Help! My Bearded Dragon Questions

[HuberNS92]

First of all i'm very glad to find a helpfulk website like this! I have a few questions in general about my dragon.

I'm a college student and I got him as a pet for my dorm. I would guess he is about 7-8 months old now. I have a few concerns/questions about him. With my limited budget and time I had difficult taking care of him at school. From what i've researched he didn't eat nearly as many crickets as he should of! Also I fed him lettuce for vegetable intake till recently. Also from my research, I see that he is not nearly the size he should be! He is clearly under a foot right now. My guess is 8-9 inches from head to tail. So...
Is this a health concern?
Could my feeding have hindered his growth, even minimally? I didn't think it could, since size seems mainly genetic (obviously a person doesnt only grow to 4 feet if they don't eat well).
And with my newfound nutritional information how should I feed him now and in the future? Should I feed him differently to compensate for the past?

Is there anything I should look for with his previous nutrition?

Thankfully besides the sides I havent noticed any health issues. However, he seems to lack a killer instinct i've seen others have. When I put crickets in his tank, he doesn't sprint after them or anything. He mostly sits and waits for each to pass his way and then eats. May be making a big deal over nothing but thought I would ask if this is a problem?

I was careful to feed him small crickets because I read this. Can suffer paralysis from eating to large crickets or to many? I wondered if this was a myth.

Last, any tips on how to encourage him to eat his vegetables? Sometimes I feel like he knows his crickets will come eventually so he neglects eating them.

Thanks to all who read and answer. I really appreciate it. More soon to probably come.

 

[Fuzzyviper]

What is his setup like: lights, temperature, substrate, etc? He's still young so he will probably still grow some once you feed him differently. They can have stunted growth if they get the wrong nutrition or lighting while growing but you can make it up to him by taking care of him better from now on. People don't quite grow only 4 feet when not fed properly but they can grow shorter than they would have normally and may have weak bones or other problems from not getting ideal nutrition. Your dragon might never be a giant but with proper nutrition starting now, he can still grow since he is young.

When you say he isn't going after crickets, is he usually active outside of feeding time or is he usually lethargic? Once you post his setup, we'll be able to tell if he's this way from lighting, temps, or maybe he's just a lazy bum (mine doesn't always go after his roaches right away). It is true that he can become paralyzed from eating insects too large for him since they can get an impaction (unable to move the exoskeleton of the insect through their intestines/poop it out) and if that puts pressure on the spine, they can lose use of their back legs. You want to feed him crickets the width between his eyes and since he's very small still, small crickets should be fine. He's less than a year old so you should feed him at least two times a day, as many crickets as he can eat in 15 minutes. You should use a powdered calcium supplement to put on the crickets (I put my bugs in a plastic container with a lid, put some powder in, and shake it) about 3-5x a week. As for the veggies, http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html is the best list of what foods should be fed. Collard greens or dandelion greens are good for the young ones since they have lots of calcium in them. At his age, he probably won't be eating a ton of veggies since he's still young so if he only nibbles at it, don't worry too much.

I know how it can be with pets as a college student. I bought one of my two tree frogs and my snake while in school and sometimes I'd have trouble getting out for crickets or mice since I didn't have a car of my own. I'd suggest ordering insects online since they're cheaper and some of them are quite easy to breed for an unlimited food supply. I know that other people on the forums keep worms to feed their dragons since they're very easy to breed without much effort and since you're in a dorm, those would be a better choice than dubias (roaches). The feeder forum has good advice for this if you're interested.

 

[HuberNS92]

What is his setup like: lights, temperature, substrate, etc? He's still young so he will probably still grow some once you feed him differently. They can have stunted growth if they get the wrong nutrition or lighting while growing but you can make it up to him by taking care of him better from now on. People don't quite grow only 4 feet when not fed properly but they can grow shorter than they would have normally and may have weak bones or other problems from not getting ideal nutrition. Your dragon might never be a giant but with proper nutrition starting now, he can still grow since he is young.

