I feel stupid!!

[Obriennicole]

Hello beardie friends!! I feel stupid because I’ve asked a million and 1 questions, but I still have a few more!! Can someone please help me determine what would be best for Null!! Ok here we go (again)
1- schedule. I work from 8-5 in Monday’s, 7-4 Thursday & Thursday’s and off Wednesday and fridays! So Monday’s I wake up around 6:30am and leave around 7:30, returning atriums 5:30, Tuesday/Thursday I’m up at 5:30, leave at 6:30, returning around 4:30! I need help with a schedule for my beardie, when to turn lights on, feeding etc.. so what I’ve been doing (which I dont like) is turning lights on when I wake up, then give him his salad before I leave, come home in my lunch break and feed him crickets around 11:30, then again around 5-6 pm, then lights out around 8:30-9! I don’t think my schedule is a good one and I’m not sure if his lights are on for to long.
2- temperature! I can’t get a accurate temp in his house. I bought a temp gun and a digital probe and neither read the same in the exact same spots! His basking/warm side is anywhere from 90-105 degrees and 70s on the cooler side. I’m getting so frustrated with this! At night, I thought his temp was around 70, but when I wake up and use the gun it’s saying 65 and his little belly is cold
3- lights. Ok I made a different post about the lights, If you can find that, please read and comment if possible!! I went to the pet shop and looked at getting a ceramic heater for the night, but how the heck do you know which one to buy! There’s like a hundred options( not really, buts it’s so confusing)
4- enclosure. I had bought the starter kit 20 gallon (bad idea) any ways I seen at petco they are having a good sale on tanks, so I thought about buying a 75 gallon for ($100.00) however it’s for fish so it opens at the top, what are your thoughts before I run out to buy it? Advantages vs disadvantages other than open from top?
Thank you so much for all the information you guys have provided and the fantastic website!!

 

[ComicBookMama]

Hello beardie friends!! I feel stupid because I’ve asked a million and 1 questions, but I still have a few more!! Can someone please help me determine what would be best for Null!! Ok here we go (again)

1- schedule. I work from 8-5 in Monday’s, 7-4 Thursday & Thursday’s and off Wednesday and fridays! So Monday’s I wake up around 6:30am and leave around 7:30, returning atriums 5:30, Tuesday/Thursday I’m up at 5:30, leave at 6:30, returning around 4:30! I need help with a schedule for my beardie, when to turn lights on, feeding etc.. so what I’ve been doing (which I dont like) is turning lights on when I wake up, then give him his salad before I leave, come home in my lunch break and feed him crickets around 11:30, then again around 5-6 pm, then lights out around 8:30-9! I don’t think my schedule is a good one and I’m not sure if his lights are on for to long.

2- temperature! I can’t get a accurate temp in his house. I bought a temp gun and a digital probe and neither read the same in the exact same spots! His basking/warm side is anywhere from 90-105 degrees and 70s on the cooler side. I’m getting so frustrated with this! At night, I thought his temp was around 70, but when I wake up and use the gun it’s saying 65 and his little belly is cold

3- lights. Ok I made a different post about the lights, If you can find that, please read and comment if possible!! I went to the pet shop and looked at getting a ceramic heater for the night, but how the heck do you know which one to buy! There’s like a hundred options( not really, buts it’s so confusing)

4- enclosure. I had bought the starter kit 20 gallon (bad idea) any ways I seen at petco they are having a good sale on tanks, so I thought about buying a 75 gallon for ($100.00) however it’s for fish so it opens at the top, what are your thoughts before I run out to buy it? Advantages vs disadvantages other than open from top?
Thank you so much for all the information you guys have provided and the fantastic website!!

LOL - I also felt stupid about asking so many questions, but when it comes to my beardie, I'll happily feel dumb so he's well taken care of. And really, none of your questions are stupid, nor are you stupid for asking! That's what this forum is for.

1. Schedule. I'll have to defer to a more experienced poster for the feeding info, but for lighting, I'd just zip down to WalMart or a similar store and pick up an inexpensive light timer. I have to plug an extension cord into mine to work my three tank lights all together, but it was about $20 (probably less, my memory isn't great) and I set it to turn on and off the lights automatically. That way, no matter what your own schedule is, your dragon has the right amount of basking time.

2. Where are you placing the probes, and are you sure you're using the temp gun at the proper distance from the spot you're measuring? There's an excellent post in Enclosures about how to use a temp gun, and I'd no idea I was using mine wrong!

As for the differences in readings, I've heard other people complain about the temp discrepancies, too, so you're definitely not alone in that. What's the type of surface you're measuring the temp on? Is it the same one in the morning? If you have a tiled floor of your hab, like I do, the tile does get cooler than the air above it - so even though my house is 68-69F, the floor of the hab reads 65. Darned if I can figure out why. But I was told that temps above 60 at night are okay for a beardie, so you may be okay there too.

3. The CHEs should say on the box what size tank is best for it... I was looking at them this weekend, too, and I think the 100w was about right for a 30-40G tank. 60w was sized for 10-20G tanks, but I'm honestly not sure whether a CHE would make a 20G tank too hot at night, though... they do need that drop in temps, I think, to maintain their natural body rhythms. Again, I'll defer to the more experienced posters on this.

4. A 75G is a great upgrade in size! You could always get a mesh lid for it if you wanted to set your lights on top, or lamp stands to hang the lights over it if you wanted to leave it open. The only reason I can see to really need a lid is to keep other pets (cats in particular) and small children out of the tank. Offering my own advice, if you could save up enough and get a custom tank with a front-opening door, that's what I wish I'd done. I know my Figment doesn't really like me reaching in to pick him up from above.

Good luck! And don't stop asking questions!

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

We were all new keepers at one point in our lives so there are no dumb questions. It's always
best so ask to be sure that you get everything correct. We are here to help decipher all of the
misinformation out there because there is a lot of incorrect data floating around!

Tracie

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Nothing stupid about trying to do the best you can for your dragon! And that starts with information. So make sure you ask away!

I will go ahead and answer your questions too, even though they are most likely going to be the exact same as Comicbookmama's lol! But it will at least give you a second thought on it.

1. I definitely recommend getting a timer that way you yourself aren't turning on and off the lights. Set them up to run for 12-14 hours on/off. Now for your schedule, since I also have a busy work schedule I feel your pain. However what I do is I always leave them a salad in the morning. Even if the lights aren't on yet. That doesn't matter, they will eat when they wake up or want to The point is, at least it's there for them.
For feeders, you can get escape proof dishes and do the same thing you do with the salad. Put some bugs in the dish even before the lights go on and let them eat when they get up or want to.
And if you do that, you can forget about coming home at lunch (unless it's convenient for you) and just feed them again once you get home.
I know common advice is that babies/juvies should be fed live feeders 2-3x a day. But it's not 100% necessary truth be told. So If there are some days where all you can do is a salad in the morning and bugs in the afternoon, I wouldn't worry too much. They will just eat more bugs in the 1 feeding usually.

2. I would rely more on the probe thermometer in your case. IR thermometers get tricky in the sense that most are calibrated for certain surfaces. And if you are trying to read a surface that falls outside of that calibration range, the reading will be off. Probes won't have this problem.
65 isn't too bad for nighttime temps. I don't add supplemental heat unless it gets bellow 60. But others here have their cutoff at 65.
For your basking surface, I'd aim for 105-110 for a baby.

4. The fish aquariums are fine. I use them in the past. The only issue is mounting your lights if you don't have some type of screen or top for the tank.
You might want to look into building your own tank if you're handy!

-Brandon