Chipotle

Hello, Chipotle is my first Beardie. He seems to be content except I feel he should be growing and shedding by now. I’ve had him for two weeks and he is my first one. He eats well but I do work so only on weekends can I feed him more than twice. In the morning he eats crickets and veggies and night he eats crickets dusted in calcium and a couple times a week I dust with vitamins. I’ve given him very small meal worms but I’ve heard mixed reviews on that. I also will be switching to the tube uvb light on Friday. Any suggestions to keep him healthy and get him to grow are greatly appreciated. He is very cute and I certainly love him already. He is chilling and relaxing in this picture. He avoids the top of his branch too much it makes me wonder if it’s too hot, should I get the temp gun vs the stick on?

Thanks
A worried Beardie mom

Welcome to the forum---- Yes get a temp gun -- it is recommended for most accurate temps--- you said your replacing the UVB ? What kind are you getting? Brand and bulb please? It looks like the substrate is sand? Is that correct? How old is he? You can switch him over to dubia roaches and those can be left in the tank w/ him during the day--- they dont bite and are better for him anyways --- easier to keep than crickets and last longer ----
Karrie

Welcome!

-Brandon

Welcome, Chipotle!

--Vanessa--

Thanks for responding. He has reptile carpet. I’m not sure how old he is I’m thinking maybe 3 or 4 months. I was going to go with the zoo med tube light. I currently have the zoomed double dome lights. I changed the heat bulb from 75 watts to 100 because it wasn’t hot enough. He seems to love crickets but I’ll try some dubia roaches this weekend.

Zoo med tube bulb? Do you mean a reptisun 10.0 either the T 8 or T 5?
Karrie

Yes I meant reptisun. Which one is the best for a 20 gallon tank? He’s still small so I have him in the small one till he starts growing.

Well that is a good question! How big of a tank do you plan to put him in? The 20 gallon wont last long - he will be out of it in the next few months- by the time hes a year will be pushing that 20 gallon-- And it depends on the T 8 or T 5--- the T 5's only come in lengths above 24" I believe ---the T 8's come in 18" and up-- I have a 24" Zoo Med fixture w/ a Arcadia 14% bulb in my 120 gallon tank--- it will need to be replaced once a year -- the T 8's every 6 months-- and the T 5's once a year- so its up to you - you dont want the UVB spanning the whole tank -- 2/3 at most --- my UVB does not as my tank is a 4x2x2--
Karrie

Yes he’s only in a 20 gallon right now bc he is small but in a few months I’m just going to get a big tank. I am not sure he is growing fast enough right now and he hasn’t started to shed so I’m worried? Although he is healthy he needs to be growing.

Once you get the new UVB its going to help -- the one you have the coil is not any good --- so I would be getting the new one and place it over the 20 gallon w/ out the screen for a T 8 the T 5 you could leave screen on top ---
Karrie

This is probably a dumb question but what do I put the uv bulb in? Where is the best place to get these supplies. I’m not sure petco and petsmart have the right items?

Check PetSmart and Petco both if you have them where you live-- our pet smart only carries T 8 fixtures- the T 5 takes a different fixture+- I got my fixture and bulb from pangeareptiles-+ there are many places on line like chewy.com-- lightyourreptiles.com-- amazon.com search reptisun bulbs and light fixtures--
Karrie