When you say he isn't going after crickets, is he usually active outside of feeding time or is he usually lethargic? Once you post his setup, we'll be able to tell if he's this way from lighting, temps, or maybe he's just a lazy bum (mine doesn't always go after his roaches right away). It is true that he can become paralyzed from eating insects too large for him since they can get an impaction (unable to move the exoskeleton of the insect through their intestines/poop it out) and if that puts pressure on the spine, they can lose use of their back legs. You want to feed him crickets the width between his eyes and since he's very small still, small crickets should be fine. He's less than a year old so you should feed him at least two times a day, as many crickets as he can eat in 15 minutes. You should use a powdered calcium supplement to put on the crickets (I put my bugs in a plastic container with a lid, put some powder in, and shake it) about 3-5x a week. As for the veggies, http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html is the best list of what foods should be fed. Collard greens or dandelion greens are good for the young ones since they have lots of calcium in them. At his age, he probably won't be eating a ton of veggies since he's still young so if he only nibbles at it, don't worry too much.

I know how it can be with pets as a college student. I bought one of my two tree frogs and my snake while in school and sometimes I'd have trouble getting out for crickets or mice since I didn't have a car of my own. I'd suggest ordering insects online since they're cheaper and some of them are quite easy to breed for an unlimited food supply. I know that other people on the forums keep worms to feed their dragons since they're very easy to breed without much effort and since you're in a dorm, those would be a better choice than dubias (roaches). The feeder forum has good advice for this if you're interested.

Thanks for such a detailed response!

I figured it could have a small impact but I was hoping since it was a smaller scale than humans it might be very minimal. However he is already looking healthier! I got him when he was first born and I think he is a strong one with how he coped as a college pet. I'm impressed.

I have a basic starter kit so I assume it's okay lightwise. I was told I didn't need a night light when it burned out so I didn't purchase one. I also read they can sleep better in complete darkness. So I have one day lamp placed over his tree (the basking area and where he sleeps) and a UVB light over a plant on the other side of the tank. When he isn't basking he usually chills on the side of the tree. Maybe he is just lazy I don't know bastard I don't know. I've heard of possible impaction so I bathe him once a week. I've fed his large crickets recently and he seems to be fine with them. Is that okay? I've been feeding him crickets three times a day but i'll cut back to two (maybe he will eat his green more). That is good news about the vegetables though, i'm glad it's not a necessity for now. 3-5s a week for calcium poweder!? I have been coating his crickets once a week (I read it in another forum). Should I lace each one of his meals for the day or just one?

Oh great idea! I wasn't sure if you could necessarily breed insects. Can I completely replace his crickets with worms??? And what kind of worms? That would be awesome if I could to save money. If I can't with worms is there another insect that would be a better replacement? And how would I go about breeding worms? I'll look it up online as well, but any tips from an experienced owner would be much appreciated.

Again thank you very much for the timely response.

 

[Fuzzyviper]

They've been known to bounce back from far worse situations so your little guy should do just fine.

Yeah, they don't really need a night light since they sleep fine in temps going down to 65-75 at night. If it ever does get any colder, you can get a ceramic heat emitter to heat the tank. The night bulbs do keep them awake, especially the red ones. Unlike most reptiles, bearded dragons can see red. My dragon sleeps fine as long as his cage and the surrounding area is dark. He sleeps through computer screen glare and even desk lamps (his tank is on the other side of the room).

What is lining the bottom of his cage? Anything loose like sand, wood chips, or crushed walnut shells can cause impaction if he eats them by accident so it's better to keep him on paper towels, reptile carpet, or tile. As long as the crickets aren't bigger than the space between his eyes and he isn't on a loose bedding, he shouldn't have any risk of impaction. Weekly baths is a good thing anyway though! They don't drink standing water so bathing helps replenish their fluids since they absorb fluids through their vent (aka lizard butt) and will sometimes even drink from the bath a little. It also helps them shed easier and can soothe the skin when they're shedding. A lot of beardies will even poop in the bath water, which is easier to clean up than them pooping in their cage.

