Beginners advice please .. Long post lol

[bigshoe]

Hey folks!!

Well Im new here and new to beardies. This is a big hello and a plea for some advice lol. This is gonna be long so please bare with me lol

So I got my beardie last Sunday from a guy that breeds snakes. He came with a tank, heat lamp etc etc and is 4 months old. I went and looked at it and it seemed fine. It didn’t run about or go mad when I had it in my hand or anything like that but I assumed it was just nervous. It had also lost a toe but this did not concern me at all.

Anyways, I got him home and noticed when he was fully stretched out he actually had a lump on his leg just above the missing toe. It didn’t affect movement or seem to cause him any distress what so ever as when he got settled he was running about chasing food like a mad thing. So I thought he had prob got a bit of an infection after the toe thing.

My girlfriend was a little more concerned and wanted me to go to the vet. We went yesterday and the vet said it was a blocked wall abcess ( meaning it wont spread or get any bigger, thank goodness!! And it came from an infection from losing a toe) and that he will be fine. The vet also said he was unusually lethargic and that he probably wasn’t reaching his optimum heat as he spent most of his time heat seeking under the lamp and rarely at the opposite end of the tank other than to run about the odd time.

He also hasn’t been eating very well the last day or so and had a greenish dihorrea. This could be due to the heat issue and due to the fact during the day he had very finely chopped apple. The apple as now been taken off him as I assume its too acidic for him. Ive replaced this with some shredded veg. Im going to try a few meal worms in with the veg to help him eat it.

All I had initially was the tank, news paper as substrate, food and water bowl, a wee hideout cave and a big bit of driftwood. Then heat lamp and uv lamp. Heat lamp and uv were on and then off for the day night cycle. The vet advised to keep heat lamp on throughout the night to help him get his temp up and even a hot water bottle wrapped in a good towel ( which my girlfriend actually used for her iguanas and they loved it ). I still turn uv off though.

I usually don’t feed him until the afternoon but do leave a small bowl of the shredded veg ( correct me if this isnt the best feeding pattern ) and due to the fact he hadnt eaten properly in a while I decided to give him a couple crickets this morning before I went to work … he ate one and even at that he let them just walk by about 3 or 4 times before he went for it.

I am getting my thermometers today, one for cool end and one for heat lamp end to see what it is sitting at. Is there any other advice you can give me to increase the heat for him or should one heat lamp suffice? ( It’s a 40w I think, above the drift wood log) and as he is only small at the min he is in approx a 2ft long by around just over 1ft depth tank. Should I think about placing a heat pad at the cooler end of the tank also where I have the hot water bottle so as to keep a constant temp there rather than having to refill the bottle?

Excuse me for my ignorance but I read up and see nothing but conflicting advise from different sources like use heat pads, don’t use heat pads or feed them this, don’t feed them this.

Anyways, essay over lol, and all advise would be greatly appreciated so I can get this wee fella just perfect!! As I say at times he is full of beans, other times he just doesn’t want to know ..

Thanks in advance
Gary

 

[SARBEAR]

Hello and welcome Gary!!
I apologize in advance for my speedy reply, but I have to get ready for work :roll:
Do you know what brand the UVB is?
And I don't recommend having a heat pad. Beardies can't feel heat from underneath and often end up having burned tummies with the heat pad since they can't feel how hot it is
To get the heat higher, I would move the basking spot closer to the light, and see if that helps any. But I would wait to do that until after you get a thermo. Which, I recommend getting a digital one with a probe at the end, I believe you can pick one up at walmart in the garden section if I'm not mistaking.
I also wouldn't feed meal worms, they have been known to cause impaction in young beardies, and are hard to digest. If you want to feed worms, I'd recommend feeding silk worms, phoenix worms or butter worms. You can order those online only I believe, but well worth it!
Feeding him a salad every day is great! As far as I know it doesn't matter what schedule you have them on, It is great to give them a chance to eat their greens though, I wish I would've gotten my beardie on that schedule in the first place :?
Here's a site you can look at, it's a nutrition chart, of things you can/should feed your beardie, and things you shouldn't, Pay attention to the color chart though.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
Once again I do apologize for not answering all your questions, hopefully someone else will see it and answer the rest. If not, when I get home from work I will be more then happy to finish
Good luck with your new beardie!!

