First time owner, meet Lil J

This here, is Lil J! a little back story of him and I:
Well first off, this adventure in the making is a result of a dream. In this dream I had about 2 weeks ago, I had this tiny little beardie that was my companion. He did everything with me and would never leave my side. I fell in love with this little guy in my dream, and his name was, you guessed it, Lil J. I woke the next day and was genuinely sad, because I missed my little buddy I felt I had spent a lifetime with. That day all I did was research beardies, and the 2 weeks proceeding. I woke up yesterday and decided I had to have a little guy, which brought me to my baby.

I've been his parent for about 12 hours now. I got him at a PetSuppliesPlus near me in the Downriver area of Michigan. I was told they were "unsure" of his age, (I've heard breeders start adopting them out at 8 weeks), so I'm just assuming because its somewhat of a smaller chain and they dont necessarily follow guidelines fully, that hes about 6 maybe 7 weeks. Which I'm totally cool with, because hes my little baby, and i can help him and watch him grow. He resides in a ZooMed 20 gallon Reptihabitat for bearded dragons. Of course, I bought and set up his exclosure before I brought him home. I bought juvenile dragon food, and a container or freeze-dried mealworms. He has a basking rock, wooden cave on cool side of the enclosure, water and food bowls, and a fake desert plant. I'm also using the sand that came with the bundle kit. His enclosure is a comfortable 75-80 on the cool side, and a cozy 90 on the warm side. He has a small amount of the juvenile pellet foodin his bowl, along with some cut up cucumber, and a few meal worms. I plan to go get small crickets, or insects of the sort for him tomorrow.

A little about him now:
He's about 3-4 inches (from estimating, I had completely forgotten to measure him). He hasn't really been skittish since getting him in his enclosure. He pretty much allows me to handle him and allows himself to get familiar with me. He hasn't bothered much with the basking rock, and chooses to lay out on the side of his water bowl. So far the only time he has eaten that I have witnessed, was a small piece of cucumber I had cut and hand fed to him about 20 minutes after he was home (I've read this is common, and may be the result of the beardie adjusting, and the fact non-living food is less appealing). He decided to take a dump while me and my girlfriend were viewing him. He hasn't bothered with actually drinking out of his bowl, like i said the edge is just his hangout. He's been misted 2 times, which he isn't the biggest fan of lol. He has pretty much been just chillin' out and taking a few laps around his home to check it out and get familiar. He fell asleep about 15 minutes after lights out with the nightime heat lamp on. He fell asleep standing up in the cool corner of his home (Me being the person I am, decided to carefully and gently lay him down in the same spot because I thought "oh man, he is gonna be sore in the morning" LOL.) When I cupped under his belly he didn't open an eye, just clung to me and snuggled up. Needless to say, he made my heart melt. He's currently nestled in the corner where he was, though it did take quite a few minutes getting him to actually get out of my hand (he did NOT want me to put him down!).

I'm very excited to start this journey with my bud! If anyone has any tips or pointers they'd like to share, I would definitely appreciate it, considering this is my first dragon.

Thanks for showing Lil J some love

Welcome Lil J!
It looks like he's going to a very loving home! Dreams don't lie, right? :wink:

He is indeed tiny, and while the rule is generally 8 weeks, there's no doubt that even large supply chains (petsmart, petco) will bend the rules and get them earlier than they should.

For the insects, the general rule of thumb (you'll hear it from everyone :lol: ) is no larger than the space between the eyes. I find it best to order insects online as they will have much better prices, quality, and often free 2day shipping (live guarantee!)

I don't want to overstep my boundaries as I know you have literally just gotten this little cutie just hours ago, so please let us know if you would like us to review his setup for you to make sure he has a happy little lizard life.

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks for the reply!
Yes he is definitely going to be loved!

As of about an hour ago I threw a small handful of small crickets in his cage and he ate up about 2 or 3 within the first few minutes. Then decided to relax on his basking rock FINALLY! He will chase a cricket every so often, but I had to run to the store and decided to let him have fun with the few others while I was away.

When I get back home I will definitely be posting a picture of my set-up!

Thanks again for the reply and willingness to help! Much let appreciate ?

