Is this normal?

[noella5088]

Allie's 13 inches, 20 gallon tall for now. Paper towels as substrate. I noticed that when she basks, she stretches out her left leg across the rock. Is that normal? Or is this weird basking? I haven't seen her do that before. But the temperature is in the mid 80s. She also ate 5 crickets at one. (I wait four hours before giving her her crickets.) Her breakfast was at 9 A.M. vegetable salad of mustard greens, turnip greens, and kale.

http://beardeddragonallie.webs.com/apps/photos/

I took a picture and put it on my site. I'm worried about her being hurt.

 

[Ostrommaysi]

You mean she straightened her leg out? Sounds to me like she was giving off some "Sexy Leg" as beardie slaves around here like to call it. Beardies stretching out their legs as they bask or sleep ect is not uncommon. In fact my beardie makes a career of it. Looking at the picture it looks exactly like what she is doing. I wouldn't worry at all that's perfectly normal.

I have a picture of my beardie, much younger then he is now in the pic, giving off duel sexy leg. If it helps comfort you.
http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/oo159/Dispsosaurus/VittiSexyLeg1.png

As for basking temps you will want them in the upper 90s.

 

[noella5088]

75 watt reptile bulb, intense. My house's colder during the winter months, but I've had the tank 89-90. I even gave the crickets a 10 gallon tank to themselves. I need to keep an eye out on her food. She's been eating breakfast at nine in the morning and lunch of 5 crickets.

 

[Ostrommaysi]

I'm going to assume the reptile bulb is not what your using for UVB.

You don't have to use reptile heating bulbs to properly heat your dragon. I've had great success with regular bulbs and flood lamps that you buy at any store. Right now I'm using a regular ol 75w flood lamp I got from the dollar store. Works perfectly fine. For heating purposes its all about getting them warm. Reptile bulbs do nothing that a a regular bulb won't. Make sure you have a digital thermometer to properly take temps with. You don't want to burn your beardie.

As for eating, do not be afraid to let your beardie pig out. Its fine to let your growing friend chow down. A good standard is the feed them twice a day, letting them gobble up as much as they want for 10 or 15 minutes, then remove the rest. It is expensive to feed a beardie, specially a growing one.

 

[noella5088]

No. They told me she didn't need one *From the pet store.*, but all she needed was something to bask by. Um, should I say that I let her bask in the sun by the window.

 

[rdoyle]

No She cant get any UVB from the windows becouse glass blocks it all out. She need a UVB asap. Most ppl use the liner tub Reptsun 10 or ARCADIA.

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com

 

[AtlasStrike]

She also needs to EAT. Salads are good, but growing beardies need protein. My guy is 13 inches and gobbles 25-50 3/4 inch crickets a day in 1-3 feedings. They also really need UVB. Without it, no matter what you feed or what supplements you give, they cannot metabolize calcium and will steal it from their bones, this will cause decreased bone density, deformations, vomiting, seizures and other symptoms before they die.

Trying to live and grow without UVB, may cause bone breaks like osteoperosis or brittle bone disease in people. Get a UVB ReptiSUN 10.0 or arcadia 12% linear florescent ASAP, make sure you have accurate probe thermometers reading the temps and they are correct, and let your guy go to town on crickets.

Pet stores are always wrong. You can order feeders online for much cheaper than you can buy them locally. Crickets, roaches, repti-worms etc are all good.

 

[noella5088]

She also needs to EAT. Salads are good, but growing beardies need protein. My guy is 13 inches and gobbles 25-50 3/4 inch crickets a day in 1-3 feedings. They also really need UVB. Without it, no matter what you feed or what supplements you give, they cannot metabolize calcium and will steal it from their bones, this will cause decreased bone density, deformations, vomiting, seizures and other symptoms before they die.

Trying to live and grow without UVB, may cause bone breaks like osteoperosis or brittle bone disease in people. Get a UVB ReptiSUN 10.0 or arcadia 12% linear florescent ASAP, make sure you have accurate probe thermometers reading the temps and they are correct, and let your guy go to town on crickets.

Pet stores are always wrong. You can order feeders online for much cheaper than you can buy them locally. Crickets, roaches, repti-worms etc are all good.

My girl is 13 inches and the previous owners were overfeeding her with 10-12 crickets every day. So if you calculate 22 x 7 in the week period, you get 154 crickets in a week.

Allie was constipated, all the crickets she had eaten were whole and I had to rub her belly she could pass all those crickets. After cutting down her crickets and giving her more vegetables like: Kale, Mustard Greens, and turnip greens, she began getting more active, more healthful, and she's pooping and peeing regularly. When she had her first BM: it was hard as a rock, undigested crickets with the heads and bodies and a undigested grated carrot.

Plus, the pet store clerk has a bearded dragon at home so she sold me almost all the stuff she would need. She even fixed my lamp because there was tape on it. I am going to update this tank as soon as I can.

Too many crickets. They're supposed to have less crickets and more vegetables. How long have you had your bearded dragon?

I appreciate the replies, but I only asked one question and that was about her sexy leg. Not food. I already found out how much my baby needs to eat.

 

[PumpkinJelly]

Yup! It's totally normal, like others said. It's the Sexy Leg! Aren't Beardies the cutest little buggers?

I see you guys are having sort of a disagreement on feeding. It's really all up to the Beardie, if you asked me!

The two posters above are very correct when they say you allow your Beardie to eat as much as they can in a 10-15 minute feeding. Don't be afraid to give your Beardie lots of little buggies, they love them! You're doing GREAT with the types of veggies you're using. Kale is very good! As for too many crickets, I buy over 300 crickets per week! They are very expensive to feed, indeed!

