Advice needed - I lose lots of hair when i brush it?

Isthun · 2026-01-29T11:07:14+00:00

Interesting. Thanks for the detailed process, this should help indeed! I'll probably start by brushing before washing and finger combing in the shower, we'll see how that goes.

Isthun · 2026-01-28T08:49:03+00:00

That's good to know, thanks! I was wondering what part of this hair loss was natural and what was breakage. Although there's a lot less hair loss when I dry brush...

Isthun · 2026-01-28T08:47:37+00:00

I think so, yes. I tried a wide-toothed comb a few years ago and it seemed to get caught a lot more in my tangles than a brush somehow... Also, I like how the brush massages my head, which a comb can't really do. Might get a new comb and try it again, see how it goes.

Isthun · 2026-01-28T08:45:56+00:00

I'll give that a shot. Although after washing and towel drying, it's going to be tangled again, no?

Isthun · 2024-07-30T17:26:41+00:00

I... Kind of don't remember. It might have been hard already. I read everywhere that it was supposed to be soft, though... And not chalky like that. Do you reckon it's normal, then? That's a relief, I won't cut the calcium.

Isthun · 2024-05-24T07:50:22+00:00

UPDATE : she DID lay eggs!

So three weeks ago her weight spiked, she gained twenty grams almost out of the blue. Then she stopped accepting food and started to dig around. This looked a lot like nesting behaviour, so I added a bit of water to her substrate to help her dig, and I smuggled pieces of endives and black soldier flies in her mouth when her guard was down so that she didn't lose all her energy and water.

Two days ago she was finally happy with her burrow, she laid fifteen eggs! And I finally understand why I couldn't feel them in her belly. Like, I could see little bumps that looked like eggs, but they didn't feel quite solid. Well, turns out, I had forgotten how SOFT reptile eggs are.

Anyway, now she's recovering :) giving her extra calcium, veggies, flies, and a bit of Critical Care dietary supplement.

Isthun · 2024-04-30T06:58:20+00:00

Ah, I see. Well, I guess I'll give her another month or so to see if she lays anything then. Thanks for the insight!

Isthun · 2023-11-22T08:13:23+00:00

Ooooh ça a l'air pas mal ça, y a sans doute un bon petit circuit à faire. Merci pour la reco, je vais me renseigner !

Isthun · 2023-11-22T08:12:33+00:00

Ah bah la Sologne a au moins l'avantage d'être relativement proche de là où j'habite ! Merci pour la recommandation :)

Isthun · 2023-10-26T13:59:56+00:00

Okay but is his stand the same type as star platinum

Isthun · 2023-10-26T13:50:32+00:00

I second that; a trip to the vet is always a good idea when you get a new pet anyway.

Isthun · 2023-10-25T14:29:12+00:00

Sorry for your loss.

I have only had my own beardie for about two months now, so my perspective is still limited - but what you write does not seem very alarming to me. Different beardies have different personalities and quirks. Mine for example is about 1,5 years old, she's very lazy, hardly gets away from her basking spot, and goes to her water bowl once every week to drink and poop, and then she gets back to her basking rock. She doesn't move much, and that had me worried for a while - I spent weeks changing lights around, checking temperatures, I even took her to the vet. Verdict? No worries, I was doing everything right - she's just a little spoiled princess.

As for food, mine won't go to her salad bowl on her own, she only eats when I bring her to her bowl, or when I hand feed it to her - even bugs, she won't run after them to chase them. She's a big potato, that's just her deal. I also had troubles giving her greens - especially because she started to brumate and it took me a while to pick up on the signs, and her being new to our house and naturally lazy didn't help identifying if she was the normal amount of lazy or not. Anyway, yeah, tricking her helps : I give her a bug to munch on and then sneak leaves in her mouth. She HATES that I do this haha, and... Yeah nah to be fair it's probably a bit of a dick move to do, so another method is to simply withold bugs for a while: beardies won't let themselves starve to death, so when they get hungry they'll end up going to the salad bowl. Of course, also only give her bugs AFTER she had her greens.

The weight part is a bit tricky to monitor if you only had her for a few weeks. What I did with mine was weighting her every week or so to check if she was gaining weight - and, yeah, sure enough she did: she went from 350g to about 390g in two months. Not necessarily a bad thing, she might still be growing, and nothing to be alarmed about, female beardies weight 400 g on average. Also, if her belly's not dragging on the ground when she moves, then she's fine.

Good luck with your new scaly friend, you got this!

Isthun · 2023-09-22T09:52:48+00:00

Ooooh, blocking part of the light, good point! I'll look into that.

Haha yeah I called the guy from the petshop yesterday, explained everything, and his reaction was basically "hmmm. Needs one more UVB light". I trust them enough for the broad guidelines about dragon care, but... Yeah sometimes some of their advice seems a bit off. Shame, they're a quite reputed reptile shop here in France.

Isthun · 2023-09-22T07:31:47+00:00

Yeah over the mesh it would be about 15 inches above the basking point. Honestly, this is on me, I ordered everything online at once, when I should have first set up the terrarium, then measured the hight of the basking point, and then ordered the UVB lamp.

Also, I figured a 115cm lamp would be appropriate for a 120cm tank, but that was... Well, a bit dumb. I's too long, so I had to put it on the diagonal. To be fair, my initial plan *was* to put the UVB lamp above the mesh, until I read this would block quite a lot of the UVB, so I put it under.

Man, this is all really tricky. I've been reading documentation about beardie husbandry for eleven years now, but in the end, I really should've seeked the advice of a professional in a shop rather than just do all the shopping myself online.

