Urgent, bearded dragon is inactive

[TheLastGreen]

My brother, Gerhard, has a beardy named Velkor. He's 7 years old, around 30 cm from head to tail.
Recently Velkor's gotten really inactive, for 3 days he's been on the same spot. Velkors' neck twitches above his right scapula. I'm afraid to say from what we see now, it seems Gerhard's gotten the wrong info from the start, just like in the tort hobby.
His enclosure is about 0,75m², and has a spiral and red heat lamp. He's also got a heatpad.
The substrate is paper towels.
Velkor has a water bowl and a little food bowl. Gerhard feeds him little bearded dragon pellets, butternut, a little piece of apple rarely and some cut up cucumber. A while back he had crickets, Velkor is also offered bellpeppers and brocolli, but Velkor shows no interest in them.
Velkor pooped a week ago.
My brother also wants to know if he's claws are too long? His beardy has a habit of folding his hands inward when he sits, could this be a sign of something?

 

[wellington]

@Tom

 

[Tom]

My brother, Gerhard, has a beardy named Velkor. He's 7 years old, around 30 cm from head to tail.View attachment 346200
Recently Velkor's gotten really inactive, for 3 days he's been on the same spot. Velkors' neck twitches above his right scapula. I'm afraid to say from what we see now, it seems Gerhard's gotten the wrong info from the start, just like in the tort hobby.
His enclosure is about 0,75m², and has a spiral and red heat lamp. He's also got a heatpad.
The substrate is paper towels.
Velkor has a water bowl and a little food bowl. Gerhard feeds him little bearded dragon pellets, butternut, a little piece of apple rarely and some cut up cucumber. A while back he had crickets, Velkor is also offered bellpeppers and brocolli, but Velkor shows no interest in them.
Velkor pooped a week ago.
My brother also wants to know if he's claws are too long? View attachment 346202His beardy has a habit of folding his hands inward when he sits, could this be a sign of something?

-Does Velkor ever get direct sunshine? The neck twitching makes me think advanced MBD.
-Calcium supplementation? Does Gerhard dust the crickets?
-Is he gut loading the crickets?
-Get rid of the red bulb and replace it with a "white" incandescent. A 100-150 watt flood will probably do the trick, but since its winter there, do make sure basking temps directly under the bulb are getting well over 40C, and ambient temp in the rest of the enclosure should be around 26-27C.
-Get rid of the coil bulb and replace it with an Arcadia ProT5 kit, or a ZooMed T5 HO 10.0 bulb and fixture. The new ZooMed LED UV will work too, if it is available there.
-A secure outdoor cage, like a rabbit hutch, will allow real sun on warm enough days. Be sure there is ALWAYS shade and a cooler area to retreat to, and it will be more inviting if there is a log or rock perch in the sun too. Watch those temperatures. They can cook in minutes on a hot sunny day if you aren't careful.
-Use a CHE set on a thermostat if night temps are dropping below 21-22C in the house.
-Like tortoises, they should not be fed fruit, and the veggie portion of the diet should be mostly leafy greens like dandelions, sow thistle, mallow, narrow or broadleaf plantain, kale, collards, mustard greens, arugula, endive, escarole, cilantro, various lettuces, etc... It will take a long introductory period to get him to eat these new, better, and unfamiliar items. Chop up small amounts of the new stuff and mix with the old favorites. It will take weeks.

