New owner and new Beardie! Advice is nice. . .

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StephyJ_83

Member
Hey everyone!!! I'm so excited to be here! :wave: I just got
a baby bearded dragon a week ago, and I found this site on
Google and I've been referring to it ever since. My best friend's
two little sisters each have their own Beardies, and I love them,
so I finally went and got one for myself. I am pretty excited.
Anywho, here's the stats on my beardie and the set up:

*Almost 6 inches long (including tail)- I can't tell the sex yet.
I don't wanna hurt him/her trying to check myself, so I'll just
call it a him for now. :)
*15 gallon terrarium with reptile carpet, rock, and grapevine thing.
*I have a combo light on the hood with Zoo Med Reptisun 5.0
flourescent light, Exo-Terra Sun-Glo Tight Beam and Night-Glo that
are set on a timer for 14-hours of daylight and 10-hours of nightlight.
*I have a shallow water dish, and a dish that always has collard
greens, spinach leaves, and parsley dusted with Rep Cal. I also
have another dish that has at least three mealworms in there.
I also feed him small crickets at least twice a day and I have
stuff that I am now starting to dust them with, in addition to
gut-loading them.
*I've read about the 'bath' thing, and I've done it once so far.
*I had a digital thermometer in there and one of those dial
things that are really cheep at the pet store, but I wanted
something more acurate so I just ordered a TempGun today.

I've been trying to do my homework on my new beardie, because
I finally did my homework last year on my 30+ year old box turtle,
and it made all the difference in her health, appetite, and personality.
I had my beardie on a pinkish Vita-Sand substrate from the pet store
for about four days, then I found a lot of literature in books and on
the internet saying that sand can be bad for little ones and cause
impaction, so I quickly changed the substrate to reptile carpet.
That stupid sand left my beardie's legs and tail pink. Grrrr...

Here are a couple of my questions:
*What can I use to put on the sides of the tank? My beardie
saw his reflection in the glass and did a little arm wave at it.
It was cute until he decided to jump to the rock that he saw
the "other beardie" on. It was funny once I realized he was
okay, but I'd hate for him to hurt himself by doing that. I tried
putting white paper on the insides of the glass, but then the
crickets climbed up it and away from my hungry baby so I
took it out. Any suggestions here?
*Also, how much is too much handling on a baby? My best
friend's little sister has a beardie that is older, but I'm used
to him just hanging out on my shoulder while I walk around
with him and hold him. However, my little one is so fast that
I'm afraid he'll try to jump off. Also, today I was holding him
and he bit my finger. It didn't hurt or anything, but it surprised
me and made me laugh. Maybe he was hungry, or stressed,
or both, or just wanted to see how I tasted? I dunno. I want
him to be used to me and good with people, cause I know
my nieces and nephews will want to handle him (when I
deem him big enough to be handled by anyone other than
me or his vet). However, I don't want him to be stressed out by me.

I just took some pictures of him a little bit ago. I'll post them
below. However, my last plea for advice is advice on a name.
Here are the ones that I have been thinking about:
*Barbudo - which means 'bearded' in Spanish, but I would call
him Budo for short.
*Smaug - the name of the dragon in Tolkien's 'The Hobbit.'
*Puzzle - the name of the donkey from C.S. Lewis' 'The Chronicles
of Narnia' and also for the designs on his back.
*Frodo - from 'Lord of the Rings.' My friend from work likes that one.
*Jadis - the name of the White Witch from 'The Chronicles of Narnia.'
*Horntail - from 'Harry Potter' - the type of dragon he fights in Book 4.
*Norbert - from 'Harry Potter.' (Can you tell I like my Tolkien, Lewis, & Rowling? hehehe...)

The two I'm leaning toward the most are Puzzle or Budo, but this preference changes
almost daily. Any other name suggestions that come to your mind when you look at his pictures, please post them.

Thanks a bunch, and I'm excited to get to know all of you!

Beardie01.jpg

Beardie02.jpg

Beardie03.jpg
 
He's a total "Budo" :D

Anyways it seems like you are off to a GREAT start!

I wouldn't handle the lil guy Too much for fear of stress. They can be handled more frequently as they get a bit older and settled.

They sell background paper at the pet store. You tape it up to the outside of the tank and it looks like the desert or trees or whatever design you decide to purchase.

Good Luck!
 

ChrisCR261

Gray-bearded Member
Your going to need a much bigger terrarium soon, full grown they need 40 gallon MINIMUM. As far as "nightlights" go, you really dont need a special nightlight, no lights fine, if the temps drop to low get a ceramic heat emiter.

Collard greens are good, Spincah isnt a very good choice for beardies, it can stick to their intestinal walls and will block the absorbtion of calcium. Heres an excellent link for what to eat and not to eat, http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

What are the temperature's for your beardie? Basking spot should be 105-110, cool side should be around 80-85. Make sure your gauge is on the basking spot, not ambient temp.

I wouldnt worry about the reflection, as long as it's not a repeated thing he should be fine.

If you JUST got the beardie, it can take a week or two for him to adapt to his new home, during this time he may not eat that much, and be very stressed, it's better to keep handling to a minimum during that period. If he's trying to bite you throw some food in his mouth.

Once he's settled in to his new home handle him at least once a day, just take him out of his home and let him sit on your hand/shoulder til he starts getting restless then put him back into his cage. Do this every day and soon he'll be use to you.
 

StephyJ_83

Member
Original Poster
Thanks for that Nutrition link. I think I'll take out the spinach and parsley. I feed those to my turtle, but I'll stick to the collards and other stuff for my beardie. Thanks so much.

So, you think Budo? That's the first one I actually thought of. hehehe. . . I don't know yet. He sure is more active now that he has a bigger cage all to himself. He was in a 10 gal at the store with at least four other babies, and then I had him in a 10 at home - I just got the 15 today, and he was running all over. It was cute.

Does anybody do the bath thing? How often should I do that, and how long should I put him in there for?
 

StephyJ_83

Member
Original Poster
Okay, I got the temps for his terrarium with a digital thermometer from the pet store (I'm still waiting for my tempgun, so I these may not be entirely acurate). Okay, his basking spot is 105.7 degrees F, and the cool side of his terrarium is 89.3 degrees F. I think I may need to get his cool side a little cooler? I dunno.
 

Sekhautet

BD.org Sicko
You can put up wrapping paper or something else and save your money, until you decorate a larger cage for him. Even newspaper will work.

Make sure and clean out the water dish daily and take it out at night. Babies can drown in them.

Also, a nightlight keeps them awake. If your temps don't fall below 65 degrees, you will be fine without heat at night.

I would wait to name your baby until you get to know their personality a little more. They usually let ya know what they should be called. 8)

Welcome! 8)
 

StumpysOwner

Extreme Poster
Also, don't feed your baby mealworms. They are sooo bad for beardies. They have virtually no meat on them so therefore it is just like feeding your little one an exo skeleton. They also contain high levels of chitin, which makes up the hard shell exterior and can cause serious impaction problems with your baby!

If you are looking for good worms to keep your baby for some variety, you could look into silkies, butter worms, hornworms, pheonix worms, and super worms for when he gets older. Other good staples include roaches.
 
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Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank

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