concerned about baby beardie

[redlizzy]

We obtained a baby beardie 2 weeks ago and are in love. I am concerned that our tank temp is too low because she keeps crawling under her paper towel. Is this a normal behavior? Or is she cold or ill? We often find her hiding under the paper towel, especially at night. I am using a heat bulb and a uv bulb on one side of her tank so that she has a cool side on the other side. @94f during the day and 68f at night. Please respond, she is only 7 weeks old and we don't want to cause her any damage.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Hi there, Welcome aboard.
Some little poopers just like to hide in new surroundings. I would suggest you bump up your hot side to about 105 or so. If the baby is only going under the towel at night its just lookiing to hide in safty while it sleeps. Do you have a hode box in the tank as well?

 

[redlizzy]

Hi thanks for replying so quickly. We have a hide, some logs to crawl on and under and a plant.

 

[redlizzy]

How do I get the temp higher? Should we use a hot rock or under tank heater? We have an undertank heater with a thermostat for our snake. I was wondering if we should use one for her too. Even at night, just keep it at 75f for the evening. Or is that too much?

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

No problem,
Just take care of him , watch your temps, give a good soak 2 times a week and your dragon should live a long and happy one. Are you following a good care sheet?

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

What watt bulb are you useing? And what type of tank? Give me a rundown on how your set up please.

 

[redlizzy]

Her enclosure is 36L x 18W x 12H. We are using a 60 watt heat bulb and a 60 watt uv bulb. I place both bulbs on the one side, the heat bulb directly over her basking spot and the other beside it closer to the center. We are currently looking for a fixture so that we can have the UV light over the whole terrarim, but have had no luck finding what we need so far. There is @ 8inches between Lizzy (that's her name) and the heat light when she sits basking on her drift wood. She also has a hide that looks like a rock with an opening. I put that in the middle of the tank, and the plant I suction to the glass on the cool side. I am using paper towel on the bottom of the tank right now too.

 

[redlizzy]

We have a book that we have been following as a guide and have been reading info on here too. I find that books don't always explain like they need too, or maybe it's me and I need detailed intructions.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

I have a fixture that sits on top of my 40 breeder that holds 1 36 inch fluresent tube. ( I reccomend the reptisun 10) It hold 2 heat bulbs on 1 side ( i use 1 100 watt and 1 60 watt) and on the other side it holds 1 last bulb which I use a 50 watt blacklight. This set up has worked for me over 5 years now and maintains nice temps. Hope this helps. The fixture I bought ran about 75 to 80 new. But check ebay.

 

[Freeie]

if moneys a issue you can buy the long floresent fixture at walmart for $10 and use a dome light next to it with the basking bulb in our 40g breeder a 100 watt to 75 watt works well to reach the 105f mark.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

That would work 2....lol

 

[Nasubi77]

If what you have now is a coiled UVB light, turn it off until you get the fluorescent tube. He will be better off with no UVB than to be exposed to that bulb.

Also, I didn't notice if you mentioned how you are measuring your temps. To get an accurate reading you need a temp gun or a digital indoor/outdoor therm with a probe on a wire. Put the probe directly on the basking site so you know exactly what temp it is. This is the temp that should be 100-110. The cooler side of the tank should stay around 80 (give or take a few degrees).

You might want to run down her diet for us so we can make sure everything is a-okay there as well. . .

 

[redlizzy]

We have a digiatal thermometer with a probe, I will move it to her basking site as it is on the side of the tank right now. For breakfast she gets eats 3-5 small crickets, then I dice up one snow pea, some boc choy, some dandilion (bought from the store) and a bit of apple. We work during the day but when we get home we hand feed her 6-9 crickets, depending on how much she wants to eat. She has fresh water dialy and pelets to graze on all day. We also give her calcium on her crickets every other day and are wondering about a multi- vitamin. Our beardie eats dead bugs. We buy them canned so they aren't dried out. We are also wondering if there are any worms that we could give her that would be great for protein like crickets but won't squeek through the house it they escape. We aren't apposed to feeding her live bugs, we just haven't had too. She has 2 good poops a day, mostly black, with a bit of white. Just for curiosity sake, what is the white in their poop.

 

[KUdragonGirl]

The white is their urine, which is totally great because can you imagine what a pain it would be if they actually peed all over the tank all the time :shock:

 

[Nasubi77]

We have a digiatal thermometer with a probe, I will move it to her basking site as it is on the side of the tank right now. For breakfast she gets eats 3-5 small crickets, then I dice up one snow pea, some boc choy, some dandilion (bought from the store) and a bit of apple. We work during the day but when we get home we hand feed her 6-9 crickets, depending on how much she wants to eat. She has fresh water dialy and pelets to graze on all day. We also give her calcium on her crickets every other day and are wondering about a multi- vitamin. Our beardie eats dead bugs. We buy them canned so they aren't dried out. We are also wondering if there are any worms that we could give her that would be great for protein like crickets but won't squeek through the house it they escape. We aren't apposed to feeding her live bugs, we just haven't had too. She has 2 good poops a day, mostly black, with a bit of white. Just for curiosity sake, what is the white in their poop.

She should be eating way more than what she is.
The general guideline for a baby is to feed 2-3 times a day, as many as she can eat in about 15 minutes. That can equal 50-100 crickets a day!
Live bugs are best...the quality and nutritional value of the canned ones is questionable. There are several types of worms and roaches you can feed although they tend to cost a little more than crix. Roaches are easy to breed, so if you went that route, you could pretty much have an endless supply of feeders at no cost, after the initial colony purchase. Don't worry, these roaches won't be like cockroaches that are in peoples houses. Phoenix worms are very healthy and easy to keep. They cost more than crix but you don't have to dust them with calcium as they are already calcium enriched. (BTW, you need to dust one feeding a day with calcium for 5 days a week and use a multivitamin the other 2 days of the week.) Check out the feeders section of the forum and read about some of them to see what you might like to try. http://www.mulberryfarms.com/ is a great place to order your bugs. The live crix you will feed her now won't make noise. They don't start chirping until they are fully grown so live crix won't be as bad as you might think. By the time she's ready for fully grown crix, she'll probably be ready for superworms and you can switch away from the crix. Supers are easier to care for, don't make noise, and don't STINK.

Here is a good list of veggies so you know what is good to feed and what is not. http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I would advise to leave a salad for her while you are gone so she can munch on it if she gets hungry instead of the pellets. You can use the pellets as a salad topping if you want.

You didn't mention your UVB and whether or not it is a coil bulb. This is very important...the coil bulbs can make their health go downhill very quickly. Glad to see you moved the therm to the right place. Did you get your temps to come up to where they should be?