First Time Beardie Owner - Bucky the Rescue Beardie

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GenRose

Member
Hi! You can call me Rose, and I just got an unexpected beardie!
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His name is Bucky (His old owner said he was named after Bucky from Winter Solider, which I approve of) and he is a rescue. I got him about two weeks ago when I went to get myself a crested gecko, the person I was buying from asked me to take him too (for free). I said no at first, I have seen videos on beardie’s and understood roughly what their care was, but I was scared I wouldn’t be able to give him what he needed. After seeing that he was in a 20 gallon tank on black calcium sand being feed pellets I knew I couldn’t leave him and I could definitely do better. You’ll also notice in the picture of him a part of his tail his gone, I was told this was because of one of his siblings from the store bit it off. He is about 1 and a half years to 2 years old, and to me he seems a bit small for that age? (I did check, he is a boy, has two little bumps on his tail)
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Right now he is in a temporary set-up, I plan on upgrading him as soon as I can but that may be a few months away. Currently, he is in a plastic tub (35*18*18). I cut the top of the lid and put a screen on it, I also cut out areas for the light clamps to hold onto the tub. He also has a heating pad on the side of his tub for the nighttime, it only gets up to about 85-90 degrees so it can’t melt or distort the plastic. I read that they can’t tell heat from their bellies, so I put it on the side. He has a halogen light for basking and a reptisun UVB 10.0, right now it is the bulb version because I cannot get the strip yet. I want to get him a bigger hide and some more places to climb on, but I am keeping it minimal right now to keep an eye on his poop because I am worried about impaction from the calcium sand. He has pooped three times since I got him, all three were different consistencies, but the last one was healthy!
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Eating wise I really messed up at first. I gave him a bunch of meal worms because that is what I read on a website. I gave him like 30 over the course of two days before I watched a video and the person casually mentioned that they could cause impaction. Thankfully he has pooped twice since then. He doesn’t seem to understand that fruits and veggies are food, he just kind of stares at it before looking at me like “what is this, this isn’t crickets”. I have gotten him to eat collard greens once, but that it is. He was showing signs of dehydration a week ago, so I started to feed him a slurry through a syringe. He hates it, but he has had so much energy since I started doing that! Also, I just got his calcium with D3 in, so I am going to start coating his crickets. I would like to note I live in a place where it is illegal to have dubia roaches, are there any alternatives to feed Bucky other than crickets? I know it's best to give beardies a variety of different insects.

Personally I am amazed that the only issue he seems to have the tail, he doesn’t show any signs of MBD and so far he doesn’t seem to be impacted. He was a bit sluggish when I first got him, but the second I gave him UVB and the slurries he perked right up! He loves to chase after crickets and is slowly learning how to relax on my chest as I do homework or draw. I wish I had a safe space for him to run around on the floor, I was thinking of getting one of those critter play pens eventually or maybe a leash!

I don’t like getting anything without doing proper research on it, from games, to food, to of course pets. Usually I do months of research in preparation for things like this, but I am having to do months of research in a few weeks right now I would love some help and advice!
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
What a cutie!

I'm new to reptiles, so I don't have much advice, but glad to have you & Bucky here - I think you will learn a lot from this forum!
 

GenRose

Member
Original Poster
Thank you! I've already learned a lot just by looking through other topics, I am glad to have a place I can go to if I need any help!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
85-90 degrees at nite is too hot -- please shut the heating pad off - he needs nite time temps to be 70's or not below 65 at nite and temps need to be taken w/ a digital probe thermometer $6 at Petco or Petsmart -- next you need to get rid of the coil UVB -- if its the 13 watt they are not any good -- please invest in a 24" fixture w/ reflector and a Reptisun 10.0 T 5 bulb --- the coil will do no good in the 50 gallon tub or tank --- this is a MUST have ASAP-- keep offering greens and No more pellets --- here is a website for nutrition http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html this one comes w/ a bulb please do not use it - its not good for reptiles
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-reptisun-t5-ho-terrarium-hood.html you want the 24" fixture - it also comes w/ a 5.0 bulb - it is not strong enough it can be used as a back up but the distance is different from the 10.0 bulb
https://www.pangeareptile.com/store/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-t5.html you need a 22" bulb
Karrie
 