Welcome to you and Lil J! He's a cute little guy. So tiny! They don't stay that way for long so enjoy it while it lasts =). Very cool story about how you got him. He was destined to go to a good home.

I do have plenty of advice for you regarding diet and housing in particular. Unfortunately those kits don't come with the best options for a bearded dragon's health. The low wattage coil UVB lights aren't very useful and should be replaced as should any colored lighting. You want a bright white basking light and a UVB light that provides a nice wide beam. A T8 18'' tube with a reflector is a good choice for a 20g tank. The 20g Is really not going to be big enough for very long so I would start planning and saving for his adult/permanent home. He can move in whenever it's ready. The more space the better. I suggest 4'x2'x2' at least for dimensions but if you have space bigger is better. This is a walkthrough of a popular enclosure build https://beardies.dreamwidth.org/2145.html I can help you with proper lighting for a larger enclosure whenever you're ready to get started.

That said, there are improvements you can make right away that will make a big difference. The 5.0 ReptiSun bulb that kit comes with needs to be tossed. It just isn't nearly powerful enough. Pick up an Exo Terra UVB200 26w bulb and put that in the compact hood. It should sit about 6-8'' above the basking area. Throw away the red bulb and use the Repti Basking Spot light as a basking light. You may want to get an adjustable lamp stand so you can raise/lower the bulb to get the right temperature range. You want the basking area surface temps to be around 100-110 and the cool side surface temps to be about 75-80 or so. Raising/lowering the basking light in the dome fixture can help with this. If it's not hot enough with the fixture on top of the tank, you'll need a higher wattage. The stick on thermometer that comes with it is useless and accurate temperature readings are critical. I suggest getting a couple of digital thermometers w/probes so you can put one on the basking surface and one on the cool side to monitor temps https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017N8W90/ an IR temp gun works well for this too https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Temperature-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B00CVHIJDK

The substrate - vita sand - is also not advised. The orange will dye their skin and it's difficult to keep sanitary. For now, I'd just pick up some non adhesive shelf liner from Target or Walmart (etc) and put that down for substrate. It's easy to clean off or replace as needed.

For food, you'll want to give him lots of live bugs. Crickets, roaches, black soldier fly larvae, and silk worms are your best bet. The crickets and roaches can eat vegetable scraps to get hydration and provide additional nutrition for Lil J. He should get 2-3 meals per day for about 10 minutes or until he loses interest. Just keep offering them in small batches all he wants in the meal windows and remove any remaining bugs after meal time. The bugs should be dusted with calcium. This can be done by putting them in a small cup, sprinkling supplement powder in the cup and gently shaking so they have a light even coat. Then just serve them up a few at a time from the cup. I like Repashy Calcium Plus as a supplement. Just dust the bugs in that at every meal and it should do the trick. It's also good to provide a salad for him. He may ignore veges in favor of bugs to support his quick growth but that's OK. It's good to make him familiar with it because as he approaches full size he will transition to primarily vegetarian. This is a good list to reference for items to put in his salads http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

I'm sorry so many changes are needed. I'm really not sure why the big companies don't put together appropriate starter kits for these little guys. Once you have these temporary changes set up Lil J should thrive. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like further assistance with this. I'll be quite happy to help make everything perfect for Lil J however I can.

Hey ChelsC,

Just to add a little more to Cooper's response; we are very aware that can be overwhelming, especially for a new owner. Those kits are unfortunately very misleading, and I personally started my first dragon out in a kit (29 gallon, I knew I'd have to upgrade.) As I went I realized so many things provided were inferior and were replaced one by one.
It's a pain in the butt, but I don't feel as though the kit was necessarily a waste of money. It provided the basics long enough for me to work on each individual upgrade for a larger enclosure and I was able to re-sell some of the items on craigslist (including the enclosure itself!)

Considering he's still so little, you will have time (a couple months) to start saving up to upgrade his enclose to a larger one with better options. As Cooper had mentioned, a 4'x2'x2' is ideal. I'm currently housing 2 dragons in separate 36"x18"x18" enclosures but know one of mine will soon outgrow it and he's only 6 months old.

