Hello from florida :D (beardie help)

[Blaze]

Well i thought it would be the right thing to introduce myself.
i am the new owner of a bearded dragon. He was a craigslist rescue.
he is 6 months old, and only 8 inches long.

i have him housed in a 20 gallon long.
with a red heat bulb.
a repti-sun 10.0 uvb light.

and im constantly monitoring him.
hes a sandfire leatherback.
"i was told" but i doubt it.

hes been housed in a ten gallon for his entire life.
seems a little ridiculous.
i have a custom enclosure ready for him when he gets larger.
ive been keeping him at low 80s in the cool spot. and 104.6 at his basking.
any advice?

he goes through about 30 crickets a day.
but doesnt like his salad to much.
i prepare some romaine. kale, mustard greens, celery tops, and red cabbage.
and i sprinkled some calcium on it.

i will be posting pics soon.
i hope to hear from you all.
thanks in advance.

 

[Livey]

hello and welcome!
Canrt wait to see some pics!
Im glad you rescued this litte guy!

 

[aNewRising]

Food seems good, but 30 crickets a day, gets costly... I feed my baby about 8ish a day + carrots. When they get bigger, their meals should be more towards the leafy greens and veggies than the crickets, as so I've been told. The lights are fine, but the red/blue lamps tend to be "night time" lamps even though some people say night time lamps are useless. I would make sure its a 75 - 100wt light, 100 if it gets really cold in your house. Other than that its fine...

 

[catUK]

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of beardies!!

Food seems good, but 30 crickets a day, gets costly... I feed my baby about 8ish a day + carrots. When they get bigger, their meals should be more towards the leafy greens and veggies than the crickets, as so I've been told. The lights are fine, but the red/blue lamps tend to be "night time" lamps even though some people say night time lamps are useless. I would make sure its a 75 - 100wt light, 100 if it gets really cold in your house. Other than that its fine...

aNewRising, sorry to disagree but its vital that babies get between 30-100 crickets a day, fed 2-3 times a day-no matter how costly it is as they need the protein. without the proper amount of protein they will not grow properly and may get seriously ill. 8 crickets is no way near enough and they should only get carrots occasionally as they have little nutritional value and a mixed salad should be fed every day, even when babies. Crickets should be dusted 5x a week with calcium and 2 x a week with vitamins.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html This site is excellent for choices of veg to feed.

Blaze, don't worry about him not liking his salad much, mine didn't either but now she loves it

 

[Blaze]

Ok. Thanks for the reply. I'm starting a dubia roach colony so I don't spend as much. But for now I just go to my baitshop where they have a variety of insects for a cheaper price.

 

[NCSUCarrie]

Dubia's are great feeders and I bet your little rescue will be Excited to see them when they are ready Check out online prices for crickets and see if that will end up saving you money in the long run...You can also find good prices on other feeders online as well.
Keep offering the salad sometimes having some worms that sit relatively still in a salad can help entice interest, and they will mistakenly eat some as they go after the worms! Make sure to get the salad in first thing in the morning- they seem to be more hungry then and will often go eat salad if they can't get the crickets right off the bat.
Good luck with your new rescue and look forward to seeing his progress

 

[Blaze]

Thanks for the advice.ill be taking a few pictures of him once I get my camera. Is eight inches small for a 6 month old? I know he's growing because he shed yesterday.

 

[NCSUCarrie]

I think it's small compared to well taken care of babies at that age. But it's based on genetics and enviroment. I've seen babies that hatched out from the same clutch with the same light and food, and you can see several different sizes.
But I think with proper care he will probably grow a lot for you

 

[Blaze]

I'm hoping he does. Do you think he might be stunted? He's a real cutie and has alot of personality and is really active. Overall he seems pretty healthy.

 

[catUK]

i posted a reply but it disappeared :shock: :? . Don't worry about the size. I used to worry about my beardies size as she was on the small side, but healthy. she was the smallest in her hatch and didnt seem to be growing much, until lately. She was 10 inches in september and is now 14 inches (7 month old)- from 0ct 5th to nov 6th she grew 1 inch!

 

[Blaze]

Do you have any picures of your setup? I just want to know if mines setup right. I looked at the enclosures topic but I didnt see any juvenile tanks. Or any adult ones. Thanks for all the help I appreciate everyones input

 

[NCSUCarrie]

She may be stunted, but like CatUK said, don't stress about that part of things right now. She's not super tiny. She may be stunted, but as long as she's healthy, that's all that matters. There are lots a small adults that are quite healthy

 

[Blaze]

Ok. Thanks. But do you guys have a Picture of the enclosures you keep them in?

 

[catUK]

I just replied to a post about pics of enclosures so if you follow the link you can see my set up there and other people who may post theres

http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=137579