*Just Upgraded* - Thinking about upgrading - almost a year o

[Shekibobo]

Hey everyone, I'm working on building my relationship with my beardie Ozma a bit better than I have over the past eight months, and among the steps I'm taking is rearranging her viv. I am, however, thinking of upgrading her tank altogether. She currently lives in a 30x12x12 tank with a screen top, a 24-inch ReptiGlo UVB light and a heat lamp from ZooMed, I think. I'm not sure about basking or cool side temps just yet, but I'm working on procuring the equipment to give me a fairly accurate reading. Her tank is arranged as shown in the following image:

She does the basking on top of the log, as seen in the picture. She rarely goes near the water, and to this day I've never actually seen her drink from it. She runs around the hot side usually, and after the lights go out, she'll dig underneath the higher part of the log and kind of make a bed for herself. As much as I've heard against calcisand here, she seems to love it, since she's digging through it all the time. I find it difficult to convince myself to switch to anything else.

Anyway, I'm thinking about upgrading, both because I think she may be getting a bit big for a 30x12x12 tank at about 13 inches. I'm a little worried that she doesn't have enough room to run around inside the cage. I try to spend time with her and let her run around my apartment for a while whenever I'm home, but I'm not home every day. I'm also thinking about getting a "friend" about the same age, preferably male, because I think it would be really cool to bread beardies. This isn't exactly something I'm planning to do soon, but something I'm thinking I'd like to do within a year or so.

I'm thinking about upgrading to a 36Lx18Wx16D, either with side sliders or just an open top. I've found an open top one this size for about $70 at a local pet store, but most of the franchise stores charge over $100 for one of these, while I can get a slider at this place for $120.

I guess my main questions are: when is it a good idea to upgrade? How does everyone feel about the side sliders versus open-top enclosures? Does anyone keep male and female adult dragons in the same cage? Is it safe? Does anyone see anything particularly off about my setup right now?

 

[ThyTempest]

First thing is to definitely get an IR thermometer to check your basking temps. Make sure you are replacing the UVB tubes every 6 months too. Other than that, your setup seems alright apart from the size and maybe the sand. If you want to keep using sand for aesthetics, I think you should switch to play sand since it doesn't encourage the beardies to eat it with a good taste like the Calci-sand.

If you upgrade, upgrade all the way. Go for a 4x2x2 or 4x2x 18" enclosure. I can't say much more since I don't even have the experience to let you know firsthand, but good luck.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Hi there !
It isn't really a good idea to offer the dragon a "friend" as they are most territorial, and they could attack one another.

That said, breeding is a huge expense for little return ! If you do want to breed, you will need 2 separate enclosures, and lots and lots of $$ and time !

You need to realize that the min age for breeding is 18 months, and you will need to prepare the young lady by upping her calcium and feeding so she is well healthy to lay out 2-3 batches every 6 weeks of around 18-30 eggs.

Now, you will also want to be aware that when these little ones hatch out, they can't be kept together for long, even infants will attack siblings.

I really think that you are the only companion needed for your dragon, and if you want to get a second one, fine, just keep them separate.

I would suggest a viv that is at least 36 x 18 x 18 as that is the minimum size for an adult dragon. Most of us however, have built our own custom vivs in sizes ranging from 48 x 24 x 24 and larger !

Hope this helps out !
Janie.

 

[spurlee01]

You may want to keep an eye on Craig's list to see if anything bigger goes up for sale. If I had my choice, I would choose a sliding glass tank just so I don't have to reach over the tank to put my little one back in. (I have to stand on my tippy-toes to get my boyfriends out lol). And please don't try to house two dragons together. It ends in disaster a lot of the time.
Sara

 

[Shekibobo]

Well, I just shelled out about $180 for a new setup. 50G (36"x18"x18") tank with sliding glass doors on one side (cheapest I could find it), textured ceramic tile with rubber shelf liner underneath for substrate. Three logs came glued to the back side of the tank for climbing spots. Fake plant, fake-rock water bowl, fake-rock hide/basking spot, Z shaped log for climbing on. Currently using a 24" ReptiGlo 10.0 UVB Florescent with the clear plastic cover removed resting on top of the tank (near the middle) and two heat lamps, one on either side. Temperature taken with an infrared gun showed about 100-102 on the basking side. Didn't have time to get a reading on the other side with the heat-lamp over there, but there's a lot more cover over there, and the lights are pretty far from the ground now. Pictured below (sans second heat lamp, which would be where the halogen is):

I'm already loving the tile - Ozma pooped on it almost right away and it was really easy to clean up. She seemed a little freaked out about the new enclosure, and even used the new climbing blocks to do some window scraping. She seems to like having her rock back, and so far hasn't spent too much time underneath. I'm thinking about adding some more climbing spots for her and adding almost a second level like I've seen on some of the customized homes on here, because I've had that Z-shaped log forever. She seems to like sleeping on the "Mario platforms," as my roommate calls them, so I think she's starting to like her new home. There's tons of new room in there for her to move around, so I'm just happy about that.

 

[spurlee01]

The new enclosure looks great! I just wnt to make sure you're aware of the problems people have been having with the reptiGLO 10.0s. Also, if your screen is wide enough, it is better for dragons to have the UVB light and Basking bulb right together
0 (basking bulb)
------------ (UVB tube)
Everything else looks great! What a lucky dragon!
Sara