First Beardie Baby!

I adopted Valiant on Black Friday on an impulse as they were 50% off. My oldest daughter wanted a reptile but is going to College this fall and reptiles are not allowed in the dorm. Nonetheless she had been sending me pictures of various lizards for weeks from Craigslist and various other sites which sparked my interest. I would offer to get one but her being a too responsible for a child her age declined as she is extremely focused on her studies and was worried she couldn't give it the amount of attention it required. (At least one of us studied for the new arrival! LOL)

I went in for dog food and just happened to glance at the reptile cage and upon seeing a stack of tiny baby beardies stacked on a piece of driftwood knew I was going home with a Dragon. When the sales attendant asked which one I wanted while putting her hand in the enclosure I noticed all but one ran to her lowering hand. One little Dragon scuttled away to the opposite side of the case. I of course ponited at the escapee saying, "That one! I want the one that won't be picked up by just anybody."

I didn't notice until I got him home that he had a dark black spot on his back from an injury. I was told later by a Petsmart employee that it was likely from another beardie biting him and had they known he would have been quarantined and not sold. I took him to the vet a few days later and it was already healing nicely. She was shocked at how tiny he was and after I told her all the ways I had nit picked over him she told me it was good that I had been so diligent or he likely wouldn't have lived as in her opinion he was so small. She said that in her opinion the pet store sells them before they are old enough. I fussed over him constantly the first couple of weeks and still fuss over him quite regularly. He was only about 3.5" long when I brought him home but is now about 8.75" long and seemingly plump and healthy. He loves to be held and seems to pout at having to be in his tank for a whole 2 hours after mealtime. Getting him to try fruits and veggies has taken some time and lots of sampling but he is finally starting to take interest in guava and rosemary of all things.

So, I convinced myself that I was basically getting him to be Foster Mom until she wanted to take him. However, while she loves him and is my own personal "What to Expext When Your Mom Brings Home A Baby Beardie Without Planning Ahead Index", he and I have bonded and he prefers to be with his Momma.

"Looks like you're going to have to get your own Dragon," I imformed her. To which she replied "It's okay, I decided I want a tagu!"


OvalComet?

Wow, what a wonderful story of your beardie! I am so glad you took him home, honestly petstores shouldn't be allowed to keep reptiles :?

Just curious, what setup do you have? Unfortunately, petstores are notorious for handing out bad advice, I just really hope this isn't the case with your little guy

