wannabe newbie beardie with questions please help

Hi there Im Steph
I am a soon to be new beardie owner wanted to do lots of reasearch on them before he/she actually arrived as of course all good responsible pet purchasers should. The name will most likely be Charlie at the request of my 6 year old son who is obsessed with Charlie and Lola even now.
Im taking my kids to see some again today and the husband make sure everyones happy and then we'll by the set up get it all ready before we actually pick our new family member up. Im a child minder and we already have rabbits and fish who are much loved and treated well by everyone. Needless to say any child who mistreated my animals would be out on their ear immediatly. I fell in love with beardies about 6 months ago on a first visit to Shirleys in Oxford when they let me hold a juvenile and have been besotted ever since, much to the surprise of my husband who thought I went more for cute and furry animals. I think the fact I am not mad on snakes may have been part of the cause for his surprise but well they are a completely different animal and so playful. I can't believe the day is almost here that Ill go and pick up my new little friend I am sssssssssooooooooo excited

I have a couple of questions which I think only beardie owners can really help me best with. The first one probably obvious is which substrate???? Now I know most of you will be saying NOT SAND!!! I have read in several places its not especially good for their little tums if they ingest it as they get impacted so what do you think I ought to go for ???? If you can say what you think and why you like it compared to other things it would help me to make an educated decision instead of a stab in the dark.

I am opting for a lone dragon rather than a pair s/he would get a lot of attention and I read they can become terrotorial and possessive of their owners due to the strong bond which can cause a pair to fight. Thoughts please I want to make sure my baby is happy and if it means s/he needs a beardie playmate then that is fine.

Last question I also read that pesticide exposure is really bad hense not giving them any bugs from the wild but does that mean any veg or leafies ought to be organic or is washing before hand adequate?? Also am I right in thinking they are better off being given bottled mineral water as this one has varied between books and sites. Most places say they are not great drinkers and a spray is a good idea would a plant sprayer be ok for this??

Sorry to bombard you all but I want to get everything right for my baby and give him or her the very best possible care I can and that will only come with education no one can offer me better than exsisting owners so forgive me if i end up on here every day asking things I thank you in advance for your patience and support.

Thanks for your time
Newbie Steph xxx

IMHO, Tile is the way to go for substrate. It's sanitary, easy to clean, looks nice and keeps nails filed. You can get it cheap at Home Depot. If you run your nails over it and can get a grip, so can he. There's no need to seal it, just put paper towel under to catch any seepage, wipe up poos with a baby wipe and take them out for a scrub down every week or 2.

You heard right, NO PLAYMATES! Not because they're territorial of you, but because they're territorial, period, and don't like having others in their face.

Organic veggies don't hurt any, and at lots of supermarkets (Fred Meyers come to mind) there's no price difference, so I go organic whenever it's availible, but if it's not, yes, handwashing is fine... the US has very strict pesticide laws, so there's not any significant danger after washing. A plant sprayer is fine, make sure to spray them outside their enclosure to prevent chance of respiritory infection. Personally, I don't spray mine and it's never hurt them any as far as I can tell. Just make sure to give frequent baths because they absorb through their vents (where the poop comes out) so that keeps them hydrated. (At least once a week, babies more frequently). Actually, bottled water & tap water have very little difference unless you have old pipes. There are more regulations to make tap water safe for comsumption, and unless your water specifically claims to be bottled at the spring or whatever, it IS tap water. (I love Good Eats...) So you can do whatever makes you more comfortable, but since there's little point in having a water source in his tank (It'll probably get used as a toliet if it's used at all), and you don't want to fill a tub/sink with bottled (I know I don't, anyhow)...

Go ahead and bombard away, we love to see people getting educated before their little friend comes home!

**Edit** And after re-reading, I get the impression you're actually English, not American? In which case I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the laws regulating pesticides/water there, or what an equivilent store to Home Depot would be, but I know there are others from England here and maybe they can help out a bit.

I am actually in the uk and we have a fairly high chlorine content in our water Im pretty sure I can smell it sometimes and thats why I was nervous of giving it her my new baby as I have never kept a reptile of any kind. The nearest I came was a tortoise I called timothy but I was about 4 lol.

