General question

[Justinbarich]

I bought my first bearded dragon from a petsmart on August 10 and I have no idea how old it is. It's just under 8 inches. Can anyone give me a estimate on how old my bearded dragon may be

 

[sweetiepie9]

Welcome to our site! I wouldn't think more than about 1 1/2 mo. Baby sized! How's your dragon doing?

 

[Justinbarich]

Hello sweetpie9. Do u really think that my bearded dragon could b that young? And it's doing okay. I have a cave or hide that it like to bask on but most of the time it just hides in it. It only really leaves it's hide to eat then it will bask for about an hour then go back inside the cave. I don't know if it's scared or just shy.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Well, at this point relocation stress would be finished. What type of UVB (sunlight) light are you using? And what are the temps on the basking spot. If the temps are too high, they'll hide. Where are you located? Let's figure out why he/she is going into the hide as that's not normal for a baby.
Get back to me, k?

 

[Justinbarich]

For my basking spot in using a 100w zoomed repti basking spot lamp. And I also use a repti sun 10.0 uvb/uva bulb. The basking spot stays just around 100 sometimes it gets to 104. I'm located in Staten Island NY. I also noticed that my bearded dragon has started shedding.

 

[sweetiepie9]

Your basking spot needs to be hotter and needs to stay at the same temp all day. 105F - 108F for babies. Your little one might be 2 mo old but I don't think much older and it's great that he's shedding, as he should be! The Reptisun is a good light, just make sure it's replaced every 6 mo at the latest, as the light degrades over time.

Are you dusting his bugs with calcium and also with vitamin/min? The calcium should be done for 5 feedings and the vit/min for 2 feedings per week.

Baths are also important, so a bath every 2nd day for babies is recommended as they can dehydrate very quickly. 20 min warm bath every 2nd day. When I had babies, I gave them baths every morning, as I found it helped their shedding which was often.

Sounds like you're doing well with your little one!

 

[Justinbarich]

I feed my feeder crickets salad covered in calcium supplement and I also dust the feeder crickets in calcium. I feed my beardie crickets 2 times a day. Each time I feed it anywhere from 10-20 crickets. I also keep salad in the tank all day. Though he only eats it if I hand feed it to him. And I do give my beardie a bath every other day.

 

[sweetiepie9]

So you should be feeding your baby 3x a day, all he can eat in 15 min. Dust only one feeding a day, 5x a week with calcium and one feeding 2x a week with vitamin/mineral powder. It's important you don't dust too often as that's too much calcium. The crickets shouldn't be longer than the space between your baby's eyes, so at that length, probably small crickets. That's important, even if you feed more, that they be the proper size for proper digestion. Otherwise everything sounds great!

 

[diamc]

Hi, I just saw this thread and thought I would check in to see how your beardie is doing. Is he still hiding?

What size tank is he in & what is the wattage of your basking bulb? Is it a bright white heat bulb?
Are you using either a temperature gun or digital thermometer with a long wire & probe end to check the temps? If using a round gauge (dial) or digital strip, those can be off 20 degrees or so, I just wanted you to be aware of that.

Is the Rept-Sun bulb a strip fluoresent tube or a coil/compact bulb?