Aww, that pic of your baby on the bike is too cute! I love that you purposely went for the baby you knew needed special care/would have a tough time getting sold. I have several beardies that were rejected as babies and were acquired as juveniles because no one wanted them. One was terrified of humans and would freak out/run around her cage in a panic if a human was simply in the room, let alone near her cage. Another had never been handled (not even once) at almost six months old, and she would puff up, hiss, and snap at any appendage that dared enter her cage. She was ferocious and deemed hopeless as a pet, and her cleft palette and mildly deformed foot ruled her out as a potential breeder, so I have no idea what would have happened if I hadn’t taken that little land piranha home with me. Fast forward to her first birthday: the physically flawed human-hating beardie is now the sweetest animal I’ve ever owned. She’s the only beardie I’ll allow to play under the bed because she always comes when called (in fact, the one time I thought I lost her I was freaking out until I called her name and watched her immediately wiggle out from underneath my dresser). She’s such a sweet and affectionate little lizard that no one believes me when I explain that she was feral to the point of terrifying anyone out of the concept of adopting her when she was younger. So while your baby wasn’t attempting to go for anyone’s jugular, she was clearly the frightened runt of the clutch that would have had a tough time finding a good home. But I’ve always found the process of watching the nervous runts or neglected aggressive beardies blossom into big sweethearts extremely rewarding, and have no doubt she’s extremely grateful to be safe from her bigger bully cagemates and in your attentive care. The previous poster mentioned something that’s really important if you did get her from a chain pet store: these stores often sell products that are ineffective at best (“Buy your beardie a night light! They’re terrified of the dark!”) to dangerous at worst (“What’s more natural to a lizard than good old sand? And if he does happen to eat our special CalciSand, it’s full of magical vitamins and nutrients!”). And if there wasn’t a good amount of research that occurred before you purchased your beardie, there’s a high chance the pet store sent you home with products that are unsafe or unsuitable for a beardie’s needs. Going over your setup would be really beneficial, particularly concerning the UV lighting (you need a Reptisun 10.0 T5 tube or Arcadia UVB tube, and most pet stores will send people home with a cheap coil UV light that puts out virtually no UV and has been known to cause eye issues over time). The other no-no is using stick-on thermometers to assume the basking site temperature is the same temp as what the plastic thermometer on the wall of the cage reads (and these devices can be off as much as 25 degrees). One person that posted on a forum couldn’t figure out why their baby beardie seemed to be perishing quickly. It turned out this was because they weren’t measuring their surface temperatures with a temp gun, and when they finally got the temp gun they were shocked to discover that the temperatures in the cage were lethal and that the lizard was suffering heatstroke. While the stick-on thermometer read “109” the temp gun revealed the surface temperatures in the cage were over 125 degrees, so they’d essentially been broiling their lizard alive. Luckily the lizard survived, but many others aren’t that lucky. The pet store insisted the stick on thermometer was a perfectly fine way to estimate surface temperatures—and it almost killed that baby beardie. So going over your setup/diet definitely wouldn’t hurt, as you may have received some info that might not be in the best interest of your new baby. You can also review the articles/care sheets on this site. Regardless, your new baby is extremely cute and it sounds like you’re bonding nicely.

Hiya OvalComet,

First off, you remind me so much of my own mom it's ridiculous! I wouldn't have gotten my scale-baby Guac if not for her, and honestly he's the light of my life.

Like some others, I'm also very interested in learning what your set-up is like and just making sure you have everything you need. Please don't be offended by this - from the sound of thing I am like, almost 100% sure that you and your daughter have given Valiant a perfect set up. It's just better to ask now than to see a "what happened :-(" post a few months from now by wonderful, kind people like you who have nothing but the best intentions.

Regardless, I'm so happy for you and your new scale-child! I look forward to more updates, and I hope your kiddo is doing well in school, too. May I ask kiddo's major? Mine is Microbiology, but I'm swapping to Entomology for grad school in a year or two. Only reason I have pets is because I'm in off-campus housing and my landlord is a kind man who likes animals himself.

Best,
-Ellen

Thank you all for the warm welcome! Nice to know I'm not the only person who is a bit "Dragon Crazy"!

I have him in a 10 gallon aquarium for a starter setup with him being so small. I have an old dresser I'm going to turn into a large open front habitat with removable Plexiglas to cover when needed. After some trial and error with bulbs I have managed to get the right temperatures. I use clip on lamps so I can vary the temperature when needed. I have a 150w basking bulb, 100W ceramic heat bulb (best in my opinion), ZooMed Reptisun 100Uvb for daytime and a 75w black light with UVB for night that I run with the ceramic. I got a 6 pack of digital aqarium thermometers and have one on each side of the aquarium in opposite corners.

I put a soaked disk of coconut husk at the bottom of the tank so it can absorb extra water and naturally humidify and put a mixture of natural calcium sand and Repti Chips made from aspen. I also have small smooth pieces of river rocks and some small basalt stones mixed i to it for a more natural terrain. Initially I had him in just some small rocks mixed with calcium sand in orange as it was on sale and ended up using the last of it as expensive snow melt as it literally turned him orange! His basking rocks are two pieces of agate from my collection that I disinfected before using. His food dish is a ceramic plate that goes under a ceramic flower pot and I bought a large oval plastic soap dish that I inverted and use for a shallow water dish that he prefers to lay in rather than drink from.

