AngelsAnimals
Member
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.
( 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 ).
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.
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 ).