New Beardie

[Draco2014]

I just got my first beardie last Monday, the 15th. Last night I noticed he was having a hard time catching his crickets and seemed sluggish and off balance. Any advice?

 

[PatsyB]

What are you using for a basking light and UVB light? What are the tank temperatures?

 

[Draco2014]

I had bought a basic desert kit that has a basking light and nighttime light. The temp had been low, around 70 to 75. Today I bought a heat lamp and the temp is slightly over 80.

 

[PatsyB]

Unfortunately with those kits, you end up rebuying what you really need. Temps should be measured with with a digital probe right on the basking spot. The basking spot needs to be 105-110 cool side 85. At night it's ok for the whole tank to cool off to 65-70 degrees. They can see a wide spectrum of light so there should be no night time light at all. A UVB IS real important, I recommend a Repti sun 10.0 T5 fixture that covers at least 2/3 the tank.

The reason he is sluggish is most likely because it's not warm enough and there is no UVB. The UVB is needed to process D3 and the heat helps with digestion.

 

[Draco2014]

I went today and purchased a repti Sun uvb fluorescent. Right now he is in a smaller habitat since he's still small. I'm planning on getting a bigger place for him in the next couple weeks. Hopefully this will work until then. Draco thanks all for advise.