Meet Buttercup!

Hi all!

This is my first reptile, her name is Buttercup. She just got here ~3 days ago so I'm trying to leave her alone to let her acclimate (hence the poor quality images). This forum has been super helpful with figuring out what she needs and what to avoid!



Husbandry (please chime in if something needs fixed as this is my first reptile, I did a lot of research but may have overlooked something):

- Substrate: She's on paper towels now though at some point I'd like to try bioactive when her big tank gets here. She's in a 40 gallon for now, but her 4x2x2 should be here next week and I'll move her when she's a bit bigger.

- Temps: Her basking area is between 95 and 105 (daytime ambient temp dependent). I have a temp gun, and two different brands of stick on thermometers on each side and they're all in the same range so that will have to be okay until I can get a probe, and her cool side is 75-80. Overnight temps are around 65-70 degrees. Once her big tank is here I'll be getting a Herpstat to help keep temps stable.

- Lights: She has a white light heat lamp on the basking side and a Arcadia T5 UV light (22inch 12% UV for desert reptiles sitting on top of the wire that goes almost the length of the tank. I read that 12% is high enough UV to sit on top of the mesh, but someone correct me if I'm wrong and need to fix). Her lights are on a timer, and come on automatically at 8AM and go off at 8PM.

Diet: She's eating well, so well I ran out of Dubias this morning and need to buy more today and has had a bowel movement every morning on her basking rock, which is nice because it's an easy clean up. I've been giving her as many Dubias as she'll eat in a 15 minute period, 3 times a day, a meal worm or two once a day, and a salad first thing in the morning when lights go on. Dubias are dusted with Reptical and vitamin supplement. She's taken a couple greens from my hands, but hasn't had much interest in the salad. She has a water bowl, but I've been dripping water on her nose every morning and evening.

Decor: She has several pieces of drift wood to hide under on the cool side, and a basking platform on the hot side, a small water bowl. Three sides of the tank are covered with newspaper so my dog doesn't scare her. She has a wheat grass plant that I leave in there during the day and take out at night (night time humidity gets higher if it's left in there) with her for some enrichment, and she likes to climb up and nibble on the top of the grass. Besides her basking spot, this is her favorite spot to be.

The only hiccup we've had so far is Dubia Roaches. I ordered a bunch in advance of getting her, but the company cancelled the shipping label and seems to have possibly ghosted me (no response to my emails and no refund to my account). Roaches are like 8 dollars for 25 small ones locally so if anyone has suggestion on where to buy some online that ship quickly, let me know! Between Buttercup and all of her stuff I've already spent nearly 700 dollars, so I'm glad I was prepared and did a lot of research, because there's still more things I will need in the future. Definitely not a pet to get on a whim. My family breeds show dogs, so I know that a lot goes into animal husbandry and it's typically a bad idea to just pick an animal up at the pet store on a whim. Her breeder has been very helpful and I'm glad I have someone I can reach out to in case of any trouble.

**Update** her Dubias came not a moment after I'd posted this, so we're set on roaches!

Great set up however I need to ask about your screen is it a fine mesh or a wide holed screen -- if its a fine mesh the UVB needs to go inside the tank -- approx 12-15 inches directly above the basking decor- if its wide holed screen it can stay on top but basking decor needs to be directly below 8-10 inches --- you definitely need the probe basking therm --- it will give accurate basking temps and they need to be 105-110 for a baby --- once she starts getting older like 6 months she may like the temps a little lower -- its good to have a gradient heat for her -- a piece of basking decor would offer that for her - something like this https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/habitats-and-decor/habitat-decor/thrive-driftwood-reptile-decor-54734.html?cgid=500116 this piece you can lay in the tank different ways - I have websites for you for roaches and worms --- your going to need a glass or ceramic bowl that insects and worms cant get out of --- we are going to use worms to lure her to the salad bowl -- you need to feed salads first thing in the morning before the staple feeder - get some BSFL, butter worms and some small super worms from here www.mulberryfarms.com they are spendy on shipping - you want to add those on top of the salads in front of her - it will get her attention to that bowl - here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html let her eat from the bowl for an hr or so then add your dubia roaches in the bowl -- she will get some greens as well --- use 1-3 supers 1-3 butter worms and as many BSFl as you want they are another staple feeder do not dust ---
I can post some other websites for roaches and worms later --- give you more sites to order from
Karrie

The mesh is fine wire/mesh, but the top of her basking area (a platform and then a piece of drift wood so she can climb up closer if she really wants to) is probably about 10 inches below the top of the tank, the light plus reflector is 3 inches tall or so so I'm worried if it was mounted inside it would be too close to her as the recommendation for the 12% bulb I believe was 15 inches above her basking area, and mounted inside it would be more like 7 inches. Once her larger enclosure is here I plan to affix it to the inside as there will be room for it without it being too close. Do you think she'll be okay for another week or so? I do have some full spectrum with UVB grow lights that I use in the winter for seedlings that I can also set up overhead for a bit more light short term.

She gets a salad every morning first thing and has thus far ignored it, I'd not thought about putting worms of some sort on it, thanks for the tip. My local feeder store is spendy but does have butter worms and supers, so I'll pick some up tomorrow! The supers I got originally are too big so we've been using meal worms and the smallest supers, and I've been putting the really big supers in the bird feeder outside.

Do you have any suggestions for a probe thermometer? I've already spent a fair amount with more to come so I'm hesitant to buy anything else that isn't directly recommended at this point. She spends an hour or two basking, and then goes over to play in her wheat grass on the cool side, so I don't think she's too cold but I do want to make sure I'm not overheating her either! Thank you for the advice!

Petco or PetSmart has the temp probes for around $7
She should be fine for another week w/ the UVB
Karrie

Welcome, Buttercup is adorable! Just commenting on your request for bug ordering info...I am on a recurring weekly order of 100 dubia and 100 bsfl from www.dubiaroaches.com and so far am really happy with it! They’re cheap and quick shipping...the recurring order is super convenient. I have a baby beardie as well and before setting up the order I was going to the pet store almost daily for crickets so I’m loving the mail order lol.