CUTEST EVER!!!Sasha and Daniel!!!!

[Rellie2]

I just got two new beardies on Friday! They are tiny, cute babies! They're too young to tell the gender, but I named them anyway, Sasha and Daniel. Daniel is probably a boy because he's bigger than Sasha. I love them to death! We had problems with the crickets, but It's under control! I got them as my big Christmas present. I tried to put pictures up, but it didn't work! Ask me if you want pictures. Sasha is already shedding, and I gave both of them a short, lukeworm bath! They love splashing. They really don't sleep at all. I woke up at 4:00 at the morning because I was worried about them, and they weren't asleep. But anyways, they are the cutest things I have ever seen and my family loves them too! I got them at Scales and Tails, which is a really good place to get reptiles of all sorts. Here is the link: http://scalesntails.com/

I will enjoy hearing feedback on Sasha and Daniel!

 

[reddragon]

cool :!: i got my ozzie for christmas as well . how old r sasha and daniel?

:!: Red Dragon :!:

 

[Rellie2]

I don't know, but I think they are about a few months old.

 

[Catalyst]

Congrats on the dragons, they're so adorable at that age

Just a couple of questions. Are you keeping them in the same tank? Its very difficult housing dragons together, the only combination that may work out is two females and even if they're raised together there can still be major problems. Also, you mentioned they aren't sleeping at night. Do you have any sort of light on in their tank at night? Just curious because many pet stores sell red lights for night time use in reptile tanks but dragons can actually see this light and it will keep them awake.

If you want, post the details of your hubandry (tank size, lighting, temperatures, UV light brand and distance from dragons, diet and feeding schedule, etc.) and we can look it over for you and point out any potential problems.

Have fun with your babies, they grow up fast

 

[Rellie2]

I am keeping Sasha and Daniel in the same tank. They don't really mind eachother, except sometimes they fight over the hottest spot on the branch. I originally wanted two females, but then I figured out that they lay eggs whether they mate or not. Then I wanted two males. Then I figured out that when they are babies they are too young to tell the gender. I don't want to breed, I just want pets. The good thing is, though, Scales and Tails takes the babies once they are old enough and sells them for you. I just think it would be too much work.

They do have a red heat lamp. At the shop, the guy said that you need to turn off the UVB light at night and leave the heat lamp on, which I have been doing. They evenutually do get to sleep, it just takes them a while. They only sleep on the leaves of their leaf plant.

Info: I think the tank is 20", I'm not sure, they have two leaf plants, a water bowl which they hardly drink out of, a food bowl, and a branch for sunning and climbing. The heat lamp is by Exo Terra, it is also a glow lamp, which means that when you turn it off, (I never do) it glows in the dark. The bulb for the heat lamp is also from Exo Terra, it has 100w, and is infared. We have a cricket house as well, and do house crickets. We feed them two kinds of gutload, one from Nature Zone, and the other one just says Cricket Drink. Also, when we put the crickets in the tank, we put Dragon Dust on them. It has vitamins and nutritional stuff. In the food bowl, we have Juvenile Bearded Dragon food. It looks like tiny balls of diffrent colors. It was made by vets. Oh, and we do have a UVB light, which we are having trouble with. It is ESU Reptile Slimline, with 7% UVB. It keeps flickering on and off. It will be on for a long time, and then flicker, and then eventually turn off.

Sorry for making this so long!!!!! I don't ever want my beardies to grow up. Oh well. I bet they'll be great as adults too!

 

[NintendoVixen79]

ESU is the worst UV light you can get. Get a reptisun 10.0 instead.

You can't house them together as they get older. If they are already fighting over basking spots you may see alot worse in the future (beardies have killed each other, or caused alot of bleeding and limb-loss) If you have a male and female the female will get over-bred and probably die young. Even breeders keep their males & females seperated due to teh dangers. 2 males almost never works because of the territorial fighting. And occasionally 2 females will be ok but usually still with some kind of issues.
Even if they don't "fight", keeping 2 together usually means one will be dominant and the other wont grow as well or be in the best health.
If they are still tiny babies you can keep them together in a big enough tank. But when they are older you will need 2 different set-ups, preferred is 75 gallons each. Though some say 40-gallon breeder size works ok too.
Dont keep any light on at night. They need it dark to sleep.
And dont use any colored bulbs at all, even in daytime they need bright white light.
If the house gets too cold at night (like 60 or below) then get a heat emitter, its a bulb that doesnt give off light, only heat. But they do need it cool at night.

Avoid listening to advice from pet store workers. Many beardies raised in 'pet store recommended' conditions are in crappy shape until their set-up gets corrected.

