im new and have questions

ok i just got my first beardie yesterday and im not sure how old he is. he is about 4 inches if that gives anyone a clue. i wanted to know...when you bathe a bearded dragon do you like submerge them in water or is the misting considered a bath? also is it normal that he doesnt like to move at all? ok one more question i feed him crickets and my crickets keep dying before i can feed them to Buddy(my dragon) can someone please help me

anyone?

When giving them a bath, you should only fill the water to their shoulders, and temps should be about 90-95 degrees...not too hot.

Make sure your crickets have a source of moisture and food. Try putting a slice of apple or potato in your cricket enclosure with them, along with their gutload food daily. It will keep it moist and give them something to drink.

good luck and welcome to the forums
cheers

hiya
Im quite new to all this aswell. But how big is your viv?
Mine is 2ft x 2ft which i found was too small. In the meantime while i am finding a larger one i put my dragon on a carpeted floor of an empyish room and he absoloutly loves it! He runs around and looks very happy!
When he is in his viv he doesnt really moove around at all either.
Hope this helps
jemma

hes in a 10 gallon viv. thanks

Hi Dowii

Welcome,

You'll find a TON of information on this site. Beware, it can be very confusing with differing opinions. As soon as you think you have something down, someone throws another curve ball and you have to re-think it all.

Tell us about Buddy. What is your lighting? Temperatures? Substrate (flooring) in the tank? What are you feeding? Is he/she eating? Pooping?

Good luck

Hunter's mom

im honestly not sure what type of uv lamp i have but my heat lamp is an esskay arizona hot lamp with a 50 watt bulb. the temperature in the basking area is 99 and the temperature on the cool side is 83. im feeding him crickets and i just gave him some meal worms today he didnt seem to like them though. my substrate is reptile carpet or something like that

Hello and welcome to the site!

If you have a look on the side of the bulb, it will give you the details of the bulb. Some of the bulbs sold are not too good, and dont output the required UVB levels..

You will need to upgrade your viv relativley soon, though at the moment, as he is so small, he should be okay in the 10gal.

Your temps sound good with the crix, make sure that they are no longer than the space between his eyes, as feeding crix bigger than this can cause problems. one thing i would reccomend though is to scrap the mealworms, they are not a good feeder, high in fat, and also they have a hard chitin shell, which can cause an impaction. Silkworms and roaches are also very good alternatives.

ok i was only feeding him mealworms because all the pet stores in my town were out of crickets and thats the only other thing they had. and im planning on getting on getting a new viv soon

i know how it feels to not be able to get crickets. that happens in my town alot. i started ordering feeders online because our guys gotta eat. especially when they're as young as buddy. have you tried any veggies yet? the sooner you start the more likely he is to be a good veggie eater. don't be discouraged at first, a lot of them don't eat them this young, but he could surprise you soon. just chop them very fine. good luck!

ya i tried some romane lettuce and an apple slice yesterday but he didnt even wake up to acknowledge it lol

romaine lettuce isn't terrible, but you don't want to feed it very often. pretty much, if it says lettuce, try to stay away from it. there are tons of greens to choose from (collard, turnip, mustard, dandelion, escarole) these are what i generaly use. fruit is something you only want to feed occasionally. but it would be good to use right now because the smell may entice him. you can go to beautifuldragons.com for an excellent list of foods. hope this helps you out.

thank you you've been a great help

Good luck with Buddy. I agree with the other posts.

I go to a larger supermarket to find all of the greens - offer a big variety and see what he likes. The website you were (beautifuldragons) is a good one for what to feed and what not to.

Definitely stay away from the mealworms. And don't be afraid to stick with the small crickets for quite awhile. I tried feeding Hunter bigger crickets thinking it would fill him up better and he ended up pooping cricket parts (undigested). The pet stores will tell you to go ahead and give him large crickets. "They'll get 'em down." Mistake.... I switched back to small for awhile. Use the between the eyes rule and Buddy should be just fine.



I have a question for everyone. I started feeding Hunter superworms over the past 2 weeks (he's 8 months old) I started him out with 2-3 every other day and now am giving him 6-8 every other day. He also eats veggies in the morning and 30-35 crickets in the afternoon. I've been watching his poop to make sure all is okay. Today I saw parts of superworm head in it (sorry so graphic). Is that okay?


Thanx in advance!

Hunter's mom

Hello and welcome :wave: I agree with the other posts, I just wanted to give you the direct link to the beautiful dragon nutrition site: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

It tells you what things you shouldn't feed your dragon and why not. Please be aware that Avacado and Rhubarb are toxic to beardies....as well as lightning bugs.

If you're feeding crickets, be sure not to leave them in the cage after they've been offered for 15 minutes. If they get hungry they can chew on your beardie and cause nasty sores. When buddy is eating, if he has a hard time catching the crickets, you can put them in the fridge before feeding for about 5minutes. That should slow them down.

You can mist your beardie a few times each day, but most people bathe their beardies regularly (Ozzy gets bathed daily). For small ones, finding some sort of rubbermaid container works well. Fill with lukewarm water that comes up to Buddy's shoulders. You can put a washcloth on the floor to make it less slippery if he's sliding around to make him feel more secure. The most important thing is to never leave your beardie alone while in the bath....just like a baby.