Introducing Beebz

[Axil]

We purchased a Bearded Dragon for my daughter about a month ago, and I’ve found this forum/website to be an outstanding resource. So I thought I’d make a post first to say thank you to all of you who have made this experience easier on our family and of course our new pet, and also to introduce BB (aka “Beebz”) to this wonderful community.

This story really starts three years ago when after doing a lot of research we went to a local reptile expo and purchased a Beardy directly from a breeder there. Tragically it refused to eat and died just two days after bringing it home. That experience was very traumatizing for both me and my daughter and we were only recently able to find it in our hearts to try again.

Beebz lives in an ExoTerra 18lx18wx12h vivarium which she is quickly outgrowing and will hopefully soon be making the jump to a 120g enclosure. I estimate she is around 3 months old as we’ve had her about a month and we got a an estimate of 6-8 weeks from the reptile store we bought her from. She weighs roughly 36g and is about 10-11” nose to tail. She was under 7” when we got her so she has grown quite a bit.

She used to live on “ReptiChips” but after discovering that was a terrible idea she now lives on paper towels. She seems a little sad about that as she enjoyed digging around in the chips but as she licks everything I certainly don’t want anything in there that could hurt her. I actually purchased a bag of “biodude” arid substrate but after learning about impaction risks was too nervous to use it.

She eats collard greens every morning and gets ¼” Dubai Roaches three times a day. She eats very well, now consuming roughly 100 of the little buggies a day and slightly larger ones are now in the mail! She has a water bowl, but she doesn’t seem to like to drink out of it. She doesn’t mind if the roaches are heavily misted though so I believe she gets enough water that way. Her basking spot is stays between 106-112 degrees and she enjoys sitting there, occasionally gaping, and when she’s had enough she’ll climb onto her hammock where it’s 78-82f and rest and cool off.

She has shed once since we got her and looks like she’s getting ready to shed again, as she’s turning light and losing a few flakes around her face. We have a hard time keeping the humidity over 20% as it is very dry here in winter, but with two bowls of water and a bit of misting we are able to manage it most of the time. She gets a bath once or twice a week but that doesn’t tend to last long as she doesn’t seem to like it very much and will try to make a run for it after a minute or two.

Her UVB situation is a bit odd as we initially had a dual fixture with a coil UV light before discovering this was not a good idea. I replaced it with a large 34” T5HO fixture with a Reptisun 10 I had purchased for our previous Dragon, and suspended the light about an inch over the enclosure, about 2/3rds of the way across. The shiny reflector tore off when I removed the blue plastic. I got a replacement reflector but haven’t actually used it yet as I’m unsure if that would actually be too much UVB especially considering she likes to climb the back wall which puts can put her 5-6 inches diagonally from the light.

She has not yet had a vet visit and I know she needs once, but a combination of awful personal experiences and antecdotes from my sister who spent years volunteering at a vets office has made me anxious about trusting one, particularly when I’ve been unable to find a well reviewed reptile specialist in my area. If any of you live near Danbury CT and have a vet you like please let me know.



Well this has turned into a really long post and it’s about to time to feed her so if anyone actually took the time to read all of it, thanks for putting up with my ramblings and thank you all again for providing a resource for new beardy owners like

 

[KarrieRee]

We purchased a Bearded Dragon for my daughter about a month ago, and I’ve found this forum/website to be an outstanding resource. So I thought I’d make a post first to say thank you to all of you who have made this experience easier on our family and of course our new pet, and also to introduce BB (aka “Beebz”) to this wonderful community. View attachment 78412

This story really starts three years ago when after doing a lot of research we went to a local reptile expo and purchased a Beardy directly from a breeder there. Tragically it refused to eat and died just two days after bringing it home. That experience was very traumatizing for both me and my daughter and we were only recently able to find it in our hearts to try again.

Beebz lives in an ExoTerra 18lx18wx12h vivarium which she is quickly outgrowing and will hopefully soon be making the jump to a 120g enclosure. I estimate she is around 3 months old as we’ve had her about a month and we got a an estimate of 6-8 weeks from the reptile store we bought her from. She weighs roughly 36g and is about 10-11” nose to tail. She was under 7” when we got her so she has grown quite a bit. View attachment 78413

She used to live on “ReptiChips” but after discovering that was a terrible idea she now lives on paper towels. She seems a little sad about that as she enjoyed digging around in the chips but as she licks everything I certainly don’t want anything in there that could hurt her. I actually purchased a bag of “biodude” arid substrate but after learning about impaction risks was too nervous to use it.

She eats collard greens every morning and gets ¼” Dubai Roaches three times a day. She eats very well, now consuming roughly 100 of the little buggies a day and slightly larger ones are now in the mail! She has a water bowl, but she doesn’t seem to like to drink out of it. She doesn’t mind if the roaches are heavily misted though so I believe she gets enough water that way. Her basking spot is stays between 106-112 degrees and she enjoys sitting there, occasionally gaping, and when she’s had enough she’ll climb onto her hammock where it’s 78-82f and rest and cool off.

She has shed once since we got her and looks like she’s getting ready to shed again, as she’s turning light and losing a few flakes around her face. We have a hard time keeping the humidity over 20% as it is very dry here in winter, but with two bowls of water and a bit of misting we are able to manage it most of the time. She gets a bath once or twice a week but that doesn’t tend to last long as she doesn’t seem to like it very much and will try to make a run for it after a minute or two.

Her UVB situation is a bit odd as we initially had a dual fixture with a coil UV light before discovering this was not a good idea. I replaced it with a large 34” T5HO fixture with a Reptisun 10 I had purchased for our previous Dragon, and suspended the light about an inch over the enclosure, about 2/3rds of the way across. The shiny reflector tore off when I removed the blue plastic. I got a replacement reflector but haven’t actually used it yet as I’m unsure if that would actually be too much UVB especially considering she likes to climb the back wall which puts can put her 5-6 inches diagonally from the light.

She has not yet had a vet visit and I know she needs once, but a combination of awful personal experiences and antecdotes from my sister who spent years volunteering at a vets office has made me anxious about trusting one, particularly when I’ve been unable to find a well reviewed reptile specialist in my area. If any of you live near Danbury CT and have a vet you like please let me know.



Well this has turned into a really long post and it’s about to time to feed her so if anyone actually took the time to read all of it, thanks for putting up with my ramblings and thank you all again for providing a resource for new beardy owners like

Welcome to the forum --- sorry to hear about the bad experience w/ the first one--- it is heartbreaking to have them pass on you and after 2 days I am thinking the dragon was sick when you got him
Ok so lets up the size of the dubias please --- go to this website www.dubiaroaches.com and look at their size chart for her --- please get roaches no bigger than the space between her eyes -- she should be not quite eating that many roaches as they are more filling but they need to be the correct size as well --- you do want the reflector back on the fixture of the UVB distance should be 12-15 inches directly above her basking decor piece -- the reflector will enhance the rays and direct the rays downward toward her - this is what you want -- but distance plays a role along w/ placement so that distance I gave you is for it being in the tank or unobstructed no screen--- your tank is only 12" high? It looks taller in the pic-- you definitely want a taller tank like the 4x2x2 -- 120 gallon -- humidity can be a pain --- you can look at getting a humidifier placed next to the tank - how are you getting the humidity ? Analogs are inaccurate you want a digital probe hygrometer placed on the back center wall of the tank 40-50% is optimal and nothing under 20 or over 70% -- are you feeding salads? If not please start -- here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale info its outdated Nutrition Content
You can spray her nose / head and see if you can get her to lick or you can use a eye dropper to give her water -- but the salads are usually how they get most of the moisture if shes eating them -- bathing as well but it can stress them out -- does she drink when shes in the bath?
Here is a website for a reptile vet www.arav.org type in a bigger cities zip code if your in a small area and I recommend you not taking her in quite yet unless shes really sick --- it will stress her out more -- you can get some textured NON adhesive shelf liner for the tank found at Walmart or your local home improvement store cut to the size of the tank clean w/ vinegar/ water 50/50 wipe down w/a clean wet dish rag etc -- when you get the 4x2x2 tank there is a matt that Zen Habitats has that works good for 4x2x2 tanks --

