First time Beardie owner - Need advice!

[Critter]

I have had my first ever Beardie for 2 days now and as a first time owner I need a lot of advice. First of all I have noticed that my Beardie has dark colours on him which I have read can be because of stress. It's only been two days so I assumed he would have some relocation stress but I don't know the best way to deal with it. Some people say it's best to leave him in his tank during this time, others say I should handle him heaps to get him used to me, some people think I should let him start roaming the house and getting used to it. All this conflicting advice is confusing me, I just want my Beardie to be happy. I also don't know how much I should be feeding him exactly, or if I'm not feeding him enough. I feed him small crickets (he is still only a young Beardie, only a couple of months I think) and so far I feed him about 5-6 crickets, once in the morning and once again at night. Should I be giving him more? I have also given him a little bit of apple and some broccoli and he ate small amounts of both of them, but not much.

 

[Livey]

I have had my first ever Beardie for 2 days now and as a first time owner I need a lot of advice. First of all I have noticed that my Beardie has dark colours on him which I have read can be because of stress. It's only been two days so I assumed he would have some relocation stress but I don't know the best way to deal with it. Some people say it's best to leave him in his tank during this time, others say I should handle him heaps to get him used to me, some people think I should let him start roaming the house and getting used to it. All this conflicting advice is confusing me, I just want my Beardie to be happy. I also don't know how much I should be feeding him exactly, or if I'm not feeding him enough. I feed him small crickets (he is still only a young Beardie, only a couple of months I think) and so far I feed him about 5-6 crickets, once in the morning and once again at night. Should I be giving him more? I have also given him a little bit of apple and some broccoli and he ate small amounts of both of them, but not much.

Yes the little marks on the bellies are stress marks, I would try and handle him, But still giving him time to get used to his viv.
About the roaming, alot of people on here choose to let them roam around on particular room, But making sure there in no place for them to get stuck or lost.
You could try sectioning off a bit of a room, like a playpen?
YOu should be feeding as much as he can eat in 10 minutes. babies usually eat anything from 30-70 a day, you should offer twice a day...
he might not eat much for the few days due to relocation stress...

Olivia x

 

[Critter]

Sorry, but what does 'viv' mean? Again very new to this. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Livey]

Vivarium = Tank x

 

[Critter]

Ah thanks, that clears up a lot.

 

[michelleloreen]

I'm also a first time beardie owner and I love it.
I got Doobie about a week ago.
What I usually do daily is first thing in the morning, chop up some greens, I recommend buying the calcium spray, when beardies are babies, they need A LOT of calcium.
I make sure there are crickets in the morning also, but don't feed them until the tank heats up, because the heating helps the beardies digest. c:
Sand isn't really, good for the beardie because they can't digest sand, but they also have calcium sand, I see in every pet store I go in.
When I get out of school, I usually buy 10-15 crickets. There are usually about 3-5 crickets left over in the tank.
Try giving your beardie a bath, see if he likes the water, mine doesn't. He always gets flustered.
I handle my beardie every day, unless he flares his beard at me, which means "leave me alone for a bit" But if your beardie doesn't, he or she might want to be handled c:

This is Doobie c: About 3 months old.

 

[Critter]

Thanks for the advice again.

My Beardie is currently running around the tank like crazy and glass dancing. Should I be worried about this? He does it about once a day, but only for 10 minutes or so.

Also as for bathing the Beardie when I got him I didn't know this is something we had to do. I have heard people talking about it on here though. So, How do I do it? Why do I have to do it? And, when should I start it?

 

[BeardieGrandma]

The babies can get dehydrated pretty easily - you can help this by misting them several times a day and/or giving them a bath every other day or so.

some people put them in the sink, with enough water to go up to their shoulders. Water should be between 85-95 degrees, like the temperature you'd bathe a baby in. some people give them a bath in a plastic tub. some people give them a bath in the bathtub (which is what we do). i fill the tub a few inches so I have the 'beach' at the far end. I put a small washcloth on the bottom of the tub to give Joga something to hold onto (they get nervous if they don't have good footing). then I just let her soak for 5-10 minutes, splashing water on her back. Everytime she gets in the bath she'll poop. If you baby does that, keep a folded paper towel handy and put her on it on the 'beach' and have her do her business. If she poops in the water, you got to drain the tub real well, and start over. Joga hates getting a bath but we do it anyway for her own good. Its particularly helpful when she's shedding to loosen up the skin that is coming off.