Sorry if Im being dumb but what sort of tile should I get ? what is it made from it might be called something different here you know what we are like and Id want to make sure I got the right thing. I guess it would need a good scrub before is there a special disinfectant for them ?? My rabbits and fish need special cleaning stuff to keep them safe. Baby wipes are in plentiful supply always here so thats no issue I look after 10 kids though not at the same time and have 2 of my own hense waiting till christmas when my mindees are about less to get him or her. Thought it might be better to let him or her get used to us before I introduce it to my other little gang. I have no worries about their treatment of my beardie though the kids are all great with my rabbits and are well behaved or I wouldnt entertain inflicting them on another animal. Im sure he or she will be spoilt to bits and get loads of attention - supervised of course. I think Im most looking forward to summer and some hopefully hot days to take him or her out with us. My sons itching to show him or her off to his school friends and its not even here yet lol

Thanks for the support

steph :roll:

Yeah, I noticed that you were probably from the UK when I reread... I think there's something you can add to water to make it safer, but I'm not sure what it's called and once again, might be an American thing. :/

Tile, however, should be pretty universal since, well, rocks are rocks, aren't they? It's the same tile you would use on the floor of your kitchen or bathroom. Slate is generally what I see being recommended, but anything you can grip should do.

Generally for cleaning viv's, all that's required is vinegar diluted with some hot water. You can also use very diluted bleach although if you do it's very important you rinse until you can't smell even a trace.

Good idea to introduce to the kids you mind slowly, dragons tend to adapt to change slowly and his new environment will be enough for him for a few days. I strongly recommend, if you have a choice, that if he's going to be around lots of people, that you choose one that will allow you to hold it with some degree of calm from the get-go. All babies will be skittish to some degree, but the calmer they are in the begining, the easier it'll be.

I was intending to opt for a juvenile for that reason and also as I figured they may be a bit more robust with reguard to handling as lovely and gentle as all my kids are there may be occasions when my youngest can be heavy handed shes only 1 1/2 but she handles the rabbits well and though young is extreamly switched on for her age she knows exactly what your saying to her and knows what gently means. Handling by children of any age is always under supervision anyway and I would only let beardie roam when A it was big enough and B when it was just my lot about kids are clumsy through no fault of their own and too many pairs of feet about are not a risk I would be prepared to take. I would never forgive myself as I am so in love already and I haven't even got my beardie get. Its true that if you get it a beardie will steal your heart forever and I couldnt imagine not having one even now its mearly the thought of it being soon that keeps me going now!!!

I actually have some slate I tiled my kitchen with still i think so if I scrub it with Im guessing diluted white vinegar that would be ok and i def dont need to seal it just put paper towel under to catch any seepage. Im reconing ill have a few pieces about so I can pop a new one in and give the previous a good clean what do you think? Would I need an exact fit or does it matter if you need a few pieces and what about edges slate can be brittle and sharp ought I rub the edges down so they are smooth?

Also again sorry to be a pain but as I am in uk it can get mighty cold in here at night so I think a heat pad will be a must unless you have a better suggestion. I put it under the tank itself rather than under the substrate is that right?

Sorry to bombard you but like I said I want my beardie to be happy and have the best care and if youll forgive the pun I am still pretty green to all this

thanks steph

Juvies are usually starting to eat less too, so it can certainly be a better deal all around. Don't worry about being overprotective, to be honest I get nervous letting ours roam when it's just me and my boyfriend (boys will be boys even when they're 33 :roll: and our male is a foot cuddler), I'm afraid their floor time is going to get very limited once baby boy joins us! Truly though, I've had all sorts of pets and very few ever stole my heart like our dragons. People think it's weird to be so bonded with reptiles, but they just have so much personality it's impossible not to think of them as your babies.

Scrubbing it with diluted vinegar will be fine, and I personally don't believe it needs sealed, if you decided to you'd need to be very careful to make sure the sealent wouldn't put off any hazardous fumes being under a heat light. Having extra pieces around is a good idea just so you'd know they always had a floor so you could put them away while you clean. An exact fit is nice but unnessisary, and it could make things a bit difficult to lift. Try getting (near) exact across, and leaving a small gap at one end lengthwise so you can just lift from that end. You don't want any sharp edges (as much for your sake as theirs since they won't be the ones that have to lift it out!) so rubbing them down is a good plan.

Heat pads are not a good idea, dragons really can't feel heat on their stomachs so you always want the heat coming from above, not below or they can injure themselves if for some reason the pad gets too hot. You can get a ceramic heat emittor for nights (Many pet stores will probably try to tell you a red or blue "night light" is ok, but they're not, because the dragon can "see" those light spectrums with the sensor on top of their heads and it disturbs their sleep.) Remember it's ok for the temps to drop at night as long as they don't go below 60*F (roughly 16*C). I believe you can hook the CHE's to something turn off if temps get higher than a certain point, but I've never needed to use one since I'm always cold so I keep the heat on, lol.