 

[isabelleandpaul]

Hello and welcome!
I would advise you to look at the caresheets on this website for more info about which temps are optimal, I don't remember. Please make sure you have the right type of uvb (Repti-sun 10), turned on during the day, off at night.
As for the wattage of the heat bulbs, I guess it depends of your ambient temp. I read a lot from this board, and in my case I have to use a lot more than most people, but I suppose I keep my house a little cooler (in fact it snowed yesterday, yuk!). Trial and error is the way.

And don't worry if your baby doesn't eat much the first few days, it can be relocation stress. When I got my babies, on the second or third day they passed a big slimy yuky poo, and after that they both started acting more normal (eating and active). I was worried at first but all the poos after that were normal, so I did not investigate more.

For feeding, I feed crickets twice a day, breakfast approx 1 hour after wake up, dinner approx 2 hours before bedtime. I leave veggies in a bowl all day, but I saw that he eats them mostly around noon and beginning of afternoon (some days he doesn't eat any).

You did not mention baths, but you will see on caresheets or from other people that bathing your beardie is recommended once a week. I do it more often, especially when my baby gets dirty by eating raspberries, or when in shed.

Well, i hope this helps. I am still new to bearded dragons but I learned a lot from this website. Hope you enjoy your baby!

Isabelle

 

[bigshoe]

I actually had him in the basin about half an hour ago, he drank alot of it lol. Took him out and he walked about for a bit on the settee, still unsure of where he is I think.

So he is back in the tank sprawled out on the hot water bottle now.

Im going to dust a couple of crickets here and see how he gets on with them. He also seems to have enjoyed the shredded carrot and green pepper I left as it was near gone by the time I got home!!

I have been reading the caresheets, very helpful !!

In my first post I mentioned conflicting advice? Well on one of the caresheets it says never feed mealworms to your dragon and I watched a video of a woman putting mealworms in her salad bowl to encourage the baby dragons to eat it. This is what I mean, you hear so many different things.

Thanks for the replies folks.

No walmart where I am by the way, Im in Northern Ireland ... its ASDA or Tesco's for me lol

 

[SARBEAR]

I actually had him in the basin about half an hour ago, he drank alot of it lol. Took him out and he walked about for a bit on the settee, still unsure of where he is I think.

So he is back in the tank sprawled out on the hot water bottle now.

Im going to dust a couple of crickets here and see how he gets on with them. He also seems to have enjoyed the shredded carrot and green pepper I left as it was near gone by the time I got home!!

I have been reading the caresheets, very helpful !!

In my first post I mentioned conflicting advice? Well on one of the caresheets it says never feed mealworms to your dragon and I watched a video of a woman putting mealworms in her salad bowl to encourage the baby dragons to eat it. This is what I mean, you hear so many different things.

Thanks for the replies folks.

No walmart where I am by the way, Im in Northern Ireland ... its ASDA or Tesco's for me lol

Yikes! Hmm..well maybe you can call around and see if anyone has a thermo with a probe, those take the most accurate readings and I highly suggest you get one of them!
I would never feed babies meal worms..I don't even feed my 10 month old mealies..
If you do a search on BD.org for meal worms there will be TONS of threads talking about them. Like I mentioned you can try silk worms, phoenix worms..
This is just a thought, but I ordered some small super worms from mulberryfarms.com, I know babies can't digest the big ones very well, but does anyone know if the smaller ones would be okay? The small supers I have are a little bigger then the meal worms...like I said, just a thought, I wouldn't try it until you get opinions on it though.
And that's great he's eating veggies for you, you should try some of the different veggies on that site I gave you, and see if you can get him to eat something else like collard greens, mustard greens or dandelion greens, carrots are high in vitamin A and not the best for everyday salads, so I've heard. Correct me if I'm wrong!
I wouldn't listen to petstore advice btw, a lot of people (including myself) got wrong info from them and have actually lost their beardies..

I'm not sure if you've answered these questions already, if you have, I do apologize
What size tank is he in?
What brand of UVB do you have?