 

[TheLastGreen]

-Does Velkor ever get direct sunshine? The neck twitching makes me think advanced MBD.
-Calcium supplementation? Does Gerhard dust the crickets?
-Is he gut loading the crickets?
-Get rid of the red bulb and replace it with a "white" incandescent. A 100-150 watt flood will probably do the trick, but since its winter there, do make sure basking temps directly under the bulb are getting well over 40C, and ambient temp in the rest of the enclosure should be around 26-27C.
-Get rid of the coil bulb and replace it with an Arcadia ProT5 kit, or a ZooMed T5 HO 10.0 bulb and fixture. The new ZooMed LED UV will work too, if it is available there.
-A secure outdoor cage, like a rabbit hutch, will allow real sun on warm enough days. Be sure there is ALWAYS shade and a cooler area to retreat to, and it will be more inviting if there is a log or rock perch in the sun too. Watch those temperatures. They can cook in minutes on a hot sunny day if you aren't careful.
-Use a CHE set on a thermostat if night temps are dropping below 21-22C in the house.
-Like tortoises, they should not be fed fruit, and the veggie portion of the diet should be mostly leafy greens like dandelions, sow thistle, mallow, narrow or broadleaf plantain, kale, collards, mustard greens, arugula, endive, escarole, cilantro, various lettuces, etc... It will take a long introductory period to get him to eat these new, better, and unfamiliar items. Chop up small amounts of the new stuff and mix with the old favorites. It will take weeks.

Yes, he dusts the crickets loads before setting them in.
Velkor doesn't get any sunlight, so we'll remove the coil bulb and replace it, and provide a safe and shaded hutch
(Also I saw somewhere something on MVB, but I'm guessing the bulbs are still too unreliable, what do you think about them?)
I just want to make sure, the flood bulb, is it like a basking bulb? I do see some neodymium bulbs and these Sun glo UVA bulbs
We'll get the CHE, we also saw that the red light gave in, and was warm to the touch, not even hot, so this may be the culprit.
We'll also change the diet immediately.
Thanks again, we really do appreciate it

 

[Tom]

Yes, he dusts the crickets loads before setting them in.
Velkor doesn't get any sunlight, so we'll remove the coil bulb and replace it, and provide a safe and shaded hutch)
(Also I saw somewhere something on MVB, but I'm guessing the bulbs are still too unreliable, what do you think about them?)
I just want to make sure, the flood bulb, is it like a basking bulb? I do see some neodymium bulbs and these Sun glo UVA bulbsView attachment 346211
We'll get the CHE, we also saw that the red light gave in, and was warm to the touch, not even hot, so this may be the culprit.
We'll also change the diet immediately.
Thanks again, we really do appreciate it

MVBs can work for a bearded dragon, but I wouldn't want to use one without a Solarmeter. 6.5. Some make no UV at all. Some only make UV for a few months. Some make too much UV.

I prefer a flood lamp to a spot, if possible. It creates a wider basking area with less chance of intense hot spots.

UV is strongest mid day. This time of year in the RSA, there isn't much point in putting him outside morning or evening. Better to leave him inside with a strong UV source at those times of day.

To recap:
1. Get temps correct for both day and night.
2. Get the right colored bulb (no color) for basking.
3. A good strong UV source is necessary.
4. Calcium supplementation is needed. I'd use one with D3 in this case.
5. Improve the diet. More insect variety, if possible. Roaches are best if they are available.
6. Indoor enclosure for an adult should be around 61x122cm, at the minimum.

 

[wellington]

Dusting the cricket with loads is not what Tom was asking. Dusting them with calcium is different then gut loading the crickets.
The crickets have to be fed before feeding to your lizard. Crickets are not really any value if they are not fed just before feeding to the lizard.

 

[TheLastGreen]

Dusting the cricket with loads is not what Tom was asking. Dusting them with calcium is different then gut loading the crickets.
The crickets have to be fed before feeding to your lizard. Crickets are not really any value if they are not fed just before feeding to the lizard.

I see I missed that, he dusts them with d3, but he doesn't gut load them. Normally when you get them from the shops they're in a container with a few small pieces of carrots. Judging from what Tom said on diet, this must be useless. How do you guys gutload your crickets and roaches, do you feed them with the salads mentioned above? Should you start a colony of roaches/crickets?

 

[wellington]

@Tom can answer that better. It's been a while since I fed crickets. If you can feed roaches those are better then crickets. I also fed my bearded on occasion worms.
If I remember right, there is cricket food available to buy. I also would throw in potato, greens, carrots, and be sure they have a water source. Tom should have more on what to feed crickets.

