monitor husbandry for bearded dragon

[stangbanger]

there arent any reptile parasites living in dirt

I believe you. :wink: I was more thinking of a food item. Such as store insects and so on. BD's can (not all do) get sand/other loose substrate 'caked' in thier vents creating a blockage. I also believe that you love your BD's very much to go through all this. I'm just dealing with Coccidia right now and know how hard it is to contain/eliminate. I do still wish you luck. This should be an interesting topic :wink:

i raise my own dubia, and order my other feeders from reputable online sources....the only place i would worry about picking up anything would be from rodents i buy live...ill probably try to get them to eat frozen/thaw, but if not, then ill be feeding live...buying rodents at chain stores would worry me, but we have a pretty decent reptile specialty store in the area that breeds their own mice in house, so it shouldnt be a problem.... i get yearly fecal tests done just to be sure everything is going well also thanks for the support

 

[stangbanger]

just updating....he had his 3rd healthy bowel movement, by himself, in his enclosure today, in a week..........this may not seem exciting for most people, but considering the hydration issues he had before in his old setup, this is great news....he used to poop once every 2-3 weeks, and only when i put him in a deep bath and "forced" him to swim, causing the bowel movement

he also had a bunch of dry, discolored skin that has looked ready to come off for about 2 months...looked like it shed and got baked back to him or something....no bathing or anything would take it off.....today, he went into a full-body shed and that nasty brown skin was coming off in huge sheets (never seen a shed like this on a beardie....his whole back, plus back legs - well back leg, plus his nubbin lol - came off as one huge sheet

 

[stangbanger]

also found him utilizing his 125* spot today

very happy and healthy

 

[ReptileAddiction]

That is an awesome setup. Personally I know my dragon would not do well in a setup like that but I wish you luck. It will be interesting to see where this goes. Since they are so well hydrated I really doubt that impaction will ever be a problem. On the cool side you should plant some live plants like dandelions that they can eat. A lot of dragons have fun with this. You should also buy some springtails, some isopods, and some earthworms to release in there. If you get enough cleaner insects in there maintenance will be next to none except for feeding. You wouldnt even have to ever switch out the substrate. If you did you would lose all that good stuff. I would add more leaves to it though to decompose.

 

[stangbanger]

I use red wigglers with my skink setup, but I'm hesitant with these guys... I would have to get some screen to put on vents to keep them in, and I'm not sure if their slime trails would stain the top and sides of my viv since they climb a lot at night... I know they won't bite, but would they bother my dragons at night?

I would love to get springtails but not sure where... Something I've been meaning to look into... Once I get screens over my vents ill probably add some potato bugs and natural soil and leaves from the woods... The goal is a nice living soil i never have to change

Problem with planting more plants is poor soil quality due to the sand, and high temperatures... Not sure how well stuff like that would grow... Any tips? I have an aloe plant in with my male, he doesn't nip at it though, it's mainly for me... Not sure what plants he would naturally eat, but misting them would create morning "dew" which he may lick up... Just have to find something that would survive his setup

 

[stangbanger]

Also planning to sift their soil and remove some of the chunks and rocks and stuff

 

[Jess]

This is really neat! I've been working on setting up a live planted "bio-active" substrate tank for my crested gecko, and it's had me thinking about whether or not it would work to do something similar for beardies. Personally I don't want to do a whole enclosure like this for Dudley, but I've never actually seen someone do this before. I've been looking into live plants I can put in his viv, and been wondering how a Eco earth/sand dig box would work. IMO something like you have would be much more like their natural environment than straight sand would be, like a lot of people claim.

I'm interested to see how all the little bugs in the living soil work out too. You would think that the beardies would be constantly going after the isopods and bigger ones, or get annoyed by the springtails and such.

I'm interested to see how this works out!

 

[stangbanger]

Jess, I'll send you a pm soon as I get some free time and show you around my skink enclosure... It's a neat little setup, I have way more bioactivity going on in it than I do here... A crested gecko would love it if it was taller, but it'll give you some ideas

 

[ReptileAddiction]

I am interestd in doing that for a crested gecko to. Mind copying it and sending it to me to? Lol. After further research I do NOt recommend putting in red wigglers. If the dragons eat them is will give them runny poop and they dont digest them well. You can get springtails and isopods from joshfrogs(.)com.

