Long time listener.....First time caller

Well first off I want to introduce my new baby. My son and I went out on the weekend to the reptile show over at Kane County Fairgrounds here in Illinois. My son was instantly hooked on this guy when he saw him and said we had to get him for me for my birthday. So please allow me to introduce Choo Choo (my son named him.....real big into trains). I plan on calling him Chooch for short. Kids come up with the craziest names I tell ya.





The next two photos are where Chooch lives and sleeps. Any helpful ideas would be awesome. His tank is still a work in progress. For now he is eating crickets. Going to the store tonight to get him some veggies. Make a little plate for him everyday.





He seems to be slowly adjusting to his new environment. It is a 40G breeder. And I am sure the relocation had him a little shaken up as well too. Slowly getting back into the swing of having a beardie around.

So let me know what you guys think. All suggestions always helpful and wanted

Welcome to the forums, and hello there Chooch!

Great looking tank, and while some might think you should start a baby beardie in a smaller tank, I started my beardie 9 days ago in a 10 gallon, but already have moved him into a 40 as well and I think he loves it!

I'm looking at your pictures however and am immediately concerned. I see only a single lamp, so I need to ask what kinda bulb, what brand and wattage is it? Is it a UV light? A basking light, or what?

From reading these forums and the help I got, it would seem you'd need your lighting and heat to look closer to this like I ended up setting my own 40 up:





In the back I have a REPTISUN brand 10 UV 24" florescent bulb (17 watt) in a plastic 24" florescent fixture. I bought the fixture at Lowes for about $14 and its actually in the "undercounter light area", make sure you don't buy the big metal florescent light fixture that costs the exact same amount. You want the 24" all-plastic kind that weights like 1 pound or less. I used 2 command hooks to hold it up in the back of the tank.

Lowes also carried "shop light" type lights that are only about $7 each and can hold 150 watt bulbs, so this should save you some money over buying the pet store lights. As you see, I have two of those on top with a 100 watt basking bulb in one (the one I bought is made by Exo Terra and was only about $6 on Amazon.com) and in the other shop light, I have just a basic household 60 watt bulb. The 100 watt basking bulb is placed over a rock or log for his basking area and the household 60 w is just on the opposite side for his "cool side" of the tank.

If you don't already have one, pick up a temp gun such as this one I bought on Amazon for about $18:
http://www.amazon.com/Accuracy-Non-...id=1386727633&sr=8-3&keywords=temperature+gun

This gun is VERY important because the gauge style thermometers will not give you accurate enough readings, especially for his "basking area" under his basking bulb. With the gun you can get pin point readings for any location in his tank and they will be much more accurate.

Make sure you don't use any coil or red colored lights as they, like the UV bulbs can cause eye damage to your beardie. (I'm giving all this info on what I have learned here, so someone please correct me if I give out any bad info please.. as I am a newbie beardie owner myself)

Also no sand, dirt or other substrate as your beardie is very curious and very well might eat it and it could cause a very serious "impaction" issue (This ailment is explained in much greater detail in the "Top Content" links from the home page of this website) Instead use paper towels you can change our regularly or a reptile carpet at the bottom of your tank.

This should get you started on the right track. As you go along, if you have ANY questions, please feel free to ask and I'm sure that myself (if I know the answer), or someone else will be more then happy to answer your questions and help you with any concerns you may have!

Chooch looks like a great beardie, and I hope that you get as attached as I already have to my own beardie in my first week of owning one!

Good times!

BEARDIESandCOFFEE":x071scei said:

congrats on the new little guy!!
I just wanted to point out incase you were unaware,… I'm not sure what watt bulb you have in there, but i would be careful, cuz that basking "log" is plastic and can get pretty hot, including the fact that its REALLY close to the bulb. These little ones dehydrate easily. and that spot may be hotter than you think… Hope he's working out for ya!

Click to expand...

In there right now is a 100W Basking Bulb. I am using what I had laying around from the old tank. I am looking into getting a different sized bulb as I hate paying such a huge price for Basking bulbs when you can buy regular flood lights for cheaper.

Zaxtor99":4246h1ln said:

I'm looking at your pictures however and am immediately concerned. I see only a single lamp, so I need to ask what kinda bulb, what brand and wattage is it? Is it a UV light? A basking light, or what?

Click to expand...

