*Advice and reassurance needed* Am I caring for him right?

Hi all, I'm new to bearded dragons. I've had a friend helping me out getting started with my new 7mo old beardie, Raekwon but I just want to make sure he's getting the proper care:


Feeding schedule: greens (yellow squash, watercress, collared greens, red chard) mixed with black soldier fly larve (Phoenix worms) 3x daily and extra snacks whenever he tells me he is hungry.

Water sources: water bowl in tank along with 2x daily body misting. Water is changed daily.

Lighting: uvb light bar (not sure on strength but it was given to me by a beardie owner who has a very healthy lizard). I verified with the person who gave it to me that it was a pretty fresh bulb, probably less than a week of use before he gave it to me.

I turn his day light on at ~7am, turn it off ~11 PM. Heat lamp stays on all day.
Red heat lamp, zoomed 100wt

Temp: 95* F on warm side. He seems to like it. Any higher than that and he is glass surfing.

I take him out of his cage for interaction once or twice a day, I feel like he's too small to let roam so I always hold him.

He's currently in a 12x24 tank. He is about 10 inches nose to tail, and seems pretty happy. Not feeding him anything bigger than between his eyes, staying away from mealworms (unless money is super short, then I have some freeze dried mealworms to use along with his greens).

I plan on getting him a bigger tank once I get my bonus from work.

I just wanted to make sure I was doing this right, there seem to be quite a few experienced beardie owners here. Thanks for your help. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions.

Unless your enclosure goes below 65F overnight, you don't need night time heating. If it does go below that you need night time heating that doesn't emit any light. A ceramic heat emitter for example. The red light will mess with his sleep cycle. For night time heat you only want to bump the temps up just over 65F, it is natural for them to cool down overnight.

How are you measuring your temperatures and do you know what your basking spot temp is?

How far from your basking spot is your UVB light and do you know if it is a T8 or a T5? The bulb of a T8 is about an inch in diameter, a T5 is about 5/8 of an inch. There should be some kind of writing on the bulb to indicate what brand and strength it is. I ask this because some lizards only require a 5% UVB light while sun loving lizards like dragons need 10%+.

I've got a basking log about 5 or 6 inches at the peak from right under the lamp. Its 95*F basking, measured by a thermometer at the same level of his normal basking spot. I've got a nice dome light fixture for the heat. Not sure about the uvb light, I will need to check and get back to you on that. It's about 12 inches long (it's a bar) and sits on the other side of his tank above the food and water. His hide is resting underneath the basking log.

It gets about 70 at he lowest this time of year in the house at night (I'm in the Seattle, wa area). Is that ok? I worry. Maybe I'm just a fretting mom. He sleeps most of the night it seems, maybe wakes up once or twice to eat. Is that normal?

raekwonsmomma":1o2fbmar said:

I've got a basking log about 5 or 6 inches at the peak from right under the lamp. Its 95*F basking, measured by a thermometer at the same level of his normal basking spot. I've got a nice dome light fixture for the heat. Not sure about the uvb light, I will need to check and get back to you on that. It's about 12 inches long (it's a bar) and sits on the other side of his tank above the food and water. His hide is resting underneath the basking log.

It gets about 70 at he lowest this time of year in the house at night (I'm in the Seattle, wa area). Is that ok? I worry. Maybe I'm just a fretting mom. He sleeps most of the night it seems, maybe wakes up once or twice to eat. Is that normal?

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Looks like it's a T8. It's about an inch in diameter.

Ok, the UVB needs to be over the basking area. Your dragon needs to be able to get both heat and UVB at the same time. I've never heard of a 12" fluorescent tube but if you are sure it is UVB then ok.

My dragon goes to sleep when the lights go out and does not wake up until his lights turn on in the morning. I suspect yours is getting up because of the red bulb.

70F is absolutely fine for him overnight. I'm just north of you near Vancouver BC and my guy does not get overnight heat.

Finally, I would consider upping the temps for basking. For a young dragon like that it should be atleast 100F. But you will have to monitor the cool side temps if you do as you do not want it to get overall to warm and for your dragon to not be able to get out of the heat when he chooses.

Ok, I will figure out how to arrange the lights on the other side. I'm sure it will be fine at night without the heat on. He never really basks at night anyways.

Thanks for your advice. In your opinion, do you think the food schedule and food types are ok choices?

The food choices are fabulous. Only thing I would add is more variety over time. Are you dusting your Phoenix worms at all? They are high in calcium but should still be dusted maybe twice a week with vitamins. Other insects need to be dusted with calcium once a day if you feed them as well.

Hi there. I just wondered, is the red light the basking daytime bulb ? If so, switch it for a white light. The red is unnatural, I don't know why they bother selling them except to make money. No breeders use them and most owners don't use them. Imagine if we were in rooms with red lights on all day, very unnatural. Best wishes to you + your new dragon.

AHBD":xclafdig said:

Hi there. I just wondered, is the red light the basking daytime bulb ? If so, switch it for a white light. The red is unnatural, I don't know why they bother selling them except to make money. No breeders use them and most owners don't use them. Imagine if we were in rooms with red lights on all day, very unnatural. Best wishes to you + your new dragon.

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Thats actually a very good point.

I am with others that a red heat light is simply undesirable. During the day your Beardie should get white light and at night no light.

I like a ballasted UVB white light such as the ones sold by Reptile UV for providing UVA/UVB to my Beardie. You can supplement that with a UVB florescent light.

Should be in the 70s at the cool end of his enclosure and at the other end there should be a basking spot under the UVB light at around 100F.

At night, as long as temperatures don't fall too far below 70F your Beardie will be fine.

My $.015.

Well, about the whole light situation, my beardie has a white bulb AND a red one, as well as a UVB. All of these are on during the day, but at night, everything goes off except the red bulb. My beardie sleeps through the night soundly, and doesn't wake up once. So it varies for everyone. :lol: In my opinion, you can probably keep the red light on at night if need be.