New to the Beardie Life!

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madisonwallace

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Hey everyone! My name is Madison and I adopted a 1 year old bearded dragon a couple months ago and I thought this could be an awesomely useful forum for my newbie questions!
I believe my beardie is male, not 100% sure, so the name Cornelius is pending haha :lol:

I have attached some pictures of his enclosure and him. Everything I have including the enclosure came from his previous owner who was a little kid that got bored of him :cry:

We are in the process of building him a brand spanking new melamine enclosure that is much bigger and nicer looking. Any tips or recommendations for building and what not would be greatly appreciated!
(the short UV lamp is being upgraded, just waiting for it in the mail)

Also, ever since I have gotten him he has been wrinkly. From my research, I have come up with the possibility that he is underweight or dehydrated. Thoughts? The wrinkles do vary and some parts of the day they almost look like they're gone, and others he looks like a pile of wrinkles, so? He also has been shedding pretty much the whole time I've had him and its only in small parts. Like a piece of his tail one week and then his legs the next week.... Right now his back is shedding it seems, but only in two spots.

I feed him super mealworms and some butter worms 1-2 times a week and he gets a huge variety of greens every day. I also spray him with water once a day and bathe him once a week. I do dust his food with calcium once a week, should I do it more? He is very active and alert so I am not really sure what'ts up.

Thanks guys and I am excited to be a part of this group!

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CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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Welcome to the forum! He looks pretty healthy based on those photos. I'm sure he'll enjoy the extra space in a new enclosure. My advice is to build the enclosure as large as you can (4'x2'x2' at least). Use a high quality T5 UVB tube like this http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/ and build good ventilation. I suggest vents low on the cool side and high on the warm side for best airflow.

At 1 year old, he should start moving to more of a vegetarian focused diet. Slowly reduce his bug offerings from once per day down to about once or twice per week over the next few months. Give him a nice big salad every day with 2-3 items from this list, rotating depending on what you can get fresh at the store. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html He will probably discover some favorites that can go into rotation more frequently.

Avoid offering high fat bugs at this point aside from occasional treats. Good staple bugs include crickets, roaches, silk worms, black soldier fly larvae, and horn worms among others. Give the bugs a light even coat of calcium dust at every meal. You don't need to dust black soldier fly larvae or the salads.

Please let us know if you have any questions about his care and we'll be glad to help.
 
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I miss you so much, Amaris 💔
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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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