New beardy mum looking for advice.

Hi everyone, I had been looking at having a bearded dragon for the past few months and suddenly last week a local lady was moving house and couldn't take her dragon with her, so I have adopted her. She is three years old and seems to be in good condition and happy to be handled and hand fed.

I have done a huge amount of research in a very small space of time but would just appreciate some advice to check what I'm doing is OK. She came with her vivarium already set up, so I have a ceramic heat lamp and UV strip light in there at the moment. The hot end stays at around 40 degrees Celsius and the cold end at around 22. I am looking at getting a thermostat because at the moment I am having to constantly monitor the temperature as the hot end keeps on getting too hot. The one that I've seen recommended is the Pulse Habistat thermostats.

She has some logs in her vivarium, but I do want to get her some more hiding places and a bit more texture. As well as some reptile carpet, currently she has no substrate at all. The main concern I have is about her food. I have found a lot of information on what to feed dragons, but not so much about how much to feed them.

Before she came to me she had a bowl of mixed salad leaves every day and crickets. So I am doing pretty much the same, although I have a butternut squash to add in with her leaves and a few other veggies, like carrot and cabbage for an occasional bit of variety. I'm just not sure how often to give her crickets? I have read that it should be twice a week, as many as she wants to eat in 5 - 10 minutes. Is that a good amount?

Is one bowl of mixed veggies enough per day? It's quite a small bowl and she eats all of it. Also I am adding calcium powder to the veggies, should that be every day or a couple of times a week?

Just after some general food advice really as I want her to be as happy and healthy as possible.

Many thanks

Jess

Hi. I would replace the CHE with a bright wife basking light. The che is for night if your house gets below 65.

Thank you. I was thinking of replacing it with something when I got the thermometer so will definitely look in to that.

I suggest using a halogen flood light (PAR38 has a nice wide beam) for basking. You may need to test a few different wattages to find out which produces the best heat gradient but once you have that set you can use the thermostat to fine tune the temps and keep them within proper range. I would use a dimming thermostat with a basking light so it isn't constantly turning on and off. Best to get the temps close before it's set up too so it's not making the light too dim. If you aren't sure about the age of the UVB tube it might be best to replace that as well since their output decays over time.