Hakuna is such a photo hog! Very photogenic.
He looks quite healthy--the correct size for his age, good weight, no signs of dehydration. The body is growing in the correct proportion to the head.
Diet--so important, especially at his age and growth rate! Even a week without correct nutrition will affect him for his entire life. Crickets are a great source of easily digestible protien. But, as with any living thing, a variety of foods is important. When Dezi was that age, this was his diet: Mornings, noon and evenings, I offered by hand (long medical tongs, actually) crickets, mealworms, Bearded dragon food for baby beardies made by Nat Geo, and lastly, a few waxworms. Offer as much as he will take of the first "course", then begin the next. I leave a few crickets to run loose in the viv to provide snacks and entertainment, as Dezi hunts them down. All crickets dusted with powdered calcium with vit. D. I have a plastic "cup" made for dusting that has a lid, with a compartment in the bottom where the dust goes--I drop a bunch of crickets in the cup, secure the top, and turn it upside down with a gentle shake. Once turned right side up, the excess dust drops back into the bottom through a plastic grid. A zip baggie with a pinch of dust does the job just fine, but with the amount of crickets and number of feedings, the cup is so handy! I also offered Dezi snacks throughout the day, every couple of hours, until he was a year old. I have since realised that I was overdoing it, but he grew up so healthy and big, I would follow that same diet if I ever got another Beardie.
The food by nat geo is found in pet shops, in a bag. It looks like green peas. Must refrigerate after opening. I warm them and
hydrate them by dropping them into a little container saved from waxworms or mealworms, with hot tap water in it. After about half a minute, I drain the excess water, pat the "peas" dry with paper towel, and sprinkle a pinch of calcium/D powder over it, before feeding. I leave any leftovers in a dish for Dezi to snack on as desired. The calcium powder was used every meal, every day. Two or three days a week, I added a pinch of powdered multivitamin, as well. Always, ffresh salad in a bowl, and fresh water. i do prefer to give live protien, but wanted Dezi to be accustomed to a prepared food, in case I ran out of live and could not make the hour drive to a pet shop, due to a blizzard. Also, a prepared food can be handy when traveling, and Dezi comes along everywhere.
As important as nutrition, is the environment. he must be able to bask in 105* to digest properly, or all that nutrition is no good. Also, most important is the
UVB light. I highly reccomend the long tube fluorescent lamp for desert reptiles called reptisun 10. For a 40 gallon vivarium (the absolue minimum size for adult beardies) a 24" long light is needed, to cover all the viv. It fits into a reflector top for aquariums. These reflectors and lamps are not cheap, but well worth their cost, saving your precious one from a dreadful bone disease called MBD, (metabolic bone disease) that cannot be reversed once started. It is a silent killer, will not show any signs until it is too late, and is quite painful. Due to the rapid bone growth, our babies are most vulnerable to this awful disease. Only one week with poor UVB can be all it takes. I hate to be all drama queen about it, but it is our babies worst enemy, and I have seen so many cases of good owners,being misinformed by the petshops, buy the wrong UVB lamps and suffer the result. After their growth rate slows, usually around a year but sometimes two years, they can go a few days with insufficient lamps, but why take the chance? Oh, and the lamps must be replaced every six months. They will still produce the same amount of light, but not enough UVB--that begins to lessen from the day you turn it on. I mark my lamps with masking tape and the date of purchase on the reflector, and mark my calendar to replace the lamp.
Well, that was a small book! Sorry, I am a retired teacher, and do go on a bit. There is plenty of info about all this, on this site. And feel free to ask any questions! I apologise if you already know all this--I never know how much a new poster knows, or how much experience they have, so I can come off as preachy, but do not intend to offend?? I just love Beardies--and want all owners to be informed so they may have happy, healthy beardies for many years.
Your Hakuna should be shedding, about to shed, or just over a shed continually for the first year, due to the growth rate. A sign of good nutrition is a good shed, not in bits and pieces, but all at once, or at least in big areas over the body, like all the tail, then all the back.
Dezi says, "always get your UVB!"
