new beardie owner,couple of questions

Hi everyone, glad i managed to find this site.
Got my beardie 2 weeks ago now, bit of a weird story really. My son Liam is 7 and is really into wildlife, but with him having asthma cant really go anywhere near fur. so we came up with the idea of a lizard. At first i was thinking of a small gekko or something similar until we went to the pet shop,had a talk with the assistant, he said that they are really quick and we would'nt be able to handle them really, he said what about a bearded dragon and showed us some about 2 months old. But me and my son fell in love with one right at the back of the shop that was 18 mths old all on his own and looking sad.So we got him, my son named him Rossi after the motorbike rider, he scares all his mates when they come round and he's walking round with him on his shoulder,the whole family have fell in love with him including my 2 year old daughter. best thing i've bought in a while.
Anyway couple of questions, sorry if they sound dumb but would be much appreciated if you bear with me.
Firstly, i've mostly been feeding him locusts, but also leaving him a dish with cabbage, broccoli and other greens but he won't touch the veg. or greens but wolfs down 4 or 5 locusts i've tried the veg a couple of times now but he wont touch it also when i went back to get more locusts the assistant told me he didnt touch them there either.
Thanks for being here hope to hear from you soon, cheers Paul n Liam[/img]

If he's not eating his greens you can pull him off locusts for a while so he eats his veges is a strategy I've seen several people suggest when their dragons wont eat the veges, as far as which veges to feed them there is an excellent website that tells you whats good to feed em and what isnt good, heres the link:

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

first off, welcome to the site

How long is he? and how much does he weigh?
Whats his substrate in the bottom of the tank?
Whats the UVB bulb youve got in for him?
Whats your basking temps? and how are you measuring them?

If you could answer these it would be useful


Now, for veggie tips, ive had fun with Derek and her veggies for about 4 years now.. a couple of tips which have worked for me

wrap a piece of greens around the locust, and try to hand feed that way, sometimes as they grab the locust they will take the veggies too, and eat them. that has worked for me quite a few times, but its time (and locust) consuming. the best way ive found is to put some superworms in the salad, only start with one or two superworms, but as they go to grab the supers, they grab a mouthfull of greens too, i use the spring green mix, and the kale bags at tesco's, as well as spring greens from the market in thaxted.. also i sometimes use butternut squash, again from tescos.

Welcome to the forum! How big is he (head to tail)? How big is the encloser he's in? Do you have a UVB light in the encloser yet? What is his subtrate? If you know, how much does he weigh? If they have silk worms, or superworms at the petstore those would be another great staple. How big are the locusts? Do you have a thermo? If so what are his temps? Chris already gave you the site for food, so you already have the info on that. Is he eating much? I would get him a vet appiontment soon to check for parrasites or other things. Again welcome to the forum!

thanks for your replies, much appreciated.
i'll try to answer as many of your questions as well as i can.
Rossi is 18.5" long and weighs about 336g, im using a medium sand substrate which the assistant in the shop said was ok, his vivarium is 48"x18"x18", the UVB light is 8.0 uvb 25w 30" bulb if that means anything to you, his basking temp's are 100oC and 80oC and im using 2 temp gauges one at each end of the tank. Last thing the locusts i've been feeding him are about 2" long and i've been feeding them greens.
Hope all this helps, thanks again, Any more help or tips would be much appreciated

I think and hope you meant 100oF and 80oF. He would melt at 100oC

bob marley":3355e said:

I think and hope you meant 100oF and 80oF. He would melt at 100oC

Click to expand...

I saw that and thought the same thing.

"and for tonights menu...Roasted Dragon in mango sauce with a side of greens"
:shock:

yeah, sorry about that it is 100oF and 80oF, missus would'nt like that she's vegetarian

I also was wondering what the temps were :lol:

It sounds like youve got everything you need and such Im not to sure about the "medium sand".. As long as its not calcium sand.. That stuff is really horrible. But sifted playgroud sand is fine If you want to go the extra step to make sure theres no chance of impaction ceramic tile looks reallly nice and is a breeze to keep clean But thats more a matter of preference.. (i am by no means suggesting that your beardie will not be safe unless he is on a nonparticle type substrate haha) :lol: So yah sounds like your doing great and your beardie is healthy so congrats on your new pet~!! Ive only had my guy for 2 weeks and im totally in love with him already haha.. (i hate leaving him alone! it scares me!)
Oh yah post some pics soon! hehe we all love to see someone elses beardie

Sorry its took so long to reply, my internet has been off, something about upgrading my service and they used me as a guinea pig :wink: (thanks a lot).
Anyway thanks for your replies they have been very helpful plus reading through alot of other messages has helped me immensley.
Jusy one quick question, im quite new to this computer stuff can anyone tell me in baby competer language, how do i put pictures in with my messages cos im completely lost.
Hope you can help, thanks for everything

Go set up an account with photobucket, it's free and easy.

After that when you upload a picture to the site, theres 3 options under the pic, URL, IMG and TAG.

Copy and paste the IMG box into the post, should appear as this when typing out your post,



Then post and done.