I need help from anyone that has any ideas. My 4 year old daughter has been wanting a Bearded Dragon for months, so I started doing some research and thought for x-mas I would get her one. Well my mother brought her one today and I have nothing for it. I have a friend who said that she would give me a 10 gallon tank this week, but as far as everything else I need help on the cheapest fastest way to set things up for it so nothing happens to it. This is akso our first Bearded dragon so all the advice I can get would be a big help.
HELP
- Thread starter kylaswish
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jscott
Gray-bearded Member
well first ill say welcome 
.
about the beardie, hmmm. its not usually recomended to get the dragon befor the setup.
a 10 gallon is too small to keep the hot side hot and the cool side cool. you should start with a 40gallon breeder. you need to get a heat lamp and bulb, preferably one with "UVA".
he needs a UV-Bbulb too. if possible order online from this site, its the cheapest place i know of to get a good UV-B bulb:
http://www.petmountain.com/product/fluorescent/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html
dont use anything that is a compact or spiral bulb. it causes more damage than good. only use linear fluorescent tubes. ReptiGlo 10.0 is a very bad idea because it hasnt been test properly.
if i had to choose which bulb to use id go like this:
ZooMed reptisun 10.0 tube
ZooMed reptisun 5.0 tube
exoterra 8.0 tube (not very powerfull)
dont use any othe kind or you might run into problems.
mount the heat light NEXT TO the UV-B tube. make sure the heat lamp is mounted on one end of the tank... make sure to keep the hot spot no hotter than 110F. the cool side shouldnt be any hotter than 80F.
get a proper thermometer. dont get one of those round, stick-on thermometers. the kinds to get are the digital electric probe thermometer or the temperature gun.
dont use sand as a bedding. use something solid; paper towell, outdoor carpet or rough-textured tile(my fav). sand or other partical substrates(wood chips, alfalfa pellets, walnut shells) are all bad ideas; they are breeding grounds for bacteria and can possibly be ingested by your dragon.
no water dishes in the cage. give him a bath in luke warm water at least twice a week. no soap, no scrubbing, just soaking in luke warm water. he can also get moisture from veggies. dont use just any kind of veggies, only use the "safe" kind from THIS site:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
when feeding insects, do not use mealworms. they have little nutrition and HIGH phosphorus(thats bad). use crickets or phoenix worms. crickets must be dusted with calcium because they are high in phosphorus too. use Rep-Cal brand calcium. get the PINK LABEL kind with NO PHOSPHORUS but WITH D3.
use RepCal brand multi vitamins once a week. do the same think, dust on the crickets.
leave the lights on for 12-14 hours a day. they come from Austalia where the days are long and hot during the summer. during the winter they go into something similar to hibernation. hopefully your dragon stays active rather than brumating.
if you follow all of these steps he should stay healthy. just try to get the right stuff from the beggining; you havent gotten anything yet so so you have the perfect opportunity to do things right from the start, thats more than most of us had. good luck with everything, please keep us updated and let us know if theres any problems :wink: .
*EDIT* i just saw your pics, what a cutie. i just wanted to let you know that cage is MUCH too small to keep the hot side hot enough and the cool side cool enough. youll have to try and get a bigger tank soon. seriously, at least 3 feet long or else your going to have temp probs.
what kind of light is that? it looks kind of purplish, is it a UV light?
just try to follow that advice and you should be ok :wink: .
. about the beardie, hmmm. its not usually recomended to get the dragon befor the setup.
a 10 gallon is too small to keep the hot side hot and the cool side cool. you should start with a 40gallon breeder. you need to get a heat lamp and bulb, preferably one with "UVA".
he needs a UV-Bbulb too. if possible order online from this site, its the cheapest place i know of to get a good UV-B bulb:
http://www.petmountain.com/product/fluorescent/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html
dont use anything that is a compact or spiral bulb. it causes more damage than good. only use linear fluorescent tubes. ReptiGlo 10.0 is a very bad idea because it hasnt been test properly.
if i had to choose which bulb to use id go like this:
ZooMed reptisun 10.0 tube
ZooMed reptisun 5.0 tube
exoterra 8.0 tube (not very powerfull)
dont use any othe kind or you might run into problems.
mount the heat light NEXT TO the UV-B tube. make sure the heat lamp is mounted on one end of the tank... make sure to keep the hot spot no hotter than 110F. the cool side shouldnt be any hotter than 80F.
get a proper thermometer. dont get one of those round, stick-on thermometers. the kinds to get are the digital electric probe thermometer or the temperature gun.
dont use sand as a bedding. use something solid; paper towell, outdoor carpet or rough-textured tile(my fav). sand or other partical substrates(wood chips, alfalfa pellets, walnut shells) are all bad ideas; they are breeding grounds for bacteria and can possibly be ingested by your dragon.
