Is it normal for a bearded dragon to sleep in the day?

Question

my beardie has taken to sleeping on and off for most of the day. She eats well and fine and eats all her veg too but within an hour or so of getting up and eating she goes back to bed!! Then she will wake up for a lunch feed then maybe she will spend some time out of her cage but then straight back to bed where she usually stays until lights out. She is 13 weeks old and has all the right equipment, and i dust her food everyday with calcium and vit powder, does anyone Else's beardie sleep this much?

Answer 1

When mine was a baby it didn't sleep much during the day but now she's gotten rather lazy and flattens herself out on the heating mat to doze in her half log.  I would reccomend that you check the temperatures in her tank.  It should vary between 75-85 at various points in the tank plus the basking spot varying between 95-110.  Make sure that there is the full range of temperatures instead of a single one or your beardie won't be able to thermoregulate adequately and can either stop eating or overheat.  Never use a "hot rock" as reptile nervous systems can't tell when they are too hot until after the often fatal damage has already been done.

Despite a previous post, as a baby, a beardie have a very high vitamin/mineral demand.  Especially if you are using the premixed calcium/vitamin powders, don't discontinue using it.  The need for daily calcium supplements out weighs the vitamin A risk.  If you are using separate calcium and vitamin powders, only use about half the directed dosage daily for the vit powder but ONLY if it contains vitamin A, not all do.  The one I use has the vit A in the form of beta carotene which is somewhat less toxic.  Make sure that you are also using a UVB specific lamp without any glass or plastic between the bulb and your beardie.

Make sure she is eating enough and that her entire cage is brightly lit or her body will shut down.  She should be eating 2-3 dozen crickets (sometimes more) spread out in 2-3 feedings a day.  In about a month you should cut it down to 1-2dozen once a day until she is 8-12 months old (when it needs to be cut down to every other day and only weekly dustings of calcium and vitamins).  Crickets (or any other food other than fine veined leafy stuff) should never be larger than the distance between the beardie's eyes.  It is impossible to overfeed a baby, they need to eat almost constantly and it is a good idea to offer veggies at all times so she won't get too hungry between meals but don't leave a lot of extra crickets in the tank.  Don't feed mealworms until at least 8 months, any younger and a beardie can't digest the exoskeleton and can die from impaction.  Pheonix worms are excellent though at any age and beardies will gladly pig out on an entire container at one sitting...but that would make for a fat beardie as they are very high in nutrients and is expensive.  As she gets older she may start eating more veggies and less live food but let her choose.  Some young adult beardies eat only veggies, some older adults eat several dozen full sized crickets every week and won't even look at anything green but most fall somewhere in the middle.  Mine currently goes through two dozen crickets a day and a large bag of salad mix weekly.

Just as a reminder, don't use sand until she is 8 months old to prevent impaction.  Paper towels or newsprint should be used until then, all other substrates have their own various issues.  When/if you do put her on sand, make sure that it is the calcium kind.  It won't contribute to the calcium intake (it's in the wrong form) but it is softer and less likely to cause problems.  Quartz/sillica/playsand all have dust that acts like asbestos and it is impossible to remove, no matter how much you wash the sand.

That you have her out of the cage at 13 weeks worries me.  Until beardies are at least 8" long, they should not be picked up or out of their cage due to the risk of injury/loss no matter how careful you are.  If she climbs on your hand, great!  But keep her in the tank even if she is on your hand.  You can still interact with her quite a bit even when you can't pick her up.

Answer 2

Hey, I have two beardies one is nearly a year the other is 6 and both mine  do the same I don't think its anything to worry about. I think at this time of year they say to reduce their hours of sun and heat as that would be the effect if they were in the wild. I have to say i have never done this. I think its just normal so don't worry to much sounds like your doing a good job. If you are still really worried just call the shop you brought her from amd ask them for some advice they should be able to advice you further. x*x

Answer 3

Since vitamin powder has betacarotine in it to help produce vitamin A for dragons and other lizards i would recommend to stop using the vitamin powder and reduce it to once a week, what happens when they get too much of vitamin A, first can be toxic, and second it might produce symptoms like sleeping and swollen throat also swollen eyes so be careful how you use the vitamins