GenRose
Member
Hi! You can call me Rose, and I just got an unexpected beardie!
His name is Bucky (His old owner said he was named after Bucky from Winter Solider, which I approve of) and he is a rescue. I got him about two weeks ago when I went to get myself a crested gecko, the person I was buying from asked me to take him too (for free). I said no at first, I have seen videos on beardie’s and understood roughly what their care was, but I was scared I wouldn’t be able to give him what he needed. After seeing that he was in a 20 gallon tank on black calcium sand being feed pellets I knew I couldn’t leave him and I could definitely do better. You’ll also notice in the picture of him a part of his tail his gone, I was told this was because of one of his siblings from the store bit it off. He is about 1 and a half years to 2 years old, and to me he seems a bit small for that age? (I did check, he is a boy, has two little bumps on his tail)
Right now he is in a temporary set-up, I plan on upgrading him as soon as I can but that may be a few months away. Currently, he is in a plastic tub (35*18*18). I cut the top of the lid and put a screen on it, I also cut out areas for the light clamps to hold onto the tub. He also has a heating pad on the side of his tub for the nighttime, it only gets up to about 85-90 degrees so it can’t melt or distort the plastic. I read that they can’t tell heat from their bellies, so I put it on the side. He has a halogen light for basking and a reptisun UVB 10.0, right now it is the bulb version because I cannot get the strip yet. I want to get him a bigger hide and some more places to climb on, but I am keeping it minimal right now to keep an eye on his poop because I am worried about impaction from the calcium sand. He has pooped three times since I got him, all three were different consistencies, but the last one was healthy!
Eating wise I really messed up at first. I gave him a bunch of meal worms because that is what I read on a website. I gave him like 30 over the course of two days before I watched a video and the person casually mentioned that they could cause impaction. Thankfully he has pooped twice since then. He doesn’t seem to understand that fruits and veggies are food, he just kind of stares at it before looking at me like “what is this, this isn’t crickets”. I have gotten him to eat collard greens once, but that it is. He was showing signs of dehydration a week ago, so I started to feed him a slurry through a syringe. He hates it, but he has had so much energy since I started doing that! Also, I just got his calcium with D3 in, so I am going to start coating his crickets. I would like to note I live in a place where it is illegal to have dubia roaches, are there any alternatives to feed Bucky other than crickets? I know it's best to give beardies a variety of different insects.
Personally I am amazed that the only issue he seems to have the tail, he doesn’t show any signs of MBD and so far he doesn’t seem to be impacted. He was a bit sluggish when I first got him, but the second I gave him UVB and the slurries he perked right up! He loves to chase after crickets and is slowly learning how to relax on my chest as I do homework or draw. I wish I had a safe space for him to run around on the floor, I was thinking of getting one of those critter play pens eventually or maybe a leash!
I don’t like getting anything without doing proper research on it, from games, to food, to of course pets. Usually I do months of research in preparation for things like this, but I am having to do months of research in a few weeks right now I would love some help and advice!
His name is Bucky (His old owner said he was named after Bucky from Winter Solider, which I approve of) and he is a rescue. I got him about two weeks ago when I went to get myself a crested gecko, the person I was buying from asked me to take him too (for free). I said no at first, I have seen videos on beardie’s and understood roughly what their care was, but I was scared I wouldn’t be able to give him what he needed. After seeing that he was in a 20 gallon tank on black calcium sand being feed pellets I knew I couldn’t leave him and I could definitely do better. You’ll also notice in the picture of him a part of his tail his gone, I was told this was because of one of his siblings from the store bit it off. He is about 1 and a half years to 2 years old, and to me he seems a bit small for that age? (I did check, he is a boy, has two little bumps on his tail)
Right now he is in a temporary set-up, I plan on upgrading him as soon as I can but that may be a few months away. Currently, he is in a plastic tub (35*18*18). I cut the top of the lid and put a screen on it, I also cut out areas for the light clamps to hold onto the tub. He also has a heating pad on the side of his tub for the nighttime, it only gets up to about 85-90 degrees so it can’t melt or distort the plastic. I read that they can’t tell heat from their bellies, so I put it on the side. He has a halogen light for basking and a reptisun UVB 10.0, right now it is the bulb version because I cannot get the strip yet. I want to get him a bigger hide and some more places to climb on, but I am keeping it minimal right now to keep an eye on his poop because I am worried about impaction from the calcium sand. He has pooped three times since I got him, all three were different consistencies, but the last one was healthy!
Eating wise I really messed up at first. I gave him a bunch of meal worms because that is what I read on a website. I gave him like 30 over the course of two days before I watched a video and the person casually mentioned that they could cause impaction. Thankfully he has pooped twice since then. He doesn’t seem to understand that fruits and veggies are food, he just kind of stares at it before looking at me like “what is this, this isn’t crickets”. I have gotten him to eat collard greens once, but that it is. He was showing signs of dehydration a week ago, so I started to feed him a slurry through a syringe. He hates it, but he has had so much energy since I started doing that! Also, I just got his calcium with D3 in, so I am going to start coating his crickets. I would like to note I live in a place where it is illegal to have dubia roaches, are there any alternatives to feed Bucky other than crickets? I know it's best to give beardies a variety of different insects.
Personally I am amazed that the only issue he seems to have the tail, he doesn’t show any signs of MBD and so far he doesn’t seem to be impacted. He was a bit sluggish when I first got him, but the second I gave him UVB and the slurries he perked right up! He loves to chase after crickets and is slowly learning how to relax on my chest as I do homework or draw. I wish I had a safe space for him to run around on the floor, I was thinking of getting one of those critter play pens eventually or maybe a leash!
I don’t like getting anything without doing proper research on it, from games, to food, to of course pets. Usually I do months of research in preparation for things like this, but I am having to do months of research in a few weeks right now I would love some help and advice!