New Owner from Charlotte, NC with Sahara

A coworker of mine was looking for a new home for his 4 year old bearded dragon named Sahara. She was his children but they are hitting the age of extra curricular activities and I'm home office based and have always wanted a beardie (even had up until last spring a beardie book from 10 years ago when I was looking). I picked her up on the 20th I believe. Here's her old setup:



And her hanging out on me (pardon the mess-converting from man cave to office-not much different really ):


Some close ups of her before and during her bath:






Her tank as it is now (pardon the mess-tonight is the clean up night):



She has a basking light and a Power Compact UVB 10.0 light. They were using a red night lamp but my bonus room stays around 70-72 at night (confirmed it with monitoring) so I've quit it but will pick up a CHE if need be to replace it. Bulbs are 2 months or so but I'm replacing everything with the new setup. She was basically on a cricket/carrot diet but I've moved carrots out to more of a treat and have been doing cilantro, collards, escarole (currently in there) along with some of the bearded dragon pellets (jury is out on those). She gets either meal worms or crickets enriched. PetSmart employees look at me funny when I ask for 200 at a time and they don't have that many lol.

When I was moving her tank (40B) in I cracked one side which is taped up and have a 75G coming. I plan to make some fake rock for it and put in a 36" or 48" UVB bulb inside the enclosure with the basking lamp above along with her hiding log/hammock and containers. I've seen laminate tile used as a substrate and would like to use that for clean up aspects. I have a couple other enclosures/containers that I may use for different foods to make it easier to swap in and out.

If anyone on the board is from the area would love to know. And also a recommended vet for reptiles just in case.

Ox aka Will

Welcome to being a beardie slave!!! You seem to be well prepared, and you'll certainly be well rewarded! Beardies are awesome .

Her veggies diet sounds delicious! (Well, from skipper's point of view. Skipper also says Sahara will like all types of squash and PERSIMMONS!) There are more nutritious options than mealworms and crickets: silk worms, dubia roaches, phoenix worms, etc. Phoenix worms (black soldier fly larvae) are a good replacement for mealworms because they have more nutritional benefits and don't need to be dusted at all. As for ordering large amounts, I think you'll find that ordering online is much cheaper and quite convenient. Many people rely on dubia roaches as a staple feeder and mix in various worms for variety.

Tiles work great as long as they have some texture to them so the dragon can walk without slipping and sliding. Your best bet for UVB is a tube like you mentioned, and your correct about night temps.

I'm a long ways away from North Carolina, but I did a quick google search and this vet seems to be OK. http://griffinexotics.com

Good Luck with Sahara! It's awesome that you were able to adopt. Sorry if I sounded like a prick with all of the info- I've just been a fountain of information this afternoon. Once again, you seem well prepared.

Thanks and no problem with the information! The more the better. I've been in saltwater reefs for years so I know how it goes with noobs. ?

On squash-cooked or raw? Zucchini possible? I tend to grow a lot of bothand we just bought some today. I have kale as well that I toss some in sparingly once a week. I'm trying not to tweak her diet too much too quickly. She loves cilantro even from my hand sometimes.

I'm slowly moving her over live food wise. I travel once or twice a month so have to make sure my wife or mil can feed her. Roaches may be too much for them lol. But I can work on raising them myself. I'll have to look into the other worms too. Just starting so the local pet smarts aren't much for quality short of live crickets (I feed them flukes calcium feeder gel for now). I found a local breeder that goes to the repticon shows so will reach out to them. Carolina fancy beardies iirc.

On a side note her tank is on the floor for the moment. I have a kitten (wife's) and she loves watching Sahara and vice versa. They will just sit there and stare at each other and will walk around. No animosity. Kitten hates the dogs lol but they don't come up to my office.

One last question for now-misting. Would a misting/fogging system be beneficial (for automation purposes)? I'm adding the new setup into my reef tank controller for monitoring of temp and controlling lights. I doubt I can convert a humidity sensor over to ph for my system but I have other options there that I can monitor remotely but I digress. In case you haven't picked up I'm a geek. ?

Skipper likes raw squash. Cooked is fine but it leeches out some of the nutrients. Zucchini is alright sparingly, but not as a staple like squash. I don't breed roaches, but their supposed to be easy and not smelly. This is a great source for food info: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

I've heard of bad things happening with cats, but I've also seen cats and beardies who cuddle and seem to be best buds. I don't know what to say about your situation. I'm sure there's someone on the sight who would be able to tell you how their cat and dragon interact or how they introduced them. I would make sure the top of Sahara's cage is secured very well so the cat couldn't get in if it wanted to. Screen probably isn't the best idea. Have you ordered/paid for the 75g tank yet?

Automated lights and thermostats are a good idea as beardies like routine. However, I don't know if misting is necessary. They don't need it as long as humidity is in a comfortable range.

Shes beautiful and she looks really healthy. Have fun and good luck beardies are perfect pets.

Thanks everyone. I had my first out of town trip and she did great with my MIL feeding her. She loves escarole with cilantro mixed in and a few carrot slices. Looking into online feeding options now vs. meal worms and gut loaded crickets.

My kitten/other cats/dogs just watch her thru the tank and like wise. I won't let them play together. The Doberman is curious when I'm holding her but otherwise they don't get to interact.

Just gave her another bath which she enjoyed (as did I). Now to start planning out aquarium enclosure or built (I'm handy at woodwork but time isn't my friend) and the new lighting setup.

Ah I love Photobucket's new policy.

SO it's been a few months-new house put the new enclosure on hold but Sahara is alive and well and learning to eat dubias.

I picked up a front open terrarium vs. building a cross fire and was in the midst of picking up some driftwood/more dubias and hornworms for feeding when I came home with a 2.5 year old male bearded from the local Repticon show. Aptly named Blackbeard. Wife/MIL aren't thrilled and I get to create some blockers so he can't see her (I'm now seeing the black beard and the bobbing) and decide on two enclosures or some combination. Blackbeard is definitely going a bit nuts in the enclosure currently so for now I've put up paper to block the view though we will have to see how he does with the cats more-he's not thrilled.

I'm debating what I'm going to do lighting wise for the enclosure but for now running a basking light with him in the new enclosure since Sahara is in hers. I'll likely build something for under the stand to hold her though I'm concerned about heat from the basking lamp though being shallow may not be an issue. Though easy enough to redo the stand as well though I get to find a new home for my dubias then. Always something.

Pardon the mess (and Grolsch and Maddie looking):

Sahara:

Blackbeard:

Another view of Blackbeard: