im new....need feeding advice

[HUMBOLDTGUY]

we got a beardie for our son for christmas and he is quickly becoming our favorite pet

he is in a 35 gallon tank(for now), is about 8-12 inches from tip to tip, is about 18 weeks old (according to the pet shop), and his basking spot sits right around 90 at night, and 100 during the day

my questions are these
we are feeding him medium crickets....how many a day should he get, and should he get them in incriments or all at once

also
he is really not into veggies much....i put in shredded kale, lettuce, and his bearded dragon bites a few times a day cause they are drying out quickly but, he never really eats any......how much should he be eating,and should i slow down on his crix to make him hungry for veggies

finally....almost

in 3 weeks i have never seen him take so much as a sip of water....hmmmmmmmmm

finally

he was pooping everyday up until yesterday....he didnt poop yesterday or today....is this a reason for concern??

i just wanna make sure hes as happy and healthy as he can possibly be since we adopted him and want to ensure he was taken on by a good family

 

[HUMBOLDTGUY]

well im hopeing since i have had no replies that means we are doing good......i just gave him a bath and that definitly solved the poo problem......never knew such a huge poo could come out of such a lil guy

which brings me to another question....there was a pretty solid , actually hard section of white in his poo....are we giving him too much calcium.....i have been putting it on all his crickets and most of his meals.....is that too much??

 

[NegativeCreep]

His basking temps could go up a bit, to around 105-110, but how are you measuring the temps?
You should give him as many crickets (smaller than the space between his eyes) that he can eat in a 15 minute period, twice a day (at least, some say three). You can vary his diet of live feeders by using various kinds of worms (except meal worms and super worms-supers are fine for larger dragons) and roaches.

At his age, its common that they won't eat veggies much. You should continue to offer them, and one day (whether you trick him into it or some other reason) he will realize that its food. Once they start eating more veg, then you can start offering a better variety. As an adult, his diet should consist of 80% veg to 20% proteins; but for now 80% protein is fine. Just do what you can to encourage him to eat veggies.

You bathe him often? My dragon doesn't drink, although I have tried a bunch of things to encourage it. Usually dragons will drink from their bath water. Most will not drink from standing water in their vivs. You can drip water onto their nose, offer a drop from your finger, run a light stream from the faucet or pour slowly from a cup in front of them to encourage him to drink. Even after all of these things, my dragon won't drink at all (which is kind of unusual, but not unheard of). Encourage him to drink often, but if he doesn't take to it, continue to give him baths. They absorb water through their vents, so this helps with hydration. If he never drinks, then you may consider bathing on a daily basis. BUT! The white part in his poo is his urate (a form of pee). It is similar to what a bird passes; its not calcium.

It's good that you got him to poo. Many of them like to poo in the bath (I wish mine would!).

As for supplements, you only need to supplement one feeding a day with calcium 5x weekly and use a multivitamin dust 2x weekly. This will be sufficient until he is an adult, and then you can back down some.

 

[HUMBOLDTGUY]

thanx for the reply.....i am measuring the temp with a stick on thermometer on each end of the tank....one on the side with the heat pad under it and one on the other end....it siste right around 100 on the side with the pad, and about 80 on the other side

he has a rock with a cave under it he really likes to hang out in and im wondering if that is messing up his light absorbtion

the main reason i thought it was calcium in the poo is cause it was like a lil piece of chalk....and it was hard like chalk.....it even snapped like a piece of chalk

we have bathed him only a few times but will do it more often now that we know


thanx for the info
Darin

 

[HUMBOLDTGUY]

by the way....whats the best way to raise the temp.....homedood at the petstore said the heating pad and the light all on the same side of the tank would do the trick....but it maxes out at 100

 

[fresnowitte]

First....
Hello & Welcome to BD.org!

The best way to raise your temps would be to add a regular white household bulb placed right next to your UVB over the basking spot. I woundn't raise the heat until I invested in a different thermometer the tape stripes and the dial type can be up to 20* off an you don't want to over heat your beardie. A better thermometer would be a digital probe thermometer with the probe placed directly on the basking spot. The basking spot temp can not be taken with the thermometer that you are using. Or the infrared temp gun if you don't want the wires in your viv.

The white chalk that your talking about in his poop is the urate an if it is hard then your beardie is in need of some hydration. The best way to get hydration going with your beardie is baths. I would bath him in luke warm water shoulder deep for 20 minutes every day until the urates are not hard anymore.

Again Welcome!

 

[HUMBOLDTGUY]

we have a 100 watt repti spot basking light next to his uv light....if the tmp does need to come up how would i do it???

there isnt room for much more on top of his tank cause i was told to leave one side of the tank cooler

we are gonna be picking up his 60 gallon tank this weekend , but i wanna make sure we can warm it for him enough

 

[fresnowitte]

With that said I think that you really need a good thermometer. If the ones you have were by chance correct even there is no way of telling what the temp of his basking spot actually is it could be right or closer to it than you think.