no water dishes in the cage. give him a bath in luke warm water at least twice a week. no soap, no scrubbing, just soaking in luke warm water. he can also get moisture from veggies. dont use just any kind of veggies, only use the "safe" kind from THIS site:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html
when feeding insects, do not use mealworms. they have little nutrition and HIGH phosphorus(thats bad). use crickets or phoenix worms. crickets must be dusted with calcium because they are high in phosphorus too. use Rep-Cal brand calcium. get the PINK LABEL kind with NO PHOSPHORUS but WITH D3.
use RepCal brand multi vitamins once a week. do the same think, dust on the crickets.
leave the lights on for 12-14 hours a day. they come from Austalia where the days are long and hot during the summer. during the winter they go into something similar to hibernation. hopefully your dragon stays active rather than brumating.
if you follow all of these steps he should stay healthy. just try to get the right stuff from the beggining; you havent gotten anything yet so so you have the perfect opportunity to do things right from the start, thats more than most of us had. good luck with everything, please keep us updated and let us know if theres any problems :wink: .
*EDIT* i just saw your pics, what a cutie. i just wanted to let you know that cage is MUCH too small to keep the hot side hot enough and the cool side cool enough. youll have to try and get a bigger tank soon. seriously, at least 3 feet long or else your going to have temp probs.
what kind of light is that? it looks kind of purplish, is it a UV light?
just try to follow that advice and you should be ok :wink: .
jscott
Gray-bearded Member
one more thing: 4 years old is pretty young for a pet bearded dragon, they are kind of fragile... please take care not to let her handle him without CLOSE supervision. maybe having him in her room is not such a good idea, she might want to "play" with him and beardies dont need that. also, all the hot lights he needs probably shouldnt be in a young childs room anyhow. just teach her to observe him without picking him up. later, she can hold him under carefull supervision; they can bolt so fast you wouldnt believe... a young child could squash him by accident just by trying to catch him off the floor .
.
dolphinsilversea01
Juvie Member
Well, welcome! You definately came to the right place for the best advice.
I understand that you have him in that little tank for the time being, not having anything else. But, you will have to eventually get something bigger. I would go ahead and do at least the 40g breeder. They do most of their growing within the first year to two, so although he may be quite small now, he can get much bigger in what will seem a short period. The 40g, unless you go with something bigger, can be a permanenr home for the beardie for the rest of his life. But, just a warning - you have beardie - you are going to fall in love and want to spoil the heck out of it, so one day you may just look at that 40 and think it is just way too small =)
Being a newer member myself, you may find yourself at a state of confusion only sometimes with some of the responses here. For example: Some here are totally against any substrate that is particle in material. Some here have used sifted play sand for their adults and have had no problems. BUT, you will definately want to stick to the carpet, tile, papertowel, felt, rubber non-adhesive shelf liner, or the like until your beardie passes the juvenille stage! This is when he is the most delicate and will be needed to be treated with great care.
And yes, you will need to keep close eye on your daughter interaction with the beardie. Like I said, you came to an excellent place for advice and support. With the knowledge you gain from here, you can pass it on to your daughter and you two will be a couple of wonderful beardie parents! You guys will soon fall head over heels in love - if you haven't already, and life before a beardie will seem hazy :lol: :lol:
I understand that you have him in that little tank for the time being, not having anything else. But, you will have to eventually get something bigger. I would go ahead and do at least the 40g breeder. They do most of their growing within the first year to two, so although he may be quite small now, he can get much bigger in what will seem a short period. The 40g, unless you go with something bigger, can be a permanenr home for the beardie for the rest of his life. But, just a warning - you have beardie - you are going to fall in love and want to spoil the heck out of it, so one day you may just look at that 40 and think it is just way too small =)
Being a newer member myself, you may find yourself at a state of confusion only sometimes with some of the responses here. For example: Some here are totally against any substrate that is particle in material. Some here have used sifted play sand for their adults and have had no problems. BUT, you will definately want to stick to the carpet, tile, papertowel, felt, rubber non-adhesive shelf liner, or the like until your beardie passes the juvenille stage! This is when he is the most delicate and will be needed to be treated with great care.
