Reptiles - Geckos, Lizards, Snakes, and Turtles!

[Firework*]

I need to get a way to check the humidity. Im adding another light because the cool side of his tank is about 10 degress too cool. I got him last Sunday and he hasnt shed at all since I got him. As far as I know, he hasnt eaten anything except a few tiny bites of salad here and there over the past few days and about two crickets in Tuesday.

[bearcups]

My beardei still isn't shedding. And he hasnt been eating. When I pick him up he feels kind of cold. (I never hold him for long and I only do it about once every two days.) He just lets the crickets crawl on him and he sleeps. Im so worried!

Adding on to what Ostwyn said; you could quickly take him / her to the vet, but really you must not get so impatient about the shedding. They'll do it in their own time, but if they aren't doing it I think its because they're malnourished / dehydrated. What substrate do you keep the dragon on? Do you have heatpads? Do you have a heat lamp? Standing water?

[Clowesia]

My little baby Apple JUST arrived<3 ;u ;
http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/ ... 4rxzi3.jpg
He's just over two weeks old!

Oh, god, I'm so jealous!

I've always wanted a skink, whenever I go to the reptile store they get out their skinks for me to play with and they follow me around like really slow puppies. xD

Yeah I can't wait until I can take him out! x] Gotta let him settle in though.
I'll be playing with Apple as much as possible so I never have any issues with handling, though he was hissing at me when I put him in his cage. xD It was very cute.

[Firework*]

Subtrate is carpet. He does have water. A salad is available 24/7. I mist him just a tad each day. I have three heat lamps. I dont have a heat pad though.

[bearcups]

Being very hands-on is the way to go!

I was that way with my leopard gecko, King. She'll be a year old in...june, I think. So she's 10 months old right now. :3 She's a big girl, very large in size. I have reason to believe that she's got super gecko in her genes, her daddy was a giant leopard gecko and her mum was the normal size. I'm sure I have a picture of her somewhere.

Anyway, ending my ramble, after being very hands on with my 10 month old leopard gecko (Who I bought at just over a week old, and have adored watching her grow and bloom.) she blessed me with the gorgeous placid, docile attitude to life. She's very inquisitive and enjoys watching me rush around my bedroom in the mornings getting ready for school, and she waits patiently by her tank doors every night in the right hand corner because she knows that at exactly 10:30pm, she gets fed and fresh water.



This was taken when she was 3 weeks old. c: We were having problems with putting weight on her, because she got sick, but she pulled through and then became addicted to wax worms, which was a nightmare. But yeah. Have a waving gecko. c:


e_______________e I edited the paragraph into a link because the photo turned out massive.

[Clowesia]

Aha, yes! I was looking to maybe get one of those, but ended up settling on the blue tongue because it seemed to suit me more (and it was about $100 cheaper xD)
She's very darling! cx

[bearcups]

I have a fantastic photo of her on my laptop that I'll share tomorrow. My brother took it with a pretty camera cB

Eh, Leo's are quite expensive. Wouldn't recommend buying locust. They die quick u___u;

[Jazi]

I need to get a way to check the humidity. Im adding another light because the cool side of his tank is about 10 degress too cool. I got him last Sunday and he hasnt shed at all since I got him. As far as I know, he hasnt eaten anything except a few tiny bites of salad here and there over the past few days and about two crickets in Tuesday.

Did you get him from a pet store? While this isn't always the case, some pet stores will unknowingly sell sick animals (usually chains like Petsmart, Petco, etc, and their stock isn't the greatest anyway). I'm going to rapid fire some questions at you, don't read them with any harshness or snark as these are just questions to see what might be the issue :3 You're also going to want to get a hydrometer sometime soon; without that you won't know what the humidity is in your tank, and beardies with high humidity are more prone to respiratory infections (which can cause them to fast and be sluggish).

>Your thermometers, are they the dial kind that stick to the walls of the tank, or do you have a few digital ones with a probe?
If they're the dial sort, and you don't know where to get a digital one or a hydrometer, I found something that does both while costing less than what you'll pay at a pet shop. Radioshack has an outdoor digital thermometer with a probe that will also measure humidity. I have one in my tank; put it at the warm side so that the ambient temperature registers in the "Inside" panel, looped the probe over to the cool side so that the coldest spot registers in the "Outside" panel, and then the humidity will just come up from there. You can set it to Celsius or Ferinheight as well.

>Are your lamps on a timer, dimmer, or a thermostat?
If not, it might be too cold or too warm for him and you'll never know it! Personally I like thermostats the best because they also tell me the temperature of the warmest spot in the tank, which will be your basking spot. They turn off lamps and heating pads plugged into them automatically when it gets too warm, and turn them on again when it's too cold. Amazon.com has this one thermostat that seems to be the cheapest in the industry. It's made for plants but it works just fine with tanks. You can set it to the temperature you want it to be at highest and it will remain on until it hits that, then turn off and wait for the tank to go only 2ºF colder before turning back on again. Being too cold will also give your beardie an RI, and being too warm will give him burns and make him a bit testy and unwilling to act normal.

>Are any of these lamps equipped with a UVB bulb? Are you using an actual reptile heating bulb, or a normal house lightbulb?
Some lizards need sunlight, and while I'm again unsure about the specifics for beardies, if he needs to be supplemented with UVB and you don't have one of those bulbs, that could be a big reason why he's not too willing to move around. While I'm not saying this is what you're doing, some people think that they can get away with spending less and using a normal lightbulb. Oftentimes these don't provide nearly the heat required, so if you're using those that might be why you're struggling to keep him warm. Both should be available at your local pet store in the lizards/snakes/fish aisles.

And again I am admitting that specifics are a bit unknown to me for beardies, but many reptiles need a little bit of alone time in their new home before they're really up to speed on things. I know a good rule of thumb is waiting a week before holding for snakes, and if it's the same for beardies he might just be a little too weirded out to want to do much right now. Shedding will come on it's own time; I'm more concerned about him not eating. If you're still struggling to get the temperatures correct, you can add an undertank heating pad (which DEFINITELY needs to be hooked to a thermostat) to bump it up into the area you need it to be. If he's still not better even when you've got your temperatures and humidity accurate, then I'd take him to the vet. It's possible that he's sick, or if the petstore was keeping him on something that wasn't carpet, he could be impacted.

[Firework*]

The lights arent on a thingy. The thermometers arent in the cage. We have this fancy one that I stick in there every day to check different places around the tank. Yes I have a UVB bulb that is on during the day. I use reptile lights except for one. We use that one to just heat up the cage a little because the temperature was too low.

[Firework*]

I walked downstairs a while ago. He was perky and looking up and a few of the crickets were gone. I think he's okay now. He was probably just cold. Im getting a hydrometer soon