Introducing Morris

[jkunnen]

Well. I am the proud owner of a 7 inch bd named Morris. I am going to post this with hopes somebody will respond in a gentle way. Here is the story: I am a 3rd grade science teacher who teaches a major animal unit. I have one of every type of animal in my room, except for a reptile. One of my parents very generously brought me Morris. Now, the thought was there, but after reading all through your forums, I find I have a few problems...which I hope you all will help me with.
1. The good: Morris has a 20 gallon aquarium with a screen top. He has an under tank reptile warmer on 24 hours. He also has a 100 watt bulb to bask under with a metal dome that sits on his cage. He has a stick to climb closer to it.

Now the bad: I was told to only feed him 5 crickets a day, so that is what he has been given for a week 1/2. I have been reading that they should eat anywhere between 10-20 crickets...so I am concerned with that. I do feed him a dish full of food processed sweet pot, romain, yellow squach and carrots. I have seen him eat this also. SO I guess I need to up the crickets correct?

2. His uv light cannot fit all the way across because the baskinglight gets a bit in the way. but it is probably 80 over the top. Is that ok?
3. I was turning lights on at 7:30 and off at 4:00. But today I bought a timer so that it will go on at 7:00 and off at 5:00....should I up that?
4. Will he be ok with a mound of the vegie mix over the weekends? On 3 day weekends I will feed him crickets over the time, and for vacations i will bring him home. Will this work?
5. He is adorable, and active...he has already had a shed.
6. I was told to buy reptile sand, so I suppose I should take that out? and I also saw some enclosures with rocks stacked...If I go get some rock and break them into stackable pieces, how do I prepare them before puttingthem in his home?

** I now know the classroom is not the PERFECT home because of weekends, but please get me through this as me, and the kids, love him.
Thanks for all your help....

 

[xjosephine64X]

It sounds pretty good so far except the amount of crix and the sand. I would take that out till he get to be older then use washed sifted play sand you can get at lowes or wally world. You should feed a baby as many crix as they will eat in 15 min three times a day. As for him only eating salad on the weekends I dont think that is good, it will dry out after the first day and as a baby they should have protein every day. You could try worms in the viv for the weekend so he can munch when he is hungry. Silk worms are great for leaving in the cage, they dont run away and will stay in a bowl. The best would be for you to set up a viv at your house and take him home with you till he is an adult. When they reach 1 yr you only feed them live food twice a week so you would not have a prob leaving him in the class room over the weekend. As for the timer for the lights. I set it to actual day light hrs. So they go on at dawn and goes off at sun set.

 

[tigerlily]

Wow. I think it's great that you're planning on taking care of a beardie for your class. To make your life a little easier, maybe you could get a sterilite container to feed him in and have one of your students be responsible to get in a little early each day and feed him before school and before they go home by putting 10 crix in the tub at a time. If he eats all 10, have the student put another 10 in.

Silkies might be a neat idea for your class too -- if you let one of them get big enough, they'll spin a coccoon and you can see a silk moth. Plus beardies enjoy eating the moths and that could be fun too.

As for the weekends, I'd tell you to plan on taking him home. Baby beardies are very delicate and they can get sick fairly easily.

 

[diamc]

It's great that the kids can learn about beardies. They are the tamest of reptiles.

Have you checked the basking and cool temperatures? If so, what are they and what are you using to measure them with? What type of UVB light are you using?

I would remove the sand and replace it with either tile, slate or non-adhesive shelf liner. Any of those would be much safer.

Also, he should be fed more crickets. He should be fed all the crickets he can eat in a 10 to 15 min timeframe but make sure they're no bigger than the distance between his eyes.

He also need hydration. Is he offered a drink by medicine dropper or misted outside the viv? Also, has he ever had a bath?

Good luck with his care. Very hard to advise you with his feeding if he isn't getting what he really needs to eat over the weekends.

 

[diamc]

It's great that the kids can learn about beardies. They are the tamest of reptiles.

Have you checked the basking and cool temperatures? If so, what are they and what are you using to measure them with? What type of UVB light are you using?

I would remove the sand and replace it with either tile, slate or non-adhesive shelf liner. Any of those would be much safer.

Also, he should be fed more crickets. He should be fed all the crickets he can eat in a 10 to 15 min timeframe but make sure they're no bigger than the distance between his eyes.

He also need hydration. Is he offered a drink by medicine dropper or misted outside the viv? Also, has he ever had a bath?

Good luck with his care. Very hard to advise you with his feeding if he isn't getting what he really needs to eat over the weekends.

Also, here's a site of nutritional greens that you could print out and share with the students. As listed, there are some much better than others.
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/nutrition.html