Mitch

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Mitch came to me September 23rd from friends that didn't want him anymore, but this story starts the day before, September 22nd. I was at a bowling ally with my friends when one of them said they needed to find a new home for there Bearded Dragon, Mitch, naturally I said I would take him, even I had no experience with them. They told me he was about 7-9 years old. They were going to be at my house anyway so they brought him then. As I said before, I had no experience with BDs and only knew a little bit about their care.I had seen him a few times before when I was at their house and had always thought his tank seemed to small. My cousin was at my house too, and she has a BD ( his name is Qibli ) and she helped quite a bit with his general care. I think I've rambled enough, on with his original situation.

We found out he had never had a bath or had his nails clipped ( some of them wrapped around a couple of times ), both of which we did that night. The other problems with his care include, inadequate UVB ( a coil bulb ), he was in a 15 gallon tank, improper heating ( a household bulb ), improper diet, and no thermometers. I kept him in the 15 gallon for a few weeks before moving him to a 30 gallon we already had ( it wasn't very good either, but it was better than the 15 gallon ), and he just recently got upgraded to a 55 gallon.
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( first pic is first tank ( don't have actual picture of it ), second pic is second tank, and third pic is current tank )

For UVB he was stuck with a compact Reptisun t5 10.0 for awhile, just recently I was able to a Reptisun 22" t5 10.0.

As far as heating and thermometers go i switched him to an 100watt halogen floodlight. For a thermometer I actually had one of those awful stick on ones for awhile, when I got a probe thermometer I found out that I had his basking spot at 117 degrees! I lowered the wattage to 80 and now his basking spot is 103. I do need to buy a new thermometer though, mine got wet and broke.

He was originally eating ( live ) mealworms and one of those pellet foods. He now gets fresh collard greens ( not that he actually eats them ), yellow squash, and ( live ) superworms. I plan on ordering phoenix worms and maybe getting some waxworms when he comes out of brumation ( the waxworms are because he's underweight ).
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
That's great, he looks pretty good from those pics. It's nice that Mitch finally got a good home. :) Now he has a nice big tank + it's great that you've gotten the t5 bulbs for him, he'll need them esp. because of the height of the tank. You might want to add a nice basking log, the hammocks ae not natural basking spots, they are flimsy and don't hold heat. In the wild they'd perch on tree stumps, branches + rocks. You can even get one from outside, brush it off if need be and pop it in a preheated oven at 250 for 60=75 minutes being careful the wood doesn't touch the heating elements of course.


Or you could just buy one at a pet store. But the log is almost a must, it will help him get closer to the uvb as well. For feed I'd skip waxworms, beardies can get hooked on them and they're very fatty. Try crickets and or dubia roaches as well as silkworms and a few hornworms once in a while along with the superworms. Keep the thread updated on his progress. :)
 

AngelsAnimals

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Thanks! I definitely plan on getting a log, at the time I was just in a hurry to get something for him to up on, and he's in brumation now so I'm not in as a big a hurry to get one yet.

As far as feeding, I still wasn't sure about the waxworms, like I said I'll be ordering Phoenixworms as his staple. I can't do Dubias since they're illegal here. I've considered Silkworms and Hornworms, but the Silkworms food seems tricky, and I've heard Hornworms get really big quickly.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Yes the hornworms do but they are the right size for adult dragons. You can order them by the dozen and start feeding them when they are about 2" long, some grow faster than others so they even out. They are really amazing to watch as they grow and if you can raise one to become a moth it's a very cool creature creature and something for any kids in the house to enjoy.

But yeah, they are not necessary to have and as long as you have other insects Mitch will be fine.
 
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