Baby beardie questions?

[LizardLady]

I would love a copy if this is that's ok please?!

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I spoke to this guy who own my local reptile supplier, and he said due to Ajax's age, he needed heat during the night, and that's why he wasn't eating. It was taking too long for him to warm up after getting so cold during the night. I bought a 75w moonlight globe, the blue one, and he's doing much better. Although I think I may need to take him to the vet because it seems difficult for him to poo.

Umm, just for clarification here, are you still heating the enclosure at night?

They really DON'T need night heating, in fact, it will stress the animal. They need to cool themselves for sleeping during the night.

The ONLY time they need night heat is if the animal is injured, unwell, convalescing or the ambient temperature of your house and enclosure drops below 16 degrees. In which case, gentle, "supplemental" heating in the way of under-tank heating (low wattage heat-mat under the substrate/tank if glass) is all that is needed.

Any "light" at night doesn't help their diurnal sleep patterns (just like us), and so the animal will be tired, stressed, cranky, won't want to eat, bask etc...

 

[dragonfoot]

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Umm, just for clarification here, are you still heating the enclosure at night?

They really DON'T need night heating, in fact, it will stress the animal. They need to cool themselves for sleeping during the night.

The ONLY time they need night heat is if the animal is injured, unwell, convalescing or the ambient temperature of your house and enclosure drops below 16 degrees. In which case, gentle, "supplemental" heating in the way of under-tank heating (low wattage heat-mat under the substrate/tank if glass) is all that is needed.

Any "light" at night doesn't help their diurnal sleep patterns (just like us), and so the animal will be tired, stressed, cranky, won't want to eat, bask etc...

The guy who owns All Things Slimey, the reptile store near me, said it would be better for Ajax, and it seems like he's doing a little better. He's still not a massive eater, but he's eaten both yesterday and the day before, at around 5pm he'll come down from his basking branch to inspect the crickets, he'll eat one or two then go right back up there. I think he's trying to stick to the routine the breeder had him on, which seems to have been woodies at 5pm every day without veg (i'm just guessing here). He seems like he wants to eat, it's just something is keeping him from gorging himself. Maybe I have the world's only self-conscious lizard! lol.

To be honest, I can't remember exactly why he told me to put the blue light in, but I do remember that it had something to do with Ajax feeling like his body temps aren't getting high enough, quick enough, to feed in the mornings, and he said the blue light would create a stable temperature in his tank during the night so he doesn't have to heat up as much. The guy said after Ajax was 3mo, he'd be practically indestructible. Until then, the blue light will help him feel like it isn't taking so long to heat him up after a night with no heat at all.

OH, he also said that he heat mat wouldn't really do much for Ajax, since he sleeps on his branches, and his tank is glass thus is holds no warmth. I've added plenty of foam insulation, and I'm in the process of making some tank furnishings made out of foam so hopefully more warmth will be held in his tank for longer.