New

Hi I'm new to the forum and was recommended here from a chameleon forum(lol), but I just got a four month old baby bearded dragon and I wanted any advice or personal experience any of you can give. I would upload a picture of him but I'm still not sure how to work this thing from my phone yet. But trust me he's super handsome.

W welcome to the board. if you can you can give us a rundown on your setup would help greatly. We are always glad to help you just join in on the fun. Just ask the question and we will see if we can answer it

Gormagon":3574vds8 said:

W welcome to the board. if you can you can give us a rundown on your setup would help greatly. We are always glad to help you just join in on the fun. Just ask the question and we will see if we can answer it

Click to expand...

Thank you. He is four months old. He is in a small gallon tank. Not sure how many gallons because the tank was given to me for free. But it's not that big, but big enough for him for the time being. I have that red sand stuff the the pet store said they need for the bottom and two logs in there. On is lower to the ground and the other has a perch so he can sit at the top or in the middle right under his basking lights. He has a water dish that I've seen him sleep in, I'm not sure if that's normal or not. His temps range from the high 80's to the 90's however one time I seen it go to 100. His humidity stays at desert level. There is also a dish where I put fruits and veggies and some worms in. He likes those better, the crickets seem to be a little too fast for him sometimes but he still eats them. I've just noticed if both are in his cage he'll eat the worms first. I never see him eat the fruit or veggies though. Maybe I'm cutting them too big? He's very alert and active. He likes to be out of his cage. I think I just figured out how to upload pictures so hopefully this will better help.

It said the pictures upload but I don't see them anywhere. Sorry guys.

CoxTM":1kvof833 said:

Gormagon":1kvof833 said:

W welcome to the board. if you can you can give us a rundown on your setup would help greatly. We are always glad to help you just join in on the fun. Just ask the question and we will see if we can answer it

Click to expand...

Thank you. He is four months old. He is in a small gallon tank. Not sure how many gallons because the tank was given to me for free. But it's not that big, but big enough for him for the time being. I have that red sand stuff the the pet store said they need for the bottom and two logs in there. On is lower to the ground and the other has a perch so he can sit at the top or in the middle right under his basking lights. He has a water dish that I've seen him sleep in, I'm not sure if that's normal or not. His temps range from the high 80's to the 90's however one time I seen it go to 100. His humidity stays at desert level. There is also a dish where I put fruits and veggies and some worms in. He likes those better, the crickets seem to be a little too fast for him sometimes but he still eats them. I've just noticed if both are in his cage he'll eat the worms first. I never see him eat the fruit or veggies though. Maybe I'm cutting them too big? He's very alert and active. He likes to be out of his cage. I think I just figured out how to upload pictures so hopefully this will better help.

Click to expand...

Do you have a tape measure ?
...., please measure the tanks length, width and height and report back.

I recommend a basking spot at about 40degCelsius (or 100F).

I'd remove the sand I can in the tank , particulate beddings which can be accidentially ingested are bad and too risky for use with young beardies, best to replace the sand with
---- a few layers of kitchen paper towelling
or
---- news print
or
---- butchers paper
or
best = loose laid floor or wall tiles (no grout no glue).
\\

Also
can you tell us your lighting schedule (when on , when off) ?

... I recommend you invest in digital household 24hr timer , and automate your lights to be on for about 15 hours per day .

can you tell us your feeding schedule (what exactly and when) ?
..... recommend the following as staple bugs
>>>> BSF maggots (sold in USA as phoenix worms) - excellent do not require dusting with Ca powder
>>>> medium silkworms (about 1 - 2 inches long) - excellent do not require dusting with Ca powder
>>>> crickets (I'd recommend medium size for a 4 month old = 1/3 size) should be gutloaded with calcium rich greens and salad and carrot and lizard pellets , and they need to be dusted too.
or
roaches or locuses (see above).

I do not recommend mealworms or superworms or other worms AT ALL for a young beardie.

He is very handsome. But I just wanted to chime in, the Phoenix/ Calci worms as well as silk all need to be dusted with calcium WITH D3. Especially do growing dragons need the D3 3-4X a week. It can drop to 2-3X a week for adults, a bit more for egg producing females.

And definitely take the bowl out if he's falling asleep in the water, he will get very chilled overnight without realizing it and can develop a respiratory infection. Offer water 2-3X a week by dripping on his snout with an eyedropper or a small light stream from a spray bottle without getting the tank wet.

