Current 40 gallon tank Layout and Lighting question

[Shidohari]

I figured that the babyfood would keep longer than the pure veg as he's still juvinile strawberries would be easy to keep fresh as i may occasionally eat a couple for myself. and with the babyfood i can alternate it and see which one he goes for most (carrot will probably be a treat so i'll try him on it last.

One spoonful should be good in the food dish for about 8-12 hours correct? as i'd probably put it in her tank before i go to work during the morning feeding.

Don't ask me how many life mealworms and crickets i found under my repticarpet when i pulled it out for a cleaning recently.

I heard my beardie scratching around inside the cave part of the 'rock' i don't know if she was going after food or trying to loosen some of the skin last night after her lights went out. the sound didn't last very long though about five to fifteen minutes maybe.

 

[CooperDragon]

It's not unusual for them to lose their appetite or act moody during a shed. I reserve baby food for sick dragons who aren't eating live food on their own. I fill a plastic syringe and drip it on their nose to lick up. Otherwise I try to stick with a salad with fresh veges which does last all day in a dish on the cool end of the tank. I try to rotate using what looks fresh at the store each week. I share some of the veges and the rest (and leftovers) go into my roach tank for them to eat (and gutload).

 

[Shidohari]

I was thinking endive might be easy to eat. I don't know if i'd have access to collard greens but most of the grocery stores i go to have kale.

if she's not touching the re hydrated stuff at least not visibly enough for me to see it, trying fresh might be better.

 

[CooperDragon]

Kale is fine if it's mixed or on rotation with other greens. Endive is fine too. I've also had good luck with mustard greens, turnip greens, bok choy, and dandelion greens. I usually offer some chopped up green beans, different kinds of squash, bell peppers, and sometimes extras like strawberry tops or small bits of fruit mixed into a salad. Different areas have different items available so the best advice is to just offer as much variety as you can to try and ensure a balanced diet while offering their favorites.

 

[Shidohari]

and it would be an excuse for me to keep more healthy stuff in my house. As it's just me i kind of have to watch how much fresh stuff i keep here as i won't necessarily eat it all before it spoiled.

I've been letting her chill most of the time especially if it's during the times i'd normally be working so that she doesn't expect me to handle her.

Morning feeding occurs around 11am to noon and night time feeding occurs around twelve hours later.

outside of strawberries, if i was to rotate veg to keep here that i may actually use some of before it spoiled what would you suggest. not carrots because i don't care for carrots that much outside of baby carrots but still never finished them fast enough.

 

[Shidohari]

I'm so evil. Managed to get collard greens, kale, and a pint of strawberries at my local grocery today.

Took one leaf of kale (one of the smaller ones), one of the small leaves of collard greens and ripped them up into what would be bite sized pieces for humans and put them on one of my desert plates.

Next i chopped up half a strawberry (with the green left on) and used it for garnish. I ate the other half of the strawberry (without the green) as fruit has natural sugar and as a juvenille going towards adolecent i don't think she's ready for a full strawberry yet.

Finally put the desert plate into the aquarium and dumped about five to seven crickets directly on top of the plate. even if some of them leave they'll gut load off the plate (which i also sprinkled in calcium powder).

As she hasn't been eating much in the way of crickets since the veg can stay out 24 hours at least she'll have something to eat later if she decides to nibble.

Off saturday and sunday so will try for out of aquarium time for a little bit. She does tend to get clingy though when i want to put her back in. Takes a couple minutes to convince her to step off on the driftwood lol.

Have a great day.

 

[CooperDragon]

Sounds like a good salad. The strawberry tops are popular with my dragon =)

 

[Shidohari]

When you mean to only dump about 10 small crickets into the tank after dusting them with calcium powder and you actually dump in about 25-30....Yup, that just happened.

Well whatever's left by the time i get home from work tonight is going to get removed the hard way. She's still not eating as much as i'd like her to, but she's eating. She had her first 4 waxworms yesterday and the rest of the container of 50 is in the fridge.

Have a great day.

 

[Shidohari]

CooperDragon the light arrived on Monday and I had it up before light's out. I didn't need to hang it since my screen top is wide enough to support it. Hopefully when she gets used to the new light she'll get more active and start eating more. she'd been sleepy looking while on the basking rock for the past couple weeks and fortunately i'm catching this all before i've owned her for a full on month.

I will keep you posted. Seriously though i can tell the difference in the amount of light, and as it covers a larger area in the tank now she could go where she likes and still be under it so that she doesn't always have to be under the basking light area to get UVB lighting.

Thank you for the recommendation for lighting. Glad i went to that website after it's maintenance was done.

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm glad to hear it's up and running. It may take some time for her to adjust to it but it should improve things for her greatly over time.

 

[Shidohari]

I hope so. I would really like her to start eating better. I know she still uses the cave for sleeping, so I don't do any feeding until she wakes up and actually is out of the cave enough to count as awake.

 

[Shidohari]

Beardie lost the rest of her Body skin today through shedding. Maybe it's due to the improved lighting. Hopefully this means she's going to be eating again.