New babies

I have just rescued two baby beardies, Steven and Eli. I am in a state of high concern about them.

A little background...
I was given these two lizzies from the same clutch. The famiIy originally had three. I was very alarmed to say the least, when I found out the family that had them was housing three babies in a 20 gallon tank with no plans to seperate and totally unaware of how big they get. Unfortunately it became necessary for me to take them in a few days ago, about two weeks before I will have the money to fix them up proper. I had initially told my husband we could take one, and he came home with two.

This came about because the family's toddler, who is not quite 3, accidentally crushed one.

The family recieved very poor advice on care, feeding them a couple of full sized dubia a day, no uvb lighting, insufficient heat, and noticable dehydration. Not to mention seriously inappropriate handling.

These are not my first reptiles, but they are my first beardies. I had been reading up on proper care well before this with a mind to adopt one so I am not totally off guard.

Right now they are sharing the same 20gal long tank, but I have plans in motion as soon as budget allows to get them seperated. I had a few fixtures etc on hand that I sterilized for them, but I only had money for one uvb light so I have no choice but to house them together. I haven't yet observed any competition for basking areas or anything, but I do feed them seperately. Glass surfing yesterday one waved his arms quickly and raised up, the other stayed flat and waved one at a time slowly so I believe I know where the heirarchy falls with them.

I am currently on the lookout for a good rep vet. I live in a very small town, with even the nearest pet store over an hour away.
So far, no luck and that leaves me trying my best to get them healthy on my own.

By my estimate, these poor sweeties are less than a month old. It's hard to be certain as they may just be stunted, but Steven is about 7 inches and Eli is around 5. Sadly, Eli is showing signs of MBD. Poor dear already has a hump in his back. I have calcium powder they are getting, and I have already seen improvement with the addition of necessary lighting. Steven begun a shed rather quickly, and he looks to be very healthy with good coloring.

If anyone has advice for babies that have been mishandled, I sure could use it. It's been a chore getting them fed up right but I know as they acclimate they will be a bit more comfortable and appetites should increase. They get fed separate and will each eat about 3-4 small dubia roaches 3x a day. That's all they've showed any interest in. I offer a small amount of greens with softened pellets each day, to no avail. Today I added a bit of finely chopped mango to entice them a little. I have made sure everything is small enough for them to handle (smaller than space between the eyes)

They are also both extremely skittish about being handled. No surprise there! I imagine they have felt like prey since they were brought in. The so-called "expert" told the family that all they needed was a heat lamp to sleep under and the roaches.

Wish me luck!

The MBD is reversible in some cases I've heard with the proper UVB lighting and calcium with D3 powder. Glad to hear that they're in better hands now though and good luck with you're babies!

Poor little guys. I'm glad you were able to take them in. They will have a good chance with proper care. It's good that they are eating some small dubia roaches. It's important to dust the roaches in a good supplement. I suggest Repashy Calcium Plus as a good all-in-one choice. You may want to introduce some soft worms for them as well. They will probably really like black soldier fly larvae. You can get those shipped in easily as needed and they don't need to be dusted with calcium supplement. They may ignore salads in favor of bugs for now but that's OK. Make a small salad available for them so they're at least familiar with it as an option. I would offer them water via drops on their nose to ensure they are well hydrated.

They are also going to prefer higher basking temperatures due to their age. I'd shoot for 100-110 basking areas with a cool side of about 75-80 available. That should be achievable in a 20g long. Which kind of UVB light do you have? A T8 18'' tube should be OK as long as they have a branch they can perch on and get within about 6-8'' of the bulb. It will be important to get them their own space when your budget allows, but that should be OK for now due to their young age.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions and please keep us posted on their progress! It sounds like they're off to a good (new) start with you.

I bought a reptisun 10.0 compact bulb, as it was the only thing available to buy immediately. I was reading on another thread about the best lighting, and I actually already had the T8 bulb on my "to buy ASAP" list for them. I had a few fake rocks put away from an iguana I had a few years back, so I got them out and sterlized them. The bulb said it's effective up to 9 inch, I arranged their fixtures to get them to 5 at the high point to be safe.

Just since my original post, they're both more active. Eli is still struggling with his back being bent but I saw him struggling to get around at first and now he's using his back legs more.


I'd love to know if there are any safe alternatives to live food on a limited basis at their size. I want to keep them mainly on dubias, but nobody near me sells them. I'm going to order some, but in the meantime the only live feeders I can get anywhere near me are crickets, and the ones I have found are medium sized and might be too big.


Also, with a regular house bulb I am having no trouble with the cool side but the basking side is only getting up to about 100. What can I do to get it up that last few degrees?

The compact is OK for now but I'd switch to the T8 when you can, and if you get a bigger enclosure I'd move to a T5. The compact has a similar effective range so having it at 6'' or so is good for now. I wouldn't worry too much about the temps if you're hitting 100 in the basking spot. You could try a higher wattage bulb on a dimmer or mounted further away but that will take some fussing.

I'm glad to hear they are more active now. Are they eating well on their own? Medium crickets may or may not be too big. You may want to try the black soldier fly larvae and see if they like those. They are calcium rich and soft so they're a good option as well as the dubia roaches.