New with questions!

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JulMacInnis

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Happy 4th to all!

Tomorrow is my son's 6th birthday and for sevearl months he has talked about getting a 'reptile' -- we decided on a BD and am delighted to say we got one for him today. It's name is MAC even tho we have No idea on gender. we have a 20 gallon tank and we hope the other right 'stuff' as per the pet store (tho i am worried now after all i have read here!).

A few questions for the experienced ones here....we purchased 2 lamps and the one for night is red so as i understand that, it still emits heat, just isn't as bright? i noticed that Mac got more active after that light went on -- he moved toward the glass and tried to crawl upward? while the rest of the day he just lay under the daytime lamp basking. not sure why he suddenly got active or agitated? also, what's the story with food? we were given these pellets for babies? granted he's in a new environment, is this even realistic to eat for a baby? (i was told he may be around 2-3 months old -- he/she is about 5 inches long) -- i did give him a shredded spinach leaf today and i think he ate some as i found some hangin out of his cute mouth this evening. but i'm guessing it's essential to have live insects? how do we do that? one at at time?

and how about water? i put some in a litte bowl but have misted him a few times? what's the best way to ensure he gets his H2O?

thanks all! what a great site this is!
 

ReptileMom

Hatchling Member
Hello and welcome. Although I am new to this site, I have had experience with BD @ 10 years now. You will get alot of good info. here. As far as your night light goes, he may be trying to get closer to it. If he was basking all day and the lights went out, maybe his temp dropped. Make sure he can climb on something to get @ 6 in. from his heat. I would actually skip the spinach, there are lots of greens you can choose from (mustard, turnip, collard, escarole, dandelion). These are an example of what I usually use. You can go to beautifuldragons.com for an excellent list of food items. At this age he will probably eat a whole lot more crickets than you would think. Give him as many as he can eat in @ 15 min. 2X a day. You also want to dust with calcium, hopefully the pet store told you about supplements. If not, let us know. You do want to spray him and also put a bowl of water in his enclosure that he can go into @ knee high. You also want to bathe him at least once a week, but as often as you like, they hydrate themselves this way, he may not even use his water bowl. Hope I didn't overwhelm you, just helped you. Good luck.
 

Ozzy's Mom

Juvie Member
JulMacInnis":50884 said:
Happy 4th to all!

Tomorrow is my son's 6th birthday and for sevearl months he has talked about getting a 'reptile' -- we decided on a BD and am delighted to say we got one for him today. It's name is MAC even tho we have No idea on gender. we have a 20 gallon tank and we hope the other right 'stuff' as per the pet store (tho i am worried now after all i have read here!).

A few questions for the experienced ones here....we purchased 2 lamps and the one for night is red so as i understand that, it still emits heat, just isn't as bright? i noticed that Mac got more active after that light went on -- he moved toward the glass and tried to crawl upward? while the rest of the day he just lay under the daytime lamp basking. not sure why he suddenly got active or agitated? also, what's the story with food? we were given these pellets for babies? granted he's in a new environment, is this even realistic to eat for a baby? (i was told he may be around 2-3 months old -- he/she is about 5 inches long) -- i did give him a shredded spinach leaf today and i think he ate some as i found some hangin out of his cute mouth this evening. but i'm guessing it's essential to have live insects? how do we do that? one at at time?

and how about water? i put some in a litte bowl but have misted him a few times? what's the best way to ensure he gets his H2O?

thanks all! what a great site this is!

Hello and Welcome :wave:

You found a super site for information and to meet a lot of great people.

Young beardies are supposed to be fed 2-3 times a day. You should let them eat as many crickets as they can consume in a 10-15 minute period at each feeding. Be sure not to leave crickets in with your beardie as they can actually chew on your beardie and cause nasty sores. Also, make sure the crickets are no bigger than the space between your beardie's eyes so he will be less likely to develop impaction problems. Also, you should be dusting crickets with repti-cal or something similar once a day and a vitamin substitute 2X/week.

You can also feed some worms. Phoenix worms are very high in calcium and good for growing beardies. I'll leave some other suggestions to more experienced owners, but I do know you're not supposed to feed mealworms. They are difficult to digest and cause impaction problems.

Also, this is a very good link http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html. It has some great salad ideas, as well as, tells you what not to feed your beardie. It's a good idea to start the salads now, since 80% or more of your beardie's diet should be salad when he's an adult.

If you take your beardie outside, never let him/her eat lightning bugs....they can kill him. Rhubarb is highly toxic. Also, I believe avacados are supposed to be toxic.

Some common mistakes are feeding regular lettuce (low nutritional value that causes runny stool and dehydration) and fresh spinach (high in oxalates which binds with calcium and inhibits its absorbtion and can possibly cause MBD - metabolic bone disease).

Good things to feed your beardie would be collard, turnip or mustard greens, squash, endive, escarole, dandelion greens.

I'm sure a lot of other members will respond and give you more advice than I've given, but the care sheets on this site are also very good sources of information.

Usually when you post with questions other posters will ask a bunch of information so they can help you out. Usually they will ask:

What size tank or viv?
What is the basking temp?
What type of UVB or MVB bulb you use?
What temp on the cool side?
How old is your beardie?
What do you feed him and how often?
How often do you mist or bathe your beardie?
What type of calcium and vitamin supplements do you use?
How often do you use them?
What type of substrate is he on?****

****The substrate issue is a widely debated topic here. However, I think just about everyone agrees that calci-sand/reptile sand is very harmful to beardies (yes, this is the stuff the pet store usually tells you to purchase). From what I've read, it's a lot like the cat litter that gets wet and clumps together....so when baby beardie ingests it from catching crickets, it will form hard clumps and be impossible to digest. This can cause impaction and even death. Most people agree that non-adhesive shelf liner or newspaper is best for babies. After your beardie is about a year old, you can use clean, sifted playsand (like at home depot) if you want a sand substrate. It can still cause impaction, but is much safer than the calci sand.

You'll find a lot of great people here that are all very knowlegable about beardie care. If you have any specific questions, just ask. I hope I helped a little.


PS...You mentioned a red light and a basking light....I'm just curious if you have a UVB or MVB? This is very important to help with proper digestion.
 
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