 

[Axil]

Thank you @KarrieRee for all your advice. Let me try to address everything your brought up. Please let me know if i miss anything.

We've been very careful about not giving her anything larger than the space between her eyes. I didn't know the roaches could be too small. I kinda figured 2 small roaches had the same nutritional value as 1 big one twice the size. I did just order 1000 more roaches from the website you mentioned unfortunately i only went up one size to 3/8.

We initially were limiting her to 15-20 roaches per meal, but as she would eat them in about 1-2 minutes and most of the research i had done indicated they ought to get as many as they can eat in 10-15 minutes we gradually increased them. She still finishes eating in 3-5 minutes but she will sometimes leave roaches now, and doesn't seem to eat them in as much of a hurry as she used to.

Do Collard Greens count as "a salad" i normally chop of a bunch of them (no pieces are larger than the space between her eyes) and give them to her while i prepare her morning roaches. She eats a fair amount of it most mornings.

The UV situation is a pain, here is a picture of the top of the tank (it's definitely 12") :

.
s

so as you can see there's a big bar in the middle that makes light placement difficult. and i can't move the light across to the other side of the bar because it hangs out across my daughters room and there is furniture in the way. I can't move the basking light to the side with the foam rock wall because it will heat the climbing surface up to 140f. And she will do this:

So i'm kind of at a loss for how to improve the layout until we upgrade her enclosure. She spends a fair amount of time hanging out on the wall which i think is pretty well hit by the UVB in it's current position. The little UVB cards i have show full UVB coverage over most of the cage, i know they are not super accurate but they hardly lit up at all for Coil light.

I have two digital probes for humidity. The one placed in the center of the backwall will stay around 16-18% unless i do a lot of misting. I have a humidifier in the room but it's too powerful i think. It will take the room up to 70% but the enclosure still hangs around 25%. I worry that at night it will get really humid, so i'm kinda playing with it trying to find the right balance.

She will occasionally lick off a drop of water if we put it on her head. She did this more when we first got her but recently i've been spraying the roaches (she gets them in a dish) so they are damp when she eats them. I normally do it one or two of her three daily feedings so i don't overhydrate her. I always spray the greens. She doesn't drink in the bath, she mostly looks terrified then makes a run for it after a minute or two.

I'm really torn on the whole substrate issue. She really loved digging, and i was considering using a highly regarded loose substrate like the biodude stuff i bought. I've read articles that suggest this is ok, or even preferable to solid substrates in healthy Beardies and of course i've also read the horror stories about impaction.

*edit* oh, and on the new 120g tank. Is the kit from DubaiRoaches.com well regarded here? It's much more affordable than the all glass ones, I wouldn't be able to afford one that size from a place like CarolinaCustom

 

[KarrieRee]

Thank you @KarrieRee for all your advice. Let me try to address everything your brought up. Please let me know if i miss anything.

We've been very careful about not giving her anything larger than the space between her eyes. I didn't know the roaches could be too small. I kinda figured 2 small roaches had the same nutritional value as 1 big one twice the size. I did just order 1000 more roaches from the website you mentioned unfortunately i only went up one size to 3/8.

We initially were limiting her to 15-20 roaches per meal, but as she would eat them in about 1-2 minutes and most of the research i had done indicated they ought to get as many as they can eat in 10-15 minutes we gradually increased them. She still finishes eating in 3-5 minutes but she will sometimes leave roaches now, and doesn't seem to eat them in as much of a hurry as she used to.

