How long can juvenile beardies be out of their cages for?

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mcifelli1

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Hello. I have a beardie about 3-4 months old, roughly 8 inches long. I've had him for about 2 months now in a 25 gallon terrarium: 18" eco terra repti glow 10.0 uvb (9am-11pm), 50 watt basking spot light (8am-12pm), and a 60watt repticare ceramic infrared heat emitter (24hours). Tested with a infrared thermo gun: his basking area daytime is anywhere from 90-110f, his cooler side around 82-94f. At midnight when both the uvb and the 50watt light turn off his cage will be around 77-87f. I feed him gut loaded crickets as many as he'll eat and also dusting with calcium 2-3 times a week. Occasionally i give him live meal worms. I also have been experimenting with dandelion greens, spinach, basil, hardboiled eggs, scrambled eggs, carrots, apples, mangoes, bananas, and romaine (yes I realize it has no nutritional value). Needless to say he eats well. He has a water dish changed daily and his "crib" is aesthetically pleasing. I also use the green carpet for the flooring. Ive heard that crickets may eat the carpet and it may be bad for digestion. However I've already thrown out the desert calcium sand after reading about impaction, so i feel i might be acting a little paranoid. I have been bringing him out of the cage as much as possible, also holding ect. He seems to be going through his "puberty" stage, and I say this because he has been throwing me a little attitude lately. Anyways the last couple times I've brought him out I will let him chill on my shirt, climb around or whatever. After about 25-30 minutes he seems to lose total energy. My question is how long I should be taking him out of his cage for? Ive heard that babies and juveniles have a harder time at regulating their body temperature to remain warm. And also how long should adult dragons be out of their temperature controlled home before they might be at any kind of risk?
 

Beardiesforthewin72

Sub-Adult Member
Try setting up a basking spot in the house for him that's what I do then they can chill for as long as they want just make sure he can climb up to the light!
 

tgolden

Sub-Adult Member
You should not have your dragon out for long periods of time. Here is why, they are from a high temp low humidity environment. The higher temps along with uvb is needed to digest food. The higher humidity in your home can cause a ri if the dragon its exposed to it for long periods of time.
by all means take your dragon out some to handle it but don't just think putting a basking light out for him to warm up will provide him what he needs.
 

mcifelli1

New member
Original Poster
Unfortunately I also live in south Florida, where the humidity always seems to be at 85% :shock:
 

sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
I noticed you're using a Reptiglo 10.0, I've known people to use them, but I always found they didn't have the same good effect on beardies as Reptisun 10.0. You might want to look into that. I've used Reptiglo only once & my beardie got sick, so changed to Power Suns, better UVB.

As for keeping beardies out of their tanks, I was told that min for adults to have UVB is 5 hours. Babies would need more because they grow so quickly & so digest their food faster & need the UVB & basking lights to digest their food. They also need to be fed at least twice a day & need at least 3 hours of both to digest properly. I have 5 adults, so it's hard to remember, but I know they were in their tanks for alot of the day when they were younger. I'd stick to only a couple of hours out for now until your baby is older. As adults, mine only eat once a day, so after they've had at least 5 hrs of light, they're let out one by one to run around. They're out more if there's sunshine, as I like to get them out in the sun for at least 1 hour each. I also have a ramp with a power sun on a lampstand at the top, so when they're out running around they have a place to get light & heat. That means, when I'm home on the weekend, they all get out more often.

Hope that helps.
 

tgolden

Sub-Adult Member
sweetiepie9":2e75iq7j said:
I noticed you're using a Reptiglo 10.0, I've known people to use them, but I always found they didn't have the same good effect on beardies as Reptisun 10.0. You might want to look into that. I've used Reptiglo only once & my beardie got sick, so changed to Power Suns, better UVB.

As for keeping beardies out of their tanks, I was told that min for adults to have UVB is 5 hours. Babies would need more because they grow so quickly & so digest their food faster & need the UVB & basking lights to digest their food. They also need to be fed at least twice a day & need at least 3 hours of both to digest properly. I have 5 adults, so it's hard to remember, but I know they were in their tanks for alot of the day when they were younger. I'd stick to only a couple of hours out for now until your baby is older. As adults, mine only eat once a day, so after they've had at least 5 hrs of light, they're let out one by one to run around. They're out more if there's sunshine, as I like to get them out in the sun for at least 1 hour each. I also have a ramp with a power sun on a lampstand at the top, so when they're out running around they have a place to get light & heat. That means, when I'm home on the weekend, they all get out more often.

Hope that helps.

I've been wondering about the power suns. I've heard good and bad. Whats you opinion on them?
 

sweetiepie9

BD.org Sicko
Retired Moderator
I've been using power suns for 5 years & had only had 1 bad one that was replaced right away. So I haven't had any issues with them. Buying 6 a year gets expensive, but I get a 30% discount, as they're cheaper online. I have them all in deep domes on lampstands, and have no lids on the tanks I use. I use very low furniture, but remember I have adults, they can't jump out of a tank like a baby can, I'll attach a pic of the tanks to show you. I have one at the top of the ramp they all use, too, decided it was worth it, as then they can be out when they want.

Rubio's 75 gallon (behind the couch)
044.jpg


Didi's tank, the one is side by side with Lonzo's & Leo's across the living room wall)
045.jpg


Lonzo's tank
046.jpg


Leo's tank:
047.jpg


The ramp:
048.jpg


Gabriel's tank (in my bedroom)]
049.jpg


Hope this helps you see how mine are all set up.
Deb
 
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