New Beardie, New to Bearded Dragon

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Batrist

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Hello all;

My Son, 9 years old, recently purchased a new bearded dragon from Pet Smart. They don't know her exact age but suggested around 6 months, He/She's roughly 7 inches in length (including tail) I think (won't sit still long enough to measure)
I have some questions about his/her eating habits. Morning feedings tend to go well, she will eat anywhere between 10 and 18 crickets in a 5 - 10 minute feeding. but her afternoon feedings she's not all that interested in, she'll eat as many as 5 or none at all. Also she shows a disinterest in greens. She had a couple bites of Arugula yesterday morning but that's the only time she has taken greens at all. She never gets "excited" for meal time, the first couple crickets I basically hand feed her, then she'll get into it and chase the rest. a friend suggested I feed her in a separate tank which I tried this afternoon. she didn't eat anything.
Secondly a question about temps. I know her basking spot should be between 105 and 110 F, currently it's between 91 and 95 (measured with a infa-red thermometer from the hardware store) down below her basking spot is 71-75 and cool side is 65-70. She seldom goes up on the branch into the basking area (91-95) but seems to prefer hanging out down low in the 71-75 area. Also for UVB she has a reptisun 10.0 compact florecent, mounted above the screen directly beside her basking lamp. (dual dome). Does it sound like I'm doing this right at all or are major adjustments needed?
 

destiny1998

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Hi. What kind of basking light do you use? Also those compact/coil uvb are not very good. I'd replace that with a reptisun 10.0 t5. Can you post a picture of her and the set up?
 

Batrist

Member
Original Poster
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102285-1675432618.jpg

Sorry the photo quality isn't great cuz she's sleeping now.
The second is from her today around lunchish.. She does appear very alert whenever she has company or we bring her out.
Couple things I'll get out of the way cuz I know for sure I'll get told it and I hope perhaps it's the problem.
1) red light for night time use, I'll be replacing it with a ceramic heat emitter for nighttime use tomorrow, after reading many threads I now realize it's probably disturbing her sleep.
2) The Sand Substrate is coming out tomorrow, I'll either be putting in tile (if I can find my cutter) or a sand mat. On the note of impaction, she typically has 1 bowl movement daily, typically in the morning looks normal.. kinda like a bird dropping I guess.
3) As you noted and from what I've been reading, the compact UVB is probably not optimal and the screen may be making it worse, I intend to upgrade to a 34" 10.0 T5 as you suggested tommorow also, assuming i can find a fixture for it in the small town I am in.

My current basking light is a 100 watt repti Basking Spot Lamp from Zoo med mounted in the dual dome above. Update to my previous post about temps, his red light came on about 30 min early tonight (not sure why) and brought the basking temp up to 102, sorry I didn't check the ambient, in her current exact sleeping spot (in that pic) she's sitting at 72 and seems to be very comfortable (sleeping like a champ) should I consider putting that red bulb in the dual dome when I upgrade the UVB lighting to supplement her ambient temps threw out the day?
 
I am still new to this myself, and I just want to say: go you for going the extra mile to research and talk to people! A lot of people don't do that.
 

destiny1998

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Thanks for answering. Get rid of the red light. Garbage. Where are you taking the temps? She is a nice looking baby :D
 

Batrist

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Original Poster
Hey;
So I made a few changes today, Like I'd mentioned I removed all of the sand, I didn't tile yet but left in the Sand mat, looks nice, non loose substrate but probably a pain to clean. I removed the red light in favor of a low wattage ceramic heater (she lives in the basement of a northern alberta home. little cool down there, low 60's) and I also upgraded the but to a 30" T8 10.0 Repti Sun.

Temps, I read from the top of the log, the rock down below and the corner farthest from the heat lamp. Today I also enclosed the sides and back with construction paper so she'd stop glass surfing and black on the back cuz I thought it might help with the heat a little. I'd say it has helped. I was getting 103 on the basking spot today mid 80's down below and 69 ish in the further corner.

Result as I see it, She was a happy and active girl today, each time I visited her she had moved to a different spot in the tank, or wondering about. she found the highest point on the branch by the front and I swear she was watching TV with my son from there. She still didn't eat much this evening, but I'm going to give her a couple days to settle and attribute that to a bit of stress from a active day of tank construction activities.
 
Batrist":1wu6kxe2 said:
Hey;
So I made a few changes today, Like I'd mentioned I removed all of the sand, I didn't tile yet but left in the Sand mat, looks nice, non loose substrate but probably a pain to clean. I removed the red light in favor of a low wattage ceramic heater (she lives in the basement of a northern alberta home. little cool down there, low 60's) and I also upgraded the but to a 30" T8 10.0 Repti Sun.

Temps, I read from the top of the log, the rock down below and the corner farthest from the heat lamp. Today I also enclosed the sides and back with construction paper so she'd stop glass surfing and black on the back cuz I thought it might help with the heat a little. I'd say it has helped. I was getting 103 on the basking spot today mid 80's down below and 69 ish in the further corner.

Result as I see it, She was a happy and active girl today, each time I visited her she had moved to a different spot in the tank, or wondering about. she found the highest point on the branch by the front and I swear she was watching TV with my son from there. She still didn't eat much this evening, but I'm going to give her a couple days to settle and attribute that to a bit of stress from a active day of tank construction activities.

Great work!! The new 10.0 tube will make a ton of difference as well as getting rid of the red heat lamp at night. Getting the proper UVB makes a huge difference in itself. They have in internal clock that sets everything(metabolism and hormones) on their day/night schedule so getting rid of that night light will help a ton. This is their circadian rhythm. I would suspect that in the next week as she is getting used to the proper lighting that you will see an increase in appetite. Make sure to check the temps at night too that they aren't getting too high. A slight drop in temperatures does help with their metabolism as well. They can be at 65 at night and be just fine.
 
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