General questions from a new mom

[nini02]

Hello everyone,
i brought home my sons bearded dragon yesterday. he is approx. 12" in length and we have housed him in a 40 gal. breeder. I tried to do as much research as possible before buying him, but found a lot of conflicting information, on-line, from the breeder, and even in books. The breeder we got him from said to use crushed walnut shells as a substrate, and sold us an all-in-one compact UVB/heat bulb. We set it up in the corner of his tank and it lights the whole tank well. "Bandit" ate within hours (crickets). this morning he ate greens, green beans, and some mango, and then more greens this afternoon, but refused butternut squash. Upon wandering on this site, i realized he should be getting crickets daily (conflicting what breeder told us) along with veggies, fruit(?) and greens. He has yet to poo. He is on a 12 on/12 off lighting schedule (which we are slowly adjusting to our schedule). Am I doing everything right? the more i read, the more confused i get. HELP!! thank you!!!

 

[nini02]

Forgot to mention, we dont have a thermometer yet, but am planning on buying one tomorrow.

 

[tgolden]

Hey nini !!! welcome to site!!! I know it gets vary confusing at first but it's all good there tons of folks here that are willing to help. I'll help ya as much as i can and i'm sure some of the others will jump in to. A lot of folks use tile for the substrate due to ez clean up and the walnut can be eaten and cause poopoo problems also it holds moisture which can cause your humidity to go up in the tank. I would get rid of the " all in one" uvb bulb and get a tube tybe uvb and normal basking bulb. I use a 100 watt house hold bulb for my basking. Eating the veggies is a good thing and he should still be eating crix and/or feeders everyday to. dragons need 12 to 14 hours of light a day so you got that going good. Hope this helps a little......If you list your set up in more detail we can help ya there to

 

[Loganator]

If the "all-in-one" bulb is a mercury vapor bulb, you should be fine with it. What brand is it? Wattage?

Edit: Although you did call it a "...compact..." We are often leary of any 'compact' bulb. Let us know exactly which bulb it is and we'll let you know if it's a good one.

 

[lilgreeneyes]

Hi nini and welcome

A good uvb bulb recommended on this site is the Reptisun 10.0.
Not only to you need a thermometer but you also need something to measure humidity. As for thermometers and humidity measures only use digital ones. The stick on ones can be 10-20 degrees off. Just to give you an idea, I have 2 in my tank, one on cool side and one on hot side that has a probe and measures humidity. Temps on hot side should range from 100-105F. Temps on cool side low 80's F.
As another person said, tiles are a good substrate because they are easy to clean. Some other options that are cheaper are reptile carpet, paper towels and non adhesive shelf liner. I have used all 3 of these, and the best so far has been the shelf liner because the crickets have a harder time getting under that.
Here's a site that helps with nutrition www.beautifuldragons.com

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[nini02]

thanks everyone for your responses. As far as the bulb, its a Flukers SunSpot. Its a mercury vapor flood lamp. its 100 Watts. as far as thermometers, walmart didnt have any (i thought i remembered them having a bigger selection of pet supplies) so its a trip to the pet store tomorrow. also, apparently, he has mites (?!?!) so now we have to disinfect his cage, so we are gonna ditch the walnut shells, and probably go with the "carpet" that they sell in the pet stores.

 

[tgolden]

the thermometer i found at walmart was in the place with the cold and flu meds

 

[rdoyle]

I found mine in walmart. right next to the lights bulbs near the home and garden place.

 

[Shiva]

whats the brand of the thermometer? is it for humidity too? i need to find one and am hoping walmart does carry one as the pet stores ) are 1 hour drive away..(where i currently get crickets) and they charge quite a bit more for their product than i have seen on-line.
so I would love to find one at walmart that functions well

 

[Loganator]

Hi Nini

The Flukers SunSpot mercury vapor bulb is an okay bulb. I also use mercury vapor bulbs (mvb's). I have never tried the Flukers Sunspot, I've had the PowerSun, MegaRay & T-Rex ActivUV. But I've heard the SunSpot is a decent mvb. What size is your tank? The MVB's are not really recommended for tanks any smaller than 40 gallon. Be sure to measure and monitor your temps closely once you get a good thermometer or temp gun. A good thermometer to get is the Accurite witha wired probe so you can monitor 2 places at once. The probe should be positioned on the basking spot. Here's a link to the one I found at Walmart near the light bulbs in the Home section. http://images.bizrate.com/resize?sq=500&uid=1238552997
It measures humidity too. It was $12. You can also pick up infrared temp guns at auto supply stores for about $20.

That's good you are changing out the walnut shells. Reptile carpet will be much better. You will want to toss it in the washer (let air dry, no dryer) once in awhile as the liquid from pooing will absorb inot it and possibly harbor bacteria. Non-adhesive shelf liner is great too! It's inexpensive, a breeze to wipe clean and comes in a variety of patterns.
Check out: http://www.duckbrand.com/Products/shelf-liner/non-adhesive-liners/smooth-top-easy-liner.aspx
This is the type I use and I found it at Target for like $3. Many people also use tile. That's nice too, although when I tried tile in my 40 gallon breeder with the MVB, my temps were getting a little too high.

Good luck and let us know if you have any questions!

 

[rdoyle]

mine is a Acurite Digital Thermometer. I got it from walmart.

 

[Dracosmommy]

Ok I was at Walmart today. I live in Mississauga Ontario Canada, close to Toronto. No Acurite Digital Thermometer. Went to Canadian Tire here. No thermometer. I looked up on the Canadian Walmart Website. NO thermometer. I tried checking the US Walmart Website and can't find it. Does anyone on this board know where I can get it on line??? Any Canadians here that were able to purchase it and where???? I did get the Easy Liner smooth top though!!! :mrgreen: :headbang:

 

[jabronie]

what did the breeder tell you to feed/how often?

shame there are breeders out there giving bad advice like putting baby's/juvys on crushed walnut shells/loose substrates and not giving proper feeding advice

 

[nini02]

hi jabronie,
the breeder said to feed him crickets or goliath worms like 2-3 times a week and offer greens everyday. He said no vitamins or calcium powders were needed (still kinda trying to convince my hubby that he does need it, and a good thermometer). He also said nothing about veggies or fruit or anything like that. It took three days and a case of mites to make my hubby change his mind about the walnut shells. He had stopped in a repitle specialty store to get mite spray and the guy in there told him to not put him back onto walnut shells. Im still really nervous about screwing something up and hurting my little guy. hes not eating as good as he did when we first got him and the (original) guy said he was probably just full being that hes still very active and going poo. he gave me three goliath worms that my dragon ate like no tomorrow. so i guess hes ok. day by day.... :|

 

[Drache613]

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