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#1714291
Gnuby
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Goober Blues? 
We didn’t have a very strong winter here (Maryland, near D.C.), but we did have nasty cold and rainy weather for some time. It only in the last few weeks started to be decent outside and actually look like spring. We still get a good day or two of solid rain/yucky weather. I tried switching the 150w bulb down to a 100, but then his ambient temps dipped and stayed a bit lower than I like, although his basking spots were still high enough. He is still eating, it seems every other day he eats a bit more, the opposite days he just munches. I know he gets out because there is poop in a lot of strange places (how do they get their poop behind the largest and heaviest rock structures anyway??). Every once in a while during the day I catch him basking, but he isn’t out nearly as much as he used to be. He had a huge spike in activity level soon after installing the MegaRay bulb, but he has settled down in the weeks after. I assumed it was a ’winter slowdown’ but it seemed to happen a bit later in the season. We do some work in the reptile room at night (feeding nocturnals) but nothin really past midnight, so we can’t really be keeping him awake too much. I weighed him last week and he had only lost 2grams, which I don’t consider much, could have been digestive related. When I do see him out and basking he is fine, just seems to have more ’lazy days’ recently. Any ideas as to why he could be acting like this? Thanks yall!
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04/23/08 11:15pm
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#1714844
Skullkeeper
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Message To: Gnuby In reference to Message Id: 1714291
Goober Blues?
It’s April, almost May so it is defiantly not a winter slow down. First get your temps right and keep them consistent . The majority of problems with Uro’s is not having the proper temp. gradient . Double check your thermometers . I do not remember if you posted about your set up before . More info would be helpful like the actual measurements of the cage , actual temps , night time temps ,types of thermometers , foods being feed,substrate ,and when he last gad a fecal done etc. Read the post , " Read before posting ".Your Uro needs consisted, accurate temps and 12 hours of darkness . If that means covering the cage at while your in the room them do it . If your in there with the light on it may disturb him .
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04/24/08 03:37pm
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#1715362
Gnuby
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Message To: Skullkeeper In reference to Message Id: 1714844
Goober Blues?
Yea, with it almost May I was thinking, ’yea, he should be over this’. There may have been some temperature consistency issues for a bit when we relocated one of the snakes who had a large set up giving off a good amount of heat to the room. He was out and eating today being all grumpy looking because he is still doing some major shedding. Goob is in a 75g (48"x18") his Accurite has been reading warm side from around 97-100, and cool side from 79-85 depending on if the stand-alone heater kicks on. With the IR gun I get a basking spot under his 100w SB Mega-Ray ranging from 132-119 down the log. And, on his other basking rock I get IR gun temps of closer to 126-110 with a 150w ’basking bulb’. His night time temps were diping to about 75 by full cool-down, but up until about 11pm it can be as high as 81 on the warm side and 79 on the cool side. Because we took out the 3 snakes and there were less UTHs on 24hrs, we brought up a Lasko (I think that is the brand) 3foot tall heater that we set to kick on and maintain at least 78* (for the other animals too). Goob’s tank still seems to get down to around 76-77 I believe, but I don’t check throughout the night. I assume it will stay around the 78 that the heater is set to. This is recent (about a week) previously he always went down to 73-75 at night. For food he typically gets a mix of Endive and Escarole every day, and then we rotate in Bok Choy or Dandy greens. Recently he has gotten a Dandelion flower every few days. Maybe once a week I give him some seed or lentils. (Sorry if this seems scattered, I’m trying to respond in order of questions.) He is on washed play sand that has been completely sifted on two occasions, I believe we went with the QuickCrete brand this time. He had his last fecal around a year ago, he had two clean fecals after being treated for the pinworms he came with. I’ve been waiting to catch a fresh one during a time the vet is open to bring it in for a check up -- as I mentioned in a post not too long ago. I can see that the 12 hours of darkness is probably a big problem. I remember back when I first got him and his lights were not on timers yet that he wasn’t out as much, but for about 11 months he has been on 8am-8pm. But, having nocturnal animals in the same room, we are in there at anywhere from 10pm to 12am feeding the other guys. We have been remodeling the house a big, and the snakes have come downstairs to the eating room, we may move the other guys to different places in the house, or move Goober. His tank is the largest and heaviest, so we have to find a good place and stick with it. We will try covering the tank when we are in there, hopefully the noises of stuff we are doing for the other reptiles will bother him less. I wish I was able to be home during the peak time he would be out, but I pretty much have to go off weekends. And, he is a geyri, and still pretty skittish. I found using long grill tongs to put his food in his dish doesn’t make him scurry off as much, so that is good. Maybe we will get some sort of black curtain and attach that to the ceiling around his tank that we can pull over after his lights go out when we are in there. I’ll discuss ideas with the boyfriend (the tank mover! haha) and see what he thinks. Thanks SkullKeeper, I’ll keep an eye on his activity and see if it gets better with the replaced light and new room heater.
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04/24/08 08:44pm
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#1715717
Skullkeeper
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Message To: Gnuby In reference to Message Id: 1715362
Goober Blues?
I would have another fecal done just to be on the safe side . I have one done every year on my Mali.I think keeping your temps right on and finding away so that its dark at night will help . Keep us posted .If you could set up a baby moniter or camera during the day ,so you could see just how much he is out , it would give you a better idea just how active he is when no one is around .
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04/25/08 06:27am
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#1716055
Gnuby
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Message To: Skullkeeper In reference to Message Id: 1715717
Goober Blues?
Haha, that baby monitor idea is too cute! He was out by about 10:40 this morning lookin for food, and he was out yesterday as I mentioned. It could be that I just happen to be home checking in on him when he is already done for the day. Maybe I’ll make a little Goober web-cam site so I can spy on him at work and such!
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04/25/08 02:50pm
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#1716258
Skullkeeper
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Message To: Gnuby In reference to Message Id: 1716055
Goober Blues?
If you do we would all love to see it too . I mean they are our babies aren’t they ? I have seen a few Urocams . Love to see more .
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04/25/08 06:02pm
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