You can cut down on the calcium once he's older (1 year old or so) since they don't need as much but young ones do well with the extra calcium to help their bones grow. You only have to dust during one of the daily feedings since that is enough for them. And yeah, he won't eat much of his veggies but always leave a little bit in there in case he decides to give them a nibble.

I haven't really worked with worms but I know there are a few kinds that people feed their beardies here. There are silkworms (nutritious but hard to keep), hornworms (these get giant if you don't feed them off fast), butterworms (there's a little debate about whether they are a good staple or should be a treat), reptiworms (They're called phoenix worms from some companies. They're fly larva so breeding them would be difficult), superworms (they have a little bit of a hard shell so they are not good for babies since they can cause impaction), and waxworms. Mealworms have very hard shells that dragons can't digest so don't feed them these or he's likely to get an impaction. The "feeder" forum on here has people more knowledgeable about worms than I am so you can post there and ask which worm is the easiest to breed.

You can always raise crickets but I've found it frustrating to start and crickets (as you probably know) smell like a rotten butt. I've recently bought some dubia roaches to start a colony and my dragon loves them. They have a tiny bit of a smell but it isn't nearly as wretched as cricket smell and they are much easier to breed since you just get them to the right temperature and humidity and they do it themselves. They are kind of gross looking and I was a bit worried about your dorm finding out you have a colony of roaches so I don't know if it would work. They don't make noise and can't climb glass or plastic so they won't escape unless the container is knocked over. They are also more nutritious than crickets since they have a better shell to protein ratio (they have a softer shell than crickets and more meat). Unfortunately, they do cost quite a bit to get the starter insects but once they start breeding, you'll have more than you need. I bought mine from someone on the forums for about $27 for 220 mixed sizes and a couple adult females. I actually have too many medium sized ones (and large ones but I'm hoping those start popping out babies) so I've started feeding them to my tree frogs. Oh, probably not a problem but if you live in Florida, you can't get dubias shipped to you since they are illegal to keep there.

 

[HuberNS92]

They've been known to bounce back from far worse situations so your little guy should do just fine.

Yeah, they don't really need a night light since they sleep fine in temps going down to 65-75 at night. If it ever does get any colder, you can get a ceramic heat emitter to heat the tank. The night bulbs do keep them awake, especially the red ones. Unlike most reptiles, bearded dragons can see red. My dragon sleeps fine as long as his cage and the surrounding area is dark. He sleeps through computer screen glare and even desk lamps (his tank is on the other side of the room).

What is lining the bottom of his cage? Anything loose like sand, wood chips, or crushed walnut shells can cause impaction if he eats them by accident so it's better to keep him on paper towels, reptile carpet, or tile. As long as the crickets aren't bigger than the space between his eyes and he isn't on a loose bedding, he shouldn't have any risk of impaction. Weekly baths is a good thing anyway though! They don't drink standing water so bathing helps replenish their fluids since they absorb fluids through their vent (aka lizard butt) and will sometimes even drink from the bath a little. It also helps them shed easier and can soothe the skin when they're shedding. A lot of beardies will even poop in the bath water, which is easier to clean up than them pooping in their cage.

You can cut down on the calcium once he's older (1 year old or so) since they don't need as much but young ones do well with the extra calcium to help their bones grow. You only have to dust during one of the daily feedings since that is enough for them. And yeah, he won't eat much of his veggies but always leave a little bit in there in case he decides to give them a nibble.

I haven't really worked with worms but I know there are a few kinds that people feed their beardies here. There are silkworms (nutritious but hard to keep), hornworms (these get giant if you don't feed them off fast), butterworms (there's a little debate about whether they are a good staple or should be a treat), reptiworms (They're called phoenix worms from some companies. They're fly larva so breeding them would be difficult), superworms (they have a little bit of a hard shell so they are not good for babies since they can cause impaction), and waxworms. Mealworms have very hard shells that dragons can't digest so don't feed them these or he's likely to get an impaction. The "feeder" forum on here has people more knowledgeable about worms than I am so you can post there and ask which worm is the easiest to breed.

