I have had my bearded dragon for about a 2 weeks and I don’t know if he’s healthy. He smells really bad I tried soaking him which only gets rid of the smell temporarily and his tank is always kept spotless. Any time I take him out or handle him his head turns black (not his beard) and sometimes his body but after a little bit it goes away - Maybe stress related? He’s not very active I see him move around sometimes but not much but to be fair I’m not really sure how active he should be.
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Is my bearded dragon healthy?
- Thread starter Ray4468
- Start date
there is potential is basking area is too hot. one of the first things i learned was to give them time to adjust to their tank before adjusting to you! i also cut up a small piece of blanket that had my scent and put in on the hammock. it definitely helped him adjust to me. i’m not sure if any of this helps as i am just as new to the community as you are! but once i did these things, my little guy seemed to get much better. i hope that you get more answers from others soon!
Thank you for the reply. I don’t think it’s too hot maybe not hot enough? And I’ll try the stuff with my scent but he’s not scared of me and is fine when I pick him up in his tank he’s really calm even outside not really sure why he changes color then goes back to normal.
Your uvb and basking temps are the most important things in the tank -- if those are up to par everything else is going to fall into place- as far as smell what does he smell like? How old is the dragon? Are his femoral pores plugged or leaking ? They will have a smell w/ the pores leaking - you can give him a bath in some unscented baby shampoo but I would wait till he acclimates to his tank and surroundings-- what substrate are you using? Ok so he's little so femoral pores are out- basking temps need to be 105-110 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer- NO coils-- for uvb please
UVB is reptisun 5.0 T8 17 watt and his basking spot when he’s not on it ranges 100-110 when he’s not on it but comes up 90-95 when he is on it not sure why. So what you recommend is I just leave him the way he is and he should be fine?
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Please upgrade the 5.0 bulb to a 10.0 the 5.0 is for aquarium use the 10.0 is for reptiles- is the uvb in the tank? If it is that is where it needs to be especially for the 5.0 distance should be 6-8 inches directly above the basking decor for a 10.0 depending on the screen it can stay on top but it MUST be a wide holed type- fine screen it needs to go inside and the distance should be 12-15 inches- the screen will block approx 30% of the uvb rays--- you want him to get adequate rays this is going to help him stay healthy - diet comes next-- are you feeding salads and dusting his insects?
I will upgrade his UVB tomorrow. He eats Dubai roaches I only dust them twice a week with calcium powder with vitamin d3. He also eats collard greens every day and loves them.
Ok please start feeding the D3 5x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated- and it's great he's eating his salads- please rinse before serving he will get hydration thru them- also start w/ some vitamins w/ beta carotene 2x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated- this will change once he turns 1 or around there - feed as much salad as he wants his main diet is the bugs for now that's going to change around a yr too- I will post a website in the morning for nutrition
Ok thank you so the smell isn’t anything to worry about.
I am thinking not- does he smell like poop? Is his butt dirty or been running in his poop?
He smells like poop but is all clean and I constantly clean his setup the smell only comes from him.
Ok so try bathing him here after he starts eating good and moving around his tank - then he's acclimating you don't want him stressed out more and bathing will do that - get some unscented baby shampoo and bath him in that it will help clean him up just won't smell tho like shampoo-