GenRose

Member
Original Poster
Thank you so much Karrie!
I plan on getting him that UVB as soon as I can, I should be getting money from my school around July. Should I leave the UVB bulb until then or would it be better without it?
At night where he is can get around 65, that is why I put the heating pad, it makes the rock around 70-75 degrees at night. I am getting a ceramic heater but that is on hold, the one I ordered is currently backlogged till July. (Though it said it would be here by last week) As soon as I get the heater I will make sure to remove it!
I am currently using an Etekcity Lasergrip 749 to check temperatures since we already had it in the house. I check about twice an hour to make sure it is a good temp since I am home all day, but when I can I plan on getting a thermostat. Also, the halogen light is on a dimmer to make sure it doesn't get too hot, full power makes it around 150 on his basking rock, with the dimmer it only gets around 100-110.
The second I saw that he was eating the crickets without issue I threw away the pellets. Do you have any advice on getting him to eat fruits? He seems to like the greens now, he is eating them almost consistently. Some days are better than others, but he won't touch fruits. I have tried apples, bananas, strawberries, watermelons, peach, grapes, pears, and some others, but he doesn't seem interested.
I would love some websites you'd recommend for feeders, I tried looking for some myself but I kept getting mixed reviews from different sources. Currently, I am getting crickets from a local store and gut loading them. I plan on breeding my own using the tank Bucky came with, since it seems like the perfect size.
Again thank you for all the advice, I will be making the changes you stated as soon as I possibly can!!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I would shut it off it's not really doing any good- get the UVB ASAP-- in the meantime take him out in a plastic tote No glass or on you sit him in direct sunlight/ partial shade 15 minutes in tote no longer you don't want to burn him up or if he's on you longer- do this a couple times per day - 15 minutes is equal to.about 4 hrs of UVB- I am going to give you a nutrition website and other feeder websites here in a bit- we can talk about feeding
Karrie
 

GenRose

Member
Original Poster
I will start doing that until I can get him the proper UVB, I appreciate all the help you are giving me and I look forward to learning more about feeding!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.mulberryfarms.com/ kinda spendy on shipping they have silk worms plus other feeders
http://www.dubiaroches.com this place has really good worms and roaches -I recommend starting a colony of dubias instead of crickets - dubias are a better staple feeder and last longer and easier to care for they have good super worms horn worms which are a hydrating worm and grow very fast so order in small amounts - butter worms when in stock meal worms
http://www.reptilianarts.com good silk worms - they are another staple feeder - I usually order in bulk like 50 if you order in bulk you will need to order food as well - they need to be fed daily and containers cleaned out as well
http://www.coastilsolkworms.com they have nice silk worms as well
http://www.joshsfrogs.com I have not ordered anything from them but others on here have --
www.symtonbsf.com they are BSFL place - these are small grubs usually babies like these they are a staple feeder do not dust them - they are small so if ordering them order large - you can keep them on your kitchen counter for like 2 week before turning to flys and then the flys can be fed to the dragon- they make a good compliment to the normal staple feeder - good salad toppers
Fruit should only be fed occasionally if hes not eating it dont worry about it but you want him eating his salads --- look at the nutrition website and go from there - it will tell you what to feed how much to feed and what not to feed -- its gonna be trial and error w/ him to see what he likes -- you may haft to use a few worms to lure him to the salad bowl - so you will need a glass or ceramic bowl that the worms etc cant get out of
Karrie
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
I think it depends on if the coil bulb is a 26 watt or a 13 watt - I think if it's a 26 you can leave it for now.

It is great that he is eating his greens - really!
As for fruits, they are meant as an occasional treat, so it's no big deal he's not eating them.
Other veggies are great though - I recommend squash and colored bell pepper. :)
 

GenRose

Member
Original Poster
I wish I could do dubia, every video I have watched on bearded dragons recommend them, but unfortunately they are illegal where I live. We have a lot of issues with invasive species here so it makes sense why. As for the other ones I will take a look! When I go to the store next I will get him some different kinds of greens, and Win I will definitely try the squash and peppers as well!

Thank you guys for helping me out with this!
 

GenRose

Member
Original Poster
Sorry, I am from Florida, these look perfect! I will have to look into breeding them, because they are expensive haha
 

wendysn63

Hatchling Member
I love him. I would certainly listen to Karries advice she helped us with our
Atlas so far and we rescued him from a similar situation. Right now he is overcoming something with his eye and is slowly coming back in action. Atlas loves hornworms in fact all our babies do. They can be pricey but you will like the reaction out of them.
 
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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.

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