You can always raise crickets but I've found it frustrating to start and crickets (as you probably know) smell like a rotten butt. I've recently bought some dubia roaches to start a colony and my dragon loves them. They have a tiny bit of a smell but it isn't nearly as wretched as cricket smell and they are much easier to breed since you just get them to the right temperature and humidity and they do it themselves. They are kind of gross looking and I was a bit worried about your dorm finding out you have a colony of roaches so I don't know if it would work. They don't make noise and can't climb glass or plastic so they won't escape unless the container is knocked over. They are also more nutritious than crickets since they have a better shell to protein ratio (they have a softer shell than crickets and more meat). Unfortunately, they do cost quite a bit to get the starter insects but once they start breeding, you'll have more than you need. I bought mine from someone on the forums for about $27 for 220 mixed sizes and a couple adult females. I actually have too many medium sized ones (and large ones but I'm hoping those start popping out babies) so I've started feeding them to my tree frogs. Oh, probably not a problem but if you live in Florida, you can't get dubias shipped to you since they are illegal to keep there.

Yeah little guy is a fighter. He already looks better with daily crickets. Colors more vibrant and a chubby stomach. Also seems less irritatble (he occasinally hissed at me when I reached in his tank).

Good news about the lights (save some money). I will just keep a day and UVB light. He is a pretty heavy sleep but whenever I had people over in the night he seemed to wake up. Any movement seems to peak his attention, lighting is fine for his sleep though.

The bottom is fine. Not sure what is exactly...but it is a solid mat of some material. No loose substrate. Came with the starter kit. Okay I will continue feeding him large crickets since there seems to be no problem. I'll continue with the baths. He doesn't necessarily like them (tries to run up the side of the container frantically), however I have heard they are good for skin and digestion. Also, more time he is around me and realizing I won't hurt him. He can be little agressive towards people sometimes. Hmm never had him take a dump in the bath. I have him in room temperature water and add a little hot water to it every few minutes. Then I pour the water over him (not the hot the water in the container already).

Okay for now I will give him calcium three times a week.

I looked into raising crickets good news it seems so simple! Bad news my roomates won't be happy with excessive chirping. How long to they chirp for during mating? Because really I can just feed them to him right after they lay eggs. Didn't know all that about worms. I did hear though that worms were more of a treat for the lizard not a staple insect. That expensive for roaches! I live in Maryland so shouldn't be a problem. The question is do the roaches make noise? If not that would be a good choice. Also are they easy to breed? And thats great that they're better for them than crickets! Sounds like the better choice than pissing off my roomates from smell and noise. A lot of RAs in my building are in my fraternity so they are very leniant with the dragon to the point where they hold it. So a colony of roaches shouldn't be a huge deal. As long as nothing bad happens, and if they can't get a way thats great i'll make sure to keep them somewhere safe where they couldn't accientally be knocked over.

Also could you give me a brief timeline of food for my beardie for the future?...with how he ate before. I fed him maybe 15 crickets a day and a lot of lettuce. Again he is approximately 9-10 inches (I think he may of already grown a bit!) and about 7-8 months old.

Also how do you breed your roaches? I have seen different pages but none specifiy how to or how they breed? Odd if you could run me through it that would be great.
Also is http://roachesrus.com/ a safe, credible website? Have you every purchased from it?

 

[Fuzzyviper]

The mat is probably reptile carpet, which is fine. It's a good wash and wear substrate to use (I had a baby dragon at work grab a mouthful of it somehow while eating a cricket and start eating the string today! Our carpet can get pretty worn though since we use it a long time.) My baby doesn't love his bath time either. He'll let you know he wants out by flailing against the side. I use lukewarm water and give him a little wash cloth "island" to hang out on. It seems to calm him down a little.

