New to all of this. I recently started working in a pet store and one of the baby bearded dragons was injured by his 2 other tank mates, so they gave me the injured one. His foot was bitten and he has only one toe left on that back foot... Anyway, I have been reading this forum like a bible every night after work to make sure I make a proper home for the little thing, as I knew nothing about them until 2 weeks ago. He is in a 55 gallon aquarium that I already had, he has a heat lamp (only one for now but I am getting another soon), I have a T8 10.0 reptisun UVB in a blacklight light fixture I bought at walmart for 12.50 mounted in his tank at the top but within about 8 inches of his basking spot, which at present is his hammock. A digital thermometer probe mounted just below the basking spot. His tank stays in the upper 80s during the day and at night its always at 72 F. Basking spot is low 90s, hence why I need another heat lamp. I built him a dome of sorts out of a cardboard box that I extended to fit the opening of the tank and lined it with aluminum foil to bounce the heat back down and bring the temperature up to requirement, the box covers the heatlamp (with ample space around the heat lamp so as not to be a fire hazard) that is clamped to the side with a 100w bulb, it also serves to block any air from the vent in the wall from dropping the temps further while still allowing fresh air to circulate inside his tank. The other side is covered by the aquarium hood to keep the heat in. He currently has a large hide on the cool side of the tank that he hasnt used yet but Im sure he will. He gets fresh water daily using the blue water conditioner for reptiles to make it safe. He is misted before work using the same treated water and after work he gets his bath in a bowl of treated heated tap water. Warm but not hot. He is currently shedding on his tail which I am determined to see as a good sign because if Im correct shedding means growing. He usually doesnt eat a lot but he will take about 5 crickets a day, all dusted with D3 powder. I think he will eat more now that he has the UVB and when he stops shedding. I have a large Granite rock in the middle that he seems to love to climb up on and jump off of to his mopani log that leads to his hammock. The top of the hammock is about 8 inches from both the UVB tube and the heatlamp... Too close? I turn the lights off around 9pm and back on around 8am before work. His substrate right now till we can do better is construction paper and packing paper. I clean his foot every night after his bath with iodine and he seems to be healing well. He sits with me until he starts darting every which way and trying to crawl out of my hands. I try to hand feed him but he usually wont take anything. We tried greens once so far and he wasnt interested. Im going to buy some kale tomorrow and try again. Anyway, I will post some more photos soon. This has gotten long but thank you to anyone who actually read all that. And thank you all for continuing to share your knowledge and answer questions. It has helped more than you know because I am sure I am not the only newbie lurking and reading your answers rather than posting. ??
