New Beardie Owner!

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FoleyFun

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Hi! I am so excited to be a new bearded dragon owner and part of this community. A year ago I didn't even know what a bearded dragon was. One day my daughter (13) calls from school and asks if we can take care of the class bearded dragon over spring break. I talk to the teacher and she tells me he is super easy and that our daughter has been taking care of him since the beginning of the school year so she knows what needs to be done. Long story short, I went from being scared to handle the beardie and the mealworms and freaked out about crickets to completely falling in love with him and doing all that I need to do to take care of him. At the end of the two weeks and a ton of research I did not want him to go back to school. Since then he spent the summer with us and winter break and I finally decided that we need our own.

We visited a couple local pet stores and all of them had tiny 1 month old beardies. I was nervous about it being so small and jumping out of my hand and getting lost in my house. I really felt that I would be more comfortable with one just a little bigger, maybe 3-4 months. We wondered into a Petsmart and asked about bearded dragons, they pointed us toward some tiny baby ones. Then a sweet girl who worked there and seemed very knowledgeable mentioned that they had a rescue one up for adoption. He had been bullied and had a few fingers nipped off. She said he was treated by a vet, completely healed and ready for a home. We met him and fell in love ... meet Rex!
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We have only had him two days. He is a little skittish and kind of hyper, but calmed down when I held him and talked to him. He is eating really well, right now crickets and collard greens. We have him in a vision cage because somebody gave it to us. When he gets bigger we will get a terrarium.

Kim
 

MarlowAndMe

Juvie Member
Aw hes adorable! I love that colouring and actually had originally hoped to get one that colour ( light sandy grey) but Marlow ( yellow and orange) stole our hearts and he was the one :)
He was also an older baby at 9months when we adopted him. He turned a year old today :)
I’m glad Rex has a home now where he won’t be bullied and will be very loved by the sounds of it :)
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KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Welcome to the forum -- can you please post pics of your set up for Rex --- his lighting for his home
Karrie
 

FoleyFun

Member
Original Poster
Yes, I will take some pictures when I get home from work. I will tell you a little about his set up though, I learned a lot here :) We have him in the Exo-terra 36" x18x18. We have 10.0 T5 UVB w/ 150 watt basking bulb and a 75 watt CHE for night time. Getting the right temps were a challange, the room we have him in runs cold. I had a 75 watt basking bulb first, then moved up to 100 watt and the basking temps were only getting to 93, moved to the 150 watt and finally its good at 100 to 106 depending on the time of day. I have been checking temps with an IR gun. There are spots in his home that range from 73 to the basking spot at 106. He has a little cave he likes to sleep in at night, a large water bowl that he likes to splash in, a log and a tree that is his favorite basking spot. The substrate is reptile carpet, but not the kind that has loops, it is like felt. He loves his greens and veggies, so far we have tried collard green, mustard greens, dandelion greens, carrots, zucchini, tomato, and green beans. We fill his bowl with veggies in the morning and the bowl is usually half gone when we get home. We feed him outside of his enclosure right when we get home from work at 4:00. He is eating like a little piggy, we are mostly feeding him dubias, but fill in with crickets in between shipments of dubias. He enjoys both equally. I have been handling him every day to get him used to me. He has finally gotten to the point of sitting still and hanging out with me for more than just 5 minutes.

I will definitely take some pictures tonight. I am so thankful for this site, I have learned so much!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Wow you have done your homework---- congrats! Sounds like Rex is going to have a happy and healthy life compared to some of the post and questions we get on this forum!! It is so sad some of the post we get and the pictures of these bearded dragons! This post I was glad to read --- :) Still post some pics of his set up please!
Karrie
 

FoleyFun

Member
Original Poster
After reading these forums for just a few weeks, sometimes I just want to yell at the screen, "just listen to the experts recommendations!"

I thought I knew what I was doing since I had taken care of the school beardie all summer and for winter break. I had followed the teacher's lead and just did what she said. Now I am realizing that a lot of what she had told me was wrong. He is back at school, but I am educating my daughter and she is passing it on to her teacher. He didn't have the proper UVB so I bought him one and sent it into school with my daughter. I have been making extra beardie salad and sending it to scholl with my daughter.

I really fell in love with bearded dragons so I want to follow all of the experts advice so he can live a long healthy life.
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
That is exactly how we got our first dragon---- school babysitting over the summer ended up a permanent home here --- she was old when we got her very unhappy w/her tank so we bought her a bigger one and got rid of the red bulb she had etc etc etc--- Troggy died at around 13 we kinda figured but we knew she was happy the last 4 years that we had her--
Karrie
 

FoleyFun

Member
Original Poster
It was a busy weekend, here are pictures of our beardie's set up. I plan to move the UVB fixture under the screen, but need to get some wire. Hopefully this week ...
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CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
I agree, that looks great. If you don't want to hang the UVB under the screen you can put in a taller branch to allow closer access. If you don't have any other pets in the house you can take the mesh top off too and just put a cross bar over the center to rest the UVB fixture on and suspend the lights from an adjustable stand. Removing the mesh top is only good if there aren't other pets in the house though.
 
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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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