Sorry, if I missed it, but did you say what UV light you are using? These are extremely important and make sure to ALWAYS use the tube ones, not coil bulbs

Hi sorry for the late response we've been going through a lot of things as of late. My brother-well whatever we have a smaller bearded dragon now as well. The guy said he came from the same clutch but he's much smaller than the other one so I feel unsure about it. When we got him he was shedding but I'm watching him (his head is shedding now) and he's closing his eyes. This is a bad sign in chameleons but I know they do it when they shed. Is this the same for bearded dragons too? I was worried so I gave him a bath and dripped water over his mouth and let him drink until he was satisfied. His eyes opened wide up again so I put him in his cage and he started trying to rub skin off to get the shed. But now and again I'll see his eye closed again. But now it's just one. So I feel worried. Also since James, the original is much bigger should I put him in a different tank? The pet store guy had them all in together but the little one Jr. Keeps waving his arms which I read could mean submission so I don't want James to go on the attack. Also if the little one is sick I don't want James to get sick too.

To answer your questions though:

1. I took all the sand out and replaced them with paper towels.
2. He is in a glass tank that's 20 inches wide and 12 and 3/4 inches in height. Today was an especially hot day (I live in California, California is broken so we're like constantly going through heat waves lol) but normally the temps is in the 90's in his cage. He thermo regulates fine and I know it can't be too hot when they are so young.
3. I use a 75 watt basking light and a 10.0 uvb.
4. Today I fed him calic worms.
5. I'm hearing mixed views about horn worms, so are they a no at this age? I feel like pet stores always give out the wrong information. The guy told me he'd love them. And that he was super healthy.
6. He gets a lot of natural sun too.

I hope I got all the questions.

Also could the eye closing being the pet store giving him a lack of calcium? He's such a small dude. I just want to make sure I do a good job like my chameleon whom I'm obsessed with and is spoiled rotten.

Also, and again sorry, but when he closes it he doesn't close it for long and will def open it again for a while but then close it again. I hope it's not mbd? New pets make me paranoid. Love is weird. Should I give him extra calcium? Also he still seems alert and is not lethargic or anything at all. So I don't really know what to do.

One more thing when my dad brought him the top of his head was was black and when he asked the pet guy he said he was fine that that was just the way he was. Opinions?

kingofnobbys":130zvgi1 said:

CoxTM":130zvgi1 said:

Gormagon":130zvgi1 said:

W welcome to the board. if you can you can give us a rundown on your setup would help greatly. We are always glad to help you just join in on the fun. Just ask the question and we will see if we can answer it

Click to expand...

Thank you. He is four months old. He is in a small gallon tank. Not sure how many gallons because the tank was given to me for free. But it's not that big, but big enough for him for the time being. I have that red sand stuff the the pet store said they need for the bottom and two logs in there. On is lower to the ground and the other has a perch so he can sit at the top or in the middle right under his basking lights. He has a water dish that I've seen him sleep in, I'm not sure if that's normal or not. His temps range from the high 80's to the 90's however one time I seen it go to 100. His humidity stays at desert level. There is also a dish where I put fruits and veggies and some worms in. He likes those better, the crickets seem to be a little too fast for him sometimes but he still eats them. I've just noticed if both are in his cage he'll eat the worms first. I never see him eat the fruit or veggies though. Maybe I'm cutting them too big? He's very alert and active. He likes to be out of his cage. I think I just figured out how to upload pictures so hopefully this will better help.

Click to expand...

Do you have a tape measure ?
...., please measure the tanks length, width and height and report back.

I recommend a basking spot at about 40degCelsius (or 100F).

I'd remove the sand I can in the tank , particulate beddings which can be accidentially ingested are bad and too risky for use with young beardies, best to replace the sand with
---- a few layers of kitchen paper towelling
or
---- news print
or
---- butchers paper
or
best = loose laid floor or wall tiles (no grout no glue).
\\

Also
can you tell us your lighting schedule (when on , when off) ?

... I recommend you invest in digital household 24hr timer , and automate your lights to be on for about 15 hours per day .

can you tell us your feeding schedule (what exactly and when) ?
..... recommend the following as staple bugs
>>>> BSF maggots (sold in USA as phoenix worms) - excellent do not require dusting with Ca powder
>>>> medium silkworms (about 1 - 2 inches long) - excellent do not require dusting with Ca powder
>>>> crickets (I'd recommend medium size for a 4 month old = 1/3 size) should be gutloaded with calcium rich greens and salad and carrot and lizard pellets , and they need to be dusted too.
or
roaches or locuses (see above).

I do not recommend mealworms or superworms or other worms AT ALL for a young beardie.

Click to expand...

I don't know if I'm supposed to quote you first before responding or not, but I answered all the questions to the best of my ability.