Meet Morris!

[Bamberz1977]

I have always wanted a snake but my husband would never relent I did finally get him to agree to a lizard and after doing the research we decided on a Bearded Dragon. Morris has been a part of our family since Tuesday. He is about 4 months old and 12" long. He is currently in a 20 gallon tank with shelf liner as a substrate but we have a 55 gallon just waiting for him. He is using a 100 watt Mega Ray MVB and his basking temps are 100-110. He is still getting acclimated and sometimes he eats 15-20 gut loaded crickets twice a day along with a nice salad of mustard greens, squash, and apple mush both are dusted with calcium. Other days he has only eaten maybe 5 or 6 crickets a day but still eating his salad. Is this likely due to his acclimation? He is also shedding and I have read that their appetite can be pretty spotty during this time. He has had two baths this week and has pooped everyday but yesterday. On another thread I read that his urates should be somewhat chalky and today they were relatively hard, is there a way to fix this? We are handling him for short periods everyday, he is a little bit wiggly and temperamental right now. I am assuming this will change with time. I have included a pic of my new "little guy", I hope y'all like him!

 

[Catalyst]

At 12 inches long he's probably ready to move up to the big tank now if it's ready Doesn't take those little guys long to outgrow their baby tank. You may find that as he continues to grow you'll actually need a wider tank - the minimum suggested width is 18 inches (to allow even larger dragons to turn around comfortably) while most 55 g tanks are only 12 inches wide. Just a heads up as something to keep an eye on.

It's awesome that he's eating his salad for you. You want to aim for a salad that's 80-90% dark leafy greens, with the veggies and fruits making up just a small portion of the salad for added taste and variety. And yes, the fluctuating/low appetite is most likely just a sign of him adjusting to a new home. No doubt it will pick up after a week or so and he'll become a dragon eating factory Yes, shedding also affects their appetite often (sorry if this response is kind of choppy - I'm reading your post and replying one section at a time, heh).

As far as the urates go, its largely a matter of keeping him well hydrated through regular soakings in warm water among other things. I also mist down my dragon's salad before putting it in her tank to add moisture to it and keep it from drying out too quickly. Some others give their dragons water orally using an eyedropper or small syringe. If he's getting regular baths though, and eating pleanty of greens, I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Oh, and welcome to the site btw!

 

[Bamberz1977]

Thanks for the welcome! I became addicted to this site when I was researching BD's and going by all the advice I have seen on here I am sure we will both be happy . I have, of course, been a bundle of nerves but so far Morris has been active and alert. He seems a little tired today but to be fair we did take him out for the first time to get some natural light and he ran around like crazy in his tub then came in and ate some crix. He was mad at me for about 5 minutes but then got over it. This is also the first day that the entire family has been around all day and I was cleaning my room earlier which kept him fascinated. Thanks for the suggestion about hydrating the greens, I have been misting them but now they are floating! In regards to calcium supplements what is the suggested kind? I have a calcium with D3 supplement by Tetra but after reading about too much D3 and problems with phosphorous (it contains minimal amounts) I would like to switch to something else.

 

[Catalyst]

RepCal is a pretty good brand. I use their phosphorus free calcium with D3 as well as their herptivite (multivitamin powder).