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Behavior and Setup for Bearded Dragon. Worried

22 14:31:24

Question
QUESTION: I purchased my dragon two days ago from a pet store. He is about 5-6 inches. He only eats crickets when they come to him and rarely leaves his basking spot. He is shedding and I tried to give him a bath the other day which he did not enjoy. He drank a few drops of water from my finger yesterday and is pooping. He also shuts his eyes alot, and only leaves the basking spot at night. He also prefers crawling on me then his cage. Also, he only ate two cfickets for breakfeast. What is wrong??

Setup:
-20 Gallon Long
-2 Dome lights with: Repti-glo 10.0 UVB white coil light and 100 watt blue light
-Reptile grass
-Water dish
-Dish with rep-cal juvenile dragon food and fresh collard greens
-basking rock
- 3 rocks
-Hot spit is 95-99F and cool side is 83F

Please help I am really worried!

ANSWER: Hello Dallas,

Ok, the main thing that is wrong is the Reptiglo 10 coil light.  Unfortunately, the petstores do not keep up with the lighting problems, etc.  We have had some problems with the upgrade Reptiglo 10 flourescent tube bulbs & coil lights.  They are emitting low wavelength frequency of UVB, which is close to UVC.  They do not have good quality of UVB either, & do not emit enough UVA as well which is very hard on the eyes.  
The best flourescent UVB tube lights are the Reptisun 10 or the Reptiglo 8.  Do not use any compacts or coils, & avoid any ESU/R-Zilla lights, as well as any of the Reptiglo 10 compacts, coils or flourescent tube bulbs.
The blue basking light needs to be taken out.  Instead, use a halogen spot or flood light, or a regular household lightbulb for the basking light.  They do not do well with colored lights, as they are not bright enough.  
What are you measuring the basking temps with?  If you are using a stick on thermometer, I suggest getting a digital probe or a temp gun.  The stick ons only measure the ambient temps or the temperature of the glass so they will not be accurate with the direct basking spot.
Go ahead & get another UVB light as soon as possible.  Switch out that blue light.  Right now, go ahead & turn off & take out the Reptiglo 10 coil light as it is already causing him harm.
Let me know how things go!

Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I bought the Reptisun 10.0 tube light and have already noticed a major difference in his activity. I ordered two infared thermometers, and will replace the blue bulb in the morning. Will replacing the blue bulb help increse the temp of the basking area? I would like to the the basking area up to 105-110, and it only goes to 99 at the moment. How high a bulb can I get? Also, could the reptiglo coil have caused any permanent damage? Is there anything I should/can do? He was only undr for two days.

Thank you very much for your help

Answer
Hello Dallas,

WOW that was really fast!  I am glad that you are already noticing a huge difference in his behavior.  
Yes, replacing the blue bulbs will help with the temps.  Any type of colored glass affects the bulbs' ability to be as hot as its counterparts of bright white lightbulbs, or halogens.  Good you ordered better thermometers, too.  
I think you could get a 75 watt or a 90 watt halogen & that should probably get hot enough to get the basking temps to 105.  
I project that he is going to be perfectly fine now.  Since you only had him under there for 2 days, he is lucky.  How close was the bulb to him?  I am so glad that you sought help when you did.  Since his eyes were not getting swollen, he most likely has not sustained any major irreversible eye damage.  

Tracie