Is he hissing or showing his beard to you that seems aggressive? You can try hand feeding him the crickets to gain his trust. I would pinch one of the cricket legs between two fingers and hold it a little below his face level, about an inch or two away from him. As long as it wiggles, he should be interested.

Crickets are fairly easy to breed once you get the first batch of pinheads (baby crickets) but getting there can be a struggle. They require separate nesting soil that needs to be sprayed daily and it can become quite a pain. The adult males are always going to chirp until they die unless you pull their wings off so there isn't much you can do about noise if you raise the crickets. I had roommates that complained and caused me to de-wing a bunch I had once. It's gross and unpleasant to do but they do stop making noise at least.

The roaches are easy to breed once you get the temperature and humidity right. They don't make noise other than hearing them walk around (you have to be really near the container and have disturbed them in some way). This is probably the best guide to doing it out there: http://www.theroachguy.com/caresheet.htm I have a large plastic bin with a lid that I drilled holes in that I keep them in. They need to be at a high temperature of 85-95 degrees during the day to have babies so you can buy one of those "under the tank" reptile heaters that stick on and put it on the side. You should mist the cage about once a day to keep the humidity up. I put empty toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, or any cardboard egg cartons I have in there for them to climb on. I feed mine cat food and dry oats with leftover veggies sometimes (you can also feed them cereal instead of the oats). Offer veggies about once a week and only leave them in about a day since they can mold and kill the roaches. With these conditions, they just breed on their own so there isn't any separate rearing containers or breeding cups like with crickets.

I got my roaches from this guy: [ Invalid URL Removed / p= t=148370 f=2 ] and they got here in a couple days. The shipping is already added in and I got about 220 roaches. I went with the mixed ones so the larger roaches would reach adulthood and I'd have tons of breeders. For feeders, you'll want to use the 1/4-1/2 inch ones since the larger ones are a little too big and my little guy, maybe an inch or two smaller than yours, grabbed a big one I had accidentally thrown in and he had quite a time eating it (He had a roach head stuck to his face. It was actually pretty funny.). The one thing I will say is they are pretty gross to look at when you first get them but I've only had mine a couple weeks and I'm already grabbing them in my hand. I don't know if anyone else has used that site for their dubias but you can find them on the forums here, Craigslist, Ebay, and tons of other places because once your colony gets going, you'll have more than you can feed off. I'd probably get at least 100 roaches + a mating pair to start with since it's easy to go through that many roaches in a couple weeks with a hungry baby.

 

[HuberNS92]

The mat is probably reptile carpet, which is fine. It's a good wash and wear substrate to use (I had a baby dragon at work grab a mouthful of it somehow while eating a cricket and start eating the string today! Our carpet can get pretty worn though since we use it a long time.) My baby doesn't love his bath time either. He'll let you know he wants out by flailing against the side. I use lukewarm water and give him a little wash cloth "island" to hang out on. It seems to calm him down a little.

Is he hissing or showing his beard to you that seems aggressive? You can try hand feeding him the crickets to gain his trust. I would pinch one of the cricket legs between two fingers and hold it a little below his face level, about an inch or two away from him. As long as it wiggles, he should be interested.

Crickets are fairly easy to breed once you get the first batch of pinheads (baby crickets) but getting there can be a struggle. They require separate nesting soil that needs to be sprayed daily and it can become quite a pain. The adult males are always going to chirp until they die unless you pull their wings off so there isn't much you can do about noise if you raise the crickets. I had roommates that complained and caused me to de-wing a bunch I had once. It's gross and unpleasant to do but they do stop making noise at least.

The roaches are easy to breed once you get the temperature and humidity right. They don't make noise other than hearing them walk around (you have to be really near the container and have disturbed them in some way). This is probably the best guide to doing it out there: http://www.theroachguy.com/caresheet.htm I have a large plastic bin with a lid that I drilled holes in that I keep them in. They need to be at a high temperature of 85-95 degrees during the day to have babies so you can buy one of those "under the tank" reptile heaters that stick on and put it on the side. You should mist the cage about once a day to keep the humidity up. I put empty toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, or any cardboard egg cartons I have in there for them to climb on. I feed mine cat food and dry oats with leftover veggies sometimes (you can also feed them cereal instead of the oats). Offer veggies about once a week and only leave them in about a day since they can mold and kill the roaches. With these conditions, they just breed on their own so there isn't any separate rearing containers or breeding cups like with crickets.

