First time Owner seeking guidance!

[DemonicWolfie]

Hola - My name's Erin and I live in New Mexico, and I just got my first baby Bearded Dragon about 3 days ago.
I traded one of my Ball pythons for him on Friday, and so far he seems pretty active and healthy ( Watching him eat crix is like watching a game of PAC-MAN ). He's about 6 inches long.
However, This is what I'm keeping him in :
I'm currently keeping him in a 40 gallon aquarium, it's bow-fronted so I don't have a top. But as you can imagine the sides are pretty high so there's no chance of him getting out.
I have a 100 Watt Basking Bulb and two Sun-Glo 18 inch tubes in order to keep the temperatures high enough for him to digest his food ( 100 degrees )
I have three temperature gauges - one on the coolest side of the aquarium (stick on), one on the other side of the tank ( stick on ), and one in the middle ( round gauge with a needle.. thing. You know. )
The coolest end during the day is usually around 85 degrees..
He's got a medium sized rock under the basking bulb, a shallow water dish nearby, his small veggie and bearded-dragon dry food dishes, and a half-log hideout on the cooler end of the tank.
His substrate is ZooMed desert sand - I wanted to get the same type of sand that him and his siblings were on at the local pet store - and he apparently likes to dig in it.
I've read many Bearded Dragon sites and they say that sand is a NO-NO for 6 inch dragons. But I'm confused, how come Pete's Pets said he'd be fine 'cause he's used to being on sand?
Isn't sand natural for them?
I'm worried about Impaction, but I don't see him licking the sand and he's pooping fine.
Anybody got any advice for me?

 

[DemonicWolfie]

Bleh..
Nevermind.. I don't think I'm keeping him long, anyway.
I've only just calculated it out ( 'Cause I'm such an ***** )
And 50 crickets a day, 7 days a week... Is pretty darn expensive.
I don't think I can afford that... My Ball pythons were only 10 bucks a week..
That's how I got Diablo, the baby beardie..
I traded one of my pythons for him.
And now I'm thinking this isn't such a great idea. I had known that Bearded Dragons would cost abit more, considering how they eat every day.
But, Lord above - 1,248 bucks for the first year??!
I'll have to get a full time job just to keep up with the weekly expenses - and school's starting very soon so that's impossible.
Crud..
I tried to be responsible, more responsible than most 15 year olds, and not go out and get a new pet on impulse.
I read up on them before I decided to trade my female python..
I just hadn't found the right websites in order to figure out that Bearded Dragons are that expensive to feed and house ( Electricty bills, etc. )
..Sorry for being another dumba$$ teenager...
I'll see if I can go back there and trade for my Ball back.

 

[ReptileMom]

someone else may be able to answer this better for you, but i think their flooring in the wild is still totally different than the sand you buy in the store. i think it's more of a dust or something? anyway, i know it's different than the stuff you buy. as far as everything else goes, sounds like your off to a great start. you may not need the water dish. you will need to mist him several times a day, outside of his tank. he will get most of his water this way. you can also start bathing him in water up to his shoulders. what are you feeding him? are you using supplements?

 

[StephyJ_83]

You know, as beardies get older, they will eat more greens and less crickets, which will cut the costs. You can also order crickets off the internet for pretty cheap. You can also get Silkworms at decent prices, and those work well as a staple food (they are also really quiet, unlike crickets). For me, with my baby beardie (who is almost 6" long), I haven't paid nearly as much for food as I've paid for lighting and housing. If you've already got the set up, then you've got a lot of stuff done.

 

[DemonicWolfie]

..After what period of time will they slow down their eating?
And, yes, I've decided to keep little Diablo.
I figure that since I traded my python and got him on my own, that he is MY responsibility regardless. Therefore, taking him back would be the easy way out.
And no AKKS Kenpo chick would EVER take the easy way out.
..So, yes - now I am open for any and all advice.
Today I bought 50 small crickets, (and so far he ate all but about 10), dusted with calcium at the store... they use something like "Jurrasic Cal" or something. *shrugs*
I'm doing some yard work tomorrow to get some cash to buy the Rep-Cal and I'm looking for one of those cheap plastic cricket keepers ( the ones with the easyfeed tubes).
*smirks*
I've decided to ride this thang out! Yeehaw! :whip:

 

[Akeath]

A good thing to save some cash on crickets is to buy them in bulk. I buy them by the 500, but you can buy even more at a time. You might check around at the petstores, most of them are overpriced on feeders, or better yet order them online. Newspaper is a good cheap substrate too, as is nonadhesive, textured shelfliner.

 

[Chris]

even better, breed roaches,..!!

i havent spent money on bugs in 9 months!!

my snakes costing me way more than my dragons!!!

by a year old their diet sould be 85% greens and veges, with 50 crickets a day, or the equivalent.

heres a good list fro salads, its colour coded to help find staples,..!!

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

once hes 15 inches long you can start him on superworms which are pretty cheap and easy to look after.

warning on teh cricket keepers, small crickets will escape!
i discovered that when i went to feed my girls and only about 3 of the 150 crix i'd bought were either too big or too dumb to make it out,..!!

beardies are great fun! i can never wait to get home to mine after work,..!!! :lol: