Is this odd behavior?

[xashax]

I've been lurking around here for a few weeks now, and I've got to say, I love you guys! I've learned a lot just from reading these forums!

So, after a lot of reading, I finally picked up a baby - about two months old - at the beginning of this week.

S/he was super mellow and friendly at the breeder's, and seemed to enjoy handling. Among the normal skittishness and expected move-induced stress, s/he will occasionally close just one eye and cock her head to look around with her open eye. Sometimes, she does this with her mouth open, which I know is what they do to thermoregulate, but I get the feeling it's also partially because she feels threatened by my approach (since she seems to do it more when I'm approaching her tank or turning lights on/off.)

S/he's been hanging out in one spot in the tank (on the repti hammock, or on the wood just next to it), moving only to take food out of my hand or tongs.

S/he's about 10 inches long, and is in a 20 long tank, covered on three sides with a desert themed wallpaper, with the hammock and a faux rock hide/basking platform on the warm side side, a low branch on the cool side, a rock just large enough for her to perch herself on in the center, and decorative silk plants throughout the tank. She's got a small, shallow water dish, and, during the day, a small dish of veggies. There's plenty of floor space for her (or at least I'm pretty sure there is.) I have a UVA/basking bulb in a dome, a ceramic heat emitter in a dome, and double UVB strip lights. Temps are good, and it all looks similar to what she was living in before.

I watched her for quite some time in her tank at the breeders, and didn't see her doing the one-eye-closed thing. She's stopped opening her mouth as much as she did the first two days I had her, but I think that might have something to do with me hand feeding her?

Am I doing things right? Does the one-eye-open/head tilt thing seem strange, or am I just being paranoid? (Also, I kjnow she's going to need a larger enclosure soon...any suggestions? I keep my snakes in Boaphile cages, and am wondering if these would be appropriate for a beardie, too?)

[beardielover17]

first off welcome! and now about your dragon...what brand, type of uvb bulb are you using? if its not a reptiSUN 10.0, trex active uv, megaray or arcadia 12% it needs to be replaced also if its a coil UVB it needs to be taken out ASAP they cause eye problems...that could be the reason for you beardie keeping one eye closed because not many UVB bulbs are good for them...you dont need the ceramic heat emitter unless your house gets colder than 60 degrees at night and also how hot is your basking spot and how are you measuring it?

[beardielover17]

also yes a boafile cage is fine as long as its 36 inches long by 18 inches high by 18 inches deep or even larger

[xashax]

I do have a reptiSUN 10.0, the long, strip kind; 24". I have two of them (in a double fixture from Home Depot). I read about the coil ones, which is good, otherwise, I probably would have gotten them without knowing any better. 

I live in an ancient house (in New Hampshire), and this time of year, parts of my house fall as low as 45 degrees at night, even with the house temp set to 70. She isn't in one of those areas, but during the "dry run", the tank fell to 50 degrees at night with the lights off. Using a 60 watt ceramic heat emitter dimmed to about 20 watts, the tank stays comfortable, with night time temps between 62 and 66 degrees. I don't use the heat emitter during the day.

The basking spot peaks at 109.1; all the temps in all my tanks are measured with Cole-Parmer digital food service temp gauges (the ones I have have a range of 32-392 degrees, accurate to within 2 degrees), and I double (and triple) check with the two temp guns we keep in the snake room.

One of my snakes just graduated to her adult enclosure, and I have a spare cage that's 72"L x 24"D x 17.5" H - I know this might be too much for her right now, but would that be tall enough to accomodate her as an adult? I don't have any other spares, as all my other critters have been raised in 10 or 20 long tanks; should I buy an enclosure larger than the 20 long but smaller than the 6' x 2' cage (it's not dividable  )?

Thank you so much!

[beardielover17]

thats a great enclosure to switch her into actually and u only need one uvb bulb...too much uvb is just as bad as too little...for extra light you can use a regular fluorescent tube for added light but everythin seems good...u can bump the temps up a bit but if u see your dragon is digesting properly then u shud b fine...i dont think i mentioned this before but wat substrate do u use?

[xashax]

She's been very active today, exploring her tank, so I feel better about her just basking on the hammock for the first few days.

Right now she's just on paper towels. I'll probably stick with that, or with unprinted newspaper - we use wee wee pads or repti carpet and moss for the snakes to keep humidity up, but I think her nails would get caught in repti carpet, and I would obviously not use wee wee pads for her.

If I move her into the large cage, should I still switch out one of the UVB bulbs for a regular flourescent?

Thanks for your help!

[beardielover17]

yea i would switch one light out for a flourescent still and reptile carpet is just fine to use...ive used it in the past and use it at work and ive never had a problem with it...i honestly love ceramic tiles as a substrate for them, easy to clean, retains heat well, cheap nd a 1 time deal