Any knowledge welcome!

[Shy4nn3]

Hello everyone, I am a new beardie owner of the cutest beardie of them all named Mohave. I just got him from a friend and though the friend told me alot of information on how to take care of him it is all pet store level information that makes me nervous. I have searched the Internet like crazy but everywhere tells me different things in almost ever aspect! I hope to upgrade my 8 month old to a 55 gallon tank soon so he can get adjusted and have plenty of room to play in since ge is only in a 10 gallon right now. If someone experienced could at least answer a few of my huge questions that would be beyond wonderful. I hope to give my beardie the best life possible and for that I will need some beginning help!
1. How often should I feed him? The pet store says 20 crickets once a week but everything online says every other day?! I'm worried that I'm starving him! He has some pellets in there constantly and every other day I feed him little cubes of Bites that people call gel. I'm not positive what it is.
2. What are some good veggies and greens to start feeding him? And which ones do I need to stay far away from?!
3. What kind of lights does he need and what wattage? I only have the one bulb that his previous owner gave to me and it is a 50 watt that keeps his basking area in a rock at about 89 degrees according to the thermometer that I have in the corner by his rock. He also has an under the tank heater that is constantly on but I do not know what temperature that produces or anything.
4. And lastly for now, he just started shedding and I would like to make that process as easy and less miserable for him as possible... Any tips?!
Thank you for your time! Mohave and myself greatly appreciate it!

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Hi -

Welcome to the board - love the name "Mohave"...

I would first and foremost focus on your husbandry, as an improper set up can affect eating, behavior, all sorts of things. He really needs to be in a larger tank now, at 8 mos he's probably way too big for a 10 gallon tank. Also, establishing appropriate basking and ambient temps in a 10 gallon is really difficult, and this is key to proper digestion (good heat) and retreat room (cooler area).

So tackling your #3 question first:
Basking spot should be 95-105 degrees, cool side of tank 80 degrees, warm side 90 degrees. You need two probe thermometers (not the stick on the glass kind - they are terribly inaccurate) for each side so you can monitor temps. In a small 10 gallon your necessary bulb wattage depends on how hot you can get the basking spot - 89 degrees is not hot enough. Be careful going to high wattage as to not get too hot though, I'd recommend putting your basking light on a dimmer so you can adjust 'down' a higher wattage bulb. And yes, all this is WAY easier in a larger tank, a 10 gallon can just be too hard to get good ambient temps between 80-90.
Be careful with the UTH and make sure there is something between it and your dragon. They cannot detect heat underneath them and can burn easily sitting on these things. Put reptile carpet or tile on top of it to give a buffer between dragon and bottom. Turn it off and see how it affects your ambient temps. It might be useful to turn on at night only to keep the chill off the tank. If there is sand in your tank, I would suggest you remove it immediately. While it looks nice and there's probably been no problems up until now, it harbors wicked bacteria and there's always a risk the dragon may ingest it and become impacted. This can be problematic and fatal at times.
Your dragon also needs a UVB light - preferably a reptisun 10.0 tube bulb that spans across the back of your tank. This is critical to appetite, activity, and processing of vital D3 - you can order them from petmountain.com for a good price. This is one of the most important things.
I would suggest a couple of timers to turn the lights on and off same time each day. 14 hours on, and 10 hours off. No night lights, colored lights, etc at night- just lights OUT. If you want heat at night, you can try using the UTH (as long as you get something to protect the dragon from direct contact with it). The temps at night should be around 68-75. Our schedule is 5:30 AM lights on, breakfast at 6:45, dinner at 4, lights out at 7:30 PM.

Your #1 question next - FEEDERS:
Juvie dragons (8 mos) typically will eat 2X a day, as much as they can eat within a 10 minute period. Mine is 7 mos old, she eats 30 crickets, 25 reptiworms in the AM, and 40 crickets and 3 medium supers on the afternoon. In their first year of life or so, they eat hoards of protein as they grow at a dramatic rate. Pet shops will tell you all sorts of things - feed them 50 crickets a week...but the reality is they need protein daily. Best staple (everyday) feeders are crickets that are gut loaded (you feed the crickets food then feed the fat crickets to the lizard), roaches, reptiworms. I mailorder crickets 1,000 at a time and keep them in a 10 gallon tank (which is what you could do once your baby moves into a bigger viv!). Reptiworms stay in the drawer and are really easy to keep. Regarding Beardie food that they sell in the pet stores, lots of folks recommend you replicate what they find in the wild (would they come upon a big bottle of Beardie Bites in the Australian desert LOL?). Also, be sure to dust your crickets with calcium w/d3 5X a week on one of the meals, and dust them with reptile vitamins the other 2 days in the week. Roaches and medium supers also need to be dusted, the reptiworms do not, as they have a high calcium content already.

Make sure your dragon warms up an hour before you feed him and give him about 2 hours to digest before you handle him.

