I'm new here

[BlackCougar]

I recently bought a bearded dragon off someone. He seems to be in general good health, but he was never held too much when he was growing up. But there are a few things that scream not right with this. The setup is good, but the basking bulb wasn't. They were using a 60 watt lightbulb to warm up a 50 gallon tank. The UVB bulb was in a homemade hood, acient looking and didn't work properly. It looked like it was hand wired and fixed more then a couple of times.

It had bad connections anyways, I took the top I had on my 20 gallon aquarium and put the bulb in there. The bulb is in good condition.

I replaced the 60 watt with a 150 watt, his appetite has double folded since I did this.

I know he's grown alittle since I brought him home.

He's slowly warming up to me, at first he would not let me hold him but we seem to be at least a good twenty minutes now.

Name: Rocky
Age: 14 months
Sex: Male
Length: from tail to snout, 15 inches approx, this is just guessing.

I found a vet in the area that specializes in exotics so I plan on calling him soon and see if I can get his poop checked out.

At this age, any suggestions on how much calcium he should recieve? I know when they're younger its important but hes closer to being an adult.

 

[whiskersmom]

Hi BlackCougar, Welcome to the forum :wave:
Sometimes, a 60 watt can be enough. You need to take the temperatures of your tank in order to determine if a larger and/or smaller wattage is needed. A digital thermometer with a probe works great, you can find one at Walmart for pretty cheap.
When you say the bulb is in good condition, do you mean you know the age of the bulb? UVB fluorescent lights need to be changed out and replaced every six months or they do no good. ReptiSun 10 and Reptiglo .8 are really good bulbs.
Do you know if he was being supplemented in the past? What a lot of us on here use is the Rep-Cal products, pink (Calcium w/ D3) and blue (Herptivite Multi Vitamin) labels. If your feeding crickets then put a little of the Calcium D3 in a bag, then put in your crickets and shake, three to five feedings a week. Being that your beardie is 14 mos old I would do the same with the Multi Vitamin only do it once a week. If you're feeding some type of worm, I find it easier to use a small butter bowl instead of a bag.

Congrats on getting a beardie, they're probably the best reptile in the world :lol:

 

[BlackCougar]

feed him calcium three - five times a week?

He seems to be really partial to veggies pellets and fruits too. I feed him everyother day. How much calcium should I be giving him?