To help you focus on importance:
:!: Priority wise, You will want to upgrade your UVB bulb right away, even if to a compact for now. The 5.0 is used more so on shade/tropical reptiles that do not need full sun exposure like a bearded dragon would. Lack of UVB for a bearded dragon can be detrimental, resulting in deformities, lethargy, and other complications.
:!: Second priority would be removing the sand as soon as you can. Sand is often sold in stores with a big picture of a happy dragon on it, but please be informed that when dragons unintentionally (or sometimes intentionally) eat sand, it can get stuck in their gut and cause them to die due to impaction (gets stuck in their system and cannot pass through.)

Other than that, Cooper really gave the run down on everything and clearly knows what's in that kit :lol:

This is his current set up. i also really appreciate your guys' response! so far I'm loving the community!

I plan on going in a couple of days and getting the correct bulbs and substrate so ill definitely take the advice given on which bulbs and flooring to use! i figured id give him the sand for a couple days just because i feel its comfier for the first couple days of adjusting, if that makes sense. But i will absolutely get everything recommended so i appreciate the support! I also plan to upgrade his tank size to a 30 or 40 gallon as he sizes accordingly. Maybe even check out some DIYs to give him something a little more unique.

UPDATE on his eating:
after i arrived home i noticed all of the crickets were gone! He's a private snacker apparently.

also gave him a bath and he is relaxing on his rock.

One question I have is about the nighttime light that came with the kit itself. (nocturnal infrared heat lamp 100w). Should I keep that on or off at night? My room is a bit cooler at night due to Michigan being Michigan. I do have a space heater in the room about 3 feet from the tank that is set to run at a max of 75 degrees. I'm just worried about him getting to chilly at night. Last night I left it on just from paranoia. It kept the warm side at 90 while the cool side was about 75-80. I also know some of them don't like the lights at night, but he seemed to just dose off standing in the corner. Considering an under heat source but unsure on the proper type to get if i do get one. I plan to soon revamp everything in the enclosure in terms of lights, substrate, decor, size, etc.

I'm not able to see your photo. Try uploading it here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and then use the XIMG button to add it to your thread.

As far as tank size goes, I'd think bigger than a 30 for sure. Even a 40g breeder is really too small for an adult. It's best to get a really big tank right off the bat so you only have to get high powered lighting once etc. It's more efficient in the long run if that makes sense.

That's great that he's eating. Just be careful about crickets hiding. They have a tendency to hide around items in the cage and come back out at night and possibly bite Lil J. That's why I like to feed in small batches during feeding windows. Just a few bugs at a time so we can both track them and then if there are any leftover I can scoop them up. Not a huge deal but something to be on the lookout for.

That infrared bulb is misleading. It also gives off visible red light which will disturb his sleep. I would just throw it away because even if it's on during the day it will cause things to look distorted to him. If the temps in the tank stay above about 65 overnight then he'll be totally fine. Even in the winter I only bump the temps in my tank up to between 70-73 with a heat projector because I keep the house really cold. If you do need overnight heat, a low wattage ceramic heat emitter or megaray heat projector will do the trick. Heat without visible light.

There we go! haha, thanks.

But okay awesome, because i wasn't too sure, and was just worried he wouldn't be at a comfortable temp for the night if i turned it off. Like i said, definitely going to go tomorrow and pic up new bulbs and a CHE.

Again everyone, thank you! Obviously I only want the best for Lil J. So many different products and being a first time owner, I didn't want to buy the wrong things entirely, or products that will harm him. I figured a kit would tide us both over in the meantime while I accumulate advice and reviews from other beardie parents, and I appreciate the help. You all are definitely helping me and Lil J out!

Welcome to the wonderful world of bearded dragons a land of mystery, enchantment, cuddles and, worry! A magical realm where things always seem to change in an instant and, the moment you think you have it all figured out, the rules change! You think you own your dragon?, guess again.....you are now a slave, lol!
I started out the same way but with the help and advice from the good folks on here, and months of research, Peaches and I are on a long happy journey together. I know its hard to take it all in at once but we are only trying to make your journey a happy one too.

As for those meal worms, nix them, they are hard to digest and, can cause impaction in babies and, juvies. I would suggest crickets or Dubai roaches for a staple. As was said before, ordering online is a cheaper way to go.