I feel like a horrible owner right now :(

I got my bearded dragon about a month ago. I got her from Petsmart (ok now I know bad idea). This was a spur of the moment buy. My fiance wanted a pet. I have 2 big fish tanks that I spent hundreds of dollars on. So he wanted something. I understood and we went to the store and without looking anything up about these animals bought one. Ok yes I know stupid. I don't know anyone that has ever owned one or even heard about them until we got her. So the employees at the store told us to feed her only 5 crickets a day because that's all they need. I not knowing if this was right just did that so she has been getting 5 crickets a day until Saturday when I happened across this site. I feel like the worst owner ever. I have been starving my animal because 1.) the people are pet stores know nothing. Think I would know this after the tons of wrong fish advise I get 2.) I didn't bother to look up if I should be feeding her more. I have learned a lot since Saturday and I am very glad for this site. Sorry if I make anyone mad about not taking care of my pet correctly. I feel horrible and have learned a big lesson.

P.S. She is now eating 2 times a day for 10 minutes each time. And she is looking much happier with her stress marks gone.

Hey,don't worry.! You made the attempt to go online and look up info,and came across this site..that's all that matters now. Your a great owner to have changed your ways to have a healthier and happier beardie

Can you tell us about your setup.? Tank size,temps,uvb bulbs,substrate,food.? Sounds like you got the 2x's a day as much as they can eat in 10 mins..are you using a good calcium and vitamin as well.?

Welcome again.!

mommisgurl":220fq3tw said:

Can you tell us about your setup.? Tank size,temps,uvb bulbs,substrate,food.? Sounds like you got the 2x's a day as much as they can eat in 10 mins..are you using a good calcium and vitamin as well.?

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Yea she is in a 75 gallon. 110 basking and 85 overall temp. UVB is a zoomed 5.0. Going to buy the 10.0 when I get paid. She is on reptile carpet. I don't know how old she is. The people told me she was 4 months but there is no way. She is about 6 inches long right now. I am guessing about 6 weeks to 7 weeks old. She eats her crickets 2 times a day and then collard greens in the morning. I am using calcium 5 times a week and vitamins 2 times a week.

I have also learned about meal worms while I have had her. The people also told me that I can feed meal worms instead of crickets. So for 1 whole week she got meal worms. That was a horrible idea. She was so plugged up and hadnt gone in 4 days. It took 1 hour of ribbing her tummy and baths to make her go I will just never feed meal worms as whole meals again.

I have some pics of her.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/581269_10151058112268143_10103094_n.jpg When we first got her

http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/400550_3889992881095_775404686_a.jpg A couple days ago

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/558382_3875037747226_1395646672_n.jpg Cat watching her

Most of us have been in your shoes. First thing we got for ours was meal worms too. You have done nothing wrong! Common sense tells us we can believe people who work in these stores. The day we went to buy everything for our first little girl, the lady who helped us said she has bearded dragons herself. So I assumed she would know what she was talking about. This woman told us sand was a good idea (wrong), meal worms were fine (wrong), a fish tank thermometer was fine (wrong), those bags of food that have a picture of a bearded dragon on the front that you just add water too was all we needed for greens (wrong). I could go on and on, but you get the idea....

This site and the people on it are just amazing. There is always someone who can answer your questions and concerns and they are all so helpful.

Please don't beat yourself up!!!

Cute pics by the way.

Ok so I dont feel so horrible now. And thank you are everyone who was given me advise

GOOD!!! That's what we are here for.

looks like a fat and happy dragon in the most recent picture. Good job seeking out the right information

yeah, i think most first time owners have been through that.

it wasn't until one of my beardies died that i found this site.

back when i had an iguana there were no forums about taking care of them (wow, i feel old) and he almost died because the petstore we got him from didn't give us the right info. "they don't need any special lights, just a red heat lamp for the night" - he almost died. my mom had a friend who owned a petsore and he GAVE her the UV light that saved his life. we only bought anything from him after that.

I too had gotten our beardie from a friend who just bought him from Petsmart and they too told him to only feed him once a day and 5 crickets. He was so tiny when we got him. Found this site, changed out ways and now just as your pictures show our little guy has fattened right up and has become super active! I don't understand why if your working at a pet store you wouldn't take time to learn about the animals you are selling! Plain stupid, that's what they are! Good luck He/she is a super cute

Thanks . I am just glad I found all this out before she got sick or worse. I am also going to start buying crickets online because all the crickets that I saw there today were all gross looking and were this dark black color.

I don't know if you've read or heard, but when you get your Reptisun 10.0 bulb, make sure it's a linear tube, not a coil. The coil bulbs have been known to cause eye problems. You want a tube that will run 1/2 to 2/3 the length of your tank and you need to mount it INSIDE the enclosure toward the basking end, so your beardie can soak up the UVB while he/she basks. If you need advice or recommendations on how to get your fixture mounted inside, let us know. There are a lot of different solutions depending on what type of fixture you get.

BTW, definitely don't feel bad about doing things wrong the first week or two. MANY of us have been there. I made the mistake of buying one of those stupid starter kits that had ALL the wrong stuff in it when I got my first beardie. A week in and the only items I was still using were the tank itself and the food dish! If only I'd found this site BEFORE I wasted $120!

This is definitely the right place! Saved my beardie

I feel SO bad for you right now. You sound so guilt ridden. There is no reason to be honestly. And you caught things in time. Everything is great now. But I know how you feel. I can think back in my childhood where I had pets and did everything wrong. It wasnt' my fault, there were no books on exotic species that were accurate and not net. It doesn't matter, the guilt absolutely haunts me. But with you, at least you did fix things. I didn't get so lucky at times. Petsmart tells us the wrong things here as well. Just like what they told you. Whats funny? Is their dang care sheet does have some good info (not nearly good enough, but still). Yet they can't even adhere to that?? And good luck telling them any different. They get all uppity no matter how humbly you approach them. Know what Im haunted by? I always wonder, how many dont make it after they sell them becaues of their poor information? I bet a lot suffer. Its awful.

But its not awful for you and your baby now!!!! Everything is going to go no where but up from here. Woo hoo!