Hello!

Hi!

My name is Jessica and I just got my first beardie two months ago. I was awarded a classroom grant to get a bearded dragon as a classroom pet. The grant covered a starter kit and my little Fluffy. We did get him from Petco and luckily he is extremely healthy. We haven't been able to confirm gender yet, so we are going with "he" at the moment.

I teach high school special education and my students absolutely adore Fluffy and he seems much happier being around the students. He will actually actively try to get out of his terrarium if I leave him in there for too long by himself. He has fallen asleep in a kid's hoodie and has helped a couple students who were on the verge of panic attacks.

We estimate him to be about 4.5 months old. He currently weighs 65 grams and is 10 1/4 inches long. He has grown 4 inches in the last two months. So he seems to be pretty healthy.

I don't have the starter kit anymore because one of my cats knocked over the entire terrarium while Fluffy was home with me for Thanksgiving Break. It shattered the tank...and Fluffy was still inside! Thankfully, he is a trooper and was just on his branch completely unharmed.

Here is the current set-up:

55 gallon tank (4ft by 1ft by 2ft) I am planning on getting one that is 4 x 2 x 2 and is not just a tank.
Flooring: Linoleum (easy clean up and not loose..yay)
Heating: Basking Heat Bulb (150w) and a night heat lamp (100w). I am looking to get a ceramic heat emitter because it doesn't seem to be getting warm enough at night. I have three thermometers in his tank. Basking spot is about 95 ish and the cool side is in the high 70s. (granted he doesn't spend much time in it...he is out being a social butterfly)
Lighting: Repitsun 10.0
Food: Waxworms, mealworms (no issues with impaction, he poops daily like clockwork). He is getting collard greens once a day right now as well. I dust his food with Rep-Cal multivitamin and calcium with d3.

Here is a picture of my baby helping at work:



This is shortly after we got him:



Him hanging out with my students:







He is even getting to know my kitties (under very close supervision mind you)

hello!

Is it a reptisun COIL, COMPACT, or TUBE

I am working on getting a tube set up. But that is taking time. I think I have the compact one, which I know isn't the best but I was on a super tight budget after the last terrarium was shattered.

Hi Jessica , he looks really healthy and it's a real bonus that e's a nice social dragon. Do be careful with the cat, their reflexes are fast + they are unpredictable....best not to have him out with kitty cat.

I'll write a bit more later, on my way out now. He does look like he'll be helpful around the office.

That is so cool that he is interacting with the students and actually helping them through some issues. I do therapy work with my dog and there is solid science out there regarding how animals can be helpful to people of all ages. I've also had him do a reading program with a 4th grade classroom and they used it to incentivize good behaviors, so they got rewarded and then got to practice reading aloud. Win win.

I don't own a beardie currently but have been researching like a crazy lady. LOL
One thing I can help you on is the bug diet - most people don't recommend waxworms and mealworms as a staple, in part due to impaction but also due to their fatty nature - people describe them as junk food like potato chips.
Dubia roaches, crickets, black soldier fly larvae and silkworms are what people say should be the bulk of the bug diet.

I'm sure someone else will chime in on that.

You’ll need to bump up his basking temps. Babies need a basking temp gradient between 100-110. When he’s an adult 95-105 will be ideal. Waxworms are okay once in a blue moon as a treat, but they’re essentially pure fat and offer little in the way of nutrition. Consistently feeding a beardie high fat insects like waxworms, Mealworms, and superworms can lead to fatty liver disease. Mealworms shouldn’t be fed to a baby beardie, not just because they offer little nutrition, but because they’re very rough on a fragile baby beardie’s digestive system. Feeding a baby mealworms can lead to impaction, which is a slow and painful death you don’t want your students to witness. The following feeders are safe and nutritious: BSFL/calciworms, dubia roaches, silkworms, and crickets. All insects fed to a beardie should be smaller than the space between the lizard’s eyes to avoid choking or impaction. Here’s a link to a nutrition chart many beardie owners rely on when shopping: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.htmlMake sure he’s not on a loose substrate like sand or bark, as this also poses an impaction risk. And I cannot stress this last point enough: NEVER EVER let a cat near a beardie, especially a tiny fragile baby. It only takes a second for a kitten or cat to inflict a fatal injury on a beardie. My vet has had to put down several beardies attacked by cats. And the owner of the maimed beardie always says the same thing: “But they always got along so well!” Eventually the predator instinct takes over and in a split second his lizard “buddy” is fatally wounded. A friend of mine adopted a beardie that was lucky enough to survive a cat attack, but this lizard is horribly disfigured and has severe mobility issues thanks to his previous owner’s desire to take cute Instagram photos of her cat and lizard “snuggling.” So please please keep cats and other animals away from the lizard. He’s such a cute little guy and I’d hate to think of anything bad happening to him. ? I think it’s great that a bearded dragon could have a positive and even therapeutic effect on children. With just a couple tweaks to his current situation, I think he could fulfill this purpose for many years.