I got my roaches from this guy: [ Invalid URL Removed / p= t=148370 f=2 ] and they got here in a couple days. The shipping is already added in and I got about 220 roaches. I went with the mixed ones so the larger roaches would reach adulthood and I'd have tons of breeders. For feeders, you'll want to use the 1/4-1/2 inch ones since the larger ones are a little too big and my little guy, maybe an inch or two smaller than yours, grabbed a big one I had accidentally thrown in and he had quite a time eating it (He had a roach head stuck to his face. It was actually pretty funny.). The one thing I will say is they are pretty gross to look at when you first get them but I've only had mine a couple weeks and I'm already grabbing them in my hand. I don't know if anyone else has used that site for their dubias but you can find them on the forums here, Craigslist, Ebay, and tons of other places because once your colony gets going, you'll have more than you can feed off. I'd probably get at least 100 roaches + a mating pair to start with since it's easy to go through that many roaches in a couple weeks with a hungry baby.

Yeah he's not as friendly as he could be, from what i've heard about other bearded dragons. I like the idea about the wash cloth in the bath he probably would be a lot calmer.

He never does much with his beard but he does open his mouth and make a quiet hissing noise. I'm not a huge fan of picking up crickets, at least yet. I will hand-feed him more vegetables though.

Yeah it sounds like to much of a hassle to breed crickets. If there loud and smell bad i'd rather not irritate my roomates, especially if theres a great alternative like the roaches. Great, especially since they are easier to breed. I will probably get the 50 for $15 since they are cheaper. I figure i'll buy crickets till my colony grows larger.

Also, I know that crickets will eat their eggs!? Will roaches do that or can I just leave them in the tank and they will hatch under the same conditions? Oh, i'm about to leave for a week over the 4th of July. Can I leave the roaches over the week unattended with some food? Or would you recommend I wait till I return to get them?

Also 85-95 during the day? It would be okay if I kept them in my garage with the temp dropping to around 70 at night?

 

[bandit27]

Hi

my male dragon doesn't chase his food either, he sits and waits for it to come to him, if he misses it he'll wait for the next one :roll: He now has superworms, but he'll stare at them for about 5 minutes before he eats them :shock:

 

[Fuzzyviper]

Yeah he's not as friendly as he could be, from what i've heard about other bearded dragons. I like the idea about the wash cloth in the bath he probably would be a lot calmer.

He never does much with his beard but he does open his mouth and make a quiet hissing noise. I'm not a huge fan of picking up crickets, at least yet. I will hand-feed him more vegetables though.

Yeah it sounds like to much of a hassle to breed crickets. If there loud and smell bad i'd rather not irritate my roomates, especially if theres a great alternative like the roaches. Great, especially since they are easier to breed. I will probably get the 50 for $15 since they are cheaper. I figure i'll buy crickets till my colony grows larger.

Also, I know that crickets will eat their eggs!? Will roaches do that or can I just leave them in the tank and they will hatch under the same conditions? Oh, i'm about to leave for a week over the 4th of July. Can I leave the roaches over the week unattended with some food? Or would you recommend I wait till I return to get them?

Also 85-95 during the day? It would be okay if I kept them in my garage with the temp dropping to around 70 at night?

The roaches won't eat their babies as far as I know. You should be able to leave them as long as they have enough food and water so maybe put a little extra in there for them. You can either use water crystals, which you can buy from pet stores or I use two very small Dixie cups with cotton balls that I soak with water. They can't have their temperature drop below 68 so 70 might inhibit their breeding if you keep them in the garage during the night. I keep my container next to my fridge (the outside gets quite warm) and my dryer in my basement. It's more humid down there than my upstairs so they seem to like it. If you're worried that they're going to be too cold, you can try using heat tape or a reptile heat pad on one side. If it's warm enough during the day, you could put it on a timer to go on a night.