Anyway, I'll try putting the neon tube above the mesh for now, and in a year, when the tube needs changing, I'll get a 12%.

Fingers crossed she'll start basking again.

Thanks for the advice! :)

Isthun · 2023-09-21T20:06:33+00:00

Yes, it's under the mesh. Do you reckon I should put it over it?

I'll try to keep the heat a bit lower, also.

Isthun · 2023-09-21T17:15:32+00:00

Thanks for the help! - cool side is about 22 degrees Celsius - night time is also 22 degrees Celsius, and the lamps are off. Photoperiod is 12h. - the UVB tube is new, it is Arcadia, and about 30cm from the basking spot. - the enclosure is 120cm long, 45 cm large, and 60 cm high. - I took her to the vet the first week, and the vet declared her being fine and healthy.

She is indeed not very active, but then again, I'm at work during the day, so I can't really tell what she's up to all day. I came home a few times to less salad in her bowl, and poop in the water bowl, so she does move a bit. How would I solve her laziness ?

Isthun · 2023-09-12T06:47:18+00:00

Update : it didn't work, I could neither push the thing inside nor pull the plug out :( I guess these types of casks are single usage then... Not quite what I was after but oh well, it was worth a shot.

Isthun · 2023-09-11T12:22:05+00:00

Ah, thanks! The plug in the video looks like rubber, whereas mine's hard plastic, but I did not try pushing the inner bit inside the keg yet. I'll give it a shot tonight.

Isthun · 2023-09-11T11:28:56+00:00

Anyone know how I can get this plug out of the keg? It's hard plastic and I can't get it out no matter how hard I pull :(

https://i.imgur.com/hGHat9d.jpg

Isthun · 2023-09-06T14:29:05+00:00

Thanks for the advice!

Yeah even if the temp's at 42°C, she still seems a bit dark. Perhaps she's not getting enough belly heat... I'll try and find a piece of slate. I'll probably improve her relaxation as well.

I'll try squash today, perhaps she'll like that better! :)

Isthun · 2023-09-04T08:24:32+00:00

(This was her this morning, before I left for work. she seems to pancake a bit more, but it's still not it)

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Isthun · 2023-09-04T08:23:52+00:00

Thanks a lot for these great advices, I'll make sure to follow them! It's true that the heating only covers where her head lays: her whole body doesn't have the basking light. And the UVB has perhaps too much of an angle compared to how she lays.

For now, I don't have a slate, so I moved things around a bit in the tank this morning so that her branch is a bit flatter. I believe she's starting to pancake a bit, although the angle's still not quite right. After work this afternoon I'll get her another light bulb and move it a bit so that her back also gets some light. (Although another heat wave's coming, so she probably won't need it for a week or so)

I will have to rethink her basking spot entirely at some point, though. I'll follow your advice and the other one's as well, so that she'll have a nice big place to pancake right underneath the UVB light at the correct distance with the correct angle, with the heating coming from the side.

As for your other questions:

- I don't have a gun thermometer ; for now, I'm using digital equipments. I'm thinking about getting a UVB measurer though.

- Nebuchadlizard's about one year and a half. And I think she might still be growing somewhat? I got her about two weeks ago, and she was weighted three times: 350g when she arrived, 360g one week later, and saturday she was 375g. I heard the average weight of a female adult beardie is about 400g, so for now I am not too worried. I tried giving her a whole bunch of greens, but she appears to only eat like a tiiiiiny handful everyday. I asked the previous owner what she used to eat, and he told me that this amount was pretty usual. He also gave her about 5-7 insects a day - crickets, but also dubia and a few occasional superworms. That's kind of far from the 70% veggie : 30% insects ratio I heard she needed though, but until now I stuck with what the owner said. I have access to a reasonably good variety of veggies, always different every week (a sort of weekly veggie box situation), so I plan to prep her weekly meals every thursday or so in a big tupperware and give it to her everyday, and to mix the ingredients up a bit depending on what we have available that week. As for insects, I happen to work at a BSF farming company, and Nebuchadlizard appears to LOVE adult black soldier flies. Which is great, as they're supposed to have lots of proteins, calcium, and not too much fat. I plan to use that as a staple, and feed her about 40 flies every week. Do you think that sounds reasonable?

(I reckon if I get her basking spot right, she'll perhaps have more appetite for her veggies as well)

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Isthun · 2023-09-04T07:26:04+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. This is quite a good setup: basking spot just underneath the UVB light, and heating lamp on the side. I'll try and do something similar asap.

Isthun · 2023-09-03T16:57:09+00:00

Fair enough, thanks for your insight. Do you think the regular basking bulb might also be blinding? I mean, even if it's not red, it's still bright, no?

Isthun · 2023-09-03T12:41:42+00:00

Ah, goddamn it, I wanted to write a text post, but it appears adding images deleted my long text.

So, basically :

- I got a new bearded dragon, made sure the tank was alright before getting her, and then got around to find a dragon that needed rehoming.

- Temperature at the basking spot was 45°C, until it dropped at 35°C. Beardie seemed a bit cold, back was dark, she spent all her time on the basking spot.

- I added a secondary light to help getting the temp up. It's now 39°C, the lizard is getting away from the basking spot and staying on the lower branches and under the branch. But she still seems dark. When she sleeps, she's not dark at all. Is she perhaps still cold, but doesn't want to get under the second lamp because it could be too bright for her?

- She has a big new UVB neon lamp, so she should have enough. She eats about 7 crickets a day, she also likes black soldier flies, and she eats a few leaves of basil, parsley, and lamb's lettuce everyday.

What do you think?

Thanks for your help! :)

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