Your #2 question- VEGGIES:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutritionframeset.html
Here's an awesome list of veggies - daily, sometimes, rarely, never.
I feed mine a salad every morning of mustard greens, butternut squash, blueberries or peaches. She's not crazy about it, but takes about 10 bites before I get the death glare demanding the crickets.

Your #4 question - SHEDDING:
Give your dragon frequent baths when going through the shed process - it helps to loosen the skin and gives them some relief. The bath water should be 85-95 degrees and only go up to the shoulders. Never leave your dragon unattended in the bathtub (there are many drowning stories on here). Soak him for 5-10 minutes and then take him out, dab him dry with a towel, and put him right back under the lights to warm up. My dragon hates baths, some dragons absolutely love it and swim around for 20 minutes.

sorry for the long post - good luck with your new baby! keep asking your questions!

 

[Shy4nn3]

Thank you very much for the long post! I had no idea his home was so unsafe for him. I will be able to upgrade him in the middle of February so I hope to make this work till then. I am going to try to explain how I have his tiny tank set up right now (the way it was when I got him and assumed it was alright). On the left side is a rock that fits in the corner and it is an arch so he can go inside it or sit on top. His basking light is also on this side and shines right on the rock and the stick on thermometer is by this also. On the other side is his food and water bowl and he has a fake plant that goes from the ground up in between these. He has the heater underneath the tank and he has about an inch of the horrible calcium sand that is a nice shade of purple so it turns his legs a bit purple which I imagine can not be good for him. I do not have many funds at this moment to get much but I will try to get necessities. You said to put carpet on bottom, is that the best choice for the large tank I will be getting in February too? I read somewhere that play sand is okay to put in there also because it will not stay in their systems like the calcium sand. The next purchase I make will be the UVB tube light from the website you recommended and I will begin feeding him gutloaded crickets very soon!

 

[BeardieGrandma]

I would forget about sand altogether, regardless of what type it is. The general consensus is any loose substrate (sand, crushed walnuts, coconut shells, etc.) all stand the risk of ingestion.

I have reptile carpet and tile in my tank. Here's a pic of my set up to give you some ideas. It's pretty basic but I care more about temps and safety than looks:

This is a 40 gallon breeder tank, considered the smallest of tanks you should house a beardie in - 36" X 18" X 18". Check out craigslist for deals, there are people selling stuff all the time and you get out way cheaper than buying new at the petstore.

Reptile carpet is what I was talking about - but you don't need to wait to buy that to get rid of the sand - I would do it now and put down paper towels or newspaper on the bottom of the tank as temporary substrate. If you do that, unplug the UTH for now. People also use slate tile (you can buy it at home depot), non adhesive shelf-liner and linoleum (don't use anything with adhesive as it heats up and creates fumes that are toxic).

Good to get that UVB as soon as possible. You need to get your basking temps up from 89 as well, but with that you also need a better way to check the temps than the stick on thermometer. Walmart sells probe thermometers for about $12 - maybe get one for now at least? People use house bulbs for basking lights as well so if you have a higher wattage light bulb, try it out and see if you can get the temp up on the basking site. Just watch your temps overall because of the overall small space...good luck!

 

[TwistedCrayon]

You could consider going to wal-mart and picking up a plastic tote for 4 or 5 bucks for temporary housing. A ten gallon is not adequate for an 8 month old and you should consider upgrading asap, not in a few weeks. You can get your temp gradient easier in something larger. also check your craigslist postings. You can usually find cheap enclosures on there. Sometimes free!

 

[Shy4nn3]

I took out all his sand and laid down some newspapers. I am going to try to go find a larger tank to hold him for cheaper tomorrow but I live in a small town so I am not sure on how it will work. He seems a bit upset that his sand is gone but I'm sure he will get used to it soon. Since I have the newspaper down, I turned off the heating pad that is underneath the tank in fear that he will get too hot. I hope to get a higher wattage bulb tomorrow and some more crickets. What do I feed the crickets to gutload them before I feed him?

 

[Shy4nn3]

Do i need to purchase the ReptiSun 10.0 Bulb or the ReptiSun 10.0 UVB Desert Terrarium Lamp?

 

[BeardieGrandma]

Yes, lizards hate change, *sigh*, but he'll adjust. He's probably giving you the stink eye by now...

Reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb
http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/11442-504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10-0-uvb-bulb.html

Feed the crickets dry oatmeal, fish food, and veggies (like zucchini, squash, greens) - just make sure you keep switching the veggies out so they don't get moldy (you want to keep the cricket tank fairly dry so they don't die). There's a person on the board selling gut load mixture she made herself of nutritious stuff if you just want a no brainer mixture to throw in there. They sell cricket food online as well. Also make sure the crickets get moisture. I keep cotton pads on a tupperware top moistened with water and they drink it off of them.