Baby Thumpers first days!

VenusAndSaturn":vbuese22 said:

Theres a lot of setup issues, and with his age I doubt he'll last a week in there unless you clean all that unnatural sand out and replace it with paper towels. At only 3 inches head to tail he sounds and looks like he was just hatched a few days ago, and in my opinion should have never been sold as most new owners cant take care of such a fragile animal at that size, personally i'd never sell a beardie below 2 months but thats just my opinion... at least by then they are less fragile and are semi well started.

Basically all you need to do is this,
Make sure he has at least a 20 gallon at minimum.

Clean out all the sand and replace with paper towels.
Beardies should not be housed on particle substrates, especially beardies below two years of age. Particle substrates will cause impaction, death, prolapses, eye infections, joint issues, scale rot, fungal infections, and more.
Never use any type of bark, gravel, sand, or anything for a bearded dragon.

Make sure you have at least a Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 22" tube light with a reflective fixture.
(Arcadia T5 HO 12% and 14% bulbs work as well)

You should have a Temp gun or digital temperature gauge with a probe.
Basking temp should be about 100-110.
Warm side (area around the basking spot) 88-95.
Cool side 70-85.
Night time temps never below 65 and never above 85.


Heres a feeding guide, it pretty much covers the basics
ll life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches, possibly earthworms.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded ... ta.php#veg
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

You want two supplements at the very least, a calcium and a multivitamin.

Generally beardies below two years need calcium 5x a week and multivitamins 2x a week.

However beardies above two years or at two years of age need calcium only 1-4x a week with
multivitamins 1-2x a week.
This depends on how your adult beardie is with diet, health, just laid eggs, is laying eggs, etc.

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VenusAndSaturn":1lckd0k1 said:

Probably wait till morning to clean it out so he can rest, be very careful when moving him into a smaller container while you fix the enclosure.

The glass would make him slide around too much, you do have paper towels right? Just use that, it's one of the best substrates for a bearded dragon beside tile and non adhesive shelf liner.

When you get a UVB bulb make sure it is at the very least a Reptisun T5 HO 22" bulb with a reflective fixture. That specific bulb can go on a mesh top and still provide correct amounts of UVB, meanwhile 5.0's, and any T8 bulbs have to be mounted inside as they are far too weak.

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