Bearded Dragon Health Check Up

[JakeFarnham]

Hey guys I just wanted to send a photo and to clarify if I am doing a good job with my bearded dragon growing up! Currently he is 247grams and 16 inches long, Male, he is around 6 months and like 10 days old and is growing around 20-30 grams a week, he is a very big boy and I don't believe he is fat so I think he is just growing fast! I am making sure he gets around 10-20 crickets a day and sometimes he gets around 25-50 mealworms on days he slacks off on or I don't get the chance to feed him a full meal. Don't worry the cage is fine he just likes a blanket to snuggle in and that's not the whole size cage, I also clean his water every 3 days and clean his food bowl every 3 days aswell! His current meal plan is usually greens and calcium powdered crickets every 1-2 days and large sized crickets every day. He is very aggressive towards other reptiles and get very jealous! He is always looking to seek dominance towards our snakes and mirrors, he gets along well with our 1 dog and occasionally spend 10-30 mins outside, he gets scared half the times outside and forces me to take him in, but eventually he calms down. I don't feel comfortable to take him on the ground by himself since our backyard is fenced and secure but it is very big and a lot of tiny spaces to get himself stuck in. He takes showers with me every once and awhile like maybe every 3 days out of the week and when he is shedding he likes a nice warm bath in a tub I have, usually the water is around 85-95 degrees I try to make sure he is comfortable and is not in stress by hot or too cold water I also provide rocks in the center for a bathing spot and for a rest if he gets tired he usually does a couple of dips and just rests half of his body in the water. The cage temperature is around 92-105 degrees during the day on the basking side since its hot in California and in the summer. I try to monitor the humidity to around 50%. His lights are on timers and go off around 7:00pm and go on at 7:00 am. I take him out around 2-3 times a day and he gets around 1-2 hours of excise of running around and relaxing. That's pretty much it! I just wanna know some tips and Ideas of what I am doing wrong and right! That's all! Thanks!

 

[KarrieRee]

The most important thing in the tank is the lighting --- NO coils for UVB long tube fixture w/ a reflector basking temps taken w/ a digital probe thermometer - loose substrate we dont recommend because of health issues along w/ impaction - and I would lay off the meal worms --- too many can cause impaction as well - here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
I would also put fresh water in that bowl daily --
the food dishes should be cleaned out daily and throw out the food thats not eaten -
Mirrors are going to stress him out - he thinks there is another dragon when he sees himself not good
for a dragon under a year old he should be getting crickets every day and salads every day fresh
the crickets should be dusted 5 x per week w/ calcium D3 and vitamins w/ beta carotene 2 x per week ONCE per feeding - the main diet for a dragon under a year old is protein -- and if hes eating his salads that is good -- I would get him some super worms and some horn worms for variety and look into getting some dubia roaches as well -- variety is key here

 

[JakeFarnham]

Yes, I pretty much do all that! I feed him horn worms and dubia roaches but the horn worms aren't in season and are very small every pet store we go too, also I use to feed him roaches but he doesn't really like them and has a hard time seeing them and trying to get it in his mouth. The lighting is fine and is cover by a screen so no bulbs are sticking out and can burn him. Also do you have a recommendation for substrate as I currently use that substrate in the image which is fine but like you said gets in his stomach. I haven't had any problems with impaction as I try to not feed him till he poops and If he doesn't poop in a day then I feed more greens and less proteins. I would like to use a substrate that fills the cage and that he cant move all of it in one spot and isn't able to swallow. My Beardie usually takes big bites and is very aggressive towards food so he usually swallows a lot of substrate, like I said he doesn't and isn't having impaction and I am always monitoring his poop for big chucks of wood but it seems like he doesn't have a problem with the substrate and it says it very friendly for digestion on reptiles which is proven correct in my case. Thanks for all the info and help!

 

[KarrieRee]

Please get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner cut to the size of the tank-- you can get some small horn worms from www.dubiaroaches.com + they are cheaper- your dragon needs to be fed every day it is normal for them to not poop for weeks at a time- please feed every day your dragon is aggressive w/ his food cuz he's hungry- the shelf liner can be found at Walmart or your local home improvement store clean w/ vinegar and water 50/50 solution-

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, your dragon looks good and healthy and it's really great that he gets out in the sun , that makes up for lack of good uvb. I agree with Karrie that you would be better off getting rid of the loose substrate, your dragon at some point will have a problem if he's eating it !! Non adhesive shelf liner or even newspaper is fine. BTW, if you want a nice, inexpensive enclosure for him to hang outside check these out :


https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwik9ZD_mOnyAhVUIa0GHUNuAv0YABAFGgJwdg&ae=2&sig=AOD64_2ftlmu-4ctbi58yVBdfl1FRUiQxg&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiz2Yb_mOnyAhUbJDQIHZajD8UQww96BAgBEEE&adurl=

 

[Beansbanana]

Hi there, your dragon looks good and healthy and it's really great that he gets out in the sun , that makes up for lack of good uvb. I agree with Karrie that you would be better off getting rid of the loose substrate, your dragon at some point will have a problem if he's eating it !! Non adhesive shelf liner or even newspaper is fine. BTW, if you want a nice, inexpensive enclosure for him to hang outside check these out :


https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai...wiz2Yb_mOnyAhUbJDQIHZajD8UQww96BAgBEEE&adurl=

@AHBD i was wondering what the link is? It didn’t work. Do you mind sharing what outdoor enclosure it is?

 

[AHBD]

Huh, wonder what happened there ? Anyway, it was probably one of these :

Robot or human?

This is odd, now the link I posted is asking robot or human ?? Anyway, just Google
ABO gear happy cat habitat tent.