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Beardie Gulping

Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
Hello all, I am new member. Hope you guys can give me some input. For a few weeks now our beardie has been "gulping/swallowing" when she is not eating. She has not been eating much of her greens but WILL eat horned worms- seems to be the only thing she wants to eat. She is not lethargic or anything but seems to want to sleep a lot but still likes to wonder around when she is out of her cage. We recently changed her night bulb and in doing research, learned that the red night bulb I put in is a NO NO and has probably messed up her sleeping schedule. I usually use a "blue" bulb. Last night I replaced the red with a ceramic heater so there is no light. I really hope this will gradually fix the problem. Tank info: I have the proper 80's temp at night and around 100 degrees on her basking spot during the day, reptisun 10.0 uvb light and a large water container in her setup. Her tank size is the exo-terra large low tank 36” x 18” x 12” (WxDxH) Any thoughts? Thanks all.
 

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Eavlynn

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
978
Replacing the night light with a ceramic heat emitter is a great idea. Lights out for my beardies isn't always lights out for us, so I drape a small blanket over them so that the lights we have on in the house don't bother them. The reptile room they are in doesn't drop below 78, so I also kick off their heat to allow for a little bit of a natural drop in temp.

Hdrydr31 and other members that are far more experienced than I, should be hopping on at some point throughout the day and should have some great info for you.
 

Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
Replacing the night light with a ceramic heat emitter is a great idea. Lights out for my beardies isn't always lights out for us, so I drape a small blanket over them so that the lights we have on in the house don't bother them. The reptile room they are in doesn't drop below 78, so I also kick off their heat to allow for a little bit of a natural drop in temp.

Hdrydr31 and other members that are far more experienced than I, should be hopping on at some point throughout the day and should have some great info for you.

Thank you for your reply. Our house is set to 76 at night, can't go any higher than that or I will have an unhappy daughter and husband! Typically around 8pm all lights are out where our beardie is and we only have the tv on, so it is not too bright.
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
At night bearded dragons need cool temps and no lights at all! The only reason to use a CHE is if your temps go below 65F. Your beardie isn't getting good sleep. Let her get cool and go into a deep sleep. Also you say she only eats hornworms. If you stop feeding them to her then she will eat better for you. Bearded dragons are very smart and know you will give in to them if they hold out long enough! Stay strong and don't give in. My Wally was doing that last week with superworms. I was dumb and gave him one for a treat and then he refused to eat his dubia's and BSFL'S. I held out for 2 days and now he's back to eating 6-10 dubia's at a time. I know it's hard not giving in to her but they won't starve them selves.


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Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
At night bearded dragons need cool temps and no lights at all! The only reason to use a CHE is if your temps go below 65F. Your beardie isn't getting good sleep. Let her get cool and go into a deep sleep. Also you say she only eats hornworms. If you stop feeding them to her then she will eat better for you. Bearded dragons are very smart and know you will give in to them if they hold out long enough! Stay strong and don't give in. My Wally was doing that last week with superworms. I was dumb and gave him one for a treat and then he refused to eat his dubia's and BSFL'S. I held out for 2 days and now he's back to eating 6-10 dubia's at a time. I know it's hard not giving in to her but they won't starve them selves.


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mxw0rld, Ok, thank you, i will give all you said a try. THANK YOU!
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
Yep they will test ya lol sometimes we have to do some tough love when they decide what they want. How old is she? Keep offering good greens, keep offering other bugs like Dubai, crickets, superworms....
Let the temps at night drop into the 70f they need the cool down.
 

Hdrydr31

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Staff member
3 Year Member
1,000+ Post Club
Messages
5,574
The gulping....is it happening in the am or any time in particular? They will stretch their beards puff up...what your humidity levels?
 

Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
Yep they will test ya lol sometimes we have to do some tough love when they decide what they want. How old is she? Keep offering good greens, keep offering other bugs like Dubai, crickets, superworms....
Let the temps at night drop into the 70f they need the cool down.

