Help my daughter is getting a Beardy on Saturday

[kplatvoet]

It's not as bad as it sounds - she been doing research on them for years - I have chameleons and a rep vet nearby - but I 'm trying to avoid some newbie mistakes- She's getting him off of Craig's list and I've seen pictures and he looks healthy ( I've also seen pictures of chameleon's on Craig's list - and then on the help site in Health Concerns- so I'm not as trusting as she is) She's getting the whole set up with him and we have both seen sand- which brings me to the first question- do we take it out right away or give him a day (or more) to settle before removal- (he's just a baby between 2 and 3 months old) -
My other pressing question is on how many times a day a 3 month old baby eats - and how much time do they need to bask and digest before lights out? We are trying to work around going to work and making sure he's fed at the proper times and has time to digest before bed time -She and I go to work early and usually feed the crickets and chameleons before I go - the intention was giving him a salad before I leave but leaving his lights off till later so that he could eat his crickets later in the day when she will be home to take them out - I also have phoenix worms and some other feeders (no roaches) and need to order some flies so could get him other things - my son leaves for work late so he could also feed him but I'm not to sure with trusting him to find all the crickets - last but not least - is there any problem with flies - I order them so they don't have chemicals and I dust them (for the chameleons) so they are pretty slow - I most likely would not give him more than one or two if he likes them and can catch them.

 

[Afterglow]

Hello

Because he's a younger dragon, you should probably take the sand out. They're not very good at hunting at that age, and will most likely miss a cricket and get a mouthful of sand Impaction is very serious and is overall just best avoided. Use maybe a newspaper or paper towel for now.

Each lizard is different, when Pixel was 4 months he ate 3 times a day, in 10 minute feeding sessions because he has a feed box. Make sure you dust them Veggies should only make up a 1/4 of their diet at that age. Try to avoid spinach and curly kale since they're calcium binders and get spring greens and things like watercress

Like I said, each beardie is different. Ideally you should be feeding them at least an hour after their lights are on, so it gives them chance to warm up, or they'll struggle to digest their food. It's the same at night. Feeding them and lights out a minimum of an hour later

Regarding the flies, Pixel bloody catches house flies and they do him no harm. They eat small insects but because I don't go out my way to buy them, maybe someone else can help you with that.

 

[kplatvoet]

Both my daughter and I agree that the sand is out - I'm just worried that the stress of moving to a new home even in his old home might be a problem- so i was thinking of waiting till he settles in for a couple of days to change anything -she was going to total spec from the care sheets as soon as he gets home. Thanks for the tip on the kale - I actually use the bearded dragon lists of good thing for salad for my gut load for the crickets for the chameleons but they do get kale - I'll tell her to leave it out of her mix- She's making the salad - but buying good stuff is more fun for a lizard than a bug in my opinion. My silkworm egg came today - and I have a ton of phoenix worms and a bunch of crickets - I have a temp gun that I found out here I was using wrong - I know we are forgetting something though- this is a great site - full of information

 

[Afterglow]

Make sure you post pictures
Did you get any reptile vivaria cleaner? It's probably a good idea since you never know how often the previous owner cleaned. I -personally- wouldn't leave the sand in; I'd thoroughly clean it.

When we re-homed a beardie, he was licking all over the place, I'm sure you know that's how they explore, so I'm uncertain whether the stress of a move will make her lick her surroundings any more than usual. I really wouldn't risk the sand. A few days stress is better than an impacted lizard.

But other than that, everything sounds great. I'd been looking at Phoenix worms since your post (they're called Calci-worms here in the UK) So we will be getting him a bunch of 100, and letting half of them turn to flies, since I know he likes chasing months and other insects, might be a little fun for him!

I also have a question, I dunno if you'll be able to answer it yet, but did the previous owner give her greens? Because I'm having such a hard time getting Pixel to eat anything that's not moving. I've had to resort to throwing peas around his viv for him to even notice them. It's usually really hard when they've been brought up without as they don't recognise it as food

 

[kplatvoet]

So we have him home - a day early - He had no UVB light - no salad and crickets loose in his tank -
I cleaned out the tank and washed everything- I have him with a 5.0 UBV that is under six months old- it has about 4 months on them - We may go out tonight and get a 10.0 unless someone can tell me he'd be ok with that until next week - I waited to order my arcadias for my chams so my daughter could save on the shipping I think they come from California so that would be next Monday at the earliest unless I go for fed ex- in which case I might as well just spend it on the light- The kid who had him seemed to be trying to do a good job but he never came to this site thats for sure- the pet store got him to buy pellets and calci sand- but it looks like nobody told him the importance of lighting - I don't see the signs of mbd where I would see it in a chameleon and he has a what looks like a may be a piece of shead poking out of his nose - and his skin is more wrinkled than i would expect - is that dehydration - should my daughter give him a bath or wait till tomorrow - he seems happy - he was basking and he sat on her on the way home and it didn't seem to bother him.

 

[Afterglow]

I heard beardies can go 2 weeks -maximum- without light, although obviously not recommended.. so you should be okay for a few days.

Glad you cleaned everything

Shedding is a miserable time for some reptiles, and having a bath to ease the shed and re-hydrate is best done as soon as possible.. especially since you don't know how long he's been without. Make it a bit easier for him; he can always go back to basking

I'd love to see some pictures of the little guy

 

[kplatvoet]

I don't have a clue yet how to paste a picture
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10202488870650043&set=a.4508464716705.2187881.1443180411&type=1&theater

 

[Afterglow]

Aww, that's a shame I can't view it because your pictures are private
Most people here use Photobucket for storing pictures =]

How is he doing?

 

[kplatvoet]

He seems to be doing great - he's a pig - but doesn't like salads too much - I was sort of worried as he came without calcium and vitamins - my daughter called me upstairs for his first poop and it looked fine - white where it should be- he had a bath but she's been letting him get settled in - she will probably have a fecal done this week - next week at the latest - we got him the next size up on crickets as the ones I had seemed to be small for him - according to the guy she got him from he's supposed to be red - I don't see it yet- but he's quite pretty - we still have to get emergency supplies in case of power outages and such but our heat stays on without electric and we only lost it for a couple of hours with Sandy so I'm hoping that can wait - I want to check out and see what kind of things are suggested - I'm going to have to figure out the whole picture thing -