 

[stangbanger]

i will look into the springtails and isopods from that site, thanks!

as for the wigglers, i have them in with my skink....his setup is so complex its impossible to monitor what food hes eating....he might be eating those, he might be eating the dubia i dropped in, maybe eating the crickets.....theres too many hides and spots i dont have access to....basically, as i see the food items disappearing, i add a few more...kinda just keep it lightly stocked

i dont think the wigglers would be a problem for my beardies...they dont like to eat them, i fed them each one and thats all they would take...they do however love nightcrawlers, so i might add a few ...im undecided though, thats a lot of substrate to ingest (picking worms out of the dirt)....people do this all the time with monitors, but theyre much bigger and are able to pass more substrate safely...for now i dont think ill add worms, and if i do, it would probably be a couple red wigglers





sending the PM to you both

 

[stangbanger]

update on my female.

i kind of feel like the drastic changes have caused her to wanna brumate. she hasnt come out of that stack once since she went in...no eating, no nothing....she moves around in there changing position quite a bit, but doesnt come out...and its on the warm side, so i dont think shes dodging heat (its about 84* in that hide)

not quite sure what her deal is....im debating whether or not to pull her out, bathe her so she has a bowel movement, then put her back in and see if she is actually trying to brumate

she still fairly bright and alert (she flails around if i mist her)....not sure if her eyes are open all the way, closed ,or squinty....i can only see her if i stick a camera down there and get a pic, so the flash could be waking her up or could be making her squint (my phone flash is the always on kind....when camera is on, the light is on like a flashlight)

she still seems healthy and alert, so i havent bothered her much yet...and she ate some worms off of the tongs when i stuck them in there....probably give her another week to settle in before trying something else....maybe longer....trying to stop "controlling" things and letting my animals show me what they wanna do

 

[stangbanger]

ok UPDATE

female: no changes...pulled her out to inspect her and feed her...she ate a little, and basked for a day....but then went back in the stacks.....ive decided either she cant get comfortable because her logs are junk, or she may have some sort of bug......her lack of activity before the changes was believable due to what i believe to be improper husbandry....now that shes switched over, and still not doing much, i think a vet visit in in order to get her checked up and to get another fecal done......poor girl has had a very rough life, i rescued her a year ago after 5 long years of neglect....hopefully everything is alright with her....not sure how long she will make it since she was raised poorly, but im doing everything i can to give her the best life possible while i have the time



male: this guy is a freaking monster.....his behavior is a complete 180..... he attacks his feeders like hes never eaten before, his stomach is a bottomless pit (he is eating 8 adult dubia per feeding - they are the size of his head....or 25-30 supers when offered....each day).....he is more bold, he comes to the glass to visit when im sitting there (probably looking for food)....he uses his hot and cool side both equally throughout the day....spends a good hour or two per day on his 125* basking spot, soaking up the heat

all his old nasty dried out skin is finally shedding off and nice new colors are showing underneath.....he is literally thriving.....he is not the same herp AT ALL

couple new pics ....excuse the shed, hes in the process

dug himself a little trench next to his basking platform...he looks pretty irritated in this pic lol, i just got done misting him

pic to show his overall condition....i think he looks absolutely stunning....hes ~ 1 year old sub adult, he looks very healthy and i think hes doing great....hes growing like crazy too...hes come such a long way from the neglected little 3-4 month old beardie that he was when i got him....pretty sure if i didnt get him, the pet store would have put him down...between his missing leg, and his age (he was out of that "awww so tiny" stage).....best purchase ever....hes my favorite of my pets (even more than my boa lol, its close though)

 

[Jess]

Aww, I hope your female feels better soon. Do you think she could be brumating? This is the time of year when Dudley starts to go down.

Your male is beautiful! It's great that you have given these beardies a much better life.

Do you keep water dishes in with them, or just raise the humidity by keeping the soil damp? I can't remember whether or not you did from the pictures.

 

[stangbanger]

Last year she was down from December through February... With all the changes, I think it's possible, but I'm going to get her looked at just in case

I add about half gallon of water per week and till the soil by hand... Top dries frst so the bottom layer is moist longer while the top is more dry

 

[stangbanger]

first fuzzy mouse.... third mouse hes ever had, and first with hair on it....took him a minute to realize it was food lol (fed him a roach first so he realized it was feeding time)....few weeks ago when i offered one, he turned it down, but took a pinky....i think ill keep feeding these until hes a full grown adult (maybe another year or a little longer) and then maybe try a hopper....going to limit it to whenever i feed my snake (so probably every 10-14 days he will get a mouse)

** video removed due to site policy