Giving “Guy” a new home

[Dragon4DFam]

Hello! New owner here. This is Guy, an 11 month old dragon we adopted this past Saturday. He came from a loving home but was needing to be rehomed due to financial circumstances. Since this is our first bearded dragon I’ve been scouring the internet for all the information to keep him happy and healthy. We are updating his lighting today and pre-ordering a 120 gallon zen habitats enclosure. His 40 gallon tank is very minimal at the moment. He does has a proper basking stone, had a Little plastic hammock Ive since removed and replaced with a piece of drift wood and large rock. When his new cage arrives I will plan for extra decor and enrichment. I just wanted to introduce myself because I am sure I will have many question in the upcoming months.

The first couple days he was very active and social. His current UVB light is not up to recommended standards so I took him outside for some sunshine Sunday and Monday. Now, as of Tuesday he has been sleeping on and off under his basking stone. He will open his eyes and do a beard stretch and then doze back off again. Could the extra sunshine have triggered an aestivating behavior or something? I spoke with his previous owner and she said it was not abnormal behavior for him to be lazy a couple days and then spring back into his usual curious and cuddly self after he has had some alone time. I am trying to let him do his thing since the relocation is a big adjustment/ change for him. He ate a couple bites of kale the day after we got him and I coaxed him to eat some meal worms but he hasn’t shown much interest in eating anything since. I offer him an assortment of greens now daily. I’ve got some Dubai roaches, horn worms, and more meal worms on order along with a multivitamin to add to his current calcium supplement.

I guess my first question is: how long do I let him sulk under the basking stone before I need to worry about his water intake and lighting needs? He has also not had a bowel movement since I’ve had him. What I do not really understand is how the UVB lighting is stressed to be of critical importance every day for a 10 hour minimum but also if he hides for a few days, weeks, months in a cave it is normal and fine. If he is hiding, aestivating, and brooding, is the UVB not necessary during those times? Am I just keeping the UVB light on in case he decides he wants to come out?

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello! New owner here. This is Guy, an 11 month old dragon we adopted this past Saturday. He came from a loving home but was needing to be rehomed due to financial circumstances. Since this is our first bearded dragon I’ve been scouring the internet for all the information to keep him happy and healthy. We are updating his lighting today and pre-ordering a 120 gallon zen habitats enclosure. His 40 gallon tank is very minimal at the moment. He does has a proper basking stone, had a Little plastic hammock Ive since removed and replaced with a piece of drift wood and large rock. When his new cage arrives I will plan for extra decor and enrichment. I just wanted to introduce myself because I am sure I will have many question in the upcoming months.

The first couple days he was very active and social. His current UVB light is not up to recommended standards so I took him outside for some sunshine Sunday and Monday. Now, as of Tuesday he has been sleeping on and off under his basking stone. He will open his eyes and do a beard stretch and then doze back off again. Could the extra sunshine have triggered an aestivating behavior or something? I spoke with his previous owner and she said it was not abnormal behavior for him to be lazy a couple days and then spring back into his usual curious and cuddly self after he has had some alone time. I am trying to let him do his thing since the relocation is a big adjustment/ change for him. He ate a couple bites of kale the day after we got him and I coaxed him to eat some meal worms but he hasn’t shown much interest in eating anything since. I offer him an assortment of greens now daily. I’ve got some Dubai roaches, horn worms, and more meal worms on order along with a multivitamin to add to his current calcium supplement.

I guess my first question is: how long do I let him sulk under the basking stone before I need to worry about his water intake and lighting needs? He has also not had a bowel movement since I’ve had him. What I do not really understand is how the UVB lighting is stressed to be of critical importance every day for a 10 hour minimum but also if he hides for a few days, weeks, months in a cave it is normal and fine. If he is hiding, aestivating, and brooding, is the UVB not necessary during those times? Am I just keeping the UVB light on in case he decides he wants to come out?

