I have just adopted a beardie! how old is he. 11inches full

[Tommarcham]

Hello,
my name is Tom, im 23 and have just adopted a beardie, the previous owner is no longer with us sadly!
i am unsure of his age and i would like to find out i think hes just over a year old, he's around 11 inches full length, his tank is huge and his temps and lights are ok! i have fed him a couple of medium size locusts which he loved, i have put around five crickets in which he only eats if they are directly in front of him?
i have put a couple of choped up slices of cucumber in which he has only looked at suspiciously, i mixed it with pellets, are apples ok for them or green peppers, i havent tried him on them but they were with his food in the fridge wen i picked him up!

he is on wood chip substrate at the moment but he is a clumsy eater an saw him pick a small peice with his food, he must of done this before, but am a little worried! i will change for calcium sand as soon as i can as he likes to try and bury him self at night i have him on 13hours of day and 11 of night!

 

[NegativeCreep]

Hi Tom! I'm sorry to hear about (I assume) your friend/family member/acquaintance passing. I think it's great that you are adopting his/her Beardie!
Are you in the UK?
It is nearly impossible to guess at the age of a BD, but if one were to guess solely on his size, I would guess he's not quite an adult (are you measuring nose to tail?).

Right now, he may be going through relocation stress, which may cause a decrease in his appetite. He also may be a lazy beardie, and expect you to hand feed him.

Apples are not really good for them, I don't know about peppers and cucumbers. The best veggies for BDs are dark, leafy greens (no lettuces or spinach) like collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, etc. I think they go by a slightly different name overseas, though.

One thing that I would be concerned about is his UVB exposure. UVB is essential for a healthy beardie. UVB bulbs need replacing every so often, so you may want to consider replacing his since you don't know how old it is. UVB florescent (tube) bulbs need replacing every 6 months, and Mercury Vapor Bulbs need replacing every 12 months, minimum.

Let us know what else we can help you with. It must be tough getting to know your new friend while not being able to ask the previous owner about anything. Good for you for taking care of him!

 

[cricket119]

Hi! The woodchips aren't safe, but neither is the calcium sand. They both can cause your beardie to become impacted!! You can use non adhesive shelf liner, paper towels, newspaper, or tile. Try giving your beardie a warm bath with water up to his shoulders. But watch him to be safe. Thia will help hydrate him and may help a poop come out. There is a list of good foods to feed your guy on this site. Do you have calcium and vitamins? The calcium should be with D3 if you don't have a megavapor bulb, or without D3 if you do have MVB. Calcium should be twice a week and vitamins 5 days a week, for a juvenile. Have you tried phoenix worms? They are good! you can go to the phoenix worm store on line. Good luck with everything. You will find alot of info on this site. Chris

 

[bexhill1]

if u are in the uk .... morrisons do mixed salad pack for about £1 and they last me a week for 2 dragons i go for the french salad as it has no iceberg in it... or spring greens from tesco.


i wud change his substrate to tile or even paper towels if u cant afford tiles!!!

hope this helps

 

[Tommarcham]

thanks for all the replies, yes im in the uk and thanks for the salad pack idea!

he's not lost his appetite, he just doesnt want to touch the veg, i have vitamin top up fo the veg, and calcium with d3, i put it on around 10 crickets and let them loose in his tank i have seen him eat a few but im not in all day! and i have made sure he ate 2 good size locusts, he finds those no probs!

he's very curious and likes to come to the glass when im around, or climbs on to my hand if i place it in the tank, but he doesnt like to come out to much, i will change his bulb as soon as i can, i think i mite keep the sand going as he lkes it and i read somewhere if it is calcium sand it should pass through ok, the wood chip concerns me as it is quite fine!

i can afford to pay what it will cost to keep him happy, my worst fear is that i would harm him out of stupidity, i will try the bath too!
where can i find tiles or mvb's? and does any one have a good list of foods to feed them?

15:21 he's passed some waste, bit happier now!

 

[Ethelia]

Hi there,

We really cant stress enough just how dangerous woodchip AND calci-sand are. Woodchips may seem more obviously dangerous but calci-sand cannot be passed by beardies as it hardens in their digestive tracks, causing impaction which can be fatal.
Please get it out of there unow.
Until you find another substrate you can just put paper towels on the tanks floor.

You can safely use:
Tile
Repti-Carpet
Shelf-Liner
Paper towels
Washed + sifted playsand (debatable).