Do Collard Greens count as "a salad" i normally chop of a bunch of them (no pieces are larger than the space between her eyes) and give them to her while i prepare her morning roaches. She eats a fair amount of it most mornings.

The UV situation is a pain, here is a picture of the top of the tank (it's definitely 12") :

.
s View attachment 78418
so as you can see there's a big bar in the middle that makes light placement difficult. and i can't move the light across to the other side of the bar because it hangs out across my daughters room and there is furniture in the way. I can't move the basking light to the side with the foam rock wall because it will heat the climbing surface up to 140f. And she will do this:
View attachment 78419
So i'm kind of at a loss for how to improve the layout until we upgrade her enclosure. She spends a fair amount of time hanging out on the wall which i think is pretty well hit by the UVB in it's current position. The little UVB cards i have show full UVB coverage over most of the cage, i know they are not super accurate but they hardly lit up at all for Coil light.

I have two digital probes for humidity. The one placed in the center of the backwall will stay around 16-18% unless i do a lot of misting. I have a humidifier in the room but it's too powerful i think. It will take the room up to 70% but the enclosure still hangs around 25%. I worry that at night it will get really humid, so i'm kinda playing with it trying to find the right balance.

She will occasionally lick off a drop of water if we put it on her head. She did this more when we first got her but recently i've been spraying the roaches (she gets them in a dish) so they are damp when she eats them. I normally do it one or two of her three daily feedings so i don't overhydrate her. I always spray the greens. She doesn't drink in the bath, she mostly looks terrified then makes a run for it after a minute or two.

I'm really torn on the whole substrate issue. She really loved digging, and i was considering using a highly regarded loose substrate like the biodude stuff i bought. I've read articles that suggest this is ok, or even preferable to solid substrates in healthy Beardies and of course i've also read the horror stories about impaction.

*edit* oh, and on the new 120g tank. Is the kit from DubaiRoaches.com well regarded here? It's much more affordable than the all glass ones, I wouldn't be able to afford one that size from a place like CarolinaCustom

You can get the tank from dubia roaches is this the one your getting you want the tank only Reptile Habitats 4x2x2 PVC Reptile Enclosure | $299 Free Shipping -- you really dont want a all glass one anyway -- it saves on the reflection thing and they are real expensive and heavy--- you want the tank w/ humidity around 40-50% shut the humidifier off at night --- tanks will go up in humidity at night that is normal -- as far as the UVB leave it on the top of the screen and place a piece of basking decor directly under it 8-10 inches I was giving distance for it w/ no screen sorry ---those UVB cards are inaccurate - you want a solar meter for accuracy and they are expensive -- watch the poops -- the poop should be dark formed and moist the urate needs to be white formed and moist you dont want dried out chalky looking then shes dehydrated -- if she has liquid in the poop shes just hydrated and not to be concerned --
yes collards are good I would mix a different green for her I think I posted a nutrition website for you

 

[xp29]

I have that same habitat, i cut the screen out (then ended up hanging the light inside anyway. At 34 inches i doubt it would fit inside, thats a long light. Even in a 120 gallon 24 inches is plenty.
As far as baths, if she won't drink there is absolutely no point. (Unless she has poop on her or something) one of the worst pieces of misinformation is that they hydrate by soaking. THEY DO NOT, they have to ingest water to hydrate. So there is no reason to terrorize her with an arbitrary bath.
Also lizards use the same muscle group to walk and to breathe.they can't do both at once. As such they cant swim and breath at the same time either, so baths can end in tragedy very quickly if they can't lay flat and still keep their nose above the water. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just making sure your aware. Baths should always be supervised for the entire bath.
She is a cutie btw, i agree with Karrieree the first one was already sick healthy beardies don't pass away in two days.
Oh and welcome to the forums, ask about anything at all, it's always better to ask than to guess

 

[Axil]

