karmakollector
Member
Hello everyone, my name is Matt and I never thought I would be on a forum called BeardedDragon.org (I do find lizards fascinating, but was always partial to turtles and tortoises and, as a first grade teacher, I was considering one as a class pet until I read up and found that they can be pretty high-maintenance and somewhat prone to sickness.)
Anyway, after my wife sent me an endearing video of an excited beardie scrambling across the floor to eat blueberries (maybe you've seen it?), I started becoming curious... and I was sold when I found out that beardies are one of the pets supported by a great organization called https://www.petsintheclassroom.org/ which I used to get major discounts/grants for mine.
Anyway, I have it set up in a 20 gal starter tank in my classroom, and have tentatively named it Ash (partly due to its beautiful coloration, although it will get a little darker after shedding... but also because it is gender-neutral and I have not yet been able to determine the sex of it due to young age, and it doesn't hurt that the name is easy and phonetic, easy for the kids to say and to spell when I have them write about him/her.)
I do have some questions, not sure if this post is the best place to introduce them, but here goes:
1) Where can I find a habitat larger than 40 gallon? (for if/when it outgrows this one; I can get a 40 gal at the local Petco, but that seems about the largest they carry, and just wondering if I might need larger)
2) I have seen/read a lot of differing thoughts on flooring/substrate. I would like something a little more enjoyable than paper towels / newspaper (it also seems like those could slide around on the glass, and maybe get shredded by claws)... right now I have reptile carpet that came with the starter kit, but I'm not going to like it for very long... crickets can get underneath, and I've heard it is somewhat smelly / difficult to clean.
The tank they were in at Petco used sand, which looked easy enough to clean and the beardies seemed to like it well enough, but I have read enough stories about impaction to sufficiently scare me away from any sand-like substrate. So... tile? If anybody uses tile, let me know how you do it (ie. do you secure it to the bottom in any way, or let it lie loose? Is there a certain kind that works best?)
3) How much food (I have crickets, mealworms, collard greens, and come commercial pellet foods that came with the kit) should I be feeding a beardie that is about 4 months old and 10" total length, and at what frequency/intervals?
Thanks!
Anyway, after my wife sent me an endearing video of an excited beardie scrambling across the floor to eat blueberries (maybe you've seen it?), I started becoming curious... and I was sold when I found out that beardies are one of the pets supported by a great organization called https://www.petsintheclassroom.org/ which I used to get major discounts/grants for mine.
Anyway, I have it set up in a 20 gal starter tank in my classroom, and have tentatively named it Ash (partly due to its beautiful coloration, although it will get a little darker after shedding... but also because it is gender-neutral and I have not yet been able to determine the sex of it due to young age, and it doesn't hurt that the name is easy and phonetic, easy for the kids to say and to spell when I have them write about him/her.)
I do have some questions, not sure if this post is the best place to introduce them, but here goes:
1) Where can I find a habitat larger than 40 gallon? (for if/when it outgrows this one; I can get a 40 gal at the local Petco, but that seems about the largest they carry, and just wondering if I might need larger)
2) I have seen/read a lot of differing thoughts on flooring/substrate. I would like something a little more enjoyable than paper towels / newspaper (it also seems like those could slide around on the glass, and maybe get shredded by claws)... right now I have reptile carpet that came with the starter kit, but I'm not going to like it for very long... crickets can get underneath, and I've heard it is somewhat smelly / difficult to clean.
The tank they were in at Petco used sand, which looked easy enough to clean and the beardies seemed to like it well enough, but I have read enough stories about impaction to sufficiently scare me away from any sand-like substrate. So... tile? If anybody uses tile, let me know how you do it (ie. do you secure it to the bottom in any way, or let it lie loose? Is there a certain kind that works best?)
3) How much food (I have crickets, mealworms, collard greens, and come commercial pellet foods that came with the kit) should I be feeding a beardie that is about 4 months old and 10" total length, and at what frequency/intervals?
Thanks!