New 1 yr old citrus beardie

[Dani2023]

Hello! I am new here and excited to announce we just got our first beardie. She is a year old and the place we purchased her from actually breeds their own beardies so I got to meet her mama too

We picked “Saffy” (short for sapphire) up last Friday (today is Monday) so she’s only been home for a few days. Yesterday I got her to eat some calcium supplemented crickets (about 10) with tongs and she spent a lot of time exploring her tank. She is offered fresh veg daily. I do know she is very stressed right now being in a new environment, she has the black lines on her beard and belly. Well now she has been sleeping since about 3pm yesterday I’m reading it could be the stress of coming to a new home. She opens her eyes and locks her gaze onto us from her sleeping cave when we approach so she isn’t “lethargic”. She does NOT want to be touched - we were refraining from handling her at all to let her adjust but I had to move her a bit yesterday so that I could catch some stray crickets that got away. She was very unhappy about that Crazy how fast their beard turns black !!

So my question is— how long before she starts to wake up and get acclimated to her environment? Weeks? Months? How can we help her transition? Just want her to be happy, comfortable and healthy I’ve done loads of research and we even got a book, but it seems there is so much different information out there one resource will recommend something and the other advises against it.

 

[Sadie]

View attachment 34928Hello! I am new here and excited to announce we just got our first beardie. She is a year old and the place we purchased her from actually breeds their own beardies so I got to meet her mama too

We picked “Saffy” (short for sapphire) up last Friday (today is Monday) so she’s only been home for a few days. Yesterday I got her to eat some calcium supplemented crickets (about 10) with tongs and she spent a lot of time exploring her tank. She is offered fresh veg daily. I do know she is very stressed right now being in a new environment, she has the black lines on her beard and belly. Well now she has been sleeping since about 3pm yesterday I’m reading it could be the stress of coming to a new home. She opens her eyes and locks her gaze onto us from her sleeping cave when we approach so she isn’t “lethargic”. She does NOT want to be touched - we were refraining from handling her at all to let her adjust but I had to move her a bit yesterday so that I could catch some stray crickets that got away. She was very unhappy about that Crazy how fast their beard turns black !!

So my question is— how long before she starts to wake up and get acclimated to her environment? Weeks? Months? How can we help her transition? Just want her to be happy, comfortable and healthy I’ve done loads of research and we even got a book, but it seems there is so much different information out there one resource will recommend something and the other advises against it.

Welcome to the forum-- first the surface basking temps in the tank should be taken w/ a digital probe thermometer 95-100- next your UVB should be a long tube fixture NO coils please they are inadequate and will cause all kinds of health issues -- if you need help w/ this I can post 3 good ones -- next I would get rid of the wood chips in the tank - if one is ingested it could cause all kinds of internal damage / death-- you can get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner some w/ no grooves makes it easier to clean-- cut to the size of the tank and clean w/ vinegar/ water 50/50--
She will go thru relocation stress and if the tank is on par w/ husbandry it make take a few weeks - it depends on the dragon - her stress marks will disappear and her appetite will increase as she acclimates to her tank and her surroundings - is she hand tamed ? She should be basking every day for at least 4 hrs - but your tank temps and UVB must be on par --

 

[Dani2023]

Welcome to the forum-- first the surface basking temps in the tank should be taken w/ a digital probe thermometer 95-100- next your UVB should be a long tube fixture NO coils please they are inadequate and will cause all kinds of health issues -- if you need help w/ this I can post 3 good ones -- next I would get rid of the wood chips in the tank - if one is ingested it could cause all kinds of internal damage / death-- you can get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner some w/ no grooves makes it easier to clean-- cut to the size of the tank and clean w/ vinegar/ water 50/50--
She will go thru relocation stress and if the tank is on par w/ husbandry it make take a few weeks - it depends on the dragon - her stress marks will disappear and her appetite will increase as she acclimates to her tank and her surroundings - is she hand tamed ? She should be basking every day for at least 4 hrs - but your tank temps and UVB must be on par --

Thanks so much for the reply! Yeah we read that about the wood chips after we brought her home. It’s so frustrating because the store that breeds them only uses wood chips. When should I switch the bark out? I don’t wanna stress her out more. The warm side of her tank with the tube 22” 5.0 uvb tube (they said we’d be fine without a 10.0 for the next 4 months) 150w uva bulb, and ceramic bulb is 90-95F during the day. I will remove the 150w uva bulb and replace with another 150w ceramic to try and bring the temp up. The cool side of her tank where she is sleeping in her cave is about 78F. Her tank is 120gallon. She hasn’t basked today at all- just sleeping.

