Me and My new Beardie Maverick

Smitty7700 · Dec 20, 2017

Hello All my name is Adam and this is Maverick

. I am new Beardie owner. I read a lot on here before I joined so I decided to go with an adult for my first Dragon. He is great and he loves super worms but he doesn't seem to like greens to much. I don't know how to help him go over to eating more greens. I have a mixture of collard greens and a little kale as well as a few blueberries. I am hoping he will have ate some of it when I get home but so far he hasn't. Any advice would be great and any tip and tricks about set up or care would be awesome. He does now have a rock that sits up closer to his heat lamp instead of just that half tree. Here is another picture of him.

. He is a little bit of a special needs Beardie as he only has one eye. They told me he was born that way.

CooperDragon · Dec 20, 2017

Welcome to the forum! Do you know how old he his? If he is an adult, it might be best to hold off on the supers and offer a nice variety of salad until he digs in. The supers can be addictive treats and they will be stubborn and hold out for them. If you can provide more info about your setup (tank dimensions, lights you are using and their distances, temperatures, etc) I'll be glad to help you get it optimized for him. He looks like a sweet little guy. I hope he's settling in well so far =)

Smitty7700 · Dec 20, 2017

Thanks for such a quick response CooperDragon. He is about 2 years old. He is in a 48Lx20Hx13W aquarium. I have a Zoomed Powersun Vapor UVB reptile lamp for the hot side which sits on the metal mesh top. His basking spot shows a temp of 101 degrees. His basking spot comes up about 12 to 13 inches from the bottom. The cool side has just a LED light and the temp comes in at 78 degrees. I keep his water and food dish on the cool side. Hopefully I given you everything you want to know but I will get you any information I can. I just want to make sure that I have a great setup for him.

CooperDragon · Dec 20, 2017

That sounds pretty good. That's the 100w PowerSun? 12'' is about right but i'd try to remove the mesh from under it because that will intercept some of the UVB. Maybe suspend it from an adjustable stand and keep the top off? Only if you don't have other animals in the house though.

Overall I think you'll want a wider tank. 13'' is pretty narrow for an adult. Not much room to turn around. 4'x2'x2' is a good size to build for an adult. Larger if you can. Your temperature gradient sounds good so I'd keep that as it is.

Smitty7700 · Dec 20, 2017

CooperDragon":2e28z2yh said:
That sounds pretty good. That's the 100w PowerSun? 12'' is about right but i'd try to remove the mesh from under it because that will intercept some of the UVB. Maybe suspend it from an adjustable stand and keep the top off? Only if you don't have other animals in the house though.

Overall I think you'll want a wider tank. 13'' is pretty narrow for an adult. Not much room to turn around. 4'x2'x2' is a good size to build for an adult. Larger if you can. Your temperature gradient sounds good so I'd keep that as it is.

Yes its the 100 watt power sun. I originally had the smaller half wood next to the mesh so he could climb up but then I got the corner rock. I actually was thinking moving the hammock and just hadn't done. I do have a big German Shepherd (even though he doesn't mess with him) I feel more comfortable with the lid on it. I was thinking about getting a wider tank or even building my own.

CooperDragon · Dec 20, 2017

Yeah leave the top on if you have a dog. Perhaps you could cut the mesh under the bulb? Or build a basking branch or similar to come closer to about 10'' so he can get a little more UVB if he wants it. This is a walkthrough of a popular build for an enclosure. Cheaper to build it on your own than to have one custom made https://beardies.dreamwidth.org/2145.html It's hard to find tanks that size that are readily available in a store.

Smitty7700 · Dec 20, 2017

Awesome! I love that. I am gonna build that once it gets warmer. That is really cool

CooperDragon · Dec 20, 2017

I have some suggestions for improvement on that design so let me know when the time gets near and I can help you. That's the general idea for the build though.

Smitty7700 · Dec 20, 2017

CooperDragon":26ykwmz2 said:
I have some suggestions for improvement on that design so let me know when the time gets near and I can help you. That's the general idea for the build though.

Thank you. I certainly will

PodunkKhaleesi · Dec 20, 2017

Aww, he’s a cutie. I’m a sucker for the “flawed” beardies. One of mine has a cleft palette and is missing several toes (presumably from some less than congenial clutch mates when she was a tiny hatchling). The irony is that the beardie no one else wanted is now the sweetest, most social beardie I’ve ever owned. I’d definitely recommend moving your guy to a bigger enclosure. I’m a big fan of the 4x2x2 size. Superworms are pretty fatty and don’t offer a lot in the way of nutrition, so I recommend getting him some dubias, BSFL, silkworms, crickets, and hornworms. And kale and fruit are considered occasional treats. Collard greens, endive, dandelion greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens are good daily staples. I’m including a link to a great nutrition chart so you can see which insects and veggies are best to have in regular rotation: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html
Congrats on your new beardie! His face has a lot of personality.

