"Cutie" - Rescued - First Time Owner - very basic questions

[twicky]

Free Ad on Craigslist. Never owned a dragon but animal lover.
I wrote this lady and she let me have him. I went over to pick
him up and got a enclosure (30-40 gals guessing). They left him for
me on the front porch. I didn't get a name, food, instructions or anything.
By the time I had picked "Cutie" up, I had read a lot about dragons.

Ive ordered a bunch of stuff from PetMountain. Updated his lighting
and he now has a staple of food. Won't eat veggies (yet).

Don't know how old but he's got quite a belly on him so I figure he is
older. How old ??? I haven't the slightest idea. (about 15" maybe more)

2 questions I need answered.

He seems to eat every 3 days. Wasn't eating much at all until I replaced the
lighting, 3 days ago. On that day he ate about 10-12 crickets. It's now into
the 2nd day without eating. Also drinks water about every 3 days (fed by
dropping drops on his nose and catching it on his tongue). Drinks alot on those
times. So here's my question:
HOW OFTEN DOES HE NEED TO EAT OR DRINK?
Is 3 days OK between meals & drink (I keep trying to give him more).

Second question is about the heating & lighting. In his basking spot, the temperature
is around 100-104 degrees. Light is about 10-12" from his back.
The question I have is:
THE LOG SURFACE HE BASKS ON, IS MEASURING JUST UNDER 130 DEGREES - PROBLEM?.
This is the surface temp under the light. Is 130 degree dangerous for his body to be laying on? I wrapped my hand around it and it wasn't a problem for me.

I'm replacing the basking light (Zoo-Med 100W) with a red 75w light until I get an answer about
the 130 degree log.

thanks for any help
Rick

 

[norbertbd]

Welcome. I'm kind of new to this myself, so I can only slightly help you.

130 is way to hot. Put a temp probe on the basking spot itself and measure the temp there. It should be 115 max and in the range 100-110. It's not the air temp reading you need at the basking spot. So if the spot itself is 130, he's cooking himself. From what I understand they don't sense temps very well from underneath?

Check out all the care sheets at the front of the forum. They are a wealth of information.

As for red lights, I've seen a lot of negative comments about them on the site. If I remember correctly it can mess up there sleep because they still see the light. Also, you need a bright white light in there to make their eyes dilate. Whatever you do don't get a compact bulb. They can cause eye problems.

As for eating, I believe they tend to eat less when they get older, but I don't know what that cut-off is. We took care of a 10 year old dragon for a couple weeks and it only ate every couple days. Some of this could also be relocation stress. I had no idea they could be so finicky, but apparantly they are very sensitive to change. The relocation stress can last as long as 2 weeks, sometimes 3.

I hope this helps and someone with more experience can give you some better answers.

 

[fresnowitte]

First :wave: Hello and Welcome to BD.org!
And..............
Congratulations on the New Beardie!~

Now for the lighting please do not use a colored bulb~ not good for beardies.
The zoomed basking bulb is simply just a 100watt light bulb. Your new guy needs UVB. UVB is very important to your beardie he must have it to live. Beardies can not digest their food without it.
Once he has proper UVB he will improve on his eating.

Also remember that beardies go through a thing we call relocation stress. Whenever they have a change in homes or inviroment. During the relocation stress they may or may not eat all that well. Relocation stress can last from days to weeks.

I would bath him everyday until he starts eating properly so to make sure he is hydrated enough.

On temps~ the basking spot should be somewhere between 105* and 110* and measured directly where he basks on the log. The cool end of the viv should be between 65* and 80* will depend on the ambient temps in your home and the temp of his basking spot.

Also may I ask what you are taking the temps with?
I ask because the dial and tape strip types can be up to 20* off. Your best to get a digital probe thermometer or a temp gun much more accurate.

I hope this helps a little.

Again Welcome and Gratz!

 

[twicky]

I measure the temp with a probe type digital thermometer. The basking area, air temperature
roughly 2" above the log (where Cutie's back would be) is 100-104 degrees. Since
the log was hot, I chose to lay the probe on the log itself. The log itself (surface) came up as
129.4 degrees. I would imagine that anything with direct light upon it, would have
a temperature higher than the surrounding air. So the question is ... is it safe?

Has anyone actually laid the probe on the basking area to measure the external heat from
the object of his basking pleasure?

The lighting I mentioned on my first post, is a reptisun-10. He been using that since Thursday,
and the next day was when he pigged out on crickets (made me very happy to have him eating).

He's got a lot of energy compared to when I first got him and what a wonderful pet. I think even
my cat is starting to like him as a friend instead of a toy (no he hasn't played with him, in fact, he is
very leary of him).

On the red light, this was his original basking light that came with him. It's a ZooMed 75w. All
lights go off at night. I also have a 150w ZooMed basking light hooked up near my bed and when
I have him out, he loves to bask using that. The 150w was way too strong for inside his enclosure,
so I picked up and installed a 100w in it yesterday. That's when the questions about surface log temperature came into my mind.

thanks again
Rick

 

[LJean]

When asked what the basking spot temps are, we mean the actual spot, not air temp around it. If the log (his basking spot) is 130 degrees, that is too hot. It should only be between 100-110.

Oh, and yes we lay the probe on the basking spot.

 

[twicky]

thanks, that clears up one of my big questions.
I'll remedy that right away.

 

[LJean]

I know that lighting and temps can take some work to get right, but they are soo important. Can be frustrating at times.

I swear at one time or another I have bought every watt bulb that is sold.