LunarFirefly
Member
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.
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.