First time beardy owner

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Hello!

As the title says, I'm very new with having a bearded dragon. I had leopard geckos for a time, and they were very happy and healthy but due to a move I ended up giving them away to a family.

I just 'adopted' my Bearded Dragon on April 13th and they said he was about 3 weeks to a month old. He's about 7-8 inches long now which fits well with him being roughly two months old. He's also on his second shed, and I've a few questions regarding that.

But first!

Here's a piccy of the lil guy. I'm tentatively naming him Rhaast.



I had to go black and white because the light made everything this intense yellow haha. He had just eaten some crickets when I took that.

So I've been having a difficult time keeping his tank nice and toasty. It usually sits between 90 and 108 depending on the time of day, and about 80-90 during the night, and I can only really get it over 100 when I have a fire going in the fireplace. I have three heat mats (exo terra 25 watt under tank heat mat, exo terra 25 watt desert sun and Ultratherm 30 watt heat mat), a Solar Glo (I think?) 160 watt heat lamp, and an infrared lamp at 100 w which is constantly on even after the Solar Glo light gets switched off at 8pm.

It's on a timer too, making it a lot easier to manage.

He actually moves to the cooler side surprisingly, when it starts getting close to 100 f under the lamps. He's in a 55 gallon standard aquarium, but I have a hammock in the tank and the lamps hang on a stand so they're not too high above him and he can move closer if he needs to.

I set it up so he could look outside. Whenever the basking light turns off, he moves to the top of the hammock and watches the world beyond lol. He's such a curious little guy.

I feed him as many crickets as he can eat in about 10 minutes, and he usually eats all of them. I find I buy about 5 dozen every couple days so he's got a good appetite. Also give him mealworms once a week give or take. Just like.. 5 small ones.

He gets leafy greens; kale, mustard greens, collard greens, and cabbage or spaghetti squash daily. Has a sizable water dish which I notice him sitting in sometimes. When he sheds, I give him daily soaks as well. I'll put a few drops on the tip of his mouth to see if he's thirsty, and he gets misted a couple times a day when he's shedding.

He's defalcating fairly normally. When I first got him, he went the next day then didn't go for a few days, then started going again more regularly.

Okay so I have some questions if it's alright to just throw them out there in my intro lol.

When he first shed, it was his body that shed first, then his tail. But this time I only noticed his tale shedding, but his body seems a bit pale especially on his arms like it hasn't shed yet. It also seems slightly wrinkly in a couple spots. It's been like that for a few days. Is it possible his tail just shed first this time, and the rest will follow soon? His eyes are clear, but I think they look a touch puffy like when he was shedding last time. I'll gently rub water around his neck and on the top of his head, then down his back to help moisturize his skin to help with shedding, and rub his feet carefully to help encourage the loose skin off. Is there anything more I can do?

Next question is --

I've noticed he seems to like defecating on the right side of my chest. He even moved off my hand, and went in the same exact spot as the time before which was super frustrating! Haha. I mean I'm glad he's going, but my goodness does it smell. I use to clean tour buses. This little guy can't do much to put me off haha. But it's still gross.

I've been reading there are ways to teach them to go in a bath, or on a paper towel? Something about tummy massages to help stimulate them? How would I do that?

And lastly -- I've noticed he's gotten rather squirmy about being handled. He was fine when I first got him, but as he's gotten older he seems less keen on it. He's fine after I pick him up and hold him for a bit like he's realizing I'm safe, but even just trying to hand feed him some mealworms, he gets skittish and runs off. Or he ignores the food I'm trying to hand feed him.

Anything I can do? I don't want him to be afraid of me handling him, but I also don't want him relieving himself on me. So any advice would be great for that. And I hope my questions are alright here. I've been searching the forums, and various other sites, but there's been some conflicting information. So figured I'd ask here.

Thanks very much, and I look forward to learning and sharing my experiences with everyone.
 

CooperDragon

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Welcome to the forum! He's a cute little guy. It is normal for his sheds to come in patches like that. One day a foot, then his mouth then tail etc. He may bulge his eyes to loosen the shed there and he may flare his beard for the same reason. Their skin can get wrinkly because the looser skin allows them to puff out and pancake as needed.

It can be tough to train the little guys on pooping. Adults tend to respond well though. Just try to set up a routine with him. Put him in a place that is easy to clean. Maybe set up a portable basking light for him and offer some food and then keep him there (within reason) until he poops. He will eventually learn by routine. Some people use warm baths to help stimulate a poop. this can be effective but baths stress some of them out (some love it). It isn't worth the stress if he doesn't like it.

His squirmy behavior is related to his curiosity. He wants to run around and explore. If you have a safe area for him to do so, let him go for it. They especially like looking out the window as you're seeing. You can set up a portable basking light for him to return to so he can warm up while he's out.

As far as lighting goes it sounds like your setup might be a bit over complicated. How are you measuring the temperatures? You'll want to get surface temperature readings to adjust the lighting. Shoot for 100-110 basking surfaces and a gradient down to 75-85 on the cool side. At night, it should stay above 65 but I've found low 70s are perfect. It's good to allow a cool down period overnight. If your light is infrared and gives out no visible light it can be used overnight. If it is putting out visible red light it can disturb his sleep though. The heat mats may not be needed but they should at least be kept on a thermostat to prevent malfunction if you decide to keep them on. Your Solar Glo should be pretty powerful and provide adequate UVB if it's set at the right height. It should be between about 12-16'' above the basking area for proper output.
 
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