It's been a challenge but I've finially got him to eat some fruits as he wants to eat only crickets as that was his pet store diet. He seems to like guava and rosemary of all things. I recently started trying to breed crickets and hopefilully soon I will have some hatchlings so I don't have to drive 20 miles to the petstore at least once a week. I put National Geographic reptile calcium powder that I put on both his crickets, meal worms and fruit. He also licks at it from the bowl sometimes where it missed the food. He prefers to flick his tounge out when I mist the aquarium with distilled water so I mist it several times a day.

My daughter is actually interested in majoring in Microbiology! I have no doubt that she will do well in whatever she decides on as a major. She is extremely focused and self motivated on her academics. With her 4.08 GPA we fully expect her to be class Valevictorian this spring when she graduates. We are currently anxiously awaiting to see if she will receive the scholarship for a full ride to her 1st choice University! We expected to get notice Friday but there is no news yet.

I am very glad to see he is getting lots of love...but many things about your setup need to be changed. Like we mentioned earlier, petstores are horrible when it comes to the actual care of the animal, and are oblivious about proper setup and such

1. Please try to construct said enclosure ASAP. 10 gallon aquariums do not provide needed heat gradient (meaning one side is hot, one is warm, and one is cool).

2. Your heat bulbs are fine, but I will need a little more info about your UV. Is it a tube style or a compact/coil style? The coil/compacts are insufficient, and will need to be changed out for a long one. And by 'ZooMed Reptisun 100Uvb' I'm assuming you mean 10.0?

3. Are the thermometers the cheap, stick on ones? If so, make sure to either get a IR temp gun or digital ones with probes. The stick on ones can be off by as much as 20 degrees!

4. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm fairly certain the 'they absorb water through their vent' thing is a myth. If you'd like to provide water, I'd suggest dripping some onto his snout with an eyedropper, or placing him in a lukewarm water bath. (If he doesn't like baths and it seems to stress him out, don't give him any more - not worth it). I'd highly suggest removing the coconut husk dish all together.

5. PLEASE REMOVE ALLLLLLLLLLL LOOSE SUBSTRATE. Unfortunately, and I hate to tell you this, but you seem to have some of the worst possible beddings. If ingested, calcium sand will harden like cement in their stomachs, despite the claims found on the packaging. Repti Chips are sharp and extremely hard to digest as well, get rid of them too. I'd recommend shelf liner (non-adhesive), slate tile, paper towels, or newspaper. ReptiCarpet and those are okay, but are overpriced and can start to stink, not to mention they are hard to clean.

6. Guava and rosemary are OK, but don't feed them everyday. And, since he is so young, don't stress too much about fruits and veggies, At his age he should be eating almost all protein (bugs). This is the best list available for reference - http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Don't feed any mealworms - they have a hard shell difficult to digest. Ordering online is much easier and cheaper than driving to the petstore. I don't know much about the national geo brand calcium, so I won't comment on it, except to say that you should make sure that it doesn't have d3.

7. Don't mist the entire aquarium - they are desert animals and don't need much humidity. Like I mentioned above, just drip some water on his nose.

Good luck, and I hope this helped!



Please think we are criticizing you or anything, we just want the best for you and your animal. If I got a dollar for every time a pet store gave out wrong advice, I'd be a millionaire :wink:

JessPets":2clfkbzi said:

I am very glad to see he is getting lots of love...but many things about your setup need to be changed. Like we mentioned earlier, petstores are horrible when it comes to the actual care of the animal, and are oblivious about proper setup and such

1. Please try to construct said enclosure ASAP. 10 gallon aquariums do not provide needed heat gradient (meaning one side is hot, one is warm, and one is cool).

2. Your heat bulbs are fine, but I will need a little more info about your UV. Is it a tube style or a compact/coil style? The coil/compacts are insufficient, and will need to be changed out for a long one. And by 'ZooMed Reptisun 100Uvb' I'm assuming you mean 10.0?

