LOL, well atleat when yours eats moss its on accident . Rather then leaving the lights on all night you can use that infared light..its red? Becasue Water Dragons need to have a photoperiod...12 hours of dark and 12 hours of light.I remember you telling me you fed him baby food 2x a day, you may want to try feeding him some crix/mealies before tryign the baby food.its great that hes atleast trying to eat . You can also get him a feeding box or tank...and just put him in that so he wont get mouthfulls of moss lol..good luck and let us know how hes doing!

Yah I will switch out the bulbs tonight and put the red one on. He was quite perky this morning after his sauna. Now he is basking - probably thinking "it's about time this crazy chick get me some UV's!"
I absolutely can't get the "cool" side of his tank past 75. I have the heat pad under the water..I guess I could check the water temp maybe its ok. I dunno. Very frustrating. He eyed a cricket again this morning but didn't try and get it. At least he wasn't letting it sleep on his face like he did last week. He hasn't gone for the mealworms either. But he must be feeling better cause when he was in the sauna and I went to feed him his baby food he darted around the box like a crazy chicken then bit at the syringe - which he usually just sits there with his eyes closed. Hopefully this is a good sign?

yes, its a good sign lol..it may take a while before he will take crix and mealies..just have to wait and see lol

Somthing I did for my dragons as babies was pluck the hind legs off each crciket with tweezers then place them in an escape proof bowl. The crickets would be unable to scale the sides and unable to hop out so would be sitting ducks from the ravenous dragons. You might want to consider doing somthing like this if your dragon is having a tough time catching the food. The up side to this is you know exactly how much is eaten on a daily basis, the down side is trying to find someone to pluck cricket legs for you when your out of town.

Hello,

I have a few questions.

The first thing I was wondering is if that UV light fixture has a plastic shield over the light. If it does, you need to remove it. It is filtering out some of the UV.

What type of UV light are you using? (Brand)

How close to the UV Light can the dragon get? From the picture, it appears that he doesn't have a branch under the light allowing him to get close to it.

The dragon needs to be able to get within 12" of the light for the UV to be effective. The further away from the light he is, the lower the UV is that he can absorb. I would actually suggest he be able to get within 8" of the light. (Not the regular lightbulb. I am talking about the flourescent tube.)

__________________

the light is an ESU reptile something or other 75watt and then there is something about 7% UV or something. it's all a foreign language to me! Yes there is a plastic shield, I will try and figure out how to get it off. Looks like it should pop off but it isn't. Lemme see...yes he is within 10 inches of the light - his enclosure isn't really that big. There is a branch under it but I can most def reshape it so he can get higher.
I did the feeding box yesterday and he ate 3 crickets!! YAY!
now my problem is at night. I had 2 infrared's on his cage - a 150watt and a 60 watt and it STILL dropped too low. SIGH. poor little guy. He's in his sauna bath now so he's perking up.

I dont understand how your temps stay so low!! U have a Under Tank Heater rite? I mean I have a 100 watt MVB(mercury vapor bulb) , a hundred watt basking bulb and a Under Tank Heater..sometimes my temps get to hot and I have a 90 gallon..It must be really cold in your house! Also with your temps low I dont suggest 80% humidity..maybe 60...so he isnt at risk for a respitory infection

It is pretty darn cold in my house. I'll get it right...maybe another Under Tank Heater for the non-water side. He def looks healthier and he is under the UV light at the moment on a branch snoozing away. At least he's decided to stick with the living while I figure this out!

Im glad to hear hes doing better

I got an ESU uvb light that came with a shield, I ended up just ripping the shield right off. I hope your little guy is doing better, if you don't already have one I'd suggest to get a digital thermometer/hydrometer as they are WAY more accurate than non digital.

__________________
http://dragcave.net/user/manhirwen