cherallison
New member
Hello everyone! My name is Cher and I'm a Montessori teacher. I work with primary students, age 6 and under, but mostly with kindergarten. We are encouraged to care for a variety of animals in our rooms, preferably at least one animal from all vertebrate classes (mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and amphibians). Admittedly, I really struggle with this because we give a lot of attention to my pets at home, and I don't like the idea of caged animals hanging out alone for long periods of time. This rules out mammals and birds for me, and I already have an aquarium. After considering it for a long time, I decided on a bearded dragon. One of my friends has a beardie in her classroom and it seems to be really working out well. He seems happy, healthy, and the children really love him. Plus, it bothers me a little less knowing that they tend to be more solitary in the wild. I've done my research and I've planned my enclosure, but I'm still a little confused. Here is what I've got going on so far:
I picked up a second hand 40 gallon breeder tank with a screen. I plan to move my beardie into something larger eventually (i.e. something between 75-125 gallons), but I am waiting for a good deal on Craigslist.)
I plan to buy the following at Pet Mountain in the next couple of days:
24 inch Reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb ( I plan to get a fixture at Walmart)
100 watt CHE
Reptile cage carpet for 40 gallon breeder tank
2 extra deep dome fixtures for the CHE and the basking light
A basking light (I figured I'd get this locally; I understand a halogen or flood light is okay. Any recommendations on wattage for a 40 gallon?)
A gun-type thermometer
Herptivite with beta carotene
Ultrafine powder calcium (I'm confused about whether I need it with D3 or not; one source I read said that research shows that beardies absorb almost all of their calcium from their UVB lights, not from their calcium powder)
24 hour terrarium timer 8-plug (we live in Reno, NV, and my school can get cold at night in the winter, so I want to be sure my beardie is properly set up with a CHE that can be adjusted).
The tank came with a small water dish and a hiding log.
If anyone has any specific suggestions on which lamps to get, or anything I might be missing, please let me know.
From Big Apple:
I'm very attracted to the basking perches at Big Apple. They seem so nice and smooth, and they seem like they might be more comfortable than gnarled wood. I'm just not sure which size to get. The large one is 18"-23" L x 10"-14" W and they look like this: http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apples-Java-Wood-Single-Basking-Perch
Is that size okay for a typical young adult in a 40 gallon tank? I'm really attached to this branch for some reason, but it's going to take a while for it to get across the country, and it's the one thing that will hold me up from getting my beardie all set up. (The rest of the stuff only takes two days to arrive).
For now, I plan to feed crickets as the main protein source, but I've talked to some other teachers this week about creating a dubia roach colony that can supply other reptiles and arachnids in our school as well. It would be cool for our students to learn about the life cycle of insects, and each classroom with a reptile could be caretaker for a month and then pass it on. Plus, I don't think any of us want a big stinky cricket bin in our classrooms (and our alarm company doesn't like the chirping at night from the small cricket enclosures that some teachers already have).
Even so, I'm worried about leaving a beardie alone on the weekend. My friend does it, but I'd rather not drive to school on Saturdays; I don't live close. I know she doesn't do that, but based on things I've read here, it sounds like I should. Here are my questions:
1) Is it better for a classroom beardie to stay alone in the school over the weekend, with a safe, carefully planned enclosure, or is it better to transport him to my house and keep him in a different enclosure over the weekend? It seems as thought the constant stress of rehousing would be a problem, but I'd like your advice. I did a search on this and found a few responses, but not many.
Even though there are some really beautiful dragons online, I feel it would be most responsible for me to find an older animal. It will be easier (and cheaper) to feed her and I know an older animal will be more established and hardier. There isn't much on Craigslist, but a local pet store has recently acquired three adults (they say they are a bit older than a year). One is a female and she seems to be 12-15 inches long (I didn't think to measure her when I was there). I've got my eye on her; she seems just right for my classroom.
Thanks to anyone in advance who actually reads all of this and responds.
Any suggestions your may have would be extremely helpful.
Cher
I picked up a second hand 40 gallon breeder tank with a screen. I plan to move my beardie into something larger eventually (i.e. something between 75-125 gallons), but I am waiting for a good deal on Craigslist.)
I plan to buy the following at Pet Mountain in the next couple of days:
24 inch Reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb ( I plan to get a fixture at Walmart)
100 watt CHE
Reptile cage carpet for 40 gallon breeder tank
2 extra deep dome fixtures for the CHE and the basking light
A basking light (I figured I'd get this locally; I understand a halogen or flood light is okay. Any recommendations on wattage for a 40 gallon?)
A gun-type thermometer
Herptivite with beta carotene
Ultrafine powder calcium (I'm confused about whether I need it with D3 or not; one source I read said that research shows that beardies absorb almost all of their calcium from their UVB lights, not from their calcium powder)
24 hour terrarium timer 8-plug (we live in Reno, NV, and my school can get cold at night in the winter, so I want to be sure my beardie is properly set up with a CHE that can be adjusted).
The tank came with a small water dish and a hiding log.
If anyone has any specific suggestions on which lamps to get, or anything I might be missing, please let me know.
From Big Apple:
I'm very attracted to the basking perches at Big Apple. They seem so nice and smooth, and they seem like they might be more comfortable than gnarled wood. I'm just not sure which size to get. The large one is 18"-23" L x 10"-14" W and they look like this: http://www.bigappleherp.com/Big-Apples-Java-Wood-Single-Basking-Perch
Is that size okay for a typical young adult in a 40 gallon tank? I'm really attached to this branch for some reason, but it's going to take a while for it to get across the country, and it's the one thing that will hold me up from getting my beardie all set up. (The rest of the stuff only takes two days to arrive).
For now, I plan to feed crickets as the main protein source, but I've talked to some other teachers this week about creating a dubia roach colony that can supply other reptiles and arachnids in our school as well. It would be cool for our students to learn about the life cycle of insects, and each classroom with a reptile could be caretaker for a month and then pass it on. Plus, I don't think any of us want a big stinky cricket bin in our classrooms (and our alarm company doesn't like the chirping at night from the small cricket enclosures that some teachers already have).
Even so, I'm worried about leaving a beardie alone on the weekend. My friend does it, but I'd rather not drive to school on Saturdays; I don't live close. I know she doesn't do that, but based on things I've read here, it sounds like I should. Here are my questions:
1) Is it better for a classroom beardie to stay alone in the school over the weekend, with a safe, carefully planned enclosure, or is it better to transport him to my house and keep him in a different enclosure over the weekend? It seems as thought the constant stress of rehousing would be a problem, but I'd like your advice. I did a search on this and found a few responses, but not many.
Even though there are some really beautiful dragons online, I feel it would be most responsible for me to find an older animal. It will be easier (and cheaper) to feed her and I know an older animal will be more established and hardier. There isn't much on Craigslist, but a local pet store has recently acquired three adults (they say they are a bit older than a year). One is a female and she seems to be 12-15 inches long (I didn't think to measure her when I was there). I've got my eye on her; she seems just right for my classroom.
Thanks to anyone in advance who actually reads all of this and responds.
Any suggestions your may have would be extremely helpful. Cher
