Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi i own a 6 month old female bearded dragon named Safira, Safira weighs 60 grams. The past few days her behaviour has changed she looks to be shedding soon her nose is going a grey colour like it did other times she has shed. Her behaviour however has changed she never acted like this even when shedding. She seems to be very flighty,scared and trys to hide now and then not often i can see her. She is still eating,pooing,active,alert. Well today she didn't eat much 4 crickets which normaly the lowest she wold eat would be 6, But that only happens if she eats more then 20 insects. Also around her mouth has a blue tinge colour to it what could this be. I know the last time she shed underneath her went a pale cream colour. I also noticed that today she was hungry but wouldn't touch any insects she wanted to do is lick at the sand. Her temps in her enclosure are 42-44 degrees celsius on the hot side and around 24-26 degrees celsius on the cool side. I have removed the sand and replaced it with fake grass i hope i did the right thing. I also think she is a bit dehydrated so i'm going to start bathing her every day, Her stools are good green and white and doesn't smell much. She normally goes once or twice a day depending how much she has eaten. She is getting feed 2cm crickets and woodies and normally eats around 13 of them a day. Safira hasn't been to the vet as the vets here do not deal with reptiles they didn't even know what a bearded dragon was. Also i have a picture poster on the back and sides of Safiras enclosure since owning her she has always tryed to climb the walls of the enclosure cause of the picture background picture of it bellow, Is this normal? Here is a picture of Safira taken today, Does she look dehydrated in the picture.

Well,eating,drinking all are normal and she's alert ...all good,also she looks good in the pic.The enclosure looks very nice,good job on decorating but it seems too small to have the heat gradient,are you SURE on the temps.? She acts like she's too hot[ does she gape at all?] or may be stressed by something she's seeing.How long have you had her and are there animals,children,etc. to frighten her ? She looks healthy alert.

Hi i've owned Safira for 3 months i do have other animals but there not in my room there outside. Her enclosure was moved on monday. So it could be just stress,i'm hoping it is.

I agree with Angie and am concerned about your temperatures. How and where are you measuring them? I'm a real proponent on simple is better, although I agree your setup looks very nice.

I saw your first post and didn't say anything because I didn't want to appear critical. But, the length and weight you mention for yours at 6 months, mine generally attain in about 2 months.

I would reexamine your enclosure to make sure her temp. needs are met and I would also evaluate how much, what, and how often you are feeding her. I'm not sure what a woody is, but if it's a shelled worm I would probably stick with crickets until she is at least 12". I would also make sure that the crickets are fed a nutritious diet for at least 24 hours prior to feeding them to your dragon. Are you giving her salad? If so what does it contain.

As far as the lips are concerned my suggestion would to wait and see. It doesn't look like anything I'd be concerned with right now. But it's hard to see much from the picture.

I'm sure the temps are alright i'm measuring the temps 3inches bellow the bulb where she basks. I'm using the retapets 100watt and the outback max 10.0 uvb tube. Safira has had a bad up bringing i got her from the pet shop. The pet shop only feed her 8 crickets a day one day,next day veggies no insects,then the next 8 mealworms.At the pet store she was kept in a 4ft tank with a undertank heat mat and a compact uvb bulb. I did do the wrong thing when i first got her kept her under the infrared bulb for 3 weeks then changed it to the white basking bulb she was under a compact uvb bulb for 4 weeks till i changed it to the uvb. Maybe i should get a new temper gauge, I'm using this one.

I'm feeding her insects twice a day veggies on offer all day.Woodies are cockroahes. The only veggies Safira seems to eat is bok chok and endive. I gutload my insects everyday i feed them the same veggies as my dragon gets exept the insects get orange and strawberry for moisture. I have this gutloading powder that i sprinkle over the veggies too. She gets calcium dusted insects every second day.

You Know,that could be your problem..she is in a new environment and may be stressed.I'm not familiar with the bulbs you mentioned...seems like there are more on the market every year.I like Zoo-Med myself.probably the most trusted widely used on the market.You are doing a good job taking care of her...some dragons that start out at pet stores are stunted from improper care but you have her looking healthy even though she's small

By the way,since you mentioned that you have used compact bulbs,there is extremely important info about serious potential eye damage from them.You can find it on A-1 reptile's website ,go to the bearded dragon section,click on the care sheet and scroll down to lighting and the sub-heading "warning".Everyone should be aware but few people are.

To be honest..I think you are worrying about nothing. Its not unusual for dragons to get flighty for a period of time in their 'early teens'. She's active, eating well, even if once in awhile she doesn't eat much. My dragon never eat the same amount of insects every day while she was growing up.

Just offer her insects twice a day, as much as she will eat, keeping the size to no bigger than that space between her eyes. Get a temp gun, which is much better at measuring surface temps. Not sure if that unit you have contains a probe or if you just stick it on the side of the cage.

As for bathing her everyday, I don't recommend it. You can do as BDLvr has recommended in many posts in the past, just use a clean eyedropper (not one that has been used for medicine etc...don't' want any trace elements getting into your dragon. You can buy eyedroppers at any pharmacy). Drip water on the corner of their mouths, usually they get the idea after a few times to lick the water up.

I would also stop using that veggie dust...I don't' see any benefit and too much supplementation can be harmful too. Best to just have a good variety of greens offered to her instead. Mist the greens well, it will keep them from drying out fast and adds more moisture to them..also misting them while your dragon watches, may stimulate them to 'attack' the greens as though they were alive.
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PHLdyPayne

And...learn how to use it. They are inexpensive and a must for reptile keepers. Find out how much surface heat your giving dragon on the basking sites and the cool side. With a tank that doesn't appear to be more than 30-36 inches wide, I doubt there is much of a cool retreat for dragon. Also, I may be the only one here to say this but dragon looks a bit dry to me(even with the cam flash). Soak for 10-20 minutes in clean, room temperature water 2x week.

Dragon is small for 6 months. Could be lineage or less-than-ideal husbandry. Diet and greens sound okay, wouldn't worry too much about that. Get your temps down.