 

[Judah'sHuman]

Yeah the meal worms are better to feed on a rare occasion and when they are older. See they have a hard chitiness shell and that shell can build up in the gut. especially in samll dragon with little intestions. However, a few every now and then is ok but it is not as a staple food. You are more likely to have problems if they are feed a bunch all the time. If you put them in the fridge they last for months and months and if you give him a few every now and again just to get rid of them, that would be ok.

As for your night time temps you said you have a heat lamp, are you talkign about a basking bulb or something like a red or blue heat bulb? You will need some type of basking bulb for day time next to your UV source you can use a regular old house hold Halogen I use a 60 watt Sylivania Spotlight Halogen. You dont need to buy a fancy retile basking bulb it is a waste of money. For night time if you have a colored heat bulb it will keep your dragon up at night, so I suggest using a Ceramic Heat Emitter. Here is a link for a suggestion http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-incandescent-bulbs/105644/zoo-med-ceramic-infrared-heat-emitter.html
You really only need this though if your house temps get below 70deg at night. It can go as low as 65deg however, I have noticed from what others have told me it sorta wears on their immune system. I personally feel that if you keep your dragon around 70-75 deg at night it helps their immune system out.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Hello and Welcome!

 

[bigshoe]

Thanks for the replies everyone, really appreciate it.

Hes in approx 20-25 gallon tank which equates to around approx 2ft long x around 1ft ( a bit bigger ) depth at the minute. However I am actively seeking a 4ft vivarium for him. I guess this is ok for now as he is still quite small but I know they like to grow quite quickly

I have what we call waxworms and have been advised to give him maybe one a week as a treat so that ties into what you guys are saying.

My uvb is repti-glo 5.0 iirc, and my basking light is just a regular 40w bulb but I might increase this as he spends a lot of time under it?? Those are the only two bulbs in the tank.

On the vets instructions I also fill and wrap a hot water bottle in a towel a couple of times a day and put it at the opposite end from the basking light ( this is only for a few days, however as mentioned above my girlfriend done this on a regular basis with her iguanas ). I don’t know if this is wise or not but he actually seems to love it.

Also my vet advised to keep basking light on all night for a few days and my neighbour keeps his basking light on all the time for his water dragon.

Under the basking light is a bit of driftwood, I assume a rock would be better due to its ability to hold heat better?

That’s a great site SARBEAR, colour coding is really helpful thanks.

 

[SARBEAR]

I would get rid of the reptiglo 5.0. The previous owners of my Howie had that in his tank for 8 months, then when I adopted him I changed it to a reptisun 10.0 (tube) and I saw a difference in his activity/alertness in the matter of hours. The reptiglo's don't give off sufficient UVB rays which leads to MBD, which my beardie has a bad spinal deformity now from not getting the correct UVB for 8 months
Correct, waxworms are treats as well.
Have you been able to get a thermo to see your temps? I'm not sure if I would up the wattage of the bulb just yet if you haven't gotten the temps from this bulb. His tank should be 105-110 on the hot side. If it is somewhere in there, there is no need for a hot water bottle, a heat mat, or a light on at night.
Rock will definitely hold heat better, you can find a large one outside and bake it in the oven to kill anything that might harm your beardie. But I would wait with that as well until you get your temps

 

[Judah'sHuman]

In several conversation with Tracy about the Repta glo 5.0. She says it is just an ok bulb, but like sara said it doesnt emite as high of levels of uvb as the Repta sun 10.0. I honestly wouldnt use that bulb for more than 3 months at the most, and if you deside to stick with it for that long, make sure you are using a Calcium with D3 5x per week.

The Repta glo 10.0 you want to avoid period because it has been known to cause eye problems. Any of these bulbs are only good for 6 months, any longer and the UVB levels decrease dramaticly. So that could be why Sara your baby was getting so bad under the former light if he had the same light for 8 months, in addition to perhaps not getting proper supplimention by his former owners? that could deff. play in to MBD factors.

I know alot of people in the UK area have problems trying to ge the Repta Sun bulbs...Don't know if it will be the same for you in Ireland? If you can't find one the most common for that region is th Arcadia 12%, However I believe you will need at least a 40gallon tank for the use of that bulb. These are Mercury Vapor bulbs so you will also need a "screw in" type clamp lamp or liek fixture for it.

