Roxie and family say Hi and have a few questions

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RoxiesMom

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Hello,

We are new to this forum and to having a beardie in our family. Roxie joined us about a month and a half ago. She seems to be adjusting well. She let's us pet her and let's my son hold her. We are only having one person hold her at a time for a few weeks to acclimate her to being held. We have never owned a beardie before however; I have had 5 iguanas before. Would anyone be willing to give some advice on a few things?

We have the thermostat end, it's digital, at the bottoms of the cage. About 4 inches from the bedding. Should it be higher in the cage like equal height to where she sits to bask?

What temp range should the cage be where she basks? I'm concerned her cage isn't warm enough. Her current perch is about halfway up in her cage and about 9 inches over from under the heat lamp and that's where she perches most of the time. Should she be higher up and moved directly under the heat lamp?

Roxie does not have an enclosure she can get into or under. This morning we noticed she dug out the bedding in the corner of her cage. Now I think we should get an enclosure she can get into. Roxies dad is concerned crickets might get into it and get stuck in there. Thoughts?

Does anyone have any suggestions on toys or ways to play with her? We have tried balls and laser pointers. She has no interest in anything.

Thank you from Roxie and her family for any suggestions or opinions!

It's nice to meet you all!
 

CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
Staff member
Moderator
Welcome to the forum! I'll try to address your questions. If you'd like to share photos of her you can upload them here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them using the XIMG button.

If the thermostat is controlling the basking light, it should be set to dimming mode and the probe should sit at or near the basking surface. You want the basking surface temps to range from around 100-105, roughly. The basking surface should be the length of your dragon to allow for even basking. You should have temps in the 90s around that, and a gradient down to about 75-80 or so on the cool end. This gradient gives them options and they'll move around to get what they want at a given time. It works the same for UVB. You want the most intense UVB over the basking area, and also have areas with less and no UVB available.

What kind of substrate do you have in the enclosure? If it's a solid one, you can put down fleece blankets or scraps which work well to allow digging. They are less messy than other options and are easy to clean if needed. If you want something more elaborate, you can look into setting up a bioactive enclosure. They take a bit of research and work to set up properly in the beginning, but can be a good option for some. It's best to keep crickets out of the enclosure after mealtime, so that's a valid concern. I've found it best to feed bugs in small batches of a few at a time so they are easy to track. Just add a few more after they are eaten and keep offering until Roxie loses interest.

They don't often respond to toys, but they like to look out the window and often like to run around and explore a room. They will interact with you if you offer treats by hand such as hornworms, silkworms, or black soldier fly larvae.
 

RoxiesMom

New member
Original Poster
Thank you!

Roxie's substrate is a natural terrarium dirt.

I think we need to move her perch over so it's under the heat lamp. We will have to look for a dimmer for our heat lamp.

Overall she is happy and is adapting well.

Thank you for your help! I welcome all of it.
 
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