And yes, you will need to keep close eye on your daughter interaction with the beardie. Like I said, you came to an excellent place for advice and support. With the knowledge you gain from here, you can pass it on to your daughter and you two will be a couple of wonderful beardie parents! You guys will soon fall head over heels in love - if you haven't already, and life before a beardie will seem hazy :lol: :lol:
protiemama
Gray-bearded Member
Welcome! Don't ya just luv grandparents? :roll: I'm sure her heart was in the right place though. My 8 yr old and 4 yr old love our dragon. That said, they were not allowed to hold him till he was muuuuch larger than your Fred is now. BTW I love the name. My husband or I held Bogie and let the kids pet him until he grew large enough to not be so readily scushed by an enthuastic "hug". I let them turn on the lights in the morning and off at night. They were allowed to drop in his crickets at feeding time and loved watching him swim in his bath. (a small plastic shoe box at first) I also let them drop the salad scraps and apple chunks in to feed the crickets. They still love to help with "their" pet and are very gentle with him. He in turn is very tolerent of them. :love5:
Jason covered most of the bases on basic care. One thing he didn't mention- do not leave the crickets in the tank with him after feeding. At night dragons sleep very soundly, crickets will nibble on him and can cause a lot of damage and serious sores. It might be best to get him used to feeding in a seperate feeding tank. Lots of folks use a rubbermade tote. I started out using a 10 gal aquarium for feeding. Of course he is too big for that now! :lol:
Read the care sheets from the top of the main page and brouse through the forums. :study: You can learn so much from the folks around here. And your DD will love to look at the pictures. Just wait, soon you will both be great beardie slaves!
Sandy H
My husband or I held Bogie and let the kids pet him until he grew large enough to not be so readily scushed by an enthuastic "hug". I let them turn on the lights in the morning and off at night. They were allowed to drop in his crickets at feeding time and loved watching him swim in his bath. (a small plastic shoe box at first) I also let them drop the salad scraps and apple chunks in to feed the crickets. They still love to help with "their" pet and are very gentle with him. He in turn is very tolerent of them. :love5: Jason covered most of the bases on basic care. One thing he didn't mention- do not leave the crickets in the tank with him after feeding. At night dragons sleep very soundly, crickets will nibble on him and can cause a lot of damage and serious sores. It might be best to get him used to feeding in a seperate feeding tank. Lots of folks use a rubbermade tote. I started out using a 10 gal aquarium for feeding. Of course he is too big for that now! :lol:
Read the care sheets from the top of the main page and brouse through the forums. :study: You can learn so much from the folks around here. And your DD will love to look at the pictures.
Just wait, soon you will both be great beardie slaves!Sandy H
Well just wanted to update, Fred has a bigger cage. He now has a 20 gallon tank. I am still working on all the other things but we are making progress. Just a note for those worried about my 4 year old, she knows the rules. She can only look at him right now and the only time she is allowed to touch him is if he is in his cage and an adult is watching her. She does help with the feedings, she likes to give him crickets. She also is responsable for spraying him. She is also the artist behind the drawings for his cage. Here is Fred's new home, for the moment anyway:
Oh, and that is turnip greens and apples that he is munchin down on, so please do not worry. I do have a question, how many crickets should we let him eat a day?
Oh, and that is turnip greens and apples that he is munchin down on, so please do not worry. I do have a question, how many crickets should we let him eat a day?
ScooterBlenny
Hatchling Member
You should let him eat as many crickets as he wants in ten minutes, 2-3 times a day. A baby can easily eat 100 crickets per day.
I would like to point out that your tank appears to be a 20tall, which is the same footprint as a 10 gallon and only a very temporary solution. You will need a container with more length so that you can control the hot side and cool side. The problem with a short tank is that it ends up being all hot If you don't have the funds for a larger tank right now, you don't have to use a fish aquarium. You could go get a rubbermaid tub and use it for a while.
Also, with a baby that small, it's super-duper especially important to be sure that the food you are giving him is small enough - be sure to cut/tear all the veggies up into very small pieces, and don't let any petstores talk you into feeding him mealworms!
I would like to point out that your tank appears to be a 20tall, which is the same footprint as a 10 gallon and only a very temporary solution. You will need a container with more length so that you can control the hot side and cool side. The problem with a short tank is that it ends up being all hot
If you don't have the funds for a larger tank right now, you don't have to use a fish aquarium. You could go get a rubbermaid tub and use it for a while.Also, with a baby that small, it's super-duper especially important to be sure that the food you are giving him is small enough - be sure to cut/tear all the veggies up into very small pieces, and don't let any petstores talk you into feeding him mealworms!
protiemama
Gray-bearded Member
Love the art work. My kids do the same, they say it is to keep him from getting bored. The tank is so much bigger than what you had him in, thats great. He must me happy with the space. You may have a hard time regulating the temps still. Keep a close watch on them (the temps) Don't be surprised if he doesn't eat much of that salad. That is quite a bit for such a little guy. Babies seldom eat much salad, still we try. Scooterblenny is right, give him really tiny pieces.
Katherine and Daniel love the art work too. Katherine thinks the name Fred is really cool.
Sandy H
My kids do the same, they say it is to keep him from getting bored. The tank is so much bigger than what you had him in, thats great. He must me happy with the space. You may have a hard time regulating the temps still. Keep a close watch on them (the temps) Don't be surprised if he doesn't eat much of that salad. That is quite a bit for such a little guy. Babies seldom eat much salad, still we try. Scooterblenny is right, give him really tiny pieces. Katherine and Daniel love the art work too. Katherine thinks the name Fred is really cool.
Sandy H
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