 

[HuberNS92]

Yeah he's not as friendly as he could be, from what i've heard about other bearded dragons. I like the idea about the wash cloth in the bath he probably would be a lot calmer.

He never does much with his beard but he does open his mouth and make a quiet hissing noise. I'm not a huge fan of picking up crickets, at least yet. I will hand-feed him more vegetables though.

Yeah it sounds like to much of a hassle to breed crickets. If there loud and smell bad i'd rather not irritate my roomates, especially if theres a great alternative like the roaches. Great, especially since they are easier to breed. I will probably get the 50 for $15 since they are cheaper. I figure i'll buy crickets till my colony grows larger.

Also, I know that crickets will eat their eggs!? Will roaches do that or can I just leave them in the tank and they will hatch under the same conditions? Oh, i'm about to leave for a week over the 4th of July. Can I leave the roaches over the week unattended with some food? Or would you recommend I wait till I return to get them?

Also 85-95 during the day? It would be okay if I kept them in my garage with the temp dropping to around 70 at night?

The roaches won't eat their babies as far as I know. You should be able to leave them as long as they have enough food and water so maybe put a little extra in there for them. You can either use water crystals, which you can buy from pet stores or I use two very small Dixie cups with cotton balls that I soak with water. They can't have their temperature drop below 68 so 70 might inhibit their breeding if you keep them in the garage during the night. I keep my container next to my fridge (the outside gets quite warm) and my dryer in my basement. It's more humid down there than my upstairs so they seem to like it. If you're worried that they're going to be too cold, you can try using heat tape or a reptile heat pad on one side. If it's warm enough during the day, you could put it on a timer to go on a night.

Okay i'll get a pad for the garage. Thanks for the tip.

One last thing! Could you please tell me a future feeding schedule for my lizard? I want to make sure he get the best nutrition he can with how he ate before. That would be great.

 

[Fuzzyviper]

Like, how much and how often? I think the general consensus is to feed as many feeders as he'll eat in 15 minutes 2-3 times a day until he's a year old then you do live feeders every other day once he's 1 year +. Some do feeders daily but some beardies can get fat from this and like humans, excess weight isn't good on their joints. Always offer fresh salad during the day but you don't have to give them an enormous amount when they're young since they'll mostly eat the insects. I give mine about 4-5 large pinches of chopped dandelion and cabbage (I chop up all his greens once a week and keep a container in the fridge) daily with a little bit of finely chopped carrots and maybe a few tiny bits of fruit. You can up the size of the salad as he gets bigger/older.

I wouldn't offer fruit every day since it is high in sugar and they can develop cavities from too much. Don't give them any citrus fruits (lemons, limes, oranges, etc) and if you give strawberries, make sure to remove the seeds since they are toxic. You can also give them a small bit of egg for a treat but rarely since it is very fatty. Scrambled or hard boiled is fine but make sure not to use any cooking oils/sprays/butter when you make the scrambled eggs.

If you go with the dubias, the dubias have about twice the protein of crickets so he will probably eat less dubias than crickets.

 

[HuberNS92]

Like, how much and how often? I think the general consensus is to feed as many feeders as he'll eat in 15 minutes 2-3 times a day until he's a year old then you do live feeders every other day once he's 1 year +. Some do feeders daily but some beardies can get fat from this and like humans, excess weight isn't good on their joints. Always offer fresh salad during the day but you don't have to give them an enormous amount when they're young since they'll mostly eat the insects. I give mine about 4-5 large pinches of chopped dandelion and cabbage (I chop up all his greens once a week and keep a container in the fridge) daily with a little bit of finely chopped carrots and maybe a few tiny bits of fruit. You can up the size of the salad as he gets bigger/older.

