Danse

[Danse]

Hi everyone, my son has gotten a bearded dragon that he has named Danse and I pretty much fell in love immediately. I would attach a pic, but I can't figure out how I have been reading everything I can to make sure we have a happy, healthy beardie but I have a few questions I would appreciate your guys opinions on...

I'm having an issue getting and keeping the humidity on the water & food bowls side of the tank down. I have a gauge there and it goes as low as 40% but as high as 55%. I know ideal is 35-40% but I can't seem to keep it there. I tried making that a cool zone but the cooler it is the higher the humidity goes. I live in the Northeast so we are all having humidity issues right now but I want to make the tank conditions as perfect as possible. I have a small dehumidifier right next to that side of the tank as well as a dehumidifing egg and an Eva-Dry. The rest of the tank seems to be okay, staying mostly in the accepted range. Does anyone have any other ideas for me?

My second question is how often should we be feeding Danse insects? Everything I've read says something different so we decided to go with twice a day. So he gets crickets in the morning around 8am and again in the evening around 7pm. I have just gotten worms for the first time today and plan on ordering dubia roaches so he can have a variety. We feed him 10 small crickets at each feeding. He also has a salad available to him at all times though the only time he seems to eat these on his own is very early morning before cricket time. I can also get him to eat a few bites here and there throughout the day by hand feeding him. When we got him from the pet store they told us to feed him once a day and today when I was getting the worms and crickets the guy at the pet store was acting like I was a horrible person telling me I was going to harm Danse by feeding him twice a day. I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing for Danse. Also, the guy at the pet store told me not to mix the insects, example, day 1, crickets, both feedings and day 2 , worms, both feedings. Do I have to keep them separate like that or can he have crickets in the morning and worms in the evening?

I know this post is long but I don't have any practical experience with a beardie, I had an iguana as a teen, but that was a long time ago and they're different standards. So thank you all in advance for any and all advice you can give. ~Nicole

 

[Gormagon]

Baby dragons are eating machines. There are those on here that feed twice a day and, some that feed three times a day. But the one conclusion I have come to on this is (2x or 3x a day) you let them eat all they want in a 10 to 15 minute period unless the lose interest sooner.
When you say worms, do you meal meal worms? Mealworms are very hard to digest because of their hard exoskeleton. They can cause compaction in some cases which leads to paralysis and can be fatal. Superworms should only be fed as treats to adults. Waxworms have little nutritional value and, are like crack to dragons (very addictive). Now BSFL, Silkworms and, hornworms are great.
I hope this helps clear it up for you.

Note.....
Feed him his afternoon meal 2 1/2 to 3 hours before lights out. This gives him time to bask and digest his meal.
NO lights at night! They like it dark and cool at night so they can slow their metabolism down to actually get the rest they need. 13 to 15 hours of lights on a day.