 

[Tom]

I see I missed that, he dusts them with d3, but he doesn't gut load them. Normally when you get them from the shops they're in a container with a few small pieces of carrots. Judging from what Tom said on diet, this must be useless. How do you guys gutload your crickets and roaches, do you feed them with the salads mentioned above? Should you start a colony of roaches/crickets?

You will get as many opinions on gut loading as you will how to house tortoises. Here is what has worked for me for decades of raising roaches and feeding them to all manner of insectivores. I want to give some background info so that anyone reading knows where this info is coming from. Its not something I made up last week after my first few days of keeping my first reptile. At one time I had 18 species of roaches in 40 bins in my reptile room. Now I am down to three species and 5 or 6 bins. My first roach colony was started with hissers in 1992. They are still going strong! I have raised the following species from baby to adult on my roaches: Red tegus. black and white tegus, black throat monitors, water monitors, Ackie monitors, savanna monitors, blue tongue skinks, bearded dragons, tokay geckos, African fat tail geckos, skunk geckos, leopard geckos, meller's chameleon, calyptratus chameleons, 50+ tarantula species, Asian forest scorpions, African Emperor scorpions, pac man frogs, budgets frogs, African bullfrogs, American bullfrogs, countless aquarium fish species, and I'm sure there are more that I don't remember....

I list all of that because I read all sorts of fantasy information on the internet about what to feed or not to feed roaches, and the dire consequences of feeding them the wrongs stuff. Its hogwash. Here is how I have been caring for roaches since 1992. I keep them in plastic tubs or glass tanks with egg flats. There are cardboard dividers between each egg flat. Egg fats are those paperboard trays that are used to bring chicken eggs to market. I use 12x12 inch trays which hold 30 chicken eggs. These make an ideal environment for raising most roach species and maximizes surface area for them to live. I don't really "gut load" my roaches, because I am feeding them daily. I maintain colonies. In one corner of the bin I put down something wet like carrots, potatoes, watermelon, oranges, bananas, strawberries, cucumber, apples, etc... Just about anything works. In the other corner I put plain dry dog kibble. I use various brands, and I do not break it up in any way. They can eat whole kibble. I will throw in leftover table scraps, leftover Mazuri, leftover canned dog food veggie mix if my blue tongue skink doesn't eat it all, chunks of pumpkin, and a wide variety of other fruits, veggies, and assorted stuff.

I HATE crickets and have not used them for 20 years, but when I used to keep them, I gut loaded them the same way. Dog or cat kibble and some wet fruit or veggie for moisture.

I tried those water crystals and other watering method, and they don't do anything except make a mess and cause problems. The roaches get what they need from the wet food.

Fish food flakes can work on a small scale, but I use about 2 pounds of dog kibble and the equivalent of about 3-6 large apples per day to feed my colonies. I'd go broke trying to use that much fish food flake, and I don't care for the preservative in the fish flakes either.

With the volume of roaches I've raised, and the volume and variety of animals I have fed with my roaches, I would have seen problems if there were problems with doing it this way. Instead, I saw/see no problems of any kind. Good growth rates, strong healthy bones, active healthy animals with great color, and properly formed hard shelled eggs from adult females.

I would set up a container of some sort for your feeder insects. Put in some kibble and some wet food. Put in some hiding areas like egg flats, or paper towel tubes. When its time to feed the lizard, drop a few bugs into a plastic cup with some calcium/D3 powder and shake them all around to coat them with it. Feed these insects to the dragon one at a time. I follow up with an insect or two that is not coated. I feed my lizards daily and I do the calcium dust about 3-4 days per week, feeding un-dusted regular insects the other days. My lizards have strong indoor UV sources in addition to getting sunshine on occasion. As I said previous, I've rained many species from baby to adult this way and successfully reproduced some of them too.