Thanks for the replies. Just posting an update. I put the new reflector on the UVB fixture, and added a second basking platform directly under it. Also have a humidifier running in the room she is in. Is it normal that even though the entire room is at 75% humidity the enclosure is still sitting at 25%? I have multiple humidity monitors in the enclosure and they all agree it is indeed around 25%

By the way, should i be concerned that when she climbs up on her hammock she looks like this? She used sleep there every night and i'd be worried because this is what she looked like each morning:

Within an hour or so she'd be basking and look like her normal pretty self though:

We also got her new roaches today, and woah there was a big jump between 1/4 and 3/8. Which will make feeding her a lot cheaper, going through 1000 roaches in under two weeks was expensive!

After changing things around in the cage to fit the new basking site she ran around like a crazy thing, licking everything again. She very rarely actually hangs out directly under the UV light but she did sit there for a minute two today.

I also managed to sell our old 125G aquarium, to make room to get Beebz a bigger enclosure. We had tried to use it in our first attempt at Beardy keeping and it was huge pain. I would never use an enclosure without front opening doors again. Once it's gone i can modify the custom stand I'd made (because it's only 18" across *sigh*) into 6'x2' which will hold the new 4x2x2, and leave room to put Beebz old house beside it in case we ever want to house a critter that can utilize an 18"x18" as a forever home. Hopefully we don't move any time soon because I don't think I'll be able to get that behemoth out the door.

Questions:

@xp29 mentioned that a 24" UVB is enough for a 120g Is my 37" too big? I'd rather not buy a new one if i don't have to.

I realize baths aren't actually a hydration aid unless water is ingested in the bath. I also make sure the water is never above her knees and watch her carefully. Does it help with shed though, or is that also a myth? She's looked like she needed to shed for about a week and a half now and aside from a few flakes on her face has not.

And lastly, is it ok to post all these pictures? I take pictures of her constantly because i'm obsessive and probable (ok definitely) a little insane. But if it's considered bad form to throw them all through the posts like this i can tone it down =)

 

[hdochow]

@xp29 mentioned that a 24" UVB is enough for a 120g Is my 37" too big? I'd rather not buy a new one if i don't have to.


And lastly, is it ok to post all these pictures? I take pictures of her constantly because i'm obsessive and probable (ok definitely) a little insane. But if it's considered bad form to throw them all through the posts like this i can tone it down =)

Is the 37" the fixture or the bulb itself? I have a 36" fixture and the bulb is 34". If that's what you have it should work fine.

And lastly, is it ok to post all these pictures? I take pictures of her constantly because i'm obsessive and probable (ok definitely) a little insane. But if it's considered bad form to throw them all through the posts like this i can tone it down =)

The more pics the better!!! You'll find that most of us will care about your dragons ALMOST as much as you do! We get invested for sure!

Not to mention, when you're trying to get things "just right" for them, or if something is wrong, the pictures are very helpful because we can actually see what you are talking about.

 

[Axil]

Is the 37" the fixture or the bulb itself? I have a 36" fixture and the bulb is 34". If that's what you have it should work fine.


The more pics the better!!! You'll find that most of us will care about your dragons ALMOST as much as you do! We get invested for sure!

Not to mention, when you're trying to get things "just right" for them, or if something is wrong, the pictures are very helpful because we can actually see what you are talking about.

The bulb is indeed 34" good to know that will work.

Also glad the pictures are OK. It does help me explain what I'm trying to communicate.

Also I just remembered a question I keep forgetting to ask.

How often do I need to dust calcium? I have both d3 and w/o d3. The pet store said just dust with d3 twice a week but that didn't mesh with a lot of the research I did. I've been alternating one day of cal/w d3 one feeding. One day calcium no d3 one feeding, one day no dusting. Also do I need a vitamin? If so which one and how often?

 

[KarrieRee]

The bulb is indeed 34" good to know that will work.

Also glad the pictures are OK. It does help me explain what I'm trying to communicate.

