Hello

Hi! I'm the new keeper of an adult beardie who was donated to my school science program. Sahara is maybe 2ish and the kiddos at school absolutely love him. I've read all the info I can find and am trying to make sure I can answer all of the kids questions about him. ? Kinda just learning as I go along, but he seems happy and healthy. Really interested in learning how to create a natural looking DIY habitat for him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum! My best general advice is to invest in high quality lighting. That's one of the most important components to their overall health. I hope you are all enjoying your time with him. I'd love to see photos of him and his current setup. You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button.

Please feel free to ask any specific questions you have or pass along questions from the students whenever you'd like.

This is Sahara.
He was donated to the STEAM lab by a former student and came with a 40 gal breeder tank with screen top, reptile carpet, heat and UVB lamps (the round kind), a tiny hide (that probably fit when he was a baby) and a resin tree stump. He also came with freeze-dried crickets, veggie pellets, calcium and vitamin powder. I am working on upgrading his entire setup, but didn't want to make too many changes at once. As far as food goes, I have been giving him a few crickets and a good amount of fresh kale and diced peppers every day. He loves the fresh veggies and usually leaves the freeze dried crickets in his dish. He seems pretty calm, and has been spending a lot of time just looking really sleepy. He went through a big shed in September and was really active for a while afterwards, but seems to be back to his sleepy, chill self now. Is it normal to just hang out in the hammock and watch a room full of crazy kids build new inventions and cheer for each other all day long?

It looks like he is generally healthy but my have a bit of MBD due to insufficient UVB exposure or dietary calcium (or both). I would upgrade his UVB light first and pick up one of these http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

Live bugs are good to offer but at his age he should be eating mostly fresh veges. A dubia roach colony might be fun to start in the classroom and they could act as a staple bug. The bugs should be dusted with calcium supplement. You could also rotate in silk worms, horn worms, and black soldier fly larvae.

For salads, I recommend offering 2-3 items from this list every day http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html just rotate based on what looks fresh at the store each week. The leftovers can go to the bug colony.

CooperDragon":2bqbhlne said:

It looks like he is generally healthy but my have a bit of MBD due to insufficient UVB exposure or dietary calcium (or both). I would upgrade his UVB light first and pick up one of these http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

Live bugs are good to offer but at his age he should be eating mostly fresh veges. A dubia roach colony might be fun to start in the classroom and they could act as a staple bug. The bugs should be dusted with calcium supplement. You could also rotate in silk worms, horn worms, and black soldier fly larvae.

For salads, I recommend offering 2-3 items from this list every day http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/24...arcadia-12-and-6-5k-day-light-bulbs-included/ just rotate based on what looks fresh at the store each week. The leftovers can go to the bug colony.

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Thank you for the lighting recommendation. I will be purchasing a new fixture and bulb for him ASAP. He might have been donated to the school, but all care and financial responsibility are mine.

Well, today was fun. Sahara had a bath at school as soon as I got there, but then the morning bell rang, so I had to take him wrapped in his towel to my hallway duty. The kids absolutely LOVED seeing him in the hall before school. During my lunch break, I gave him a few live crickets and superworms. A few other teachers came in to watch. He took a few minutes to chase the crickets down and I had to pull everything else out of his viv for him to find them, but it was a successful first hunt. He ate his greens and diced apple from my hand after the crickets. I also let him out to run around a little bit while there weren't any kids in the room and he really seemed to enjoy that too.

Thank you to everyone on this site for helping me feel more confident in caring for this super cool guy. The kids are going to go nuts when they get to watch Sahara eat his bugs. I have a different group in my room every 50 minutes, so they make a big fuss over him with each class change. Will it be ok to change his bug feeding times so that different groups of kids can watch him eat on different days? Like one week, feed him at 9:00 on a Monday and then at 2:30 on a Thursday? He always has a bowl of salad available - I'm just talking about the couple of bug meals each week. Or does he need a more consistent feeding time?

I've had enough of hallway duty. Time to get down.

That's much better. I'll just be here in my hammock while you go teach.

Hi there, he's a really beautiful dragon and looks very healthy. It sounds like he'll be a hit [ well, already is ] with everybody. Feeding him at different times is fine, it ads a bit of variety to his life.

One thing I'd offer a quick caution about is not to bathe him very often and when you do, pat him dry + put him straight back in the tank where it's very warm. Reptiles can't generate any heat, so even wrapped in a towel it would not be warm for him. It would be like us coming out of the water wrapped in a towel in a 50-60 degree room.

AHBD":22wv9707 said:

One thing I'd offer a quick caution about is not to bathe him very often and when you do, pat him dry + put him straight back in the tank where it's very warm. Reptiles can't generate any heat, so even wrapped in a towel it would not be warm for him. It would be like us coming out of the water wrapped in a towel in a 50-60 degree room.

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How often should he take a bath? Is once a week too much? I held him against my chest in the towel for 5 minutes (morning duty is pretty short) after his bath. Yikes! Did I freeze him?

Once a week is fine if he enjoys it + it gives him a chance to drink. And no, in 5 minutes you didn't freeze him if he had your body warmth .

Sahara had a new adventure today. Sitting in the window enjoying a little sunshine, we has able to watch some of his kiddos at recess. I made him a little harness so I could work at my computer and he could explore the window nook at the same time, but he didn't move at all.

I'm glad he enjoyed window time. Plenty of stuff to watch. My guy likes window time too. I have a soft dog bed in the window sill for Darwin and he'll sit there for hours if I let him.

CooperDragon":3nmns0yg said:

I have a soft dog bed in the window sill for Darwin and he'll sit there for hours if I let him.

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That is a great idea. I'll have to see what I can make for him to lounge in on the windowsill. Thank you!

I love that picture of the window blinds! Does he climb up them or just peek out?