Right now I have a 100W BAsking Bulb from the pet store set up in the tank and one of those Zilla light bars. I am going to Walmart tomorrow or home depot for the one that you can use the command hooks with as I have a ReptiSun 10.0 in the closet. I also need to get a CHE as it gets pretty cold in here at night in Chicago.

So far the little man is doing good. I think he had some reloaction issues because he was pretty just chill the past 2 days but when I came home I found him running around. Put some crickets in his tank and he went nuts and ate a whole bunch of them instead of just the few he had the past 2 nights.

Also need to get a setup for some greens and such in his cage. Luckily Walmart is 24 hours around here so anytime I need something I can just run out.

Im looking into building a better viv for him out of wood and such. Just need my buddy to get off of peak at UPS to help me with the cabinets etc.

Thinking of moving him to a 5x2x2 with all the lights on top and one switch for day and one switch for night for the CHE when its needed.

Absolutely understand your financial concerns partner.

Its why I tried to explain everything I did about where I got my stuff and what I paid.

If you have ever ordered anything off of Amazon, I recommend putting that site to use here now. If you have never used Amazon, I highly encourage you to give it a good look.

Like I stated above, I bought an Exo Terra basking bulb, rated high for only about $6. Not bad.
You can buy the 24" Reptisun UV florescent bulb on Amazon as well for $23.49, and I think most pet stores will ask at least $35 for the same thing. Evidently the Reptisun is the BEST UV to buy, here is a link:
http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-Repti...id=1386728993&sr=8-1&keywords=reptisun+10+24"

The 100 watt basking bulb you have now will probably be just fine, as that's what I use in my own 40 gallon tank.

But you don't need to spend a ton in the pet stores getting it set up right, I saved a LOT of money buying most of my stuff on Amazon and at Lowes as I gave you the details above for. (I did buy all the bulbs and stuff I bought on Amazon at a local pet store, kept the receipt until my Amazon stuff came in, then i took the over-priced pet store stuff back for a refund... This way my beardie had the uv light and heat he needed while I was waiting on my Amazon order)

If you are concerned about the cost of a basking bulb however, please understand that this little guy is gonna cost you a small fortune feeding him live insects if you buy them at pet stores. You might want to consider breeding them yourself, as I am starting to do myself as well, hehe. I am trying dubia roaches as they don't stink nearly as bad as crickets, they are evidently hardier and easier to breed, and they don't bite, offer your beardie more protein content etc etc. You can read more about how to do this breeding for any insect you choose in the "Feeders" thread category of these forums. There are also lots of YouTube videos for whatever kinda feeder you might choose - if you do indeed decide to save $ over buying live prey for your beardie in the stores.

I hope this all helps you.

If you're still having issues with relocation stress try this - take sheets of printer paper or any kind of paper really, and line the inside of the viv. This will give Chooch a sense of security and cover from his strange new home. I did this during the adjustment period and left in on for about two weeks then I took the front (viewing side) sheets of paper and cut them down half way. So I had three 8.5x11'' sheets of paper and cut them down to about 4.25x11" strips of paper. This will allow him to view out somewhat but still remain unseen if he wishes. I eventually replaced the two sides and back with some nice background designs from a pet store, they usually charge by the inch.

How it was:
With paper towel at first; I learned that she can climb it so I replaced it with normal printer paper.
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af329/thatoneguy1989/2012-12-04_12-17-42_539_zps5c9979c4.jpg

Then with regular paper:
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af329/thatoneguy1989/Mobile%20Uploads/2012-12-10_13-36-38_841_zps1ae0dd78.jpg

And how it looks today:
http://i1020.photobucket.com/albums/af329/thatoneguy1989/IMG_20131123_172336_501_zpsf6436de6.jpg
Theres another, smaller dome light fixture on the right side thats not pictured. It's to keep her cool side temps at 85.

Also, I figured this may help as well. It's a list of what to feed and the content of what you're feeding. It really helped me along the way. There are a lot of options on here to may sure you pay attention to the color key at the top. I've narrowed my beardies veggie diet to simply collard greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens. These are all readily available at the grocery store two blocks from my house. I throw in other veggies and fruit occasionally. I'm from WI where its sweater weather or colder about 70% of the year but these three options are here all year round.


http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Thanks guys for all the tips. Im really reading a ton on these forums about everything I can get my hands on. So far since I got home last night he has been a lot better. Like i said running around his home and eating his crickets. Took him out for a bit last night as well and he laid with me in bed and we watched Sons of Anarchy.