mudskipper
Juvie Member
I would like to share tricks and things I discovered since I have had my beardies.
If you are trying to potty train your beardies, maybe you could try my set up. Both of my beardies poop in dishes, which are really easy to wash. I'm a bit OCD and like to keep my reptile tanks spotless. Having them poop in the dishes makes it very easy to clean.
My setup:
- 36" x 18" x 18" Exo Terra tank
- 1 basking rock
- white shelf liner for substrate
- 2 sides (back and right) are covered with more white shelf liners
- 100W regular clear bulb directly above the basking rock
- 24" Arcadia UV bulb with Arcadia reflector on $8 strip from Walmart. Up top all the way to the back of the tank
- no water dish (ever)
- 1 veggie dish (an ashtray like in the picture or sometimes a small white square plate)
- 1 medium Pyrex glass dish (about 2" deep) with no handles. This glass dish is where I drop the dubias down one at a time. This is where they poop.
- For veggies, I feed them acorn squash cubes, collard greens, and dandelion greens.
- For insects, I feed them mostly dubias. Sometimes, they get hornworms, silkworms, superworms, and dry grasshoppers.
Here's a picture of my set up. You can see Pineapple's poop in the Pyrex glass dish.
The routine:
- The lights are a timer to turn on between 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. (14 hours)
- 8 a.m. before I go to work, I put the veggies in a shallow white square appetizer plate or sometimes a glass ashtray. I also put an empty Pyrex glass on the right side of the veggie dish right up to the front of the tank.
- When I come home between 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at night, the veggies are at least half gone. There's poop in the Pyrex dish. I take out the Pyrex dish and put in a new one. I feed them the insects one insect at a time by dropping them into the clean Pyrex dish.
- Feeding them insects one at a time ensures that there won't be any in there uneaten in case they want to poop. Feeding them one at a time also associates you as the person who feeds them. Great for training new beardies that aren't so fond of you.. LOL
- When I'm away more than a night, I put in 2 Pyrex dishes with dubias in both dishes.
- I bath them 3 to 4 times a week.
- I wipe their floor clean everyday if I'm home (4 - 5 days a week)
My observations:
- My beardies don't like pooping near their basking rock. If there are multiple dishes, they'll poop in the dishes that are at least a bit away from their basking rocks. They have not pooped in a dish that's right next to their basking rock.
- My beardies like to poop close to the front of the tank. If there are 2 Pyrex dishes, one in front of the tank and one in the back; they'll poop in the one in the front of the tank.
- If there are multiple dishes, they prefer not to poop in the dish that still has live dubias or veggies.
- Given a choice of an empty ashtray, an empty white small square applitizer plate, and an empty 2" deep Pyrex glass dish, they prefer to poop in the Pyrex dish.
- The 2" Pyrex dish holds poop very well. Explosive diarrhea from eating too many juicy hornworms
puke: ) is very well contained in the Pyrex dishes!!!
Ever since I have had them, I would say that Papaya has pooped in a veggie dish less than 5 times. She has pooped outside of a dish once. The rest of the time, she has pooped in the Pyrex glass dishes. Pineapple, whom I got after I already had Papaya, is even better. She started to poop in the Pyrex glass dishes as soon as the first week I had her (possibly because I already knew how to set up the tank from having Papaya). Pineapple now poops strictly in the glass dishes while in the tank with no accident. Both also poop in their baths if they haven't pooped yet that day. Many owners train their beardies to only poop in baths. However, that's not a option for me. I travel a lot and stay at my boyfriend's house 2 to 3 nights consecutively every week. I have found the dishes to be easier because there are always dishes in the tank even if I'm away.
Here's a picture of my set up when I have to go away for a few days. When I come home, the dubias would be gone. There would be poop in both dishes.
Other tips:
- Feed veggies in the morning and feed bugs at night. They'll get hungry during the day and eat the veggies. They love squashes.
- Dubias can't escape from Pyrex dishes so you can have 10 or 20 one-inch dubias in each Pyrex dish if you will be away for a few days. Cut up big chunks of acorn or butternut squash for the dubias to eat. Big chunks won't dry up as fast. Since beardies don't drink water on their own, this is a great way for them to get water while you are away (from the squash the dubias are eating). You could leave them a pile of veggies, but they dry up by the 2nd day. Very big chunks of squash can last 3 - 4 days. Be sure to peel off the skin first. Otherwise, the peel will curl as it dries and dubias will hide inside and your beardies won't be able to eat them.
On a side note, my 3 leopard geckos are also potty trained. They have NEVER pooped outside of their litter boxes. But unlike the bearded dragons, their poop dishes are in the back of the tank in one corner. For leopard geckos, the trick is to have a small plastic tray (I use a clear rectangular soap dish about 1" deep) in one corner in the back, their warm hide in the other back corner, a water bowl in a front corner, and the other front corner can be empty or have a food dish. Leopard geckos are a lot cleaner than bearded dragons so it's a lot easier to train them. I wouldn't even call this training because they didn't need to be trained at all. With this set up, they automatically poop in the plastic tray in the back. Think cats and litter boxes. Oh! My Yorkshire terrier also pees and poops on pee pads when it's too cold to walk him or when it's raining. LOL :lol: I guess I'm either good at getting my pets to pee and poop where I want them or I'm just really lucky.
Here's my leopard gecko set up. You can see the poop trays in the back corners.
