Charlie

I have always wanted a bearded dragon. When my friend told me of someone looking for a new home for their baby (4inches) I took it as a sign to take the little one in.

When I picked him up he was in a small tank with sand .. just sand. No other accessories for him to climb on. Dead crickets everywhere. And a water dish made out of a lid from a candle and one dome light with no bulb in it. I asked how long they have had him and they said about 6 months! Living like this! She also said the whole 6 months they could not get him to eat. They also mentioned they often forgot about him

I have had him for about 2 weeks now. I have been doing my research like crazy! There's just so much I really don't know. He eats regularly now. I feed him about 5-10 roaches a day. I just read right before writing this that I may be under feeding him? Ah! I just keep reading so many different wide ranges of information. Also, everything the guy at the pet store told me is completely opposite from what I am reading on this site. He also did shed once and has grown just a tiny bit. I'm assuming that's a good sign.

Anyways, I just want to make sure he is completely healthy and I don't want to do any more harm to him that has already been done. He's also very scared of me and I really want to get him more comfortable with me. He has all the right lighting, 55 gallon tank and a basking area! He seems to be enjoying himself.

So if anyone has any advice for me with raising a baby BD and how to get his health at 100% that would he greatly appreciated!!

Thank you all!

-Michelle

Hi Michelle, it sounds like you're doing a great job with little Charlie, so hats off to you. He may not eat as much as other babies because he's not used to it, always offer very small insects for now until he's bigger . You say he was only 4" when you got him ? Can you post a close up full body shot of him as well as pics + description of his tank, including what type of lights you have ? A 55 gal. is nice + big but it's very difficult to get any uvb reaching down in to the tank because of the height. Here's how to post pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to attach pics

AHBD":3tie32lw said:

Hi Michelle, it sounds like you're doing a great job with little Charlie, so hats off to you. He may not eat as much as other babies because he's not used to it, always offer very small insects for now until he's bigger . You say he was only 4" when you got him ? Can you post a close up full body shot of him as well as pics + description of his tank, including what type of lights you have ? A 55 gal. is nice + big but it's very difficult to get any uvb reaching down in to the tank because of the height. Here's how to post pics :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to attach pics

Click to expand...

Sorry this took so long! Here are some pics. I eventually would like to get a better basking area and maybe real plants?? I know there is sand now but I have bought some linoleum that I will be putting in his tank tomorrow. These are the light the guy at the pet store told me to get so hopefully they are the right ones ..

Woah, that's a great story! It sounds like you're definitely working hard and genuinely care a lot about Charlie. Definitely keep up the good work and research! The one thing I would suggest is that it looks like the UVB light you have is outside of a screen roof to your tank?

In the lighting guide: https://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/newbies-guide-lighting-help/
It says that screens filter out the UVB, so it might be worth considering some heavy duty velcro or 3M command hooks to mount your UVB inside the tank. I'm working on setting up something like that too at the moment and will be heading to Walmart tomorrow to get the fixture. Best of luck to you!

A T5 bulb in a fixture with a reflector is powerful enough to sit on top about 10-12'' above the basking area. Based on the photo that looks like a T8 and Zilla Slimline fixture which is good for small tanks but will only produce useful levels of UVB at about 6'' and isn't really sufficient for a larger tank. Mounting it inside about 6-8'' above the basking area would work but I'd invest in a good T5 tube for best results. http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/