Meet Maleficent! New Dragon Owner

[Gpaint]

Hi I am a new Beardie Owner. My wife bought the dragon impulsively as she often does with many pets but fortunately for this dragon I fell in love with reptiles like when I was a kid and have spent 3 weeks researching and building a custom viv for her. The viv is about a week or less from completion, mostly waiting on glass and the Mega Ray to arrive.

Name: Maleficent, named by my 4 year old daughter, is a "fancy" dragon from Petsmart...but looks pretty much regular as it gets I would love a fancy morph for another dragon but this dragon is what we have now and will be treated super well!

Age: Honestly not sure. Petsmart said 4 months but she fit into a tiny tupperware to come home and from what I have read a 4 month would be larger. She is now 10.5 inches and I have yet to see her get full no matter how many crickets I give her. Shes able to eat a good 40+ twice a day which has been quite expensive so we started a dubia roach colony but will need to let that thrive before we can feed out of it yet. She has ignored her greens mostly so far, romaine and collard is what we have tried so far with carrot shavings and some fruit shavings mixed in. Currently trying the Juvenile flukers food with pellets and freeze dried worms and crickets but she only picks out the worms.

I am very excited to share with the community the custom viv I have made once I get a youtube vid made of it. Will be next week when I post it. I think you will all be pleased. This may be my first post but I have spent weeks learning from your guides, discussions, and replies. I look forward to joining the community.

Greg

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. What a cutie pie . I see you have a round gauge for temps, those are very inaccurate. A temp gun or a digital with a probe are much more accurate. Also loose subtrate is not recommended as that can cause impaction. Good luck with your little one

 

[zandi202]

At that age my dragons were about 3 months. A good, solid age to get a bearded dragon ate. Not too young. She's very cute, but I don't see why they labeled her as a fancy. Are all her nails clear? If so, she's a hypo.

 

[Gpaint]

Her nails are black. Her head has a bit of orange tint so thats why they apparently called her fancy according to my wife. I have a digital temp gun I use for temps I just haven't taken the gauge out of there since shes not long for the tank anyways.

I am not using sand in the new Viv and I am taking her out for feedings to avoid (mostly) the likelihood of impaction. I put her in a tote with crickets for her feeding frenzy.

 

[misledxsloth]

Sorry to thread jack, but I myself am a new bearded owner. I've had several herps including leopard geckos, crested geckos and tokay geckos, so I have a general idea about reptiles. My question is I'm concerned about my newly obtained lizard. He is a male named either Rupert bought him about three days ago, he's approx. 6 inches I have a 100w powersun for heating uva and uvb I only had money for one dome so I figured I would go with that, of course next pay I intend to get him a florescent bulb. My beardy seems apprehensive to eat crickets, he will eat mealworms but only 3 maximum at a feeding. When I put crickets in he becomes frantic, glass surfing and will not eat them. I would just like to know if there are anyone else who has a picky eater.

 

[Gpaint]

Sorry to thread jack, but I myself am a new bearded owner. I've had several herps including leopard geckos, crested geckos and tokay geckos, so I have a general idea about reptiles. My question is I'm concerned about my newly obtained lizard. He is a male named either Rupert bought him about three days ago, he's approx. 6 inches I have a 100w powersun for heating uva and uvb I only had money for one dome so I figured I would go with that, of course next pay I intend to get him a florescent bulb. My beardy seems apprehensive to eat crickets, he will eat mealworms but only 3 maximum at a feeding. When I put crickets in he becomes frantic, glass surfing and will not eat them. I would just like to know if there are anyone else who has a picky eater.

I have heard babies can be difficult to get them eating well sometimes. I am newer to bearded dragons but in my research that does seem unusual. How large is the tank he is in? I know my dragon goes nuts for crickets and mealworms since day one. I have since switched entirely to dubia roaches and she LOVES those.

If you have a powersun you don't require a fluorescent tube for UVB as the MVB bulb will provide it all. I am using a Mega Ray MVB and use only that for UVB and UVA. I have a heatlamp for a secondary basking and a high lux bulb on the other side.

 

[misledxsloth]

He is in a 20 gallon critter cage not a breeder tank, I have a 30 gallon breeder just waiting on it. He actually just now ate up two crickets and refused mealworms. I give him dandelion greens every morning and of course like most all babies he refuses. My main concern was digestion of mealworms, and he doesn't as many as all the research says babies should eat. He maybe eats 6 a day. His scat is normal maybe twice to three times a day the humidity may be a bit high around 42% I would like to acquire another reflector so I can run another basking lamp. I was concerned on why he was glass surfing when I put crickets in, I know it's a sign of stress and that's my big worry stress kills a lot of reptiles

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. How are you taking the temps? What watt is the powersun?

 

[misledxsloth]

Hi. How are you taking the temps? What watt is the powersun?

I have a zilla temperature/humidity on his basking area and just a normal thermometer on his cool side, it's a 100watt powersun about 12" away from the lowest basking spot maybe 6 from the highest he tends to stay on the low side but climbs the log up to the higher spot every now and then. I use paper towels as a substrate I've hatched baby leopard geckos and they did well with paper towles, I have used the reptile turf but I just didn't have the extra cash to buy it.

 

[destiny1998]

Unless you are using a temp gun or digital thermometer with a wire probe you are not getting the accuracy of the temps on the basking spot. To me it sounds like he's to hot.

 

[Gpaint]

A Powersun in a 20 gallon would probably get that whole thing pretty toasty. I know you said you had a 30 gallon coming soon, that will help with that. You could raise the powersun up a bit as well although I am not sure how far you can raise it while still providing the UVB required.

 

[misledxsloth]

Unless you are using a temp gun or digital thermometer with a wire probe you are not getting the accuracy of the temps on the basking spot. To me it sounds like he's to hot.

He stays on the lower part most of the time, I never see him gape his mouth which is how they regulate their temp, I just started seeing him shed today so I think that's why he was refusing food. Thanks for all the information everyone!!!!