Hello! New and open to advice!

Hey there!

My name is Alana. I just bought my first bearded dragon on Sunday (4/15/18). Judging by his size (4 inches long from head to tail) I assume he is about a month old. I say "he" although I do not know the sex of my beardie. I have named him Norbert after the dragon given to Hagrid, the grounds keeper in Harry Potter. I thought this was fitting as Hagrid later finds out that his Norbert is a female and I won't find out the gender of my dragon for a while. :lol:

The first thing I did after purchasing my dragon and a few necessities was order a new basking light and Reptisun 10.0 UVB mini compact flourescent light (13 watts). I currently have a regular light bulb in my Zoo Med mini combo deep dome dual lamp fixture. However, if I turn on one light then it is just a little bit too cool for my Norbert and if I turn on both lights then it gets a little too hot. Therefore, I have been monitoring the temperature by turning one of the lights off and on periodically to try to maintain 105-110 degree temperatures. When I went to work yesterday I left just one light on assuming that it would be better to be just a bit too cold than for it to get too hot. Any suggestions on temporarily finding the best way to maintain 105-110 while out of the house and without my new bulbs would be appreciated!

I have been reading through some of the forums and attempting to do more research on beardies. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated, as I would like the best possible life for my bearded dragon! Thanks!

-Alana

Hi. Welcome to beardie slavery You definitely need a better uvb. Those coil/compact don't produce enough uvb. I would replace it with a reptisun 10.0 55 tube. Also how big is the enclosure!? If you are using a stick on thermometer you need a more accurate way to take temps. A temp gun or a digital with a wide probe.

destiny1998":hpqtjdxx said:

Hi. Welcome to beardie slavery You definitely need a better uvb. Those coil/compact don't produce enough uvb. I would replace it with a reptisun 10.0 55 tube. Also how big is the enclosure!? If you are using a stick on thermometer you need a more accurate way to take temps. A temp gun or a digital with a wide probe.

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Thank you! I have read that a Reptisun 10.0 tube is better than the coil/compact due to the UVB that it puts out and I plan to purchase it asap. I only have a 10 gallon tank at the moment but I am working on finding a larger enclosure as I know that Norbert will outgrow that quickly. I have a stick on thermometer currently but I plan on buying either a temp gun or a digital thermometer.

Originally, I had no intentions of actually coming home with a pet otherwise I would have been more prepared in advance! All of my research thus far has told me that basically everything I was sent home with for my beardie is pretty much the wrong materials. (Sand, colored lights, stick on thermometer, no UVB lights, etc) I find this very disappointing, not just because I have to spend quite a bit of extra money but mostly because I can't help but wonder how many beardies are going to homes that don't research the proper equipment/needs for their dragon. Luckily for me I did do some research that prompted me to make some immediate changes the day I got him home.

Thanks for commenting! I really appreciate your advice!

Sounds like you have it under control Good luck and you should post a picture of your baby some time

I would post a picture but I'm not sure how!

To upload an image go here: https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/#list and then click on New Upload. When you have it uploaded and want to post it, while making your post you can click on XIMG, up where the bold, underline, quote, etc. are. Hope this helps!

This is my Norbert the day I brought him home! I believe the picture is sideways so I apologize for that! I have since read that sand is bad for juvenile dragons so that is one of the many changes I've made so far. From head to tail he is about 4 inches long. However, I bought him with a tail nip and it appeared that the last half of his tail was dead. You cannot see this in the picture but I assume that he will end up losing that part of his tail. We have a vet appointment tomorrow to address this...I hope that the appointment doesn't stress him out too much but I didn't want to risk infection or him getting hurt any further!