I have 2 questions since everyone here asks great questions.

[MrTTT]

Hello,
my name is Terrence. I just got my bearded dragon around 3 weeks ago. He is an undertermined age because the people i got him from couldnt remember. he is 13" with an unknown amount of tail missing(has a 1" stub on the end). I know hes not a juvenial because his beard gets very black and he has a very big head. I know not much to base that kind of jusgement but from what ive read here and what ive seen out of him and open to suggestions on other factors on determing that. I must mention that he was kept in a small 30"x14"x14" plastic container with no light. No light lasted about an hour and the tank was a week till i got paid. My setup now is like this. I use a 40gal breeder with finely sifted play sand, 75 watt basking bulb, a 24" repi glo 8.0 for UVB, a heat gun for temps, greens first thing in the morning, then crickets, when i see most of greens and crickets are gone i put more in. For calsium and vitamins i use rep-cal with D3 5X a week. I shake it on the crickets for breakfest. The vitamin i use is flunkers vitamin spray 2x a week on his greens throughout the day. If there is any other key info i have forgotten dont be afraid to ask im a first timer and very open to suggestions.


As for my Questions first off. I have come to believe when they are basking with thier mouths open it is a way of releasing heat. So if my basking temp is only 92-93 is this ok? His cold side is around 80 during day and 70 at night.

My second question has to do with digesting superworms. I gave him 10 the first day and his poo had a little undigested shell. I have read now that superworms shouldnt be fed to dragons under 16". Does that mean none at all or just not as a staple?

Thanks to everyone that reads and answers this post, hopefully we can help more people by answering a couple more questions.

 

[sunkist]

If your dragon only has an 1" long tail then I think you can pretty much be assured he would be 16 inches AT LEAST with a full tail. My dragon's tail is over 4 inches long and he's only 3.5 months now.

I think what you are doing sounds ok. There are times there will be undigested food in the poo this just means they ate alot and fast. Mine had a whole phoenix worm in there the other night... hehehe...

Yours may just not be use to all the food so it swallowing it up. I would post a picture so you can get some input on age.

 

[Catalyst]

A little bit of undigested shell is normal - most of the shell passes through your dragon's digestive system, binding fat to it on the way. You should only worry if you're seeing big pieces of whole worm come through. How long is he from the tip of his nose to the base of his tail? Here's a picture of Randal that I just took (not a great one, she was a little grouchy about being disrupted for an improptu photo shoot and refused to stay straightened out, haha). She's just a touch over 16" but more than half of that is tail. So if your boy is 13" with most of his tail missing, he'd have been a fair bit larger than 16 inches total with that tail.

Your basking temp is okay, although if you could bump it up a couple of degrees that would fall better into the recommended 95-105*F range for adult dragons. The cool side temperatures are good. What do you use to measure the temps?

 

[MrTTT]

Thank u Catlyst and sunkist for your input on the couple of questions i had. Since i ha two responses to this and it is 230 in the morning im going to write one response that hopefully covers both of your replies.

well im glad to hear that he can have a bit of shell in his poo. Id be pretty disappointed if i couldnt feed him superworms. They last as long as he hasnt notcied them.lol. As for his tail he has most of his tail just whatever portion he lost, it left a 1" stub at the end. The length of his body is 7" and his tail is 6.5". Now that i take that measurement he must not have lost very much of his tail. I will post a bunch of pics tomorrow as it is very late and he is sleeping.lol. By the look of your pic i would have to say they would probly be around the same size if he had his whole tail cause the body sizes are pretty much identical. I use a heat gun to measure my temps.

Well i looked around my house for a new basking bulb and found a halogen that raised up my temps but now im not sure if they might be too high. The bulb is a 50 watt halogen. Now to get my temps i have always checked the spot on the rock that is closet to the beam of light. My problem is that the sand 3" lower than the rock is about 115-119 and on the rock it is saying 102-105. So my thinking is that the rock isnt heating up as much as the sand obviously.lol. Tell me if im wrong here but wouldnt it be easier to check the temp of your dragon when he is basking and keep him at a certain temp?

Well thank u very much for your post Catalyst and i look forward to hearing your thoughts on my new question.lol

 

[sunkist]

That's interesting that the sand is getting hotter. I have my probe at the spot I consider his basking spot which is his hammock. I"m sure the tile platform under it might be a bit hotter but that's not where he stays.

I have found throughout the day the temps vary widely. There are times I walk by and it says 110 at the hammock and when it does, I slide his heat lamp a little farther away and when it's cooler I slide it closer. I realize I can't do that while I'm at work but for now it works.