She is almost 4 years old. Thank you for your reply. Last night was the first night I left all heat sources off and it only got down to 74 degrees in her cage, so that should be good. I have been continuing to offer her greens and will get some superworms. We have not tried roaches yet, only superworms, crickets, horned worms and phoenix worms.
20160709_150335.jpg
 

Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
The gulping....is it happening in the am or any time in particular? They will stretch their beards puff up...what your humidity levels?

The gulping seems to happen anytime. She doesn't stretch her beard totally out when she does it, just looks like a swallow. I have a large water bowl in her cage and spritz her daily with water so the humidity should be ok. I do not have a humidity gauge right now, I need to get a new one.
 

Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
The gulping....is it happening in the am or any time in particular? They will stretch their beards puff up...what your humidity levels?

Reading thru your basic care links, I do need to make a few tweeks to her setup. So do you think is is necessary to have the large water bowl in her cage? She never gets in it , I never see her drink from it and it takes up a lot of space. I do spritz her every day and she gets a bath weekly so that should be ok, right? I want to make sure everything is perfect, I hate seeing her like this!
 

Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
Another question, I have half of the top of the cage closed in, is this ok or should I have the whole top totally open? I did this to keep heat in her cage. Her cage size is exo-terra large low tank 36” x 18” x 12” (WxDxH). The other half has the lights on it.
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
She does not need a water bowl. Dragons do not know to drink from standing water. It does take up source and brings humidity up.

You need to open that top up right away! She needs heat but assure flow as well. I have almost same cage as you. Mine is 36x18x24 and when I would open the glass the heat was so oppressive in there I went to Walmart and got a small really small fan and have it attached to the outside vent in the right side blowing the air around. It is not to cool things off just to circulate the air. I can only imagine how stagnate and oppressive her air is in her tank if you have that covered. Poor girl. The lights need to be all the way across her tank as well. What kind of lights do you have?


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Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
ok, I will open it up asap! We have a 75 watt spot heat lamp and reptisun 10.0 UVB, UVB is replaced every 6 months. I have to check if I have a T5 or a T8, I am not certain (I am currently at work). Both lights are on the left hand side of her cage. I am guessing I should get another UVB for the right side of the cage? I will be making a trip to the pet store today to get some stuff.
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
I think what you have is just fine. Most people don't even have those bulbs. So you are doing good. No need to buy anymore bulbs. Just open up the top and take out the water bowl. How are her urates? How many times does she pee?


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Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
I think what you have is just fine. Most people don't even have those bulbs. So you are doing good. No need to buy anymore bulbs. Just open up the top and take out the water bowl. How are her urates? How many times does she pee?


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Sounds good. Thank you.
She usually only goes once a week. She seems to try to wait till she's out of her cage and goes on us! Yuck. And it stinks so bad. How often is normal?
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
Sounds good. Thank you.
She usually only goes once a week. She seems to try to wait till she's out of her cage and goes on us! Yuck. And it stinks so bad. How often is normal?

She should go once a day and it shouldn't stink.
Stinky pee or poop is usually a sign of infection.
But she could just be dehydrated and over heated.

I think you've got it too hot in there. The picture you put up is that what you mean by gulping?

Do you ever put water on her lips?


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mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
Sorry i forgot she's older so she should pee at least every other day. How many times does she poop? Does her poop smell?


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Toothless733

Hatchling Dragon
Messages
53
Location
Lancaster, PA
As far as I remember her poop has stank since we got her as a baby. The picture is just one of her cooling off. I can only show you the gulping with video- does this site upload videos? We do put water on her lips to try to get her to drink, and we do see her drink occasionally when she is in the bath. We are concerned about her getting enough water so we have been doing that- and when she opens her mouth we try to squirt some water in it. We REALLY appreciate all your help!
 

mxw0rld

Bearded Dragon Veteran
Messages
940
I honestly think she's just too hot and hasn't had a cool down period at night. Open up the top and get some air flow.

Have you noticed that when she's out of the enclosed she's more active?

Normal stink like cat or dog poop or omg knock you over stink?


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