1) What bulb is the best to use? His vivarium is about 50cm high and his current one looks too low to me.
He needs two types of bulbs. First, a heat bulb placed above the basking spot so that spot can reach about 95-105 degrees F. I cannot remember the type I use, but it's a 100W heat-bulb of some sort. Second, he needs a
UVB bulb. I use the Reptisun 10.0 uvb (the long types, not the coils that can lead to blindness). I know others particularly in the UK use a type called Arcadia 13% (or something like that...look around on the enclosure forum).
They also have Mercury vapor bulbs that provide intense heat along with UVB, but these can be expensive and they get really hot.
2) Is sand the best floor cover to use?
Sand is not the best floor cover to use. In fact, I would say it's one of the worst (people have strong opinions on this one way or the other). I don't use it because I don't want to take the chance that my beardie ingests some of the sand and ends up with an impaction [sand stuck in the digestive tract] which leads to death and if your beardie DOES pass it then it's extremely uncomfortable. I use ceramic tile as a flooring. It absorbs heat very well and it is easy to clean. Some people use newspapers, paertowels, repticarpet and many many more types so as more people reply I'm sure you'll get more ideas. Just don't use sand.
3) What fresh food is best to use?
Since the beardie is 4 years old he doesn't need much in the way of live insects for nutrition. At that age his diet should be 80% veggies and 20% live feeders. My beardie is 2 years old and I feed him Superworms as live-feeders (dusted in calcium because they are high phosphorus) every day or so. For my veggies, he tends to eat Collard Greens, Mustard Greens, Spaghetti Squash among other veggies.
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
I use this website to find foods for him to eat. It's very detailed and suggests foods with the color chart (bright greens are the best). Sometimes the foods might be difficult to find at the grocery store so if you can grow a certain kind that'd be great (I grow mustard greens and collard greens and he enjoys them in the late spring and early summer). When they are no good anymore you just have to buy from the store.
I would read up on a proper beardies diet. You have to pay attention to that calcium to phosphorus ratio in the diet (Ca
). You'll also want to get Vitamins and Calcium (don't get the one bottle with both combined). I use Rep-Cal for both. Calcium has a pink label and vitamins have a blue label. At 4 years old I believe you need to dust foods 3x a week with calcium and 2x a week with vitamins.
4) What else could i put in his vivarium? He likes his log but there is not much else and im worried he gets bored.
Look around the forum enclosure threads. My beardie has a few granite rocks that I cleaned up from outside (they absorb heat extremely well and are perfect for basking). I also made him a fake-rock and am working on a Roman temple building as a hide. He also has a hammock, but he's not too fond of it. I think most people keep their dragon from boredom by interacting with them regularly, but that does depend on the beardies temperament.
Edit: I wanted to add this...if you go to a Petstore then take everything they suggest with a grain of sand (if they do start suggesting). A lot of stores will suggest using CalciSand for example, but informed bearded dragon owners know that it isn't all that its purported to be. I've heard people say that reptiles can digest the sand because it's calcium carbonate, but that's completely untrue as I've seen reptiles pass it in their stool. Some stores make the claim about Calcium/Vitamins separately is unnecessary, but the separation has to do with improper biological utilization (they need UVB to absorb and use the calcium NOT the vitamin supplements). Also, if you're looking for a
UVB bulb then look online. For whatever reason Petsmart is the only store around here that carries Reptisun 10.0, but each size is priced exactly the same...46.95. I can get the bulb size I need for $24 online with something like $5 shipping. I don't know where the hell Petsmart is getting their crap.
O' and please ask more questions if you have them. If this is your first beardie then congratulations and it's awesome that you are taking the initiative to look on here and that you are willing to take care of the beardie. :mrgreen:
All of the information for caring for them can be somewhat intimidating or overwhelming at first, but eventually you'll get into a routine with it and start dishing out the same information to others along with anything you've picked up on the way.