3. Are the thermometers the cheap, stick on ones? If so, make sure to either get a IR temp gun or digital ones with probes. The stick on ones can be off by as much as 20 degrees!

4. I'm not 100% sure, but I'm fairly certain the 'they absorb water through their vent' thing is a myth. If you'd like to provide water, I'd suggest dripping some onto his snout with an eyedropper, or placing him in a lukewarm water bath. (If he doesn't like baths and it seems to stress him out, don't give him any more - not worth it). I'd highly suggest removing the coconut husk dish all together.

5. PLEASE REMOVE ALLLLLLLLLLL LOOSE SUBSTRATE. Unfortunately, and I hate to tell you this, but you seem to have some of the worst possible beddings. If ingested, calcium sand will harden like cement in their stomachs, despite the claims found on the packaging. Repti Chips are sharp and extremely hard to digest as well, get rid of them too. I'd recommend shelf liner (non-adhesive), slate tile, paper towels, or newspaper. ReptiCarpet and those are okay, but are overpriced and can start to stink, not to mention they are hard to clean.

6. Guava and rosemary are OK, but don't feed them everyday. And, since he is so young, don't stress too much about fruits and veggies, At his age he should be eating almost all protein (bugs). This is the best list available for reference - http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Don't feed any mealworms - they have a hard shell difficult to digest. Ordering online is much easier and cheaper than driving to the petstore. I don't know much about the national geo brand calcium, so I won't comment on it, except to say that you should make sure that it doesn't have d3.

7. Don't mist the entire aquarium - they are desert animals and don't need much humidity. Like I mentioned above, just drip some water on his nose.

Good luck, and I hope this helped!



Please think we are criticizing you or anything, we just want the best for you and your animal. If I got a dollar for every time a pet store gave out wrong advice, I'd be a millionaire :wink:

Click to expand...

I would like to add on to something you forgot.
Get rid of the Black night heat bulb ASAP. You don’t need one unless it gets under 65f in your house, if it does get under that, get a CHE, these produce heat but not light. Light at night disturb a beardies sleep. Think if you had a lamp on the entire night, it would be a tad disturbing. **disclaimer:I am not trying to be rude or mean in any way**

Thank you for pointing that out, that is very important, and thankfully, easily fixed (just unplug !)

Uh oh...when I mentioned some of the bogus or dangerous stuff pet stores sell like night lights and Calcisand I didn’t realize you’d purchased these items. And a 10 gallon tank makes getting an adequate heat gradient nearly impossible, so your little guy may be struggling with being able to properly thermoregulate. I highly recommend you review the care sheets and articles on this site, particularly the “what to buy” list. UV lighting is also extremely important to the animal’s growth and health, so as another poster wisely mentioned, more information on your UV situation would be very helpful. Reptisun 100—do you mean a compact or coil bulb that’s 100 Watts? If so you definitely need to review the lighting guide, which explains why many of these are essentially worthless in terms of UV output. A Reptisun 10.0 T5 or Arcadia UV tube are ideal. Pet stores sell the cheap compact bulbs because they know the prices of the necessary UV tubes can be a dealbreaker for prospective beardie owners. But UV lighting is the most crucial element to your beardie’s health, so it’s extremely important to make sure you’ve got adequate lighting. And unless you’re taking surface temps in the cage with a temp gun, any stick on thermometers (or even digital thermometers if you’re not placing them on the basking site and making sure the temps hit an accurate reading) are not going to give any indication what the true temps in that cage are. And if you’ve got a 100 watt bulb paired with a tiny 10-gallon tank, surface temps can be much higher than you think. I know this was a bit of an impromptu purchase, but there are some major husbandry issues that need to be addressed ASAP. The articles on this site are a great resource, but members are also happy to help with any specific questions you may have. JessPets hit the nail on the head with her post addressing the issues currently in the mix. As some of the other members mentioned, everyone just wants to make sure you’ve got what you need for your baby to thrive and become a healthy adult.