New Beardie Owner / Would Love Advice

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l0sts0ul5

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Hi everyone! I got a baby beardie from Petco on 12/22/2020. He’s 2 months old, & his name is Voldemort. I’m kind of looking for advice, because I want to make sure he’s getting the best care.

It’s a super lame question but how do you even get your beardie to like you? Granted, I’ve only had mine for 3 weeks. But he always runs away from me. He’ll let me stroke his back, but I can tell I scare him.
We’ve had a couple incidents already. The first one, I had my hand near him & he took one look, jumped on my hand & starting sprinting up my arm. The same day, he tried to jump out of the tank, failed, & hit the side. He’s tried jumping a few more times, & he glass surfs like crazy. I want to be able to take him out to free roam, but I’m so scared I’ll lose him. I feel really bad cause he never leaves the tank except for his baths.
He eats meal worms & sometimes crickets (I can’t always get crickets). He also likes acorn squash, kale, & collard greens.
He’s in a 20 gallon long tank with a screen top. I’m not sure how to attach pictures on here, lol, otherwise I’d attach pictures of the lights, & him in the tank. He has a 75W repti basking spot light from ZooMed, & a reptisun 10.0 UVB compact bulb. He also has a ZooMed 75W Nocturnal Infrared heat light. The lights are sitting on top of the screen of the tank. I know the stick on thermometers can be inaccurate, so I’m looking into getting a digital thermometer with a probe, the store just doesn’t have any right now.
He seems to always have stress marks. I want him to be happy, & stop jumping because I’m afraid he’ll hurt himself. I have no idea what to do, & I’m not sure what’s normal. I’m always worried about him.
 

CooperDragon

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Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you're off to a pretty good start with him. It's great that he is into his veges already. You might want to order some black soldier fly larvae from Symtonbsf and see how he likes those. They are easy to feed by hand which may help you form a bond.

His behavior sounds pretty typical of a young dragon. They jump and climb and sometimes think they can fly. For this reason it's best not to let them ride on your shoulder or handle them up very high since a long fall can hurt them. He is likely glass surfing because he is curious and is testing his new home. He may want to get out beyond the enclosure to explore, but it's best not to allow this until he is a bit bigger and you are able to seal off any areas he could get stuck in and keep out other pets etc. How does he like his baths? If he seems OK with them, they're fine. If he seems to panic and try to escape then they aren't worth the stress and I'd hold off unless he gets really soiled and needs it. Give him time to adjust and get used to you. Remember that you are a big scary looking critter for now and it will take some time for him to realize that you are safe and a friend.

You are already addressing one of the main things I suggest about the enclosure in getting a digital thermometer with a probe. You can order one online cheaply. You may want to get two so you can monitor the basking surface and cool end at the same time. Adjust the height or change the wattage of your basking light according to the surface temp reading you get.

For UVB, I'd get rid of that compact bulb and replace it with a T5. The ZooMed T5 hood comes with a 5.0 ReptiSun bulb which should be about right for a 20g long tank. The 24'' version is a good length. You can then just install a ReptiSun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% bulb into it when you move to a larger enclosure.

I would remove the ZooMed infrared bulb you have because it also produces visible red light which isn't good for dragons. They prefer darkness overnight. If the temperature in the enclosure (in the room) stays above 65 or so at night then you don't need any additional heat. If it gets cooler than that, using an Arcadia Heat Projector bulb is a good way to go. You can also use a ceramic heat emitter. You don't need anything too powerful. Just enough to bump the overnight temps into the high 60s or low 70s.

If you want to share photos, you can upload them here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ then post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.

Welcome again, and please let us know if you have any further questions. We'll be happy to help you out as much as we can.
 

l0sts0ul5

Member
Original Poster
CooperDragon":1nabbhku said:
Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you're off to a pretty good start with him. It's great that he is into his veges already. You might want to order some black soldier fly larvae from Symtonbsf and see how he likes those. They are easy to feed by hand which may help you form a bond.

His behavior sounds pretty typical of a young dragon. They jump and climb and sometimes think they can fly. For this reason it's best not to let them ride on your shoulder or handle them up very high since a long fall can hurt them. He is likely glass surfing because he is curious and is testing his new home. He may want to get out beyond the enclosure to explore, but it's best not to allow this until he is a bit bigger and you are able to seal off any areas he could get stuck in and keep out other pets etc. How does he like his baths? If he seems OK with them, they're fine. If he seems to panic and try to escape then they aren't worth the stress and I'd hold off unless he gets really soiled and needs it. Give him time to adjust and get used to you. Remember that you are a big scary looking critter for now and it will take some time for him to realize that you are safe and a friend.

You are already addressing one of the main things I suggest about the enclosure in getting a digital thermometer with a probe. You can order one online cheaply. You may want to get two so you can monitor the basking surface and cool end at the same time. Adjust the height or change the wattage of your basking light according to the surface temp reading you get.

For UVB, I'd get rid of that compact bulb and replace it with a T5. The ZooMed T5 hood comes with a 5.0 ReptiSun bulb which should be about right for a 20g long tank. The 24'' version is a good length. You can then just install a ReptiSun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% bulb into it when you move to a larger enclosure.

I would remove the ZooMed infrared bulb you have because it also produces visible red light which isn't good for dragons. They prefer darkness overnight. If the temperature in the enclosure (in the room) stays above 65 or so at night then you don't need any additional heat. If it gets cooler than that, using an Arcadia Heat Projector bulb is a good way to go. You can also use a ceramic heat emitter. You don't need anything too powerful. Just enough to bump the overnight temps into the high 60s or low 70s.

If you want to share photos, you can upload them here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ then post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.

Welcome again, and please let us know if you have any further questions. We'll be happy to help you out as much as we can.

Thank you so much for your response! You made me feel so much better about the situation. He seems to enjoy his baths, but for no longer than 20 mins ?. & it’s hard to tell exactly what the temperature gets to at night (cause I’m sleeping lol), but there was one time where it said it was around 70 & he was curling up in a ball cause he was so cold. Of course the temp could have been wrong & I just didn’t know. & I wasn’t sure what source of heat I could use for him at night. Here’s a couple pictures of him, btw! The one with greens on his nose was just a little bit ago, he always makes a mess ?
110208-6986852283.jpg
110208-935729142.jpg
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
He looks nice and healthy in the photos. 20 min for a bath is OK if he is enjoying it, but maybe a bit on the long side. Do mind the temps of the water since if the water cools off quickly it can chill him too much. When I fill a bath I usually run the water over the inside of my wrist to test it and it should just feel a little bit warm to you. It's also good to completely dry him off and let him bask afterward to warm back up.

It's natural for them to have a cool down overnight. They will often sleep in very odd positions (There is a thread about it with lots of funny photos on here somewhere) and tend to curl up in most cases. It doesn't indicate a problem or that they are too cold. If your house thermostat is set to 65 or over, then the inside of the enclosure is probably fine.
 
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