Feeding Adult - Newbie

We just got our first beardie on Christmas Eve and I am totally confused on the feeding schedule with vitamins, calcium, salad, and live food. I'm not sure how old he is but he probably about 12 in.
long. We did not get him from a commercial store, it is a local store that sells exotic pets.

So far we have fed him two batches of live crickets and salads. I have tons of questions lol and hope you could help me out. I have found so much useful information on this site!

1. On the days you fed them live food do you still feed them salad? Do you offer them at different times?

2. With the calcium and vitamins other than dusting live food can you dust fruits and veggies? How often do I add this to him food?

3. How often should he be eating live food? I do give him a salad every day.

4. So far he likes asparagus, collard greens, apples, carrots and green bell peppers. I tried butternut squash today but he wasn't having it. I tried to mix it in with the greens but he only ate a few pieces. So of the items aren't staple foods and I don't want to over feed these foods to him but I don't want to just feed him the same staple foods everyday that he will eat.

We have the bath and pooping down lol. His poop smells bad but I figured it is poop so it is going to smell. I did read on here that could be a sign of an infection, how would I be able to tell. Any help would be so much appreciated. I am already in love with this little guy!! I would bring him to work if I could lol.

This is what i go by for feeding,

1-4 months 3 times a day 10-20 bugs each feeding,
4-12 months twice a day 10-20 bugs each feeding,
12-20 months once a day 10-20 bugs each feeding,
And then 20+ months every other day 10-20 bugs each feeding.

And of course daily salads in all age ranges, fed every day, usually collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens daily and then the occasional blueberry, banana, or red raspberry once or twice a week in their salad.

As for the bug portion i usually feed crickets, calciworms, dubia roaches, and turkish roaches for staples.

As for dusting, ones below 20+ months usually 5 times a week for calcium and 2 times a week for multivitamins. And then for the 20+ month olds usually 3 times a week for calcium and once a week for multivitamins.

As for treats i occasionally will give them hornworms, superworms or mealworms. Usually 5-10 mealworms, and then for hornworms and superworms 2-4. For mealworms i offer those once or twice a week and then with superworms and hornworms usually once a week or twice every two weeks. Hornworms can be offered a bit more than superworms can since they do have less fat and are mostly just moisture which is good for hydration in some cases but can cause diarrhea if given too many.

12 inches long sounds more like a 6 month old beardie, so hes definitely not an adult. Adult beardies average out around 18 inches to 24 inches at most, of course that shouldnt effect how much they eat if hes around that size as some beardies grow quicker than others with good lighting. One 8 month beardie could only be 12 inches and a 6 month beardie could be 14 inches.

As for size with good uvb most beardies should be at the average 18-24 inches. If the beardie you have is more than a year or two old and only 12 inches then its most likely because of bad uvb, either that or genetics.

When we got him they said he was about a year old which they consider to be an adult. Do you think I should go with the schedule of a 6 month old for live food? Also where do you keep these crickets to keep them alive?? How many do you usually buy at once? And if it is bad lighting do you think I should change the bulbs. Right now I have a dual bulb one is the basking light that doesn't look like a normal light bulb and the other is the night heat light that is purple and we keep it on all the time. He is in a 40 gallon tank. I have a small clear container that was a travel cage for our hermit crab we had at one time that we have been keeping the crickets in. Should I buy crickets offline or at the local pet store? I know it's recommended gut loaded crickets and I just wonder how good the crickets are at PetSmart.

He looks perfectly proportioned and healthy. Have you actually measured him or is it a guess ? If it's a guess then go ahead + measure him to be sure. It sounds like he has a good appetite for bugs as well as veggies, that's a good thing.

Ordering crickets in bulk will save you lots of money and many people set up dubia roach colonies that breed a good supply of roaches for them. You can order several types of insects [ variety pack ] from some insect companies like " linda's gone buggy". If + when you DO order bugs, be sure it's above 25 degrees out or better yet above freezing. Even with a heat pack some may arrive dead unless shipped overnight in very cold weather.

I usually consider 12 months to be a sub adult and then 20+ months which is over a year to be adult. I'd just go with the 12-20 month old feeding personally for him. How long have you had him anyway?

Also he doesn't appear to have the structure of an adult beardie so hes definitely around 12 months or less. Or at least from what i've noticed with the three that ive owned they have different structures now compared to when they were 12 months, for the adults at least. My juvenile Neptune is 9 months old and probably will look a lot different once shes over a year or so, bone structure wise. Then again he could have stunted growth because of his lighting.

The compact/coil ones are bad, basically coil ones cause eye damage. Compact/coils dont produce enough uvb to go through screen, and beardies have to be within 4-6 inches to actually get proper uvb.
The only true acceptable uvb lighting is tube lights, theres also MVB's but i dont like them as they dont produce much heat, for my tegu she has 2 because of this. One over a rock which gets it to be around 88-95 and then one over a log thats closer to the 160 watt bulb that only gets to be around 100-106. The rock is probably 18 inches away and the log probably 12 inches away. Both bulbs are 160 watts, however not the same brand.
A good uvb tube light would be arcaida or reptisun t5 HO 10.0 with a reflective t5 fixture. Usually 22" or 30" for 20-40 gallons and then a 46 inch bulb for 75+ gallons. This type of light can reach down through the screen and provide efficient uvb while 40% is blocking it. As with screen all uvb is blocked out by 40% which is why coil/compact and T8 bulbs cant be on screen. Since they are weaker bulbs compared to the t5 10.0 and cant supply enough uvb on top of the screen.

