Brand new!!

Hello everyone!

I am Christina and my hubby is Mike and we are new to this forum AND bearded dragon! Luckily before we got ours, I had found this site and used the information to make a good home for our new addition. Some things will be delivered in the next few days (like the UV light) so for now We are using the one above the screen (I know I know).

Anyway, we have a lot to learn and want to give Thor (totally all me in the naming lol) the best we can. He ate quite a few crickets earlier and is pretty content perched on his basking area.

Without further ado... meet Thor! He is itty bitty, I will weigh him tomorrow. We think he might be about 2 months old. We call him he but of course we won't know for a while

Welcome to the forum! Thor is a cute little one. It looks like he enjoys his basking log. Please let us know if you have any questions and keep us updated on his adventures =)

Thanks We weighed & measured him today and cleaned him up lol he is 10g & 6" long... itty bitty

Still working on getting all the right stuff for his viv. I do have the reptisun UV bulb coming and now just need the fixture for when it arrives. I also have two digital thermometers coming for each side as he seems to really love his basking area and pretty much just hangs out there.

He loves his crickets and eats 8-10 at a time. I also got greens today to offer but am aware he may not go for them until he is older. I also have the calcium supplement and waiting on the arrival of the vitamins. I am open to any and all suggestions for him!!!

I suggest keeping a log of his weight so you can track his progress and monitor health. Keeping it in a spreadsheet like google sheets or excel will let you graph the data and create a trend line to monitor how his weight is going over time which can be useful.

Which ReptiSun 10 bulb did you get? A T8 or a T5?

T8 and yep going to keep a log cuz he is so tiny lol he is in a 40 gallon right now

If you have the 18'' bulb I recommend using the Zilla Slimline fixture because it has a reflector built in which focuses more of the light downward. It comes with a clear plastic cover that needs to be removed or else it will intercept UVB. Optimal mount distance is about 6'' above the basking area for that combination.

Thanks!!! I will order that now!!

Eta: everything will be here Monday

OK great. That bulb will need replacement after about 6 months (they degrade over time). At that point I suggest switching to a T5 which is much more powerful/effective and has a greater range (optimal output at about 12''). http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

Thanks for all the info and help! Now I just need help figuring out his tank with the new lights.. it took me a bit to get the T8 mounted under (weird lid)... it only has a small portion of mesh and kind of curves so really took some effort lol It is being held up with 5 strips of velcro and is strong so I am happy about that. I was worried because it is towards the back of the tank and not center.

One of the issues was our basking light that came with this tank was HUGE and took up one side of the mesh completely so when mounting the light, I had to tey and avoid that ?? I ordered a smaller light that uses a clip in bulb and MAN, that thing gets the surface of his climbing area way too hot so I have been trying to maneuver everything around... he is a little grumpy at me since I keep moving all his stuff ??

Here are the pics of his tank and would love any rearranging input lol I also have probe digital temp things on each side now