Also I just remembered a question I keep forgetting to ask.

How often do I need to dust calcium? I have both d3 and w/o d3. The pet store said just dust with d3 twice a week but that didn't mesh with a lot of the research I did. I've been alternating one day of cal/w d3 one feeding. One day calcium no d3 one feeding, one day no dusting. Also do I need a vitamin? If so which one and how often?

Please do not listen to the pet store people -- they often give bad advice like w/this -- you want to dust his insects 5 x per week w/ calcium D3 ONCE per feeding lightly coated -- vitamins w / beta carotene 2 x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated -- the w/ out D3 will come when he turns a year old

 

[Axil]

Please do not listen to the pet store people -- they often give bad advice like w/this -- you want to dust his insects 5 x per week w/ calcium D3 ONCE per feeding lightly coated -- vitamins w / beta carotene 2 x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated -- the w/ out D3 will come when he turns a year old

Ugh, I should have asked sooner I hate that she has been getting shorted.

Just so I understand, when you say once per feeding you mean every time I feed that day, or one time I feed that day?

Is there a particular brand of vitamin that you trust?

 

[KarrieRee]

Ugh, I should have asked sooner I hate that she has been getting shorted.

Just so I understand, when you say once per feeding you mean every time I feed that day, or one time I feed that day?

Is there a particular brand of vitamin that you trust?

ONE time per feeding that day -- so if hes eating 2 times a day dust only once-- I dont have any vitamins that I can recommend but if you order on line w/ other things you need like extra basking bulbs etc you will get it cheaper -- thats because of shipping -- you dont want to order just that one thing --

Zoo Med ReptiVite Multivitamin

Add nutrients to your pet's diet with Zoo Med Reptivite reptile vitamins. Order this multivitamin and other nutritional supplements for your pet now at Pangea Reptile.

www.pangeareptile.com

 

[Axil]

Gotcha. I was able to get the brand you linked on amazon for under $4, so that's taken care of.

Thank you again for helping so quickly. Kicking myself for not giving her enough.

I wonder if that's why her shed seems to be taking so long. Is there anything I should be looking out for? Now I'm worried I gave her MBD.

 

[KarrieRee]

Gotcha. I was able to get the brand you linked on amazon for under $4, so that's taken care of.

Thank you again for helping so quickly. Kicking myself for not giving her enough.

I wonder if that's why her shed seems to be taking so long. Is there anything I should be looking out for? Now I'm worried I gave her MBD.

No the UVB is what keeps MBD and other illnesses away--- humidity in the tank is what helps w/ shed -- you need a digital probe hygrometer for that placed on the back center wall of the tank - analogs are usually way off -- you want humidity in the tank 40-50 % that is optimal - you dont want under 20 and over 70% -- make sure your UVB is properly placed and distanced -- are you just using the one 34" UVB? I thought I saw another one on top of the tank ---

 

[Axil]

You might have seen the picture when we were still using the coil uvb. That's gone now, she has been using just the 34" T5 (extended about 12 inches across the 18 inch enclosure) for weeks now

And the humidity is now registering at 25% on my digital probe hygrometer. This matches my other digital hydrometer, and this is as hugh as it will go despite the room being at 75% humidity and visible mist in the room =/

 

[KarrieRee]

You might have seen the picture when we were still using the coil uvb. That's gone now, she has been using just the 34" T5 (extended about 12 inches across the 18 inch enclosure) for weeks now

And the humidity is now registering at 25% on my digital probe hygrometer. This matches my other digital hydrometer, and this is as hugh as it will go despite the room being at 75% humidity and visible mist in the room =/

Ok I am having a hard time getting mine to 25% during the day -- its around 20-22% and I have a humidifier going right next to the 2 tanks -- it goes up to 30% at night -- so the UVB needs to be directly over a piece of basking decor w/ it being 8-10 inches -- for it to sit on top of the screen you want that distance