Classroom Pet

I purchased a bearded dragon about a month ago and will be bringing her to my classroom once school starts. She is approximately 3 to 4 months old and living in a 55 gallon tank. I will post photos of her current setup. I just purchased her classroom home (a 40 gallon breeder) from Petco. She currently has a 100 watt basking bulb and a reptisun 10.0 t5ho, and the substrate is slate. I use a digital thermometer to check her temps and the lights are on a timer. I will be replicating the setup in her new tank. Ok enough of that here is the question I have.

1) Should I leave her at school over the weekends or bring her home? I don't want to constantly stress her out. My plan was to leave her at school and bring her home during longer breaks. What do you all suggest? Also any input to make her transition to school would be appreciated

Home at night and on weekends .... expecially while young.

Needs three feeds of QUALITY LIVE INSECT PROTEIN each day at her age , and will go onto two feeds of bugs per day from about 6 months until she's about 1 year old, then its one feed of bugs per day til she stops growing.

They soon get used to a regular routine , and she''ll soon adjust to having two vivs.

Try to keep the two setups looking as similar as possible, this will hopefully reduce her stress as she will think she is in the same 'territory'

Thanks for the info. I feed Lizzy 3 times a day (crickets and Black soldier fly larve). I also place greens and approved veggies from the list I found on here. Lizzy doesn't seem to really like the veggies yet, but they are there for her to try. She has been eating well, just shed and is very alert and active. Any suggestions on the best way to transport her home on Friday nights?

How long is the drive back?

It's about a 25 to 30 minute drive

I have heard people use small carriers with heat mats, but I'm not 100% sure on how to use them.

Any small carrier is fine and temps. above 60 F will require no heat in the carrier because you can turn the heat on in the car until it reaches warm room temp. [ about 76F] which should only take a few minutes. If it gets cold in your area you can put him in a large cloth bag like a pillow case to put under your coat and Lizzy will be toasty until you get home.

Otherwise you can just heat the car before bringing her in but that might take too long + not be practical for you. Again, if it's cold out can use some type of heat mat in a carrier that is more like a small duffel bag [ no holes or slots in it ] as Chanza suggested , preheated before you get to the car and with a towel over it to keep the heat in and then warm the car up quickly once you get in , but just to a high room temp. of mid -upper 70's.

https://www.officeworks.com.au/shop/officeworks/p/ezy-storage-solutions-13l-container-solu10lt
something like this is dead easy to convert , only needs air holes (I suggest in the lid) .

Used something like it for over 8 years for bts and beardies for vet visits (30 min drive).
Tub with lizard inside it goes on the front passenger side floor where it's warm in winter , and out of the sun in summer.
Mislaid it else I'd still have it.

I am kinda going to disagree with most.
I have been keeping reptiles/critters most of my life.
I am 57 years old and have had reptiles since I was in grammar school.
I have 2 big torts,a chameleon,a dragon,8 kingsnakes,9 bee hives,a large macaw and the normal stuff like dogs,the cat and the chickens.
The sulcatas torts,the Cham,the dogs and the chickens have an automatic watering system.
The only animals that really need attention are my dogs and bird and for that we get a home sitter for that if we are gone over 2 days.
My home sitter won't mess with my reptiles unless we are gone longer.
If I go away for only 2 days I just fatten them up a bit prior and leave them with a good supply of food and water.
Been doing this for years.
At first I was scared to leave them for 2 days but this works for me and my animals are very healthy.
That said I personally would not move a dragon unless I really felt it was the right thing to do for the weekend.
I mean you could just slice a bit of bell peppers and have water for a couple days and they should be fine if they are in good health.
I'd never leave live crickets with them though.
When I first got serious about being an animal caretaker I over thought things and learned what works best for my situation though out the years.
Your mileage may vary but this has worked for me for a long time.
Good luck to you and thank you for being a teacher.
Andy
P.S. Home Depot has a really cool solar powered digital watering system that is only like $38. And has about 8 daily settings that can easily be controlled to the second.

My bad,
Controlled to the minute.
It also works well in the shade.

I live in Florida, so we don't really have to worry about it being too cold. It's hot here about 95% of the year. I'm thinking I'll probably end up bringing Lizzy home on the weekends until she's a little older.

@Mech, what you had suggested would work if the bearded dragon was an adult; however, it is still a baby and requires 3 bug feedings PER DAY. You cannot simply leave a baby bearded dragon alone Friday night through Monday with only a few bell peppers. YES those peppers are very healthy for bearded dragons and most love them, but she had also posted that because Lizzy is still so young, she is not interested in her greens yet. This means she would likely ignore the peppers and have nothing but water for 7 or 8 meals. For such a young lizard, that can be a serious problem.
@Nuke22 taking Lizzy home on weekends sounds OK as long as your smart about it (and it sounds like that's exactly what you're doing) I would say as long as you can provide safe and warm travel and both tanks are the same, Lizzy will adjust. I definitely would not leave Lizzy in the classroom alone on the weekends until she is fully grown (which will likely take a year). While they are still growing they still require at least 1 feeding per day. When I went on vacation recently, I fed my adult extra so she would be fine for 2 days and my roommate fed my 4 month old (had she not been home I had plans to take Mouse with me on vacation). I think it's great that you're preparing so far ahead of time!

I agree, you should not leave a baby beardie , or any beardie under the 14" mark for too long without food. At 12-13" they could tolerate it pretty well but so could we go without food as children for a few days without dying but it wouldn't be too comfortable. The point is, he needs care while still a baby, and taking him home is still best, at least until he's bigger. Then he'd still need lights to be on a timer so he could have a normal photo period. I've also owned reptiles most of my life + beardies for over 20 years. They are tough but still delicate while young.

I do agree that older reptiles can do just fine if left for a few days, beardies as adults don't need live food every day and some veggies left in the tank would suffice but I wouldn't do that on a regular basis.

Thanks for all the advice.