 

[Sadie]

Thanks so much for the reply! Yeah we read that about the wood chips after we brought her home. It’s so frustrating because the store that breeds them only uses wood chips. When should I switch the bark out? I don’t wanna stress her out more. The warm side of her tank with the tube 22” 5.0 uvb tube (they said we’d be fine without a 10.0 for the next 4 months) 150w uva bulb, and ceramic bulb is 90-95F during the day. I will remove the 150w uva bulb and replace with another 150w ceramic to try and bring the temp up. The cool side of her tank where she is sleeping in her cave is about 78F. Her tank is 120gallon. She hasn’t basked today at all- just sleeping.

You can keep the 5.0 but I do not recommend it -- it is basically an aquarium bulb not a desert bulb - the rays cannot go thru the screen - it blocks 30% of the rays and since its a weaker bulb it needs to be inside the tank w/ a distance of 6-8 inches -- I recommend replacing the bulb right away to a 10.0 - w/ a 120 gallon tank it needs to be in the tank w/ a distance of 12-15 inches directly above the basking decor piece -- it is that time of year where dragons slow down -- so give her some time and watch her behavior but I do recommend getting the UVB bulb changed out and your surface basking temps on par- take the probe set it where she sits for basking and get your temp - I recommend getting a digital probe hygrometer place the probe on the back center wall of the tank humidity 40-50% optimal nothing under 20 or over 70%-- you can use analogs for ambient temps you want high 90's to 100 for air or ambient and surface 95-100 -- your cool side is good of 78-80ish--
https://dubiaroaches.com/products/exo-terra-digital-hygrometer?_pos=1&_sid=ac857912b&_ss=r
As long as shes eating that is good --- she knows what she needs for lighting -- they all go thru a slow down period and some days will not bask - as they get older they poop less as well -- w/ everything on par she will eventually go to the bathroom -- I would get the bark changed out right away -- shes gonna go thru stress any way you look at it

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome!

 

[Dani2023]

Welcome!

Thank you!

 

[Dani2023]

You can keep the 5.0 but I do not recommend it -- it is basically an aquarium bulb not a desert bulb - the rays cannot go thru the screen - it blocks 30% of the rays and since its a weaker bulb it needs to be inside the tank w/ a distance of 6-8 inches -- I recommend replacing the bulb right away to a 10.0 - w/ a 120 gallon tank it needs to be in the tank w/ a distance of 12-15 inches directly above the basking decor piece -- it is that time of year where dragons slow down -- so give her some time and watch her behavior but I do recommend getting the UVB bulb changed out and your surface basking temps on par- take the probe set it where she sits for basking and get your temp - I recommend getting a digital probe hygrometer place the probe on the back center wall of the tank humidity 40-50% optimal nothing under 20 or over 70%-- you can use analogs for ambient temps you want high 90's to 100 for air or ambient and surface 95-100 -- your cool side is good of 78-80ish--
https://dubiaroaches.com/products/exo-terra-digital-hygrometer?_pos=1&_sid=ac857912b&_ss=r
As long as shes eating that is good --- she knows what she needs for lighting -- they all go thru a slow down period and some days will not bask - as they get older they poop less as well -- w/ everything on par she will eventually go to the bathroom -- I would get the bark changed out right away -- shes gonna go thru stress any way you look at it

Okay so we switched to a 10.0 uvb and FINALLY .. after multiple bulbs and tons of research on how to heat our giant tank.. got basking temp up to 95 degrees with the exo terra 150w focused beam. She’s happy ate tons of veg today and basking well. She’s even being a lot nicer and enjoying pets. Our mat came today and we will switch out the bark this afternoon. Thanks for your help!

 

[Sadie]

Okay so we switched to a 10.0 uvb and FINALLY .. after multiple bulbs and tons of research on how to heat our giant tank.. got basking temp up to 95 degrees with the exo terra 150w focused beam. She’s happy ate tons of veg today and basking well. She’s even being a lot nicer and enjoying pets. Our mat came today and we will switch out the bark this afternoon. Thanks for your help!

Sounds good did you get the uvb correctly placed and distanced?