Im in the UK too, and you can get these from B+Q/Wilkinsons or a similar hardware store. Repti carpet may need to be ordered online if you dont have any reptile stores in your area.

MVB wise try calling up your local reptile stores, but failing that you can look online for one. MVB wise I believe PowerSun, T-Rex active + Megaray bulbs are the best around. They are slightly more costly but they only need replacing once a year.

You can find a great list of food do's and dont's here:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I usually get a pack of spring greens from Tesco's and add various other veggies every other day (carrot, squash, bok choi etc etc)

Locusts are more expensive, and are arguably tastier than crickets, so its highly likely that if you are offering both he'll ignore the pesky crickets that need chasing and pounce on the slower moving tastier locust.

Congratulations on your new pal.
The people on this site are wonderful, so if you ever need advice, these guys are the ones to come to.

Holly

 

[NegativeCreep]

It's always funny how excited we get about poop! That's a good sign.

It's possible that he is not quite an adult or that he was not fed a lot of veggies. I would be persistent with the veg, it's a real important part of his diet. It does sound like he is dissing the crickets in favor of the locusts (but we don't have locusts in the states, apparently, so I'm not real familiar with them).

I agree, if you really want sand, go with the playsand, nix the calcisand. Tiles look lovely, though. Any tile is fine, so long as it has some grip to it and its not heavily porous. Slate works and looks good.

 

[bexhill1]

hey i got my tiles from tile it all, just picked the sandy textured ones so they have some kind of grip not sliding all over the place!!!

we cant get phenoix or butter worms here, but u can feed him meal worms and the odd wax worm for a treat

 

[Tommarcham]

ok i'll get some tiles for him, but here is a qoute from a book i got about beardies

"The second option is to purchase a calcium-based sand at your local reptile shop. There are several brands available. they are actually crafted from calcium, so any grains of this artificial sand that your dragon ingests will simply be metabolised or passed through with no ill affects. on the plus side, these manufactured sands prevent impacting and come in a variety of coulours, the main draw back is the price"
written buy phillip purser experienced herp
from his book a complete guide to pogona vitticeps
bearded dragons
http://www.tfh.com

i am not treating this as a bible just for a bit of direction, direct experience and owners advise is valued, so keep it coming.

i have put some veg and fruit in a bowl but very mixed bit of carrot, apple peeled, grapes, endive, escarole, batavia, he enjoyed tasting a bit of grape but didn't take it from me!
i dusted two wax worms and offered them to him but he went for one missed it and didnt want it again,
but he had done a rather nasty undigested poo, it was the locusts i fed him yesterday, they came out nearly whole,
they are quiet large so im not feeding him them again, smaller ones i think from now! i had given him a quick bath before hand, and he may of eaten alot before hand as he had a box of crickets put in his tank the day before last!
noisy bloomin things!

 

[peera]

Believe me, we are all unfortunatly aware of how hard cali-sand is pushed on consumers, but it is NOT safe and you will hear very few people who actually own dragons making any type of arguement for it. It is NOT digestable, and there's a warning directly on the packaging to that effect, at least in the US.
X-ray of a dragon that was kept on it-

 

[NegativeCreep]

If he is not digesting his food, it's likely because his temps are too low, and not directly related to the food. This could also be affecting his overall appetite..

 

[MissT]

Believe me, we are all unfortunatly aware of how hard cali-sand is pushed on consumers, but it is NOT safe and you will hear very few people who actually own dragons making any type of arguement for it. It is NOT digestable, and there's a warning directly on the packaging to that effect, at least in the US.
X-ray of a dragon that was kept on it-

And that is quite a 'mild' pic of what calcium sand can do..... there are 2 specialist reptile shops in my area. One is a beardie/chameleon specialist and the other is interested mainly in beardies and snakes. NEITHER of them even stock calcium sand and have VERY strong opinions of the damage it can cause. Both also stress that books are often out-dated and irrelevant when compared with the actual experiences of beardie owners. Definitely get that calcium sand out ASAP - if he is a clumsy eater then the sand will def cause problems.

 

[codwyer]

hey, fair play to you for adopting him, trust me you wil get plently of fun and enjoyment out of him. i would also agree about not using wood chip or sand, i kitted my tank out with a mix of reptile carpet and paper towel and a bit of slate for a variety of textures for them. also be careful feeding him big locusts/ crickets, easiest rule is nothing bigger tham space between his 2 eyes.