I wouldn't offer fruit every day since it is high in sugar and they can develop cavities from too much. Don't give them any citrus fruits (lemons, limes, oranges, etc) and if you give strawberries, make sure to remove the seeds since they are toxic. You can also give them a small bit of egg for a treat but rarely since it is very fatty. Scrambled or hard boiled is fine but make sure not to use any cooking oils/sprays/butter when you make the scrambled eggs.

If you go with the dubias, the dubias have about twice the protein of crickets so he will probably eat less dubias than crickets.

Great, great. Im about to order the roaches. To give them water can I dampen a papertowel and stick it in the tank? The crickets seem to like that. And so I don't have to do anything at all to have the roaches breed? They just do it naturally at the right temperature? And last how long should it take for them to breed and hatch new roaches?

 

[Fuzzyviper]

Make sure to put the paper towel in some kind of container so that it doesn't touch the food or the cardboard (egg cartons, etc) in the container or it could mold and kill the roaches. I use the cotton balls with some water so they have some standing water but won't drown (they drown like crickets, it's a dumb bug thing :roll: ). I think it takes about 1-2 months for a colony that has adults to start going and yes, once the temperature and humidity are right, they do their own thing and will breed on their own. What size roaches are you getting? They do mature fairly fast but if you are getting young ones, I would not feed from the colony until they are mature and start producing young, which can take about 3-4 months total. I've only been feeding from mine since more than half of the roaches I ordered are adults/almost adults. (I actually saw two newly molted males today and I don't have any reptiles big enough to handle eating one. You really only need one male per colony.) You can continue feeding crickets while your roaches get started and once they start popping out babies, switch to the roaches.

 

[HuberNS92]

Make sure to put the paper towel in some kind of container so that it doesn't touch the food or the cardboard (egg cartons, etc) in the container or it could mold and kill the roaches. I use the cotton balls with some water so they have some standing water but won't drown (they drown like crickets, it's a dumb bug thing :roll: ). I think it takes about 1-2 months for a colony that has adults to start going and yes, once the temperature and humidity are right, they do their own thing and will breed on their own. What size roaches are you getting? They do mature fairly fast but if you are getting young ones, I would not feed from the colony until they are mature and start producing young, which can take about 3-4 months total. I've only been feeding from mine since more than half of the roaches I ordered are adults/almost adults. (I actually saw two newly molted males today and I don't have any reptiles big enough to handle eating one. You really only need one male per colony.) You can continue feeding crickets while your roaches get started and once they start popping out babies, switch to the roaches.

Fuzzyviper you're awesome. Thanks for answering this and my sand question. Just the sand looks so nice!!! It' to bad, where would I get the tile? Answer me this though, how can you say that when they live in the desert?

 

[Fuzzyviper]

Aw, thank you! And yeah, the sand does look nice. There are some nice sandy colored tiles out there but I went with slate when I couldn't get the size I wanted in the sandy color. I bought mine at Lowe's but any home improvement store should have it. Make sure to measure your tank from the inside since the inside measurement is slightly smaller than the size they're sold as (36x18 = 35.5x17.5 on the inside for me). Any tile that is slightly textured or stone is a good choice so they get a grip on it. I got slate since it has lots of different colors and looks really snazzy.

Some beardies do live on sandy beaches but the outback, where the central bearded dragon (what most pet beardies are) lives, is more of a scrubland than a true desert. The ground is usually a hard-packed red soil because it is so dry. There are little scrubby bushes and trees so it's sort of like...if you've seen the savanna in African but with bare soil instead of grass. Any loose soil is very, very fine.

Some owners use sifted play sand (they sift the larger pieces out) with their adult beardies but it can be a pain since you'll have to replace the sand pretty often. Adult beardies are less likely than the babies to lick the substrate (beardies lick to explore their environment). Adults also like to dig so they're going to get sand in their veggie dish and they need to be fed in a separate container. I've seen some owners do half tile and half sand or tile with a dig box so they get a place to dig.