2 new beardies and a first time beardie mum.

[MarleyMoe]

Hey all

My names Kait, I live in the UK and me and my boyfriend have recently rehomed 2 beardies from another family member. We've also got 2 cats Tiggr and Harley, Cassie the staffy and Midnight and Nibbles the gerbils.

They're both around a year old. One boy who we've named Moe who is turning out to be a right little character, so far he's bit me on the first meeting but i was waving my fingers round by him. He has a fondness for climbing out of his viv and running around the carpet (his viv is only 5-6 inches off the floor thankfully). He headbutts and scratches the door to come out and runs off when its time to go back home again lol. And has an obsession with all things yellow - mainly my fault as the tweezers i pick the crickets up with are yellow and i think he's learned in a couple of days to associate the colour with food :mrgreen:

The girl we have called Marley who is the quiet one and has been bullied by Moe in the past so is a bit more fragile. She started the week by shocking her old mom by jumping in the water bowl i put in for her, drank for ages then had a good ol' swim in there lol. She's been ok so far apart from a bit of dehydration we found out last night so currently trying to drip feed her fluids and today she's hiding under her log and sleeping and hasn't really eaten or done anything, she seems a little grumpier than she has been all week but she's shedding aswell so could this be part of her moodiness?

I've got no experience of reptile at all let alone beardies so i've found here mainly for help and advice and somewhere to show them off

Here a couple of pics of them.

 

[catUK]

Hello and welcome, beautiful beardies :wave: This site is excellent to help you increase your knowledge. Shedding can cause loss of appetite and moodiness so i wouldn't worry about that. however, are they housed together?- if so this can be very risky. If she is dehydrated, have you tried gin=ving her a bath? Beardies rarely drink from their water bowl so bathing in warm water up to their shoulders will help hydrate. My beardie has just learnt how to swim and loves it. The http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/home.html site has some excellent advice for beardie owners as well as a great nutrition guide on what fruit and veg to feed beardies.

 

[Livey]

Hello and welcome x

There very cute beardies! :love5:

 

[MarleyMoe]

Thanks for the welcomes

They used to share a viv when they were babies but were separated by perspex when Moe started bullying Marley, she's only got about an inch and a half to 2 inches of her tail left now as a result, also missing one toe but it doesn't bother her in the slighest. They have now got a 48x18x18 viv each with almost identical set-ups.

As for the bathing i've had a read of the link and its given me a bit more of an idea how to go about it so thank you If she'll let me i'll try over the weekend. Should be interesting! Hopefully it won't be as painful as the last time i had to do the kitten :shock:

 

[Livey]

Those are two very nice set ups!
what substrate are you using?

( just a heads up when you replace the UVBs you can get Arcadia 12 % , its one of the best Uvs , Only available in the UK, and Europe i believe )

 

[MarleyMoe]

Thank you :love5: quite chuffed as its my first ones The substrate is Chipsie Mais and in the corner of Marley's viv (top) under the water dish is red desert sand (Moe's (bottom) will be identical the first time its all cleared out and re-filled). They're still a work-in-progress at the moment as i want some sort of backdrop rather than clinical white lol. (They're meant to be OH's beardies but i've taken to them more than i thought i would)

Just had a look and the UV's are Arcadia D3 reptile 6%. They're what the guy in the shop gave us when we went to buy the vivs. Are the 12% ones brighter? Dunno if my eyes can stand brighter as the headache I had on the first couple of nights they were switched on ready for the beardies were amazing lol.

 

[Slave2Scarlett]

Congrats and Welcome! Nice Beardies and Vivs!

 

[Livey]

Thank you :love5: quite chuffed as its my first ones The substrate is Chipsie Mais and in the corner of Marley's viv (top) under the water dish is red desert sand (Moe's (bottom) will be identical the first time its all cleared out and re-filled). They're still a work-in-progress at the moment as i want some sort of backdrop rather than clinical white lol. (They're meant to be OH's beardies but i've taken to them more than i thought i would)

Just had a look and the UV's are Arcadia D3 reptile 6%. They're what the guy in the shop gave us when we went to buy the vivs. Are the 12% ones brighter? Dunno if my eyes can stand brighter as the headache I had on the first couple of nights they were switched on ready for the beardies were amazing lol.

Ive never heard of chipsie mais? im assuming its wood chip of sorts? i would really recommend throwing all loose substrates out and using tile, self liner or repti carpet. ( to stop the risk of impaction)
6% Arcadia is Not high enough UVB levels for a beardie, YOu either need 12 % or a repti-sun 10.0
And yes they are brighter but better for the beardies,
Check ebay, i got both my backgrounds from there 8)

Olivia x

 

[MarleyMoe]

It dissolves if they eat it apparently but as yet they have spat it out everytime, i've just read the bag and its maize cob. They both love digging in it at the moment and throwing it about lol.

Can't afford to swap the UVs out just yet, they're only a week old and cost a bloomin fortune buying everything new for them. Next time they need changing though i'll look to getting the 12% bulb unless i get flush before then :mrgreen:

I hadn't given ebay a thought but that looks like my next stop once i get paid