Hello Dante!

[saiyan25]

Hi,
I've been wanting a bearded dragon and doing research about them for couple of months now, and finally got one about 6 days ago. He's name is Dante (I'll figure out the true gender later). I got him at a locally owned pet store. He's about 6.5" long, about 6-8 weeks old. He does have 1-2 nips in his hind leg, but no signs of infection from them. He was very skittish and ran away from me at first, but he's a lot calmer now. I believe I have everything set up correctly (I am able to pick out wrong set ups in the standard questionnaire in this forum). He's eating greens and about 20 crickets a day, and I hope he picks up the pace soon (it's his first week, after all). I just ordered small dubia roaches online, and I want to feed him that instead of crickets from now on. I hate having to chase around crickets :evil:

A question to dear experts:
When did you guys first take a juvie to a vet? I want to wait 1-2 weeks, since he's going through relocation stress and everything. Should I just do a fecal exam and wait until he gets bigger? I'm afraid of him getting hurt during a check up since he's so fragile now.

 

[zandi202]

He's a pretty one. Beautiful, soft colors.

 

[jacody]

I've. taken my beardies to the vet soon after getting them as young as yours.. the actual trip is going to be stressful anyway so no need to wait.. I've always dropped off a fecal beforehand and go from there.. no parasites/no visit unless you suspect any problems. As for injuring your beardie the vets know all the tricks to handle them and during transport they usually are enclosed in something keeping them warm and will settle down fine. They're tougher than they look..

 

[daner923]

You should wait at least a month after getting a beardie before taking them to the vet or even getting a fecal done. Relocation stress tends to spike the natural parasite counts, and you don't want to medicate him if it is just temporary. A healthy beardie will get those parasite levels down to normal (very low) levels after a few weeks, so you should really wait 4-6 weeks for them to return to their normal healthy equilibrium.