Hello all New and super excited but also nervous beardie owner :) Meet Mushu! :)

[JohnW61622]

Hello we recently got our bearded a week and half ago and absolutely love him/her! I never knew how sweet and spunky these little guys could be, it’s adorable! We started out with a 40 gallon tank knowing we will switch to at least at 120 in the future but wanted to get the hang of things before moving to such a large enclosure and so far I’m glad we did. To start we first tried using the Eco Earth mix and really liked the way it looked as well as smelled but read about them gettin impacted easily. We now have changed to paper towels (Viva they’re nice and soft lol) for his/her safety. As of now I have two Flukers basking bulbs one 75w the other 100w and one coil UVB light. I AM going today to buy a new UVB T8 fixture as I have read and been told that the coils do not provide enough UVB light especially through the screen. Another battle we have had is humidity. It ranges about 35-45 (95F-100F basking side temp) day and 55-65 (75-80F) at night. We keep the enclosure in my bedroom for supervision purposes (children and cats) so I don’t think that’s the issue. I’ve also seen where the analog meters are not very good and can be inaccurate so when I get the light today I will also be gettin a new meter. I remove water bowl at night. I have a fan at the top of the enclosure to pull air out from the cool side of tank and keep air flow moving, I’ve also added a rice bag as of this morning. Any other ideas to help keep humidity down? Other than being stubborn on eating his/her salads eating has been good as well as sometimes drinking from the water bowl but prefers to do so at bath time. For the salads we’re going to try some bee pollen, we recently added more color than just lots of greens and that has seem to help just not as much as I would like. Potties have been almost daily minus a hold during the day and went over night one time. However this morning’s poo was interesting, it almost seems as if he didn’t digest his butternut squash very well because it came out very much same in color. I read on here today that you should shave your veggies and not dice small like the pet store told us so we will definitely try to do that today and from now on! Is there anything else I could do to help that process. He/she always has a heat source day or night (at night there is a heat pad under tank on warm side he/she lays on at times. I’ll attach a picture in second comment to spare the ones just looking at the tank pics . Thank you all ahead of time for any help or advice you give. Any questions for me I’ll try to respond as fast as possible

 

[JohnW61622]

Pic of poo in question. I did examine and it was either squash or pepper and soft

 

[xp29]

Welcome to the forum, you won't find a better source of info. Feel free to ask about anything at all, there is no such thing as a dumb question (Except one not asked)
40 to 50 percent humidity is perfectly fine. Even short burst at 99% wouldn't cause immediate harm. As far the uvb, a t5 long tube is the best option. T8 are usable but the bulbs have about half the life expectancy and are not as strong as a t5. I personally recommend the Arcadia pro t5 12% desert. You'll see the zoomed(I've had a ton of trouble out of those) and the sunblasters recommended also. You need to get the uvb and basking spot on asap, once those are right everything else is easy. The basking for a baby needs to be 105 to 110 degrees.
Your setup looks very nice abd your beardie is a cutie btw

 

[KarrieRee]

Please get a T 5 - it will better suited for the tank you have and are getting-

 

[JohnW61622]

Got the T5 out of digi Thermo/humidity gauge so gunna have to just order it

 

[KarrieRee]

Got the T5 out of digi Thermo/humidity gauge so gunna have to just order it

So do you have the T 5 now? If so I can help you get it placed--- what kind of screen is on the tank ? fine mesh like a screen door or a wide holed type?

 

[JohnW61622]

So do you have the T 5 now? If so I can help you get it placed--- what kind of screen is on the tank ? fine mesh like a screen door or a wide holed type?

I do yes, I ’m going to place it at 6AM for his lights on, I currently have a wide hole mesh that opens half front, half back. The fixture is long enough to fit over the whole enclose with the half closed or open so either would do although I’m not sure how comfortable I am leaving it open

 

[KarrieRee]

I do yes, I ’m going to place it at 6AM for his lights on, I currently have a wide hole mesh that opens half front, half back. The fixture is long enough to fit over the whole enclose with the half closed or open so either would do although I’m not sure how comfortable I am leaving it open

He will be fine leaving it open - just make sure the basking decor is directly under the UVB 12-15 inches

 

[JohnW61622]

He will be fine leaving it open - just make sure the basking decor is directly under the UVB 12-15 inches

Sounds good! You can really tell the difference with these, really wish I had just got it from the start! I think he like it, much more active this morning even caught a side eye bc I was watching him eat his salad!!

 

[KarrieRee]

Sounds good! You can really tell the difference with these, really wish I had just got it from the start! I think he like it, much more active this morning even caught a side eye bc I was watching him eat his salad!!

He is still sporting the stress marks -- the good UVB will help w/ that

 

[JohnW61622]

He is still sporting the stress marks -- the good UVB will help w/ that

I hope it does! Also I put a rice sock in yesterday and notice he like to hang by it and lick the sock smh.. should I worry about the sock fuzz?

 

[KarrieRee]

I hope it does! Also I put a rice sock in yesterday and notice he like to hang by it and lick the sock smh.. should I worry about the sock fuzz?

No - they have eaten a lot worse- just watch so he's not constantly eating it

 

[JohnW61622]

No - they have eaten a lot worse- just watch so he's not constantly eating it

Lol ok thank you I know I’m probably stressing too much just like to be safe :/

 

[xp29]

It's better to worry to much than not enough.
Now that you lights are up to par, everything else will be easier

 

[JohnW61622]

It's better to worry to much than not enough.
Now that you lights are up to par, everything else will be easier

Yes with the added light my humidity dropped the extra 5-7 percent I wanted with a 5 degree temp increase as well which was both need! It was a relief for sure. He seems happy and spunky and is eating well so hopefully with a little time those stress marks will fade