Did you answer and post the questionairre for newbies to see if the rest of your set-up is ok?

 

[Rellie2]

Thank you, I will take those ideas into consideration. I have not yet answered and posted the questionarre. Where is it?

In another topic, you can now see PICTURES!!!!! I couldn't get the exact link, but the pictures of my beardies are on the last page. Here's the link:
http://www.freewebs.com/rickahottie/picturesfrommycam.htm
ENJOY!!!!!

 

[Catalyst]

I don't want to breed, I just want pets. The good thing is, though, Scales and Tails takes the babies once they are old enough and sells them for you. I just think it would be too much work.

If all you're interested in is happy pets then you will eventually need to separate them. As mentioned before, a male/female combo is bad for the female's health since she will be overstressed and overbred, and two males kept together will fight and possibly kill each other. Two females can sometimes be kept together in a large tank but even those success stories are reletively few and far between. You mentioned selling the babies once they're old enough - just so you know, just to get them to that point still involves a large investment. You need multiple tanks to keep the babies in (they can't be housed with the parents) as well as a steady supply of very small crickets. You'll also need all the heat and UV lighting for each tank as well. If you overcrowd or underfeed teh babies they'll begin to bite at each other and you'll end up with tailess or footless dragon babies. From a single breeding a female will lay multiple clutches of eggs - that's a whole lot of babies and a lot of money to put out just to get the babies to the stage at which they're old enought to be sold (6 weeks old or so).

They do have a red heat lamp. At the shop, the guy said that you need to turn off the UVB light at night and leave the heat lamp on, which I have been doing. They evenutually do get to sleep, it just takes them a while. They only sleep on the leaves of their leaf plant.

As I mentioned, you dont' need this light on at night. You only need nighttime heat if your tank drops below the low sixties at night - otherwise the cooldown is both natural and healthy for them.

Info: I think the tank is 20", I'm not sure, they have two leaf plants, a water bowl which they hardly drink out of, a food bowl, and a branch for sunning and climbing. The heat lamp is by Exo Terra, it is also a glow lamp, which means that when you turn it off, (I never do) it glows in the dark. The bulb for the heat lamp is also from Exo Terra, it has 100w, and is infared. We have a cricket house as well, and do house crickets. We feed them two kinds of gutload, one from Nature Zone, and the other one just says Cricket Drink. Also, when we put the crickets in the tank, we put Dragon Dust on them. It has vitamins and nutritional stuff.

If they're not drinking out of the water bowl (most dragons don't) you can actually just take that right out of teh tank. It'll only be a germ collector otherwise. The best way to keep your babies well hydrated is through regular baths - fill the tub or a container up to their shoulders with warm (not hot) water and put something on the bottom so that they have some grip. Then let the dragons soak in teh tub and they'll absorb the water in through their skin and vent.
I have the same dome fixture and it does glow slightly all night after I've turned the heat light off. It's a dull glow though and definately not strong enough to bother their sleep so it works I'd switch out that infared light for a regular lightbulb or halogen flood light. They do the same job but put out a clear bright light and that's what dragons need during the day to thrive - they are dessert animals after all and daytime in the dessert is not red
As far as the crickets go, your guys will be going through a whole lot of them - upwards of 60-100 a day so if you're not already doing so, you'll want to start ordering them in bulk. I started out with a cricket keeper but found that using a big rubbermaid bin worked better with the large number of crickets I was going through - with one baby dragon I ordered in my crickets 1000 at a time and that lasted just over 2 weeks. You don't need to buy special food for the crickets, they can eat the same veggies that the dragons are given and they also like the dragon food pellets.

In the food bowl, we have Juvenile Bearded Dragon food. It looks like tiny balls of diffrent colors.

This stuff works okay as a way to add variety to your dragon's diet. I use it like croutons on my dragon's salad and sometimes he'll eat it, sometimes he doesn't. You should also be offering a daily salad since these guys will eventually become largely vegetarian (therefore better to get them exposed to greens and veggies now). Some good staple greens are collard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens, endive, squash, and prickly pear. Regular lettuce or even romaine lettuce isn't very good for them - it's mostly water with no nutrition.

It is ESU Reptile Slimline, with 7% UVB. It keeps flickering on and off. It will be on for a long time, and th
en flicker, and then eventually turn off.

ESU lights are junk. If you go with the flourescent UV lights then the reptisun 10.0 is best, and the reptisun 5.0 or reptiglo 8.0 are second best. The ESU lights have a very rapid rate of decay so that in a short time they're not putting out nearly enough UV for what your dragons will need.

