I was wondering if anyone could help me with a problem that recently came up with my 4 year old bearded dragon. He has stopped eating his vegetables but he will eat the dried and live crickets we give him. We did recently change his bulb to a 100w powersun uv,but the problem was happening before that as well. I tricked him into eating a lettuce leaf by putting it with the crickets , but when he ate it it seemed to be really hard for him to eat. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Bearded Dragon Not Eating
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You'd be best off listing everything to do with your BD and setup. Viv size? Uv? Temps? Substrate?
You mentioned you had a powersun uv/heat lamp, is this the only uv you provide? It could be one or more of many things that we couldn't possibly guess without more info. Is he basking less, sleeping more, lethargic, hanging in the cool end? Could possibly be brumation.
Like I said list as much info as you can. : victory:
You mentioned you had a powersun uv/heat lamp, is this the only uv you provide? It could be one or more of many things that we couldn't possibly guess without more info. Is he basking less, sleeping more, lethargic, hanging in the cool end? Could possibly be brumation.
Like I said list as much info as you can. : victory:
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I agree without details of the setup it's hard to tell by ' he's stopped his greens , HELP ! '
:Na_Na_Na_Na:All the uv and light he gets from the powersun, it's us supposed to provide it, he also has a heat lamp. It's a 40 gallon terrarium , usually 80-85 degrees. We put him on newspaper and he has a basking rock. My parents do not want to put sand or fale plants in because its messy an thy dont wat hom to eat the plants.Recently(and I mean in the past hour) he has been going absolutely nuts, running back and forth across his cage and scratching at the ground and the walls and even jumping towards the top of the tank occasionally.
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I hope this doesnt sound like i'm having a go, I think your in the US because you measured your viv in gallons and not feet but its 4.30am here and I need my bed so i'm just going to get strait to the point.
- UV light should be a minimum 10% UV output (preferably 12%). It should stretch most of the length of the viv starting in the hot end and leaving the cool end without. (if your viv is 4ft, you need a 3ft UV tube minimum) Without this he wont be able to create calcium which he needs for his bones to grow. Imagine when you was a baby instead of having milk which is rich in calcium, you got water which isnt.. If you made it to adulthood you would have all kinds of problems with your bones. same goes for your beardie! (The best analogy I can think of at 4am)
My guessing is that he has been scratching at the glass etc because he is desperate to find the UV which he NEEDS! This needs sorting ASAP and should be top priority!! I know you said the powersun is supposed to provide sufficiant UVb but I can assure you it doesnt. The people who make products like this put pictures of beardies on there packaging so then it sells, for some reason this isnt against advertising standards! Also.. Pet shops will sell it and tell you its ok becasue either a) they have a lack of knowledge or b) because they know that when you find out its not sufficiant you go back to them and spend more money in their store. Either way, its not enough!
- Your temps should be measured at 3 points in the viv using degital thermometers. One against the very end of the viv in the cool end, the other against very end of the viv in the warm end and the the third at the highest point of the basking spot under the lamp. They should read: Basking 39-43C, warm 29-35C and cool 23-28C. The basking spot and the cool end temps are the most important because he needs it hot enough so that he can digest his food (without this it will rot in his stomach) and cool enough because he has no other way to cool down. The temps in between should enable him to regulate his own temperature accordingly (thermoregulation..) Imagine if someone put you in a red hot room with no air con or fan and left you there forever. Not only would it be uncomfortable, but you would dehydrate as well. Same goes for your beardie :2thumb:
I dont know how long you have had him for but I recon if you sort these two things out then you will see a massive improvement in him! The UV needs sorting pretty much now anyway. Unless it is sorted it can lead to MBD, google MBD in reptiles and see what you can find.