What is the brand and wattage of your UVB?

 

[HUMBOLDTGUY]

says its an esu reptile slimline reptile fixture with desert 7%uvb lamp

as far as crix go people keep saying feed as many as they will eat in 15 mins....i put in 20 and they were all gone in about 45-60 secs and the only reason the others werent eaten is cause they took off from the pack and were hunted and crunched quick....this guy is small but if i let him eat what he wants he'll eat 40 in under 3 mins

 

[chillinspike]

If he eats that many criks in that short of a time, give him more, how ever many he eats in 10-15 mins is how many he needs to be given, some people on here feed their bd's up to 60 criks at a time, mine will only eat maybe 10 at a time

 

[zoomommi]

Hi,
Welcome! I am fairly new too, and your question made me chuckle and I was waiting for a tidal wave of suggestions from everyone. Please take this advise very serously and dump your petstore dude. I learned so much from these folks, and I am still learning.
Make sure that you go to the on-line petstores for your supplies as they are half the price of the walk-ins. petmountain.com is a great priced store and I think I got the digital probe thermometer for like $12.00. You may also look into a wooden viv as to an aquarium. I built mine and I find that the temps are easier to regulate. This one is 36x20x20. Some say that it will still be too small for Ollie when she is full grown. It was so easy to make, that I am sure I will make a larger one if needed.
Also, I took the advise of these folks and made sure to have a UVB light for Ollie. The difference in her health and color is amazing. The UVB is crucial to his digestion, immune system and longevity but I saw a great difference in her behavior. She is constantly exploring her viv and looks forward to hunting and just general activity level. I purchased my UVB from ReptileUV.com. I got the MegaRay EB 60 kit and I am so happy.
Silkworms are a great new food for the dragons. Ollie loves silkies and mini mealworms. I got the pheonix worms and she really doesn't care for them.
Good luck and welcome!!!
zoomommi

 

[fresnowitte]

says its an esu reptile slimline reptile fixture with desert 7%uvb lamp

I'm not personally familiar with this product but I have read in several threads that this UVB source has a very low rating like next to nothing. If I may suggest that you google search BD.org for esu reptile slimline an;or desert 7% UVB lamp and check out some of the discussions about this product. The UVB source is very important to beardied dragons.

When choosing a UVB source for your beardie stay far away from any compact or coil bulbs and repti-glo products can also pose some threats. Some of the better sources of UVB would be a Mega-ray products, MVB's(Mercury Vapor Bulbs), or a reptisun 10.0.

By all means let your beardie eat all that he can eat in a 10-15 minute period 2 to 3 times a day. Always make sure that the live feeders are no larger than the space between your beardies eyes.

This is a great link to have so just incase you haven't seen it let me offer it.
This link gives nutritional values for some beardie foods. You will notice that lettuce is not particularly a good food source.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

 

[chillinspike]

Hi,
Welcome! I am fairly new too, and your question made me chuckle and I was waiting for a tidal wave of suggestions from everyone. Please take this advise very serously and dump your petstore dude. I learned so much from these folks, and I am still learning.
Make sure that you go to the on-line petstores for your supplies as they are half the price of the walk-ins. petmountain.com is a great priced store and I think I got the digital probe thermometer for like $12.00. You may also look into a wooden viv as to an aquarium. I built mine and I find that the temps are easier to regulate. This one is 36x20x20. Some say that it will still be too small for Ollie when she is full grown. It was so easy to make, that I am sure I will make a larger one if needed.
Also, I took the advise of these folks and made sure to have a UVB light for Ollie. The difference in her health and color is amazing. The UVB is crucial to his digestion, immune system and longevity but I saw a great difference in her behavior. She is constantly exploring her viv and looks forward to hunting and just general activity level. I purchased my UVB from ReptileUV.com. I got the MegaRay EB 60 kit and I am so happy.
Silkworms are a great new food for the dragons. Ollie loves silkies and mini mealworms. I got the pheonix worms and she really doesn't care for them.
Good luck and welcome!!!
zoomommi

I second that, unless you go to a reptile specialist dont really listen to the petstores, ive learned so much on this site and ive been here for what less than a week, btw i love your viv, i like the door you have on it, its a pain moving the lights everytime i have to go into my viv, im gana build my next one, get my g-pa 2 help me, he has his own wood workshop so that isnt a prob lol, i will def be puttin a door on the front of my next viv!!!!

 

[HUMBOLDTGUY]

right now we have a uva/uvb light and a heat light....should the uva and uvb be 2 separate lights??

 

[chillinspike]

Good question, i only have a basking light and uvb light on top of my viv