 

[Rellie2]

Thanks for the info, Catalyst! A lot of people tell me I need to seperate them once they get older, which I am sure I will do. I will make sure to turn off the light. I have a really nice nutrition list from someone on here, and I usually cut them up veggies. The problem is, they never eat veggies, treats, or the pellet food stuff I gave them. It just rots and wastes. All they like to eat is crickets. I agree that ESU lights are junk, and perhaps I will switch to UV lights if I can find them. Another problem I have is sand. Everyone on here says sand is bad. I really want to switch to something else. What is something else that is good for babies? Thanks for the help!!!!

 

[Bianca]

You can keep babies on paper towels, tile or non-adhesive shelf liner. Sand is not a good idea...

 

[shortygirl]

Hey Relli, welcome to the wonderful world of beardies!

Catalyst went over the major points & gave you excellant advise, I'll just give my opinion on your other questions...

Substrates a pretty hot topic amongst herpers. Sand, IMHO, IS a bad substrate for babies & juviniles, they are rather bad hunters & even if the don't get a "mouthful" they still pick up little bits when they taste something or if there's any sand on the bug/greens/whatever they're eating. Dragons under 15 inches have a "kink" at the end of their digestive tract, which leaves them prone to impaction (a blockage of the guts). I personally use, love & recommend non-adhesive shelf liner (Wal-Mart, Duck Brand, $8.97 a roll) with cermic tiles placed on top (Home Depot or Lowes, rough texture, about $1 each). It's easy to maintain, more natural for them to walk on and safer too!

Babies are usually rather uninterested in greens/veggies unless introduced to them at a young age. Still offer it, since they WILL eventually eat it. An adults main diet should be 80% greens/veggies so it's best for them to get used to them early. Much more appeitising to them is live, moving prey. My girls at your dragons age/size went through about 50 approprietly sized crickets (no larger than the space between their eyes) each a day, gradually increasing to about 120+ each, broken up into 2-3 feedings a day, at 10" & they're holding strong to that still. I also mix it up with other prey items like silkies, phoenix worms, butter worms, roaches & superworms for my dragons over 15+ inches. The more vaierty, they better for them. Gut load all your bugs that need it well, I use & recommend cricketfood.com. OR I have used the DIY receipe from drgecko.com (just substitute high grade dog chow for the monkey chow). I would suggest looking into an online bug supplier so you can order in bulk, it save a whole lot of money!

 

[Rellie2]

NEW UPDATE: Great news! I took your suggestions and I got them a new UV light! It is a Reptisun 10.0 and it works really well! It dosen't flicker and turn off! I also got them a new heat bulb for the heat lamp. It is white instead of red, and makes it much hotter in there. I also got a book on bearded dragons by Phillip Purser, and I got a cool landscape for them that I taped to the back. Next week, I am replacing the sand with tiles. I already have the stuff that you put under the tiles, I just need the tiles themselves. My beardies seem much more happier now that they have a better enviorment! Oh, and Daniel is shedding! Actually, he's been shedding for a while. He has shed his tail, his back, a little bit around his mouth, and now, his belly. I give them both baths every day and now I also have a mister to spray them with. Thanks for all of the help!

 

[Bianca]

Good work

 

[Catalyst]

That's great Sounds like you and your dragons are definately on the right track. Make sure you post pics once you have everythign set up - we love pictures here!

You mentioend that the temps are much hotter now, do you know what they are exactly? You want a basking spot of 100-110* F and the cool end of the tank should be around 80-85*. If you don't have one already, you'll want either a digital thermometer with a probe or a temperature gun to track those temps.

Shedding means he's growing Definately takes lots of pics, they grow up so quickly!

 

[Rellie2]

Hey!

The temps are about in the 90s, not as hot as they could be, but they're still hot. BAD NEWS--Tonight, I looked at Daniel and I noticed that something was wrong with his finger. I pulled him out of the cage and found that somehow one of his nails got pulled off :shock: :shock: I read about what to do in a book I have on them. It said that cornstarch is a good blood stopper. I tryed that, and it worked! Daniel seems to not even notice.
The other day, we started to put them on small-medium crickets, and it's working great. Both of them seem to be growing bigger. (Of course, Daniel has always been fat.)

Daniel and Sasha both have shed all of their skin.

Sasha is eating much more, and is not as skinny as I thought that she would be.
They are on tile right now, and it seems to be working great! Except for there are un-avoidable cracks which the crickets climb in, but....

I just got a videcam the other day! Yay! I took a lot of vidoes of them, but I need to get a USB cord to plug it into my compu.

Thanks for all the help!!