For Papaya and Pineapple's journal, visit viewtopic.php?f=44&t=178711
If you are trying to potty train your beardies, maybe you could try my set up. Both of my beardies poop in dishes, which are really easy to wash. I'm a bit OCD and like to keep my reptile tanks spotless. Having them poop in the dishes makes it very easy to clean.
My setup:
- 36" x 18" x 18" Exo Terra tank
- 1 basking rock
- white shelf liner for substrate
- 2 sides (back and right) are covered with more white shelf liners
- 100W regular clear bulb directly above the basking rock
- 24" Arcadia UV bulb with Arcadia reflector on $8 strip from Walmart. Up top all the way to the back of the tank
- no water dish (ever)
- 1 veggie dish (an ashtray like in the picture or sometimes a small white square plate)
- 1 medium Pyrex glass dish (about 2" deep) with no handles. This glass dish is where I drop the dubias down one at a time. This is where they poop.
- For veggies, I feed them acorn squash cubes, collard greens, and dandelion greens.
- For insects, I feed them mostly dubias. Sometimes, they get hornworms, silkworms, superworms, and dry grasshoppers.
Here's a picture of my set up. You can see Pineapple's poop in the Pyrex glass dish.
The routine:
- The lights are a timer to turn on between 10 a.m. to 12 a.m. (14 hours)
- 8 a.m. before I go to work, I put the veggies in a shallow white square appetizer plate or sometimes a glass ashtray. I also put an empty Pyrex glass on the right side of the veggie dish right up to the front of the tank.
- When I come home between 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at night, the veggies are at least half gone. There's poop in the Pyrex dish. I take out the Pyrex dish and put in a new one. I feed them the insects one insect at a time by dropping them into the clean Pyrex dish.
- Feeding them insects one at a time ensures that there won't be any in there uneaten in case they want to poop. Feeding them one at a time also associates you as the person who feeds them. Great for training new beardies that aren't so fond of you.. LOL
- When I'm away more than a night, I put in 2 Pyrex dishes with dubias in both dishes.
- I bath them 3 to 4 times a week.
- I wipe their floor clean everyday if I'm home (4 - 5 days a week)
My observations:
- My beardies don't like pooping near their basking rock. If there are multiple dishes, they'll poop in the dishes that are at least a bit away from their basking rocks. They have not pooped in a dish that's right next to their basking rock.
- My beardies like to poop close to the front of the tank. If there are 2 Pyrex dishes, one in front of the tank and one in the back; they'll poop in the one in the front of the tank.
- If there are multiple dishes, they prefer not to poop in the dish that still has live dubias or veggies.
- Given a choice of an empty ashtray, an empty white small square applitizer plate, and an empty 2" deep Pyrex glass dish, they prefer to poop in the Pyrex dish.
- The 2" Pyrex dish holds poop very well. Explosive diarrhea from eating too many juicy hornworms
puke: ) is very well contained in the Pyrex dishes!!!Ever since I have had them, I would say that Papaya has pooped in a veggie dish less than 5 times. She has pooped outside of a dish once. The rest of the time, she has pooped in the Pyrex glass dishes. Pineapple, whom I got after I already had Papaya, is even better. She started to poop in the Pyrex glass dishes as soon as the first week I had her (possibly because I already knew how to set up the tank from having Papaya). Pineapple now poops strictly in the glass dishes while in the tank with no accident. Both also poop in their baths if they haven't pooped yet that day. Many owners train their beardies to only poop in baths. However, that's not a option for me. I travel a lot and stay at my boyfriend's house 2 to 3 nights consecutively every week. I have found the dishes to be easier because there are always dishes in the tank even if I'm away.
Here's a picture of my set up when I have to go away for a few days. When I come home, the dubias would be gone. There would be poop in both dishes.
Other tips:
- Feed veggies in the morning and feed bugs at night. They'll get hungry during the day and eat the veggies. They love squashes.
- Dubias can't escape from Pyrex dishes so you can have 10 or 20 one-inch dubias in each Pyrex dish if you will be away for a few days. Cut up big chunks of acorn or butternut squash for the dubias to eat. Big chunks won't dry up as fast. Since beardies don't drink water on their own, this is a great way for them to get water while you are away (from the squash the dubias are eating). You could leave them a pile of veggies, but they dry up by the 2nd day. Very big chunks of squash can last 3 - 4 days. Be sure to peel off the skin first. Otherwise, the peel will curl as it dries and dubias will hide inside and your beardies won't be able to eat them.
On a side note, my 3 leopard geckos are also potty trained. They have NEVER pooped outside of their litter boxes. But unlike the bearded dragons, their poop dishes are in the back of the tank in one corner. For leopard geckos, the trick is to have a small plastic tray (I use a clear rectangular soap dish about 1" deep) in one corner in the back, their warm hide in the other back corner, a water bowl in a front corner, and the other front corner can be empty or have a food dish. Leopard geckos are a lot cleaner than bearded dragons so it's a lot easier to train them. I wouldn't even call this training because they didn't need to be trained at all. With this set up, they automatically poop in the plastic tray in the back. Think cats and litter boxes. Oh! My Yorkshire terrier also pees and poops on pee pads when it's too cold to walk him or when it's raining. LOL :lol: I guess I'm either good at getting my pets to pee and poop where I want them or I'm just really lucky.
Here's my leopard gecko set up. You can see the poop trays in the back corners.
For Papaya and Pineapple's journal, visit viewtopic.php?f=44&t=178711
