Water dish for baby beardie?

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Notta

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I was wondering if I should keep my beardies water bowl in his tank. The bowl is big enough for him to fully submerge in, i'd say around an inch deep. My beardie is only 6-7 inches long so hes still young and from what I've read he needs a lot of food and water. The only time I have ever seen him drink from his bowl is when I put him on the edge of it and splash the water to make it move. When I do that he drinks for around 5 seconds then withing 3 minutes forgets it exists. I plan on bathing him often so he should get all of his water needs from that correct? How often should I bathe him at his current size not counting when hes shedding because then I would bathe him every day. I live in Florida so it's already more humid in my house than a lot of other houses. I also have a mister but read that it isn't much better than a water bowl for keeping humidity low. Also I've only seen him go to the cool end of his tank once to attack his reflection and he doesn't even know his bowl is there when its on the hot end within 5 inches of him. My biggest concern is I've had him for four days and he went through all of his crickets on the first day and at just the right timing my petstore has run out of crickets and wont get more for another week. I ordered 1000 crickets but they wont be here for another 2-5 days and I also wont have the right veggies for the next 2-5 days. So currently hes on a mealworm and carrot diet and I want him to be hydrated to try and prevent impaction as much as possible from the worms.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Mealworms are too hard on babies stomachs-- offer him greens mustard collard turnip - squash yellow zuchinni butternut shredded---- you can feed blow fly larvea also known as nutrigrubs calci worms-- hornworms are good for hydration- I wouldn't think you need to leave water dish in tank--- it adds humidity- I am sorry you can't get dubias in FLA as they are a better feeder than crickets-- the blow fly are good and dont need dusting- the bathing every other day is good as well-- that should keep him hydrated
Karrie
 

Notta

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Yeah I read that mealworms arent good. The only problem is I cant get to a store for another 2-3 days and crickets dont get here for a few more days so all I currently have is mealworms and carrots.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
A small water dish is fine for a hatchling bearded dragon's tank , make sure the water is very shallow, no deeper than 3-5mm and refreshed daily.

The hatchling might drink from it, most wont.
When the hatchling is getting ready to shed , and while shedding it most likely will used the water to sooth the itchiness and to help loosen the shedding old skin.
Many hatchlings will poo in the water as the soon discover the poo under water is not as smelly.

Regarding mealworms - very poor feeder choice for a bearded dragon for the reasons already given.
Best feeder insects for a hatchling bearded dragon are :

BSF lavae (especially the large white istars, who are very soft and wriggly)
Blow fly lavae (see above)
House fly lavae (see above)
the dark lavae istar are also good but not as wriggly and bit more chewy.
the pupae are good but most hatchlings will ignore these unless a fly starts to emerge, the flies are good food.

silkworms (for a 2 month old hatchling , I'd give silkworms about 1" long)

All the above are slow moving and do not need to be dusted.

Crickets, roaches, and locusts are very good feeders but are faster moving, need to be gutloaded with high calcium fresh green leafy salad and dusted with LIGHTLY with calcium powder daily and calcium and vitamin powder (1:1 mix) on weekends.
Is best to ensure the crickets, roaches, locusts are no larger than the space between the hatchling's eyes , and don't just dump a tub full of these in with hatchling, this will only overwhelm the hatchling and most the insects will scurry off and hide.
No more than 2 or 3 crickets or roaches or locusts deposited where the hatchling to see them , let these get caught and eaten, repeat , and continue until the hatchling looses interest (is full).
For a 2 month old hatchling 1/4 size crickets (25 days old) are a good size. Will likely eat maybe 8 to 12 in a sitting ,
 

Notta

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Yeah roaches here are illegal, atleast dubia, I have 1000 crickets on the way 1/4 inch and some great food to gutload them with to make them healthy, and my dragon wont eat things that are slow, takes forever to feed him mealworms. and every time I feed him mealworms i feel bad because i know how not good they are. Still cant believe that out of all the times the store near me doesnt have a trillion crickets is the time when I buy a dragon
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
Notta":3tauok6y said:
Yeah roaches here are illegal, atleast dubia, I have 1000 crickets on the way 1/4 inch and some great food to gutload them with to make them healthy, and my dragon wont eat things that are slow, takes forever to feed him mealworms. and every time I feed him mealworms i feel bad because i know how not good they are. Still cant believe that out of all the times the store near me doesnt have a trillion crickets is the time when I buy a dragon

The commercial insect foods (with the exception of silkworm chow and maybe hornworm chow) is a waste of money .
Best and cheapest way to feed your crickets is to buy a bottle of Repcal Adult Bearded Dragon Pellets and simply give maybe 10 pellets straight from the bottle (dry) per 100 crickets / roaches/ locusts , and cut a raw carrot into big chunks . These will give the insects hydration and food.
Just replace the carrot when it's starting to go soft / moldy and top up the pellets every week or two.

Gutloading , I use high quality high calcium leafy greens , I give these to the crickets/roaches (I have crickets and wood roaches) a few days before feeding them out.
In my location the best available leafy greens (from the supermarkets) are buk or puk choi greens, dandelion ( I pick this from my backyard ).
I gut load with the same salad stuff as I want my lizards to have in their diet.
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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