As for the lighting you currently have, the purple light needs to be returned or thrown out as it does nothing good for them. If you need a night time heat source to keep it from getting below 65 then a CHE will be okay as it doesn't produce light and is actually just infrared. Is the basking light just a regular basking bulb or is it colored as well?

We brought him home Christmas Eve so we have only 5 days. I just want to make sure that we are feeding him correctly and that he has the right lights he needs. I know that is very important for health reasons especially. I ordered a laser temp. gauge that should get her tomorrow, I was worried his basking area wasn't the right temp. Here is the tank set up and also the lights. We bathe him every other day and so far he has had a BM 3 times so that sounds normal I think. He doesn't seem to act funny. He likes to be out of his cage hanging out with us and in the morning when I turn on his light I then make his salad. When I open the cage and put the plate down he comes running off his branch to eat.

***Measurement is just guessing

Hi. He's cute Unfortunately the bulbs you are using are not correct. You need a bright white basking light. I use a halogen flood bulb. Also you need a new uvb light. A reptisun 10.0 t5 is good and can be put on top of the mesh.

svickers78":12mi7vl0 said:

Click to expand...

A new slave to a bearded dragon's whim...welcome to the club.

That photo with the mismatched lines on his back looks almost exactly like Monster, my beardie. I bet if I showed this photo to my wife she would swear it was Monster with those markings.

Yep, their poop really does stink. Our beardie surfs the glass like crazy until we let her out when she needs to go poop. She hates to poop in her tank, and when she does go it is typically on the hardwood floor or linoleum, and she keeper her tail up so she doesn't get any on her and walks away. She's a total diva in that regard, and I'm happier because of it! Our beardie even pooped on my wife's head once (on my command no less - total coincidence, but I'll take it!)

Anyway, buy crickets from the local pet store as a last resort - they are heavily marked up in price. I used Fluker Farms almost exclusively because they were the cheapest and with one exception I had a good mortality rate with their slowest shipping (in moderate temperatures). They are out of Louisiana I think, or somewhere around that location. You could probably buy 500 at a time every few weeks. Expect a fair amount to die as crickets high a high mortality rate. You also need good ventilation because when a cricket dies, it emits a gas that is toxic to other crickets without ventilation. Either that or go through and remove the dead. I'd also suggest feeding the crickets in a separate container. This way when your dragon is done eating, you can simply remove him/her and put them back in their viv with no worries about crickets biting while the dragon sleeps at night. I'd avoid buying 1,000 at a time unless you are running out too quickly because you'll end up with larger crickets by the time you feed them all off and adult crickets have enough exoskeleton that they can impact your dragon. You don't typically have that issue with Dubia Roaches. Dubia are typically better than crickets in most respects. No noise, they don't stink, they don't die as easily, they are easier to breed if you want to save money, and being a tropical roach, they don't tend to live long if you happen to allow one to escape. I pasted a link below that has pages of great information for breeding and caring for Dubia. I'm a little north of Richmond, VA...if that is close enough for you I'd be happy to give you a few adults and mixed sizes to get you started. My colony has boomed to more than I could possibly feed Monster. If you're too far away for that I'd suggest buying a few hundred medium/large Dubia versus adult females and males - better bang for your buck and when they reach breeding age, you know they have a full life ahead.

viewtopic.php?f=76&t=225240

The first time he pooped he was the same glass surfing and I had no idea what he was doing. Then he did his business and ran away from it. Now he does it when he is out of his cage or in the bath. So I'm guessing he doesn't like it in his cage either lol.

I measured him this morning and he is 14 1/2 in long. We are going today to buy new lights. The basking light is the only one I am unsure of, I know someone said they use a flood light but I don't know what wattage I need.

We are in Alabama, I am going to look in to the roaches today. I have been buying the small crickets at the pet store, I read somewhere else that Flukers was the best place to get them online. Hopefully since it's too to cold down here we won't have an issue with the shipping. For breeding the roaches do you have it set up inside?

Make sure its a t5 HO 10.0 tube light by reptisun when you purchase them, im not sure how your petstores are but half the time i cant find the uvb i need so i have to order online.

Not entirely sure on flukerfarms however they seem to be good since they dont ship until it gets warmer where you are so the crickets dont arrive dead. I actually just placed a 2,000 cricket order with them since amazon doesnt have any at the moment.

As for the roaches you just need a 10-20 gallon tank or a 60-90 quart tub with egg crates and a lid. For tanks you dont have to worry much about ventilation however with tubs you do. Usually you can either cut out small circles in the top and put screen over them or cut out the whole inner portion and hot glue mesh over it. Make sure its metal mesh in case you have to heat it with a heat emitter to keep them around 70-85 or so. Usually i like to keep mine at the prime breeding temps, cool side or the food portion of the bin being around 75 and then the warm side where the egg crates are being at 85-90. Usually for this you can do it easily with a 7 watt UTH rather than a CHE if it doesnt get too cold. I usually feed them collard greens and supply water by having a wet paper towel in there.

What about the basking light? Get a flood light? Wattage?

Ive used reptile lights and halogen bulbs however never a flood light. Probably a 75-100 watt.

All they have is the T8 10.0 UVB... would that work?

If you can mount it inside yes. If you can only sit it on top then no as mesh blocks out 40% of all uvb and t8's are quite weak compared to t5 10.0's.

It just requires wire, so it should be easy to do.