It is not good to leave any of his lights on all night long. They need time to sleep and the light will keep them awake. I am really supprized acctually that your neighbor keeps their waterdrgons lights on all the time. I have not personally had a water dragon, but i have several friends who have had or have them and none of them keep their lights on all night. Poor lil dragons need dark to sleep.

In regards to the water bottle. As long as it is not too hot this really isnt and issue. Whenever Judah got a little stoped up and was having problems pooing, I would wrap him up at bed time and place him on my belly with a heating pad on low under him. I would massage his back and he would go to sleep and eventully poo all over me gross but it did what I had intended. Now, heating pads are not advised for use in or under tanks and unsuppervised because it can over heat your dragon or could catch on fire etc. but a water bottle is only going to slowly cool down over a period of time, and if your having troubles with your temps and he needs a spot to keep warm, then this will be ok for now.

Once you get your thermometer let us know what your temps are. I found mine at a fish store, it is a digital with a probe nothing fancy but it works really well. Also, if you happen to see an exoterra or a zoo med thermometer I have been told they are offten inaccurate.

You will always need some type of regular household bulb next to your floresent tube because it equals out the UVB light they make and helps your dragons eye sight. So it is good you have one in there. As you say you may need to go up to a 60 or 65 watt. Once you get a larger tank you can use a household halogen bulb. I use a 60 watt Sylvania spotlight next to my merc vapor bulb and it keeps Judah basking temps up around 110deg right under the spot, adn it helps heat the basking area under the Merc bulb.

I also have a Ceramic Heat emiter I use for winter times at night. oh...I thing said all this already? These emite no light and put out heat. I will be putting that back in there soon too.... is gettin cool here in Seattle! Im not sure I may have to have it off and on through out the day because im not sure if the Merc bulb and the halogen are going to be enough heat. My house gets around 60-63 deg in the winter and we r too poor to turn the heat on all the time. :x

 

[bigshoe]

Thanks for the info everyone, its been a real good help and Judah thanks for that last post, its near as long as my first lol !!

I cant find any of the thermo's with the probe locally so have ordered a couple of the net.

I take it its normal for a young beardie to sometimes struggle to get hold of crickets ? If my wee guy doesnt get hold of any he will just ignore them for a couple of hours or until he can be bothered. He also doesnt eat very many throughout the day.

As for the 5.0 bulb, I have yet to replace with a 10.0 but have lowered it down the tank slightly so will this do for now or should I definately change? Why make the 5.0 if they are of no use?

Sorry for all the noob questions !!

 

[bigshoe]

Also would it be ok to very finely sprinkle a bit of the calcium/vitamin supplement over the veg every now and then as he seems to munch a good bit of it during the day?

 

[SARBEAR]

Thanks for the info everyone, its been a real good help and Judah thanks for that last post, its near as long as my first lol !!

I cant find any of the thermo's with the probe locally so have ordered a couple of the net.

I take it its normal for a young beardie to sometimes struggle to get hold of crickets ? If my wee guy doesnt get hold of any he will just ignore them for a couple of hours or until he can be bothered. He also doesnt eat very many throughout the day.

As for the 5.0 bulb, I have yet to replace with a 10.0 but have lowered it down the tank slightly so will this do for now or should I definately change? Why make the 5.0 if they are of no use?

Sorry for all the noob questions !!

Make sure when you get the 10.0 bulb that it's a reptiSun 10.0 tube. Unfortunately, most people don't know that the reptiglos are no good, and pet stores tell people to get those..So in the end they're still making quite a bit of money for such a lousy bulb.
In my personal opinion I would change the bulb, like I said, Within a few hours of changing mine, I had a whole new dragon!!

It may take some time for your baby to get the hang of catching the crix, you can even put the crix in the freezer for 2-3 mins just to slow them down a bit so it's easier for your baby. Eventually he'll get the hang of it.

Also would it be ok to very finely sprinkle a bit of the calcium/vitamin supplement over the veg every now and then as he seems to munch a good bit of it during the day?

If you are already dusting his crix I wouldn't dust the veggies as well. Getting too much calcium can cause just as much problems as not getting enough.

 

[bigshoe]

Thanks SARBEAR !! :wink:

 

[SARBEAR]

You're absolutely welcome!!
Do you have any pictures of the little guy??
We would love to see them!