help - new to Beardies -- rescued two

Hi,

I'm new to the Bearded Dragons. We rescued two beardies, two days ago. I have to say, I'm amazed how cool these animals are!!! My son is 9, he's the one that had expressed some interest after a reptile lady came to our cousin's bday party. I happened to be talking to my Aunt about them because she used to breed them. Turns out, she had to give hers away when she got sick and the lady she gave them to was giving them away because they wouldn't breed for her. I went to this ladies house, I'm telling you, the conditions were terrible. This house had a black mold and dust problem and the beardies were not in good conditions. Needless to say, I ended up taking two, because I felt so bad for them. What looked like a water dish was full of molded sand. Dead veggies and feces filled the cages. I immediately scrubed down the cages, changed the sand, put fresh water in, and feed them some meal worms and calcium coated crickets. They ate like they were starving. But they aren't skinny.

We've only had them two days, but there have been a couple times when the female looks a little wearly and the males eyes look alittle darker underneath now?? Also, the female will bask and hold her mouth slightly open. What does that mean? She's not scared or threatened. It almost looks as though she hot or thirsty??? Both of them seem to love being held. The male is missing his back foot on one side and three of his toes on the other side. Both of them have lost the end of their tails. But, they are both sweet. The male had been placed in with another male and female. So, he's been beat down, you can tell. He was skittish at first. But, he quickly got used to being held. I want to build them a bigger cage and was hoping I could put them together. But I don't think I'm up for breeding. If I keep the light exposure to a shorter time period, will they still possibly breed? Is there anything I can do to discourage breeding and have them get along?

Thanks for the help.

congrats on your new beardies.

i am by no means an epert but this is what i "know"

you should really avoid keeping beardies together, there could be some serious dominance issues, and no one wants that.

and when you use sand please try not to use calci-sand. its marketed as digestible, but it really isnt. when using sand use sifted play sand, and many people prefer to use sand only for beardies over 6".

dont forget that they do need uvb lights, eigther mvb or flouresent.

good luck, and what are their names??

I did use sifted play sand and my husband is working on gettting a UV light. I took them out in the sun for a few minutes yesterday, but I didn't know if they could get too hot, so we weren't out for long.

Their names are Liz and Digger.

Thanks for your post.

im sure there is some relocation stress going on too. give them a few days to adjust to their new wonderful home!

They will suffer from relocation stress for the first week or two. The mealworms are an impaction risk. You are much better off nixing those and sticking with the crickets or trying roaches, silkies, or phoenix worms for them.

Here's a good salad suggestion site. It should be offered daily to them:

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

Here are links to some good care sheets to compare your tank setup:

http://www.kakadudragons.com/caresheet/caresheet.php

http://beardiedragon.com/


And if you are buying a UVB, stay away from ESU ones. They don't work at all. MVBs are good. The T-Rex and the Megarays are nice. Or you can get the Reptiglo or Reptisun 8.0 or 10.0 striplights ...

Here are some links to shop for better light prices and other supplies online:

http://reptilesupply.com/

http://www.herpsupplies.com/

http://bigappleherp.com/

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/Shop.cfm?N=2006

http://www.illreptile.com/index/index04.php


Also ... make sure the basking temps are 105-110 and the cool side is in the low 80s and that you have a temp for them of 60-65 degrees at night for sleeping.

They like bathing and misting as well. This helps keep them hydrated.'

And as for supplements ... I recommened the RepCal and Herptivite. They can safely be used together and great products. The calcium needs to be nonphosphorous to aid in the digestion of calcium for your dragon. If you are taking your dragon outside for natural UVB a good time is 30-40 minutes a day. 8)

Thanks for the great websites, so much of the information I've found contradicts each other. It can get confusing.

Meanwhile, Digger hasn't had a bowel movement since we brought him home....3 days ago.

Help!

Have you tried bathing him? Water about 90-95 degrees up to their shoulders on their front legs. And then don't leave them unattended. They can stay in for about 15-20 minutes. If they get skitterish, you can let them perch on your hand or an old towel. And make sure they are dry before returning to their cage. This is to prevent a respiratory infection. The bath is a place that they will readily poop ... LOL ... They also will drink in their bath. Also, misting them so they get water. A squirt bottle over the nose works great for this. These two things should help hydrate him. If he hasn't been eating a lot, he won't have much to poop out or as readily.

Thanks,

I did try bathing him, but the water was in the 80's. I try again with it warmer. Misting them alot in their cage won't cause respiratory infections, will it?

Thanks

Josh and Digger":10db6 said:

Thanks,

I did try bathing him, but the water was in the 80's. I try again with it warmer. Misting them alot in their cage won't cause respiratory infections, will it?

Thanks

Click to expand...

You can mist outside the cage or if you mist in the cage, make sure there aren't pools of excess water in his cage, especially at bed time.

their bowels are located on teh right hand side, so in tommorrows bath massage his right hand side, from about halfway down in the direction of the vent....a gentle prodding action works wonders.

you should get results from that.

ours are often outside on really hot days, so we just mist them every 5 mins, tehy open their mouths so wide t hey dont let us forget. obviously, tehyre very supervised in teh heat and as soon as they go to hide and try and cool off i bring them in....but thats ggenerally after a few hours.

if the gaping is heat related (not RI) its nothing to worry about, its just like a dog panting.

congrats on your new children!
you'll find yourself hopelessy in love in no time,..!!! :lol:

After 5 days...he unleased...it was a dousey!

If it were a RI, I would think they would do it more often??

They close their mouths after misting.

I'm a whole lot more confident now.....thank you, thank you everyone for your support!

Glad Digger's poop problems are behind him! I don't have children and I still spend time talking about poop ... :lol: :lol: Glad to be of help.