Misting spagnum moss - necessary?

[holmes101901]

We have had our beardie, Fred, for four days. The pet shop cust. service told us we should get spagnum moss, put it inside the hiding place and mist it with water twice a day. This is supposed to help the beardie shed and get hydrated.

So, my question is, which is better? Bathing, misting the dragon or misting the moss? Our baby won't drink water in the cage. The second day we brought him home the black circles on his belly were very prominent and he wasn't interested in the mealworms. So I got him some tiny crickets - which he eats right away, and the circles on his belly are lighter. I don't know if he is getting enough hydration due to the fact that he will NOT eat the greens we give him. Also, since we have only had him a few days, I don't want to give him a bath just yet since he is still getting used to his new home.

By the way, this is a great site! Another customer in the pet store stopped and asked us a few "do you know what you are getting into" questions when we were checking out the beardies. She suggested this site as a helpful guide - I am glad she did, I sure have had a lot of questions!

 

[midmichicer]

They don't need the moss, and I know either of mine wouldn't use it if it was there. That will just raise the humidity in the enclosure. Give them a bath and use a clean toothbrush and gently brush the skin when its shedding. Does wonders.

 

[holmes101901]

I should give him a bath even when hes not shedding correct? When should I start that?

 

[midmichicer]

You can start right away, tomorrow sounds good lol. Make sure the water is luke warm and not deeper than his armpits.

 

[Trogdorpheus]

Mealworms are also a no-no. They're hard to digest for babies and nutritionally equivalent to cardboard.

You'll quickly see that pet stores typically give horrible advice on anything cold-blooded in order to push the sale of more garbage.

 

[holmes101901]

I agree with you completely. Hence the move to crickets. I was able to feed him collard greens today, thankfully. Other then crickets, what food would you recommend?

 

[Trogdorpheus]

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

I feed supers as a staple, but only after your dragon reaches 16" or larger. I've also fed Discoid roaches and Dubia roaches. I know plenty of people swear by reptiworms too. There's also silkworms, butterworms, goliath worms (appropriately sized), grasshoppers are ok I think (they'll be more difficult to buy I think) and locusts if they're available to you.

I'd say easiest to breed would be supers followed by roaches. Cheapest to buy in bulk would likely be supers. If you don't plan on breeding, then probably reptis until large enough to make a gradual switch to supers.

 

[ziggy23]

Sounds like that guy got his reptiles mixed up.

Just wanted to add the black marks on the tummy, they're called stress marks and not really anything to be concerned about. It's extremely common with hatchlings and young ones. Some dragons always have them. I heard one non-scientific theory that I like: when they're small they're at the bottom of the food chain, and their bellies can be so white, so they darken their bellies to be less visible.

Also, our typical definition of stress is limited to big things. From a biological standpoint, stress is everything we don't like. It covers everything from life threatening events, to having an itchy tag on your shirt and your candy bar melting before you got to eat it.

Stress marks, if they are a sign of stress it is a mild one, probably along the lines of an annoyance. If your animal finds something annoying, you could drive yourself insane trying to figure it out. Reptiles are known to sometimes have strange reactions to every day objects, could be a hat, a color, a desk lamp, an eraser, buttons, anything. Unless they have a huge freak out over it, you won't figure it out.

Finally stress marks and darkening of the skin is one of their ways of thermoregulating their internal temperature. Dark colors absorb more heat and uv, then they might gape (open their mouths) to cool down a little. Once again, not necessarily a sign of concern. It's just one of their ways they can quickly tweek things to keep their bodies running at optimum, just like sweating is not necessarily a sign that you're too hot.

And sometimes it's just a personality thing. I have 2 dragons. Bane it is very rare to see stress marks or anything but her "happy" colors. Astarte is the exact opposite.