livelovebeardie
New member
Hello there, I'm new to this website and posting on forums so please forgive me if I'm not providing enough info. Also, apologies for this question being so long I just wanted to provide as much information as possible since we are new here!
I own a 2 year, 8 months old bearded dragon named Charlie.
Here's some basic information about Charlie, his setup and diet, I'm basing this information on the email I have received from this website which included the most commonly needed info.
Diet:
Charlie had recently switched from crickets to dubia roaches. He loves them! Which makes me happy. He is currently eating around 4-5 medium ones every second day. (I'm worried the fully grown adult dubia's would be too big.)
He is also eating vegetables every day which includes dandelion greens, collars greens and very occasionally bell pepper.
Home:
Charlie's tank is a 120cm vivexotic with the shelves removed (he never bothered with them, so I removed them and bought some 'accessories' such as a ramp, and a few extra ornaments to fill the space alongside the logs etc he has had since he first arrived.)
His setup is- 15watt Arcadia UV lighting and fixture, an 100 watt heat bulb, he is currently living on (as substrate) reptile carpet but also use newspaper as a backup, if the carpet needs cleaning after him doing the toilet, generally getting messy etc.
Charlie's weight and length:
Charlie is 550 grams in weight and he measures just over 21 inches long (measuring from tip of his nose, to very end of his tail.)
Extra info:
Charlie has always been very healthy. Never had any health issues and at vet visits (nail clipping, his nails can get very 'scratchy' and since he is handled daily we decided to clip his nails every once in a while.) the vet has always complimented him.
I have been 'lurking' in the background of this site for a while. I really do love reading the forums, questions and general discussions.
I have finally decided to join and post this based upon a few questions I have, so I can be the best owner i possibly can be, for Charlie.
1. Is Charlie a healthy weight for his size? Re-cap: Charlie weights 550g and is just over 21 inches long.
2. Is Charlie's diet suitable? I'm feeding him on based what I have read online but would just like to 'double-check' from you all here that this is 100% suitable for him.
3. This isn't really a question as such, more a statement. I took Charlie to the vet around 6 months ago. I have always called him 'he' but have never known what sex Charlie really is. I went to the vet with him and the vet (who is specialised in reptiles) said that he could not tell, that Charlie was borderline female, borderline male. Is this the case sometimes? That even vet's can't tell the sex of the beardie or did I just get a vet who wasn't totally clued up?
4. Should I try and find a larger vivarium for Charlie? I have debated this for a while and upon searching Amazon the largest tank I could find was only 2 or 3 centimetres larger than the one he currently has. If anyone could recommend any larger than his current one, tanks I would extremely appreciate it.
5. Charlie is out of his tank for around 40 minutes in total everyday. I don't like to take him out 'too much' at a time as, although the heating gets turned up for him, I'm afraid he will get cold and it will upset him.
Just to quickly sum this up, I'd be very appreciative and thankful if any of you could provide me with the answers to my questions. I'd also extremely appreciate any extra information or changes I could make that would be more suitable for Charlie.
I really just want the best for my beardie and I honestly would just appreciate anybody helping me out here.
Thank you for taking the time to read this (very, very long question, apologies for that!) and I'm so glad I have finally decided to join this forum rather than reading other people's questions and not asking my own, lol!
I own a 2 year, 8 months old bearded dragon named Charlie.
Here's some basic information about Charlie, his setup and diet, I'm basing this information on the email I have received from this website which included the most commonly needed info.
Diet:
Charlie had recently switched from crickets to dubia roaches. He loves them! Which makes me happy. He is currently eating around 4-5 medium ones every second day. (I'm worried the fully grown adult dubia's would be too big.)
He is also eating vegetables every day which includes dandelion greens, collars greens and very occasionally bell pepper.
Home:
Charlie's tank is a 120cm vivexotic with the shelves removed (he never bothered with them, so I removed them and bought some 'accessories' such as a ramp, and a few extra ornaments to fill the space alongside the logs etc he has had since he first arrived.)
His setup is- 15watt Arcadia UV lighting and fixture, an 100 watt heat bulb, he is currently living on (as substrate) reptile carpet but also use newspaper as a backup, if the carpet needs cleaning after him doing the toilet, generally getting messy etc.
Charlie's weight and length:
Charlie is 550 grams in weight and he measures just over 21 inches long (measuring from tip of his nose, to very end of his tail.)
Extra info:
Charlie has always been very healthy. Never had any health issues and at vet visits (nail clipping, his nails can get very 'scratchy' and since he is handled daily we decided to clip his nails every once in a while.) the vet has always complimented him.
I have been 'lurking' in the background of this site for a while. I really do love reading the forums, questions and general discussions.
I have finally decided to join and post this based upon a few questions I have, so I can be the best owner i possibly can be, for Charlie.
1. Is Charlie a healthy weight for his size? Re-cap: Charlie weights 550g and is just over 21 inches long.
2. Is Charlie's diet suitable? I'm feeding him on based what I have read online but would just like to 'double-check' from you all here that this is 100% suitable for him.
3. This isn't really a question as such, more a statement. I took Charlie to the vet around 6 months ago. I have always called him 'he' but have never known what sex Charlie really is. I went to the vet with him and the vet (who is specialised in reptiles) said that he could not tell, that Charlie was borderline female, borderline male. Is this the case sometimes? That even vet's can't tell the sex of the beardie or did I just get a vet who wasn't totally clued up?
4. Should I try and find a larger vivarium for Charlie? I have debated this for a while and upon searching Amazon the largest tank I could find was only 2 or 3 centimetres larger than the one he currently has. If anyone could recommend any larger than his current one, tanks I would extremely appreciate it.
5. Charlie is out of his tank for around 40 minutes in total everyday. I don't like to take him out 'too much' at a time as, although the heating gets turned up for him, I'm afraid he will get cold and it will upset him.
Just to quickly sum this up, I'd be very appreciative and thankful if any of you could provide me with the answers to my questions. I'd also extremely appreciate any extra information or changes I could make that would be more suitable for Charlie.
I really just want the best for my beardie and I honestly would just appreciate anybody helping me out here.
Thank you for taking the time to read this (very, very long question, apologies for that!) and I'm so glad I have finally decided to join this forum rather than reading other people's questions and not asking my own, lol!