Does anybody know?

[Weegie]

Hi,I have a one year old BD named Weegie,Well son named him luigi but thats what i call him.Anyways, we went out of town for a couple of months and had a close friend take care of Weegie.When we got back i was told that his calcium supplement wasn't given to him the whole time we were gone.I know how important it is to them and was wondering if anybody knew how long they can go without getting it to where it is harmful.He is acting fine and eating and drinking just fine.

 

[ArdorAndZeal1]

What food was he given? Some feeders have higher calcium than others.

also, you may be better off because it was later in her development than the first few months. So, seeing as you are a caring handler, your BD may have had a strong enough development base to get through the gap.

I would suggest just picking up what you were doing before - 5 feeding cal. dusted, 2 feeding multi vit. dust
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also, what is the Light set up? Uv B wise etc?
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Good Uv B can help development a lot as well!

keep us posted!

 

[Weegie]

She gave him crickets,his veggies and some fruits,also a couple of pinkies every other week.Yes I have a Uv B light,which he is always under, not sure if it is the ReptiGlo I'll have to look.What's a good size for 1 year old BD?He is about 18 inches friends say he should be bigger.Thanks for help and your pic is addorable.

 

[ArdorAndZeal1]

18 inches for a one year is pretty good, particularly since bloodlines in US are generally "watered down".

What sex is it?
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invest in a quality UV B, what kinda of fixture do you have?
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pinkies are good news, because they have a lot of nutrition and high calcium. That probably helped a good deal. But, I wonder if they were too young for em? -- impressive lil BD

(some peeps dont like em because they are too hard to digest in there opinion with our "watered down" blood lines)

 

[Weegie]

It's a male,I bought him around 3 weeks old.So pinkies are good,the vet I work for said you shouldn't feed them pinkies at all so he hasn't had any this week.I bought him a 75 gallon tank,but it was a fish tank that came with lid and the fixture for fish lights so i just took those lights out and put the UV B bulb in and got a screen top and set in on top.He's got a 150 whatt basking light but seems to get to hot in there so gonna down size,don't want to hurt him.

 

[ArdorAndZeal1]

well check the temperature with a infra red thermometer.

the problem with aquariums is that they tend to be very high and not too deep. if the lights are too high, the UV B may not effectively reach your BD.

 

[Weegie]

So what do you suggest other than an aquarium?

 

[ArdorAndZeal1]

general consensus is 40g breeder. Or, better a 50/55/65.

I am about to build a malamine custom tank... theres a great guide in "DIY"

http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=90335

 

[Weegie]

So whats up with not using the stick on themometers?Are they noy good to use cuz i use them,same for the humidity.The store recommended them to me.

 

[ArdorAndZeal1]

ya-- my store recommended me a substrate that would kill a dragon, small dog, rabbit, whatever, if ingested and said it was MEANT TO BE INGESTED and HELPED WITH NUTRITION....

they dont know anything..... in general.
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the stick ons are a good general source. but, they can be off as much as 20 degrees. you can sleek looking digital ones for cheap online anyway, and they will even store the lowest temperature/highest temp so you can check the overnight temp drops etc.

 

[LJean]

The stick on thermometers measure the air temp, not the actual basking spot. They can also be inaccurate.
Pinkies are not a good feeder, generally only recommended for gravid females.

 

[Zemanski]

pinkies are too high in fat to be given more than very occasionally but in this case they probably saved your beardie from calcium problems

 

[Weegie]

He was only getting about 2 maybe 3 every week sometimes every other week but when doc told me that they shouldn't eat them i stopped.I'm gonna take the stick ons out this week.What do you suggest is best for reading temps?The stick on seems to read a little high when it doesn't even seem as high as it says.

 

[Zemanski]

I have a cheap aquarium digital thermometer, it has a probe on a wire, you can get them with 2 probes. I got mine on ebay.
I have it set to measure the hot end ambient temp but most people would measure the basking temp - I use a temp gun for that instead as it is much more accurate even than the digital for measuring surface temps.

The stick on I had in Trevor's old set up was 10 degrees out and measured high which meant that I was keeping my poor baby cold.

I also have a digital hygrometer.

 

[LJean]

The digital thermometers with the probe are inexpesive. I think someone said about $12 at places like Wal-Mart. I use a temp gun because I don't have enough patience to wait 45 minutes for a reading.