Does she look healthy?

[Lolcrowleyy]

She’s about 7-8 months just got her about 2 weeks ago. She has a 100w intense basking bulb and a red infrared light. I feed her 5 superworms and 5 dusted crickets each morning and night and she always has kale in her bowl!

 

[HippieLizards]

Hello,

Welcome to BD.org and the wonderful world of bearded dragons!

First of all, get rid of the infrared bulb. They are useless and bad for your dragons eyes and sleep patterns. Does she have any UVB? What are her temps? (Basking spot, cool end, warm end). How much does she weigh? How long is she? What is her substrate? What size enclosure does she have? Do you feed her any other greens?

Kale should only be fed with other greens, such as Collard, Mustard, Dandelion, and Endive. and Superworms should only be used sparingly. You Are much better off with Hornworms, Dubia Roaches, Black Soldier Fly Larva (BSFL), and Silkworms.

The image you tried posting did not show up. https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ With this could you post a picture of her and her Setup?

-HippieLizards.

 

[Lolcrowleyy]

She is currently in a 20 gallon tank. She will be upgrading in the next few months. Her substrate is a green mat from the pet store. I was not aware she needed a UVB bulb until today. She will be getting one tomorrow, I currently have a standard basking light until then. [ximg]97556 5107817552[/ximg]

 

[EllenD]

She looks fine, but you need to get her a long UVB tube and a long tube fixture for it that has a reflector in it, do not buy a compact or coil UVB bulb!!! Dragons need at least a 10% or 10.0 UVB tube that is long, at least 18" long, and that has a reflector. This way they get adequate UVB light throughout their tank. Without a long UVB tube and fixture they cannot absorb any Calcium that they ingest, they just excrete it, and this causes MBD very quickly. The compact and coil UVB bulbs that fit into regular lamp fixtures are far too weak for Dragons.

What you want is either an 18" or longer Reptisun 10.0 T8 or much stronger T5 (much better than the T8 strength) UVB tube and a matching fixture with a reflector, or an Arcadia 12% T5 UVB tube and fixture. If you get the weaker T8 UVB tube it must be strapped to the underside of the mesh lid, it must be within 6" of his basking spot/platform, and it must be replaced every 6 months on the dot. The stronger T5 UVB tubes only need replaced once every 12 months, and they can sit on top of the mesh lid as long as they are within 10" of the basking spot/platform...

Avoid all UVB tubes made by the brands Zilla, All Living Things, and ReptileOne, as they all emit harmful light rays that all seem to cause severe eye damage, neurological damage, and blindness.

You cannot use ANY colored bulbs for a Dragon. You are trying to replicate natural sunlight over the Hot Side of his tank, and you do this by putting the long UVB tube right alongside a Brigth-White colored Basking Bulb, both lights over the top of the Hot Side of the tank, sharing the top of the Hot Side of the tank, with his basking spot/platform directly underneath both lights. The Bright-White colored Basking Bulb should be the correct wattage to keep all 3 temperature zones within his tank within the correct ranges, this is very important to him being able to properly digest his food. Never use that red light...

No heat source is needed at nighttime at all, as they are Desert Reptiles, and the desert is both Pitch-Black and very cool, even cold at night, and thus their bodies must be at a nighttime temperature that is considerably cooler than their daytime temperatures in order to rest and recover. AS LONG AS HIS TANK IS AT LEAST 65 DEGREES AT NIGHT HE NEEDS NO NIGHTTIME HEAT SOURCE, AND YOUR HOUSE WOULD HAVE TO BE AT ABOUT 60 DEGREES OR LOWER FOR THAT TO HAPPEN. So unless you freeze yourself at night, please do not use any type of nighttime heat source. He will sleep most comfortably at a nighttime temp between 65-70 degrees.

YOU MUST STOP FEEDING HIM ANY SUPERWORMS!!!!!! This is a big no-no, Dragons are not the same as other reptiles as far as their GI Tracts go, they cannot handle eating worms with hard shells, especially at 7-8 weeks old, they will either choke him or cause a bowel impaction/obstruction that could literally kill him. It's not advised to feed a Bearded Dragon ANY SIZE of Superworms until they are at least 12-14" long!!!! So please, no more Superworms!!!!

And no mealworms as a staple feeder either, they are low in protein, high in fat, and mostly all very hard, chitlin shell that again, your baby dragon cannot properly digest! They will impact him badly.

The adequate live staple feeder insects for a baby Dragon are Crickets, Dubia Roaches, BSFL/Phoenix Worms/NutriGrubs/Reptiworms/Calciworms (all the same thing, just different brand names), and Silkworms. The Crickets and the Roaches must always be smaller than the space between his eyes so that he doesn't choke and so he can properly digest them. If you choose to feed BSFL or Silkworms they are soft-bodied and they can handle the medium to large ones.

He needs Calcium 5 days a week and a Multivitamin 3 days a week.

And you must get either a Temperature Gun or a Digital Thermometer that has a Probe on a Wire, because without one you cannot measure his Basking Spot Surface Temperature (stick-on thermometers are only able to measure Air/Ambient Temps), and if his Basking Spot Surface Temperature is not between 105-110 degrees F he cannot properly digest his food. If the Basking Spot Surface Temp is too low he will not be able to digest any live insects, and if it's over 110 degrees it's potentially lethal.