Hi..... New rescued Beardie owner

[Neonprint]

Hi,
My Name is Neon, and I am a first time beardie owner, I'm not new to reptiles in general as I have several geckos,etc. but those are totally different than a beardie. Short story is I just rescued this beardie baby, he/she is the size of a 3-4 month old, but the previous owners said it was 8 months old? He came with basically nothing but a spider,cockroach infested tank,a mold filled water dish, a broken dome light( it still emitted heat but nothing was attached, like all the pieces had separated.) and a grapevine,and a repti carpet I had to throw out due to the hundreds of cockroach eggs on it and underneath it. He is a little skinny even the previous owner said so, he excuse was she rescued him 8 months ago with 2 other siblings that died......... he was super dehydrated and dove head first into the water bowl when he saw it was water. He hasnt eaten much and idk if thats because I still cant get the temperatures figured out for him in my room. I need a proper thermometer but I dont really know what I should get? His current new setup is a clean tank lol, paper towel substrate, food dish,a hammock, and a hide log, a heat lamp, and a temp uvb lamp until next paycheck. I traded for most of the supplies since I didn't really prepare myself 100 percent for the beardie, plus I was told it was a complete setup and it was not. he hasnt pooped yet, Ive given a soak, and semi hand fed him a few bugs and veggies. I'm just worried because Ive read baby beardies are piggies and he is not being a piggie yet. I do plann taking him to my reptile vet and getting him checkout, Im sure he has to have parasites.Its only been two days and I'm super attached, even my mother in law who dislikes most reptiles likes this little dude lol
so in closing and tip,tricks , and advice in anything beardie is greatly appreciated, I only want the best possible care for him.

if anyone needs more photos of different angles to determine if he is dangerously skinny just let me know!!!!

 

[CooperDragon]

Poor guy! It sound like he was in awful conditions. I'm so glad you're able to give him a good life going forward =). From the photos it looks like he's in decent shape considering where he came from. It's a good sign that he was drinking on his own. I would focus on giving him water for the first couple of days. Give him a water dish to drink from and you can also use a dropper or plastic syringe or even your fingertip to drip water on his nose for him to lick up. If he's doing well after the first 48 hours or so, offer him some baby food squash or baby food green beans the same way - just drip it on his nose for him to lick up. Repeat that a few times per day. If he does well with that for a couple of days, then try some live food. Go VERY easy on the protein (bugs) for now. Too much can overwhelm his system if he isn't used to it. Try a few silk worms (coastal silkworms website) or a few black soldier fly larvae (symtonbsf website) and see how he does with those. You could also try a few small crickets or dubia roaches dusted with calcium powder (repashy calcium plus is a good one). Just offer a small amount for now and see how he does. If he's OK with that for a few days, slowly increase what you offer for the next couple of weeks until he's interested in a couple of feedings per day, all the bugs he wants within a 10 minute (ish) window. It's good to provide salad for him as well. I make a daily salad using 2-3 items on this list, rotating based on what looks fresh at the store each week. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html He may not be too interested in the salads yet but keep offering them so they are a familiar food source.

Getting the lighting set up properly is critical for him. You want to ensure the temperature range is set properly and invest in a high quality UVB light and set that at a proper distance for him as well. I suggest getting a couple of digital thermometers with probes so you can mount one on the basking surface and one on the cool side https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0017N8W90/ You could also get an IR temp gun to spot check surface temps https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Temperature-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B00CVHIJDK Either of those (or both) will work well. Shoot for about 100-110 in the basking area and about 75-80 or so on the cool side of the tank with a gradient in between for him to move through. Changing the wattage of the basking bulb or adjusting it's height will help you get the right temperature range.

What are the dimensions of his tank? How high is the ceiling from the basking area? I would get a UVB light like this http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/ but it needs to be mounted about 12'' above the basking area for optimal output.

You will also want to be careful to sanitize his enclosure and furniture items to help keep him healthy. I suggest spot cleaning with a 50/50 vinegar/water mix in a spray bottle. That works well at getting solid bits up. Then sanitize surfaces using some F10SC https://beanfarm.com/products/f10sc-veterinary-disinfectant-100-ml-3-4-oz mixed at about 1:250 f10 to water in a spray bottle. You can sanitize wood surfaces like his branch by rinsing them well and baking them in the oven on low for about an hour as well.

Getting a vet checkup is a good idea, but I'd give him a few weeks to settle into his new home unless you sense something is urgently wrong. Please let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be glad to help as much as I can.

 

[Neonprint]

Thank you for all the info!!! when I get paid next week defiantly getting some of those much need things.
So far I knew he was eating crickets, because they had dump a bunch in his tank, and thats what they told me he ate. I give him a few small ones like 4 or 5 because he doesn't seem to really want to eat them as readily as what I would expect from reading so much. However he does like his salad, I'm
experimenting with different green etc. to see what he likes best. so far he likes romaine, not so much turnip greens lol
I was worried that he hadn't taken a poop since I got him, but yesterday morning he took the biggest,smelliest, poop ever, it was the consistency of like a cow pie, so if it keeps going like that til payday, I'm defiantly taking him to the vet, I'm hoping it was just stress poop, and all the different foods his now has access to?
So far I'm totally in love with this guy!
I still need help with figuring out a schedule, since I work almost everyday and get home at different times, I have my morning schedule down, wake up at 7:30, turn his lights on, go back to sleep for an hour or so and let him warm up, feed some dusted crickets, and prep a salad for afternoon meal. then when I get home I give a few more bugs. and then he puts himself to bed in his log and its lights out lol.
so my other question is do I bounce back and forth between the calcium with d3 and the calcium without d3?

 

[CooperDragon]

Give him a few weeks. I'll bet the odd poop is stress and change in diet. They can get upset stomachs like anyone else and an early trip to the vet could just produce false positives or artificially high parasite readings etc.

As far as the schedule goes, try to give him at least 12-14 hours of "daylight". I try to roughly follow the seasons but you don't have to. As long as he's getting enough light and it's fitting your schedule that's fine. I suggest getting a simple dual outlet mechanical timer for the lights so you can set those to a schedule and for get it. You can set it so the lights come on automatically an hour before you wake up so you don't have to bother with it. Simple and cheap fix for that =).

The calcium with D3 is for use with lower output lighting like the compact coils and T8 bulbs. The plain calcium is for higher output lighting like T5 and mercury vapor bulbs because with those they can synthesize their own D3. For now, your best bet is to probably pick up an all in one like Repashy Calcium Plus and just go with that for simplicity's sake. It's a good product and will get the job done nicely for you.

 

[NBGwen]

He is so lucky you took him in! Poor baby I have nothing to add to what Cooperdragon has already said. Thank goodness he is still young and looks pretty good considering. Baby steps and time to heal <3