Smitty7700 · Dec 21, 2017

PodunkKhaleesi":2dmo95aa said:
Aww, he’s a cutie. I’m a sucker for the “flawed” beardies. One of mine has a cleft palette and is missing several toes (presumably from some less than congenial clutch mates when she was a tiny hatchling). The irony is that the beardie no one else wanted is now the sweetest, most social beardie I’ve ever owned. I’d definitely recommend moving your guy to a bigger enclosure. I’m a big fan of the 4x2x2 size. Superworms are pretty fatty and don’t offer a lot in the way of nutrition, so I recommend getting him some dubias, BSFL, silkworms, crickets, and hornworms. And kale and fruit are considered occasional treats. Collard greens, endive, dandelion greens, mustard greens, and turnip greens are good daily staples. I’m including a link to a great nutrition chart so you can see which insects and veggies are best to have in regular rotation: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html
Congrats on your new beardie! His face has a lot of personality.

Yeah Maverick has been very social. He loves to lay on you or your shoulder. I am thinking about building one similar to the instructions above. Yeah the Kale and fruits is just a little bit. The main part of the salad is Mustard Greens & Collard Greens (I couldn't find the endive). Good thing is that he ate some of last night and he has eaten some of the prepared food I bought at petsmart. I plan of expanding his veggies but those are what I could find while shopping the other night. We will see how well he does with it. I couldn't bring myself to get the Dubias. Roaches creep me out lol

PodunkKhaleesi · Dec 21, 2017

I admit that when I first learned about dubia roaches as potential feeders I had the “ick” reaction too. But when I finally brought myself to order them they managed to upend all my negative expectations. They don’t “skitter” the way quick-moving roaches do so they’re very easy to deal with. And unless you order huge adults, they actually look like little pillbugs/roly polys. My boyfriend didn’t even realize they were roaches when he first saw them. So my no roach policy went out the window pretty quickly, especially once I realized how nutritious these insects were. And unlike crickets, dubias don’t smell (which is a godsend compared to always having a massive amount of crickets on hand. No matter how adamant I was about cleaning my cricket tank, the smell was extremely unpleasant). Dubias also don’t have the high die off rate that crickets do. And they have a longer digestive tract than crickets and many other feeders, which means gutloading is more beneficial with these guys. You can essentially turn them into little vegetable turduckens for your beardie. So while I’m a big believer in variety when it comes to insects for my beardies and I still have crickets in rotation, I rely on dubias pretty heavily because they’re so easy to keep and they’re a stellar source of protein for my lizards. I went from not wanting a roach within a 2-mile radius of my home to handfeeding them to my beardies daily. So I recommend ordering a small amount of medium sized dubias and trying them out. My guess is that, like me, you’ll become an immediate fan. As will Maverick.

Smitty7700 · Dec 21, 2017

PodunkKhaleesi":1gtpd30e said:
I admit that when I first learned about dubia roaches as potential feeders I had the “ick” reaction too. But when I finally brought myself to order them they managed to upend all my negative expectations. They don’t “skitter” the way quick-moving roaches do so they’re very easy to deal with. And unless you order huge adults, they actually look like little pillbugs/roly polys. My boyfriend didn’t even realize they were roaches when he first saw them. So my no roach policy went out the window pretty quickly, especially once I realized how nutritious these insects were. And unlike crickets, dubias don’t smell (which is a godsend compared to always having a massive amount of crickets on hand. No matter how adamant I was about cleaning my cricket tank, the smell was extremely unpleasant). Dubias also don’t have the high die off rate that crickets do. And they have a longer digestive tract than crickets and many other feeders, which means gutloading is more beneficial with these guys. You can essentially turn them into little vegetable turduckens for your beardie. So while I’m a big believer in variety when it comes to insects for my beardies and I still have crickets in rotation, I rely on dubias pretty heavily because they’re so easy to keep and they’re a stellar source of protein for my lizards. I went from not wanting a roach within a 2-mile radius of my home to handfeeding them to my beardies daily. So I recommend ordering a small amount of medium sized dubias and trying them out. My guess is that, like me, you’ll become an immediate fan. As will Maverick.

First off "vegetable turduckens" that is priceless :lol:. I know I have to get past that and I regret not getting some while I was at Repticon when I got the superworms. They just give me the creeps lol. Its something I can certainly get past. I will do what ever I need to make sure Maverick is well taken care of. Maverick & Stryker (my German Shepherd) are like my kids so I want to make sure I am doing them right.

PodunkKhaleesi · Dec 21, 2017

It sounds like Maverick is already a pretty happy camper with you, and anyone who goes to forums like these to gain more information/see if there’s anything they can do to make their pet’s life better is an owner a beardie wants to have. And yeah—when it comes to beardies I look at all of their insects as little turduckens.

If your beardie goes through a picky phase and refuses to eat a specific veggie, just load up the dubias or crickets with it. “So capricious beardie, you’ve decide you’re ‘over’ collard greens today, hm? Roaches, commence operation collard greens consumption!” So basically, when I tell a fussy lizard he will get his veggies one way or another, it’s a pretty accurate statement. ?

Me and My new Beardie Maverick

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