Greetings from a newbie

[softcastle]

Hi all,

I recently was given a baby bearded dragon as a birthday gift. My boyfriend, bless his heart, wanted to surprise me with an early present as I've always wanted one, so he went to PetCo and picked up one of those terrible starter tanks and a baby beardie. Of course, I was totally elated, but also horrified by the inadequacies of the setup, so yesterday I ran around town after hours of research and made the necessary adjustments to Frank's living quarters.

He's about 6-7 inches long, very alert and active but friendly (no gaping or bites). Currently housed in a 20 gallon, but I have a lovely 120 gall mansion waiting for him when he's bigger (I used to maintain saltwater fish tanks). Currently he's on a 60 watt clear basking light with surface temps at 110, 107 ambient on the hot side, 84 on the cool, ReptiSun 10.0 UVB tube, and I'm waiting on a 60 watt CHE from Amazon to replace the terrible purple "night bulb" the kit came with, just in case temps drop below 65 at night.

We picked him up yesterday, and since then, he's pooped one nice, healthy poop, but hasn't been enthusiastic about eating. I tried to container feed him a couple of dusted crickets, but he didn't go for it (I think the handling was a bit scary and a lot at once), so I put two in his tank and left him at it. I could only find one an hour later, even after lifting up the reptile carpet and rocks. Same deal with the two wax worms I put with his collared greens to entice him--I found only one an hour later and the greens were picked at a bit (I know wax worms are only to be fed rarely). I want to give him his space to adjust, but I also know he needs a bath, and possibly some baby food if he keeps up the low appetite. What do you all suggest? I'm a classic over-thinker, so "chill out" is also a very reasonable answer :lol: In the meantime, I'm going to peruse this forum a bit more! Nice to meet you all. I've been reading your tips and it seems like you all are great resources for beardie newbies like myself. I've had anoles before, but that hardly compares!

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

I would have to say that Frankie is a very lucky little man!
The tank looks very nice indeed, he should be very happy. It may take him a week or two just to get all fully settled in & get used to being held, etc.
It may take awhile for him to eat many greens at his age, but keep offering them for him. A few waxies wont hurt him, to mix in with his greens from time to time.
The only thing I can see is that the type of hammock sometimes tends to be troublesome for some with getting their claws stuck in the holes. You can give it a try for him & if he has trouble, there are solid fabric ones you can buy instead.
I am glad you went out & got a new UVB light, too that will help out a lot for him.

You will have a lot of fun with him, I am sure he will be very sweet!

Trcie

 

[Gormagon]

Tracie is right, give him time to adjust to his surroundings (could be a while), right now he doesn't know where his world went and, is scared of everything around him right now. Hold off on the bath thing till he trusts you more, this will only intensify his fear and make it take longer.

 

[softcastle]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to thank you for the advice. I'm happy to report that, day by day, Frank is getting more and more comfortable eating! He ate 5 crickets in front of me today, which is huge, because he would get distracted seeing me and would be too afraid to eat at all initially. Also, he went through a shed of 2/3 of his body, so he didn't eat that day and was probably pretty stressed. I gave him one bath (just to help him shed--he was pretty chill with it, actually), and he's been pooping regularly every day, a moist brown one with a soft white tip. After reading a bit more, I got him a dimmer lamp and a 150 watt bulb, and that really helped to perfect the temperatures in the tank. Really glad I found you guys as a resource!

 

[Gormagon]

We are always happy to help our little beardie friends and, their slaves "I mean owners", lol!!