Hello! Newbie with questions/concerns

Hello there! And WOW! Thank god I found this forum!! You guys seem so intuitive and knowledgeable on this subject. I welcome and appreciate any advice.

First off...my name is Jennifer and our newest addition beardie is Zeke. There is sooooo much information online about these reptiles and some of it is soooo conflicting. The people at the PetSmart seem clueless to their care (it is contradicting with what I found on here). After researching this forum, I know we have made some pretty big mistakes 1) buying premade tank kit from petsmart, 2) buying a 20 gallon tank 3) needing a reptisun or T10 light (inside tank). I will be working on these after I get paid on the 5th this month. . His substrate is porcelain tile on half the tank (middle/cool side with the hide) and warm side is reptile carpet (all with paper towel underneath). He has the dual dome with 2 100 W bulbs and the dreaded coil type UVB bulb (I leave the mesh screen open a few inches with the light on top so he can absorb maximum uvb while basking...even with useless bulb).

The lizard was a gift for my son (from huzzy) for his 6th birthday. The PetSmart employees acted like ohhh they’re a great first pet...especially for small kids...what they don’t tell you is all the additional things that come with it and how challenging they actually are to care for. I keep his water bowl inside as his humidity drops to like 16% during the day on the basking side....and I take it out at night as the humidity rises above 50%.

Zeke was pretty great when we got him...I changed out the red light that came with the kit (after reading colored bulbs are a huge NO-NO). Before removing this red light I realized he has been closing one eye and not really wanting to open it often (hopefully this isn’t a huge issue).

We’ve had him almost 4 weeks. He has NO interested in his veggies/greens or any pellets....just crickets and he prefers them dusted with calcium (although I know it’s not recommended everyday). I currently drop 3-4 crickets in (at a time 2-3x a day) and let him eat for 15 minutes then try to remove them so they don’t bite him or stress him out. I definitely remove them at night.

He hates his hide on the cool side and never goes inside it but lately chooses to hide on me behind his basking branch. He used to be seen all over his enclosure and he waved to me and my son several times a few weeks ago (which we both thought was hilarious and cute). I haven’t been holding him since he started hiding in me. I’m debating moving his tank from my sons room to mine for awhile so maybe he’ll be less stressed due to the noise 6 and 8 year old boys make? Thoughts??

I’ve been really worried about him and don’t want him to die. I want a big healthy beardie like all the pros on here have! Any advice would be appreciated. TYIA!!

PS the pic doesn’t depict how I currently have the lighting. As mentioned it is at the back of the slightly opened tank. I Defn bought a light stand and try to keep the lights over the basking area close to the uvb bulb thanks again

The compact 5.0 bulb isn't going to be strong enough for him. As a short term fix, I would swap that with a 26w version of the ExoTerra UVB200 (not the 13w version) which should fit your existing fixture. This should be sufficient for a 20g tank for now. Ultimately I'd invest in either building or purchasing a larger enclosure. Something like a Zen Habitat. Then upgrade your fixture to a 24 or 36'' T5 with a good T5 bulb for it.

What are the surface temps around the tank? That will help determine how to set up the basking lights. You want the basking surface to range from around 100-110 with a gradient down to around 75-80 or so on the other side of the tank. The UVB light should sit over the basking area. This way they can move around and choose what they need at a given time. It helps to use an IR temp gun or set up a couple of digital thermometers with probes to get accurate surface readings. I'd tie one probe to the branch under the basking light and then the other on top of the hide over on the other side of the tank. That way you can check the gradient at a glance.

Hi, welcome.

A baby dragon can have their bugs dusted with calcium every day. The dusting should be light, videos om YouTube can be great for seeing how much dust. Not like powdered donuts, which may sound odd, but I hope it helps. You could add a little bit of calcium dust to his fresh greens. Encapsulated bee pollen from the organic supplement area can also entice some dragons to eat their greens. Adding some fresh herbs like cilantro, mint, parsley in small amounts. Edible flowers for that natural pollen scent. Keep up the effort of some greens every day, in the long run this is worth the effort.

Thank you DorgEndo and CooperDragon! I will Defn follow your advice and work on the tank and dusting crickets issues.

(Using digital thermometer/humidity reader) His basking temps are around (usually above 105) 100-115...if it goes up to/past 115 I normally shut off one of the bulbs for a bit until it lowers a little. The cool side is between 85-90 atm.

I completely cleaned Zeke’s tank today and he really seemed to like it empty for some reason (although he did try to get at his own reflection...if you have any advice on that issue as well) . I wasn’t sure if the sticky background images were good or not of if there was another way to fix this.

Thanks again!

Hi there,

Welcome to the site! You've been given great advice so far

Jenofthejungle321":2se0e6rv said:

100-115...if it goes up to/past 115 I normally shut off one of the bulbs for a bit until it lowers a little. The cool side is between 85-90 atm.

Click to expand...

This is a bit too hot though. The basking surface isn't too bad, it's ideal to not let it get over 110, but 85-90 is too hot for the cool side. That's one of the problems with smaller tanks - harder to get a good temperature gradient.
So i'd focus on lowering that basking temp, as it should also lower the cool end. You can try raising the bulb higher, or using a different wattage. But I wouldn't settle until your temps are 80 or less on the cool side.

-Brandon