Welcome to beardie world---- what are you using now for a UVB ? How are you getting surface basking temps? NO stickons they are ambient temp only -- you want two digital probe thermometers - one digital probe hygrometer -- if you want help w/ these things I can post links for 3 good UVB's - you will like the Zen I have two of them - the black matt they sell for the tanks is good --- hes going thru relocation stress give him time to adjust to his surroundings so when you move him again to the Zen he will go thru relocation stress again but you want the temps and UVB up to par that will help him adjust quicker and keep him eating

 

[Dragon4DFam]

He currently has a zoo med dual bulb fixture I believe. My husband ordered an Arcadia proT5 14 that should be here today. Right now he has a stick on (kind with moving needle) temp and humidity gauge in his tank. I do have a new infrared thermometer: etekcity laser grip 1260. Will that be helpful in checking his current temp conditions? I’ll take your temp and hygrometer recommendations if you have any please, and thanks!

 

[KarrieRee]

He currently has a zoo med dual bulb fixture I believe. My husband ordered an Arcadia proT5 14 that should be here today. Right now he has a stick on (kind with moving needle) temp and humidity gauge in his tank. I do have a new infrared thermometer: etekcity laser grip 1260. Will that be helpful in checking his current temp conditions? I’ll take your temp and hygrometer recommendations if you have any please, and thanks!

The 14% is going to be too strong for a 40 gallon- the uvb will need to go inside the 120 w/ a distance of 17-18 inches directly above the basking decor - you want 2 zoo med digital probe thermometers and exo terra makes a digital probe hygrometer -place on the center back wall of the tank-- the IR gun is good but does not read off certain materials - like hammocks

 

[Dragon4DFam]

Thank you! Yes, the Arcadia was purchased for the 120 gal zen. That info will help when we start mounting for optimal uvb exposure. We were originally going to buy a used one from marketplace but looks like the sale isn’t going to go through so we have to preorder a new one now with expected delivery end of August. I will pass the gauge recommendations on to my tech guy.

 

[Rocky2022]

Welcome to the family

 

[Chris.]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. Guy looks really handsome and healthy, congrats to your first dragon

For the water question. You can offer him some water with an eyedropper on his snout every other day or so but really he should be getting most of the water from his food. They don't really loose much of it so don't be surprised if he won't drink much at all.

They poop not that much once they are adults. My boy will poop every other week or so.

For the UVB now. To say they "NEED" UVB every day for at least 10h is absolutely wrong and does not make sense at all. Just think, even outside there will be multiple days in a row without much sun and as you discovered, they sometimes just hide and sleep for a couple of days. They will also go into brumation for around three months where they will burrow under ground and have no light exposure at all.

That being said, here is what they do absolutely NEED:
The chance to get UVB exposure so they can regulate by themselfes how much they actually want to take in. So in short you want to provide them the UVB and if they use it or not is up to them to decide.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask anything.

 

[xp29]

Hi there and welcome to the forum. Guy looks really handsome and healthy, congrats to your first dragon

For the water question. You can offer him some water with an eyedropper on his snout every other day or so but really he should be getting most of the water from his food. They don't really loose much of it so don't be surprised if he won't drink much at all.

They poop not that much once they are adults. My boy will poop every other week or so.

For the UVB now. To say they "NEED" UVB every day for at least 10h is absolutely wrong and does not make sense at all. Just think, even outside there will be multiple days in a row without much sun and as you discovered, they sometimes just hide and sleep for a couple of days. They will also go into brumation for around three months where they will burrow under ground and have no light exposure at all.

That being said, here is what they do absolutely NEED:
The chance to get UVB exposure so they can regulate by themselfes how much they actually want to take in. So in short you want to provide them the UVB and if they use it or not is up to them to decide.

Hope that helps, feel free to ask anything.

Everyone misses the point for uvb. (Not you obviously) Your absolutely right, they don't need 10 hours of exposure. The point of 10 hours is to try to mimic real world light cycles. Honestly the timers should not be set to 10 hours and forgotten. During colder times when there are less daylight hours they should be scaled back. During high summer when there are longer day light hours, they could be on as long as 12-14 hours. Light cycles coupled with temperatures dictate a lot of their behaviors, such as brumation, food intake, ect.
They actually only require uvb long enough to produce natural d3 for calcium absorption, after that basking temps may be more critical than uvb because they need to be up to temp to digest the food they eat anyways.