Are you using a UVB? Heat and UVB are the most crucial pieces to have a healthy Beardie. Someone above talked about MBD, and it's neccessary to have a UVB light (reptisun 10.0 and arcadia tubes are the best!) UVB rays cannot penetrate through glass, so you'll need a UVB! :wink:

You're doing pretty good as a Beardie owner, it's just that people here are trying to help. Don't feel criticized or be offended, nobody here is trying to hurt your feelings. Everyone here is very nice, and will be happy to answer any questions and offer tips. May I ask what your Beardie's name is? I'm sure your Beardie is VERY cute!!

Have an AWESOME day!

 

[Kalyn876]

Usually undigested food is a sign of low basking spot temps. I'm not sure how old your beardie is but generally 1-8 months of age should be 80%protein:20%greens then 50:50 until about a year from there 80% greens : 20% protein. Basking spot should be 98-105 depending on your dragons preference.


Kalyn

 

[noella5088]

Usually undigested food is a sign of low basking spot temps. I'm not sure how old your beardie is but generally 1-8 months of age should be 80%protein:20%greens then 50:50 until about a year from there 80% greens : 20% protein. Basking spot should be 98-105 depending on your dragons preference.


Kalyn

The first few days were on a 50 watt. Now it's an intense beam 75 watt bulb. Her first one was hard, but after that, she started having less hard. More like easy to pass. I also soak her in some warm water in the mornings. It does help her. I put cardboard on the top of the tank to keep in the heat. I don't know how old she is either, but she's at the 13 inch mark on the measuring stick. I can only guess she's five months old. But I'm not sure. My dragon likes her basking temperature in the 90s or she starts panting. She has available fresh water in a pool she can settle in, but there's no hideaway. I can't find one anywhere.

 

[AtlasStrike]

The whole purpose of forums is to educate and discuss. You were concerned about an injury to her leg, and while she may not have one currently, I pointed out several problems which may lead to injury in the future. How long I have had my beardie is irrelevant to the advice I am offering. You will find (if you look around) that my advice is well intentioned and usually in agreement with general husbandry practices.

 

[noella5088]

The whole purpose of forums is to educate and discuss. You were concerned about an injury to her leg, and while she may not have one currently, I pointed out several problems which may lead to injury in the future. How long I have had my beardie is irrelevant to the advice I am offering. You will find (if you look around) that my advice is well intentioned and usually in agreement with general husbandry practices.

The reason I asked how long you had your beardie IS relevant to what you're feeding him. Everyone I speak to says she should eat twice a day.. salads and then 5-6 crickets per feeding. Mine are soft shelled and the owner before me was feeding her 12 crickets a day with hardly any vegetables. She had a regular light bulb which did not give off as much heat as my reptibulb.. which is an intense basking spot. I had a 50W reptibulb at first in a smaller tank,but when I moved up to the 20 gal, I bought a 75W. The temps inside are perfect. She is not suffering and is full of energy.

I'm really sorry if you are all upset at the way I respond,but I have Autism and not using that as an excuse, I sometimes seem abrupt or offensive. I can tell you right now that I am not!

Now, Atlas Strike, please tell me how long you've owned your dragon. I was told by a "pro" that he kept his 2 dragons in one tank and fed them alot of crickets and they died from aggression and overeating. They killed each other. They were obese, he said. When I got her she was constipated. She is no longer constipated on the greens.

She ate 11 crickets today and didn't want more. One day I put a few in and she ignored them totally. So, tell me, should I just stuff her with crickets like you do with yours? Is yours a baby? They eat 25 a day. Juvies don't. Adults don't. So you see, it IS relevant.

I have read many forums and sites on the internet and did a lot of research and everyone else that I spoke to said to give her 10 crickets every other day. These are people who have had their beardies for years, with no injuries or mishaps.

Another thing, I am going to get a UVB bulb. I knew that, but I just had put out over $200 for her and really have to wait to get more money. I think that's pretty normal in this economy.

I came here for advice,but it seems you got insulted when questioned, so I know who to avoid. Thanks to the rest of you.

 

[noella5088]

Atlas, I was looking at past posts and noticed you told someone this:

"Crickets are the feeder most likely to carry parasites. They are also louder, smellier and die faster than any other feeder. Don't Uro's eat some bugs? If you go with Dubia, you will have much less to worry about. Super worms and repti worms don't seem to have many complaints loges against them. I really want to try horn worms too.

Beardies really do need their bugs. I actually find the cricket chirping comforting now."


Okay so now I'm confused by you. I feed SOFT SHELLED crickets and they do not ever chirp. They are smaller than the everyday hard shelled cricket-even the larger ones. The crickets that carry parasites are the hard shelled OUTDOOR crickets you buy for fishing and are the ones you have in your yard. They chirp and are hard for the beardies to digest. Have you really fed your beardie this hard shelled chirper? I sincerely hope not.

 

[AtlasStrike]

I have kept many many species that eat insects as part of their diet. I also worked in the education department of a well respected zoo. Cricket colonies are disgusting. Even immature crickets rustle and stink beyond belief when fed appropriate gut loading diets. I have only had my beardie since October, he is 13-14 inches and eats upwards of 35 3/4ish inch crickets daily as well as finishing a salad of some variety. He is still growing. Juvies should be eating as much as they want while they are still growing.

Crickets, even when bred as feeders are more likely to carry parasites than other feeders such as the ones I mentioned below. Feel free to do your own research if you are skeptical. Conversations often are punctuated with relevant information that may not be exactly what you want to hear, forum threads are often the same way. If you would like to avoid my input, that is your prerogative, but you are likely to hear the same information repeated somewhere else.

A 13 inch beardie is not full grown. Did you not see that everyone else who posted in this thread agreed with me?