...
 
You can buy it online. A few days won't make that much difference. I get stuff pretty cheap at www.reptilesupply.com, and if you eventually want the MVB, check out this site www,reptileuv.com

While you wait for the UVB bulb, just put another spot with an energy saver bulb n it at the other end of the tank for more light. They don't produce very much heat and work great to increase ambient light. Or, you can set a lamp next to that end of the tank, but light in the tank would be better.

Is that screen plastic? If its wire, then you can set the lamp directly on it. I promise it won't cause a fire. ;)
 
Alright so I moved the light and i just placed some pieces of wood on top of the plastic.
Temps are much better (stabler, air is a little warmer, rock goes from 103 to 105).
Her cool side is ~

I tried the yogurt and no go :( I put it on her nose with my finger and she licked it and I had hope, then she went for some in my finger and I thought YAY but after that she ignored it. I tried more from my finger, dabbing it on some greens, on a piece of papaya, papaya on its own and even dabed some on a worm and she just ignored it and ran away.

Her appetite is worrying me (had her for 3 days and already shes got me whipped).

At the moment shes inside her rock(its hollow so its like a hide/basking spot). I also built a small hide out of wood (just glued some peices together) and thats in her cool side. I found it strange since its only 7:45 PM and shes already inside her rock, I dunno if I should hit the lights and call it a day or what? Maybe retry the yogurt after a little nap?

Bathed her again today but she didnt drop a deuce. How often is TOO often to bathe her? She seems to like it a lot so Ive done it 1 day yes 1 no but I want to do it every day if she likes it so much.

Tomorrow Im gonna get that Reptisun 10 from PetCo.
How fast will she improve after I set it up?

Thanks alot rosebud!
 
Did you add more light to the enclosure? If its still dimly lit, then she might still be having trouble seeing. There is no guarantee that the reptisun will fix the problem, but usually if the problem is a bad bulb, they start to improve within hours. With a MVB, its almost immediate.

Has she eaten crix today? Did you try some more silk worms with the tweezers?
 
Yes I did. Silkies and Phoenix.
She didnt want to know anything about it.

I put a night lamp on the other side of the enclosure and this thing is pretty bright, it lit up that side of the enclosure much to her surprise, she was like "whoa!" and started running around there.

I hope tomorrow after I get her new light shell be into eating more.
If not, what should I do?
 
Back
Top