Again sorry if it sounds like i'm being a bit shitty but I came on here, saw this and thought I had to comment! Hope it all works out for you if you have any more questions ask and someone will be glad to help : victory:
- UV light should be a minimum 10% UV output (preferably 12%). It should stretch most of the length of the viv starting in the hot end and leaving the cool end without. (if your viv is 4ft, you need a 3ft UV tube minimum) Without this he wont be able to create calcium which he needs for his bones to grow. Imagine when you was a baby instead of having milk which is rich in calcium, you got water which isnt.. If you made it to adulthood you would have all kinds of problems with your bones. same goes for your beardie! (The best analogy I can think of at 4am)
My guessing is that he has been scratching at the glass etc because he is desperate to find the UV which he NEEDS! This needs sorting ASAP and should be top priority!! I know you said the powersun is supposed to provide sufficiant UVb but I can assure you it doesnt. The people who make products like this put pictures of beardies on there packaging so then it sells, for some reason this isnt against advertising standards! Also.. Pet shops will sell it and tell you its ok becasue either a) they have a lack of knowledge or b) because they know that when you find out its not sufficiant you go back to them and spend more money in their store. Either way, its not enough!
- Your temps should be measured at 3 points in the viv using degital thermometers. One against the very end of the viv in the cool end, the other against very end of the viv in the warm end and the the third at the highest point of the basking spot under the lamp. They should read: Basking 39-43C, warm 29-35C and cool 23-28C. The basking spot and the cool end temps are the most important because he needs it hot enough so that he can digest his food (without this it will rot in his stomach) and cool enough because he has no other way to cool down. The temps in between should enable him to regulate his own temperature accordingly (thermoregulation..) Imagine if someone put you in a red hot room with no air con or fan and left you there forever. Not only would it be uncomfortable, but you would dehydrate as well. Same goes for your beardie :2thumb:
I dont know how long you have had him for but I recon if you sort these two things out then you will see a massive improvement in him! The UV needs sorting pretty much now anyway. Unless it is sorted it can lead to MBD, google MBD in reptiles and see what you can find.
Again sorry if it sounds like i'm being a bit shitty but I came on here, saw this and thought I had to comment! Hope it all works out for you if you have any more questions ask and someone will be glad to help : victory:
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Just read your original post again to be sure I answered your questions.. UV lamps have a limited amount of UVb in them. You changed your lamp because it was coming to the end of its life right? If so.. The problem started before you removed the lamp because the UVb was begining to run out. Reptiles can see UV light and he would of literally seen this happening because the light was getting dimmer. UV light is essential just like food, water and oxygen (no exageration) this will be what triggered his behaviour to change.
As for him not wanting to eat his greens... With the temps potentially not being correct (depending on where and how you measured them before you posted it), he could be struggling to digest anything he eats. My guess is that he is eating the crix because they catch his eye and he knows he has to eat something but eating them is possibly doing him harm because he cant digest them. Again i'm sorry if I sound blunt or a bit shitty bit like I said, I need sleep!!
Hope everything works out let me know how you get on.
As for him not wanting to eat his greens... With the temps potentially not being correct (depending on where and how you measured them before you posted it), he could be struggling to digest anything he eats. My guess is that he is eating the crix because they catch his eye and he knows he has to eat something but eating them is possibly doing him harm because he cant digest them. Again i'm sorry if I sound blunt or a bit shitty bit like I said, I need sleep!!
Hope everything works out let me know how you get on.
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Blue is spot on as usual. Your temps are clearly wrong as you can't measure anything accurately with one thermometer reading 80-85. You also mentioned you have two heat sources in there, a normal bulb and this powersun. This isn't necessary and is again definitely an issue. Can you uploa a picture of your setup. Where are these two bulbs placed? In theory and in the worst case scenario you could be providing an insufficient basking temp but no cool end. He can't digest his food as he hasn't got anywhere to warm up enough and cannot cool down enough as he has no cool end leading to dehydration. As I said this may not be the full case and is dependant on where those bulbs are. This and the uv issue is most certainly enough to trigger a lack of eating. Either way, two bulbs is not a good idea unless the viv is rather large and the bulbs are low wattage.
As said throw on a picture to give us a better idea but I can tell you know there is quite a few changes you need to make. Don't feel threatened or panic though, we are here to help and will do just that if you want it! :2thumb:
As said throw on a picture to give us a better idea but I can tell you know there is quite a few changes you need to make. Don't feel threatened or panic though, we are here to help and will do just that if you want it! :2thumb:
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Do you mean put the old one back in? If so, it may not work because it could of come to the end of its life.. They only last 3-6 months depending on what make it is. Arcadia last 12 months but they are the only brand that do!
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