Hey Im new and so is Mojo

Got a beardie on Tuesday night called him Mojo.

I don't know much about Beardies but im going to look after him the best I can.

He's eating well so far.

He ate 5 Crickets on Tuesday and Wednesday and so far today I have given him 1 cricket.

there is one problem the tank I got is big but it has flaws at the back of the tank there are airholes with the wiring for the lighting and heat mat and heat bulb thing....

and there are holes in which so far a cricket has escaped through...

what am I best filling these holes with...for now I have taped the bottom two so crickets cannot escape but Im thinking Locusts will be able to escape through the top two holes?!

Mojo is about 2-3 months old and he seems a bit scared to be handled at the moment im putting this down to him getting used to his new home maybe?

How many crickets/locusts should I feed him a day?

What else can I feed him im from the UK so some of the things you guys feed your beardies we more than likely don't get here! so?!

will he eat mealworms?

here is a quick photo.....

I don't have my dragon yet, but he should eat meal worms, not sure how many of those a day but I was told that they should be fed anywhere between 6-12 crickets a day, I'm going to feed him 8 and see how that goes. I'm still learning everything, and there's a lot to learn. That's a nice set up though, I can't wait to get my cage on saturday then On monday I'm putting everything together and then going to go get the dragon. Also I guess they would eat as much as you can fed them. Whatever you give them they will eat, so you can overfeed them.

No- do NOT feed him mealworms. They are OK as an occasional treat for an adult only, but they can cause impaction (major constipation that can lead to death if it cant pass)!

He should be eating 50-100 crickets a day. And once a day 5x a week they should be dusted in Rep-Cal Calcium w/D3, and 1 meal a day for the other 2 days should be dusted in rep-cal herptivite. (some dragons are different and will only eat 30 a day. The rule is you need to let him eat as many as he can in 15 minutes a few times a day. The crickets should not be any wider than the space between his eyes b/c crickets that are too large can also cause impaction)

There are some things you need to change with the tank set up:
~No heat pad... heat needs to come from above, not below.
~No red colored bulbs. He needs a white light bulb for heat on his basking spot.
~Get rid of that stick-on thermometer. They are innacurate, and you can't measure the basking spot with them. You need a digital thermometer with a probe.
The basking spot needs to be around 110*F, and the cool 1/2 of the tank 75-85.
~No water bowl. Babies can drown in these. Plus they dont need a water bowl... they get moisture from their food as well as their daily bath.
~He needs a UV light (i dont know if you have one, but I dont see any) It should be a Reptiglo 8.0 or a Reptisun 10.0- and it needs to be replaced EVERY 6 months. And get the long strip one, not teh little coil bulb.
ESU brand UV lights dont give off nearly enough UV so avoid those at the pet store.

The tank itself is beautiful, and I love that big log. But whoever told you how to set up the tank, didn't give you teh right advice

Also, with crickets it's best not to put them in his tank... get a seperate tupperware and feed him in that b/c crickets are known to hide and escape. And if any hide in his tank, they will start eating your dragon in his sleep and you may start to notice large wounds from the biting after awhile.
A slow live prey like silkworms can be put in a bowl in the tank b/c they just kinda wiggle in one area.

What kind of sand is that? If it's calci-sand or any other 'digestable' sand from the pet store get rid of it b/c i's deadly. It's not really digestable and also causes impaction.
If it's regular playsand for a kids sandbox, that is generally better for adults. It can still cause impaction, but the risks are alot less then calci-sand.
Good stuff for the tank bottom is non-particle stuff like non-adhesive shelf liner (without the holes in it) or tiles. There's other things you can use too like paper towels.
Beardies constantly lick their surroundings, and especially with babies, swallowing too much sand when they lick it is dangerous.

You should just look up how many crickets per day it is suppose to eat, I'm not saying the other guy is wrong who said 50-100 It's just that I've talked to some experts who said the 6-12 should be good for a young one.

Yes, do NOT feed mealworms, they can be deadly. Besides, they are not even all that nutritious for beardies. Good feeders are silkworms (most nutritious), hornworms(if you can find them), phoenix worms and butterworms (both good for calcium), and crickets.

You can give your beardie as much food as he will eat in 10-15 minutes, twice a day. You only need to dust one meal/day. I don't know if you can overfeed them, mine will eat as much as he wants and then leave his dish or refuse the food if handfed. If you have doubts about anything, you can always ask on here. Petstores give a lot of bad info and advice and also, many books on how to care about BD's can misinform you. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on here, who have had BD's for many years, so it's always good to ask, there is an asnwer to almost everything

I agree, it would be better to remove the heat pad and the sand and get better thermometers. Paper towls are really good for babies and make it easy to clean their mess :shock:

Babies do not usually use their water bowls, you are better off misting your baby every day and giving it a bath as often as you can.

Make sure you have/get a good UVB light, it's essential to your baby's health- it won't have a good appetite without it, and could also develop MBD.

5-10 crickets a day is not enough at this age, it could be relocation stress, but it should start eating a little bit more soon.

Good luck with everything!

I just have to ask who are these "experts"?

Just people at a local pet store who handles, feeds, and deals with them everyday.

JoshThibodeau":cd703 said:

Just people at a local pet store who handles, feeds, and deals with them everyday.

Click to expand...

Sorry but honestly those are in most cases the last person you want to listen to! Unfortnatley working at a pet store doesn't mean that they know what they are doing and what is best. You are much better getting info from here from people who do it because they care about beardies vs the petstore where in most cases they are just trying to get your money!

OK I'm not here to argue, but the guy owns one and he definantly knew what he was talking about.

You can feed 6-12 crickets a day if you want a skinny beardie who grows very, very slow and probably never reaches full-size....

Sorry, but no matter how knowledgeable a pet store guy may seem, they usually are the worst sources of information.
Before I joined this forum and learned proper beardie care, I assumed that Petsmart was knowledgeable about reptiles.
They do seem knowledgeable until you know better.

Beardies under pet store care are usually much smaller than they should be.
You'll see 3 month old beardies who are 4-5" including the tail.

I bought Ridley as a hatchling (2 weeks old, possibly less) he was under 3 3/4". At 2 1/2 months old he is 10 1/2" due to all the proper care and feeding I learned on this forum.
If I listened to 'pet store' workers he'd probably be under 5" still and sickly.

If you want a healthy, happy beardie- Follow the advice given on this forum! There are long-time owners and well known breeders here who know what they are talking about.

I second what Nintendo just wrote. But in the end, it is your choice. People on here care about beardies a lot, and devote a lot of time to their well-being. But you can also go ahead with what the pet store guy told you, and find out for yourself how that works out. When I got Kramer from the pet store, they told me that i should feed him every other day :shock: instead of twice/day, that his lights did not need to be on all the time, and that he would only eat 8-10 crickets/day. And on and on. So I brought him home, fed him every other day for about a week but did keep his lights on all the time, it just didn't make sense to me to turn them off in the middle of the day. Poor baby! He just didn't look healthy, he was soooooo skinny and sickly, and then got a respiratory infection 2 weeks later and I had all kinds of problems with it. Then I dumped the crickets and started him on silkworms twice/day and he looks like a different beardie altogether.

The reason why we are telling you all these things about pet store advice is because many of us went through a bunch of problems because of these guys and I personally would prefer not to hear about another pet store sick beardie, if I can help it That is not to say that some of these stores don't have people that do know how to care for beardies properly. However, if you notice that your beardie is lethargic and not putting on weight or growing as fast as they should, keep an open mind and give a try to what people on here are telling you.

Good luck with everything!

Sounds good