If you go the bathtub route, you need to clean it afterwards since people bathe in it as well. Use an antibacterial spray like lysol or 409 and spray the tub down and rinse it well.

 

[techdave]

Sand isn't really, good for the beardie because they can't digest sand, but they also have calcium sand, I see in every pet store I go in.

Definitly no kind of loose substrate. Any kind of sand or crushed walnut has the possibility of getting your beardie impacted, which could result in the death of your beardie of not treated right away. Young beardies are very curious and may want to taste it to see what it is. Alternatives are slate tile, paper towels, reptile carpet or newspaper.

 

[Critter]

The babies can get dehydrated pretty easily - you can help this by misting them several times a day and/or giving them a bath every other day or so.

some people put them in the sink, with enough water to go up to their shoulders. Water should be between 85-95 degrees, like the temperature you'd bathe a baby in. some people give them a bath in a plastic tub. some people give them a bath in the bathtub (which is what we do). i fill the tub a few inches so I have the 'beach' at the far end. I put a small washcloth on the bottom of the tub to give Joga something to hold onto (they get nervous if they don't have good footing). then I just let her soak for 5-10 minutes, splashing water on her back. Everytime she gets in the bath she'll poop. If you baby does that, keep a folded paper towel handy and put her on it on the 'beach' and have her do her business. If she poops in the water, you got to drain the tub real well, and start over. Joga hates getting a bath but we do it anyway for her own good. Its particularly helpful when she's shedding to loosen up the skin that is coming off.

If you go the bathtub route, you need to clean it afterwards since people bathe in it as well. Use an antibacterial spray like lysol or 409 and spray the tub down and rinse it well.

When did this whole bathing thing start? I for one know how dry the Australian deserts where Beardies are native to can be, and they can often go up to years at a time without any rain at all. So living in their natural environment they wouldn't really get a chance to have a bath ever. I live at the bottom of the Australian mainland myself and even here we were in drought for about 16 years, up north in the deserts it's about 50 times worse.

 

[michelleloreen]

Sand isn't really, good for the beardie because they can't digest sand, but they also have calcium sand, I see in every pet store I go in.

Definitly no kind of loose substrate. Any kind of sand or crushed walnut has the possibility of getting your beardie impacted, which could result in the death of your beardie of not treated right away. Young beardies are very curious and may want to taste it to see what it is. Alternatives are slate tile, paper towels, reptile carpet or newspaper.

Yeah, you would think sand would be alright because they are desert lizards, and they are used to the sand, but I guess not? Now i'm afraid to buy the sand for Doobies cage. /:

 

[techdave]

Beardies originate in the Australian desert, which I think has very little to no sand.

 

[michelleloreen]

Beardies originate in the Australian desert, which I think has very little to no sand.

Well, thanks for the fact.

 

[bpebler219]

I just got my dragon on the 28th of November. She had her stress marks for probably a week or so. I still gave her all the crickets she could eat within 10 minutes and caught all the extras and offered her greens every day. She actually ate more greens when I first got her than she does now and you don't want to leave any extra crickets in the tank with them because they can bite your dragon. After about a week I took her out more and let her explore my room while I watched her to make sure she couldn't get in trouble anywhere. Now she eats wayyyyyyy more crickets than when she first got here and she's grown a lot. She also glass dances and I'm not sure why but she will only do it for a minute or so then move on to something else.

 

[Critter]

Beardies originate in the Australian desert, which I think has very little to no sand.

Well, thanks for the fact.

Actually the Australian deserts are made up of sand just like any other deserts. Trust me, I have visited them. However the sand can have an impact on Beardies kept in captivity, who knows, maybe wild Beardies are just used to the sand and know how to deal with it. Or maybe they just live on higher ground and stay away from the sand, but it is there.

This is an Australian desert.