monitor husbandry for bearded dragon

[Floof]

as for using more dirt vs more sand....i chose a mix that will allow me the proper texture for digging and moisture....dirt alone isnt a good diggable substrate, it wont hold when formed....the sand adds stability (think sand castles)....60/40 sand/dirt is a good starting point for beardies, just keep it moist.....both of my enclosures need more sand, just havent gotten around to it...im thinking ill add a bad of sand to each, and then sift it and get out the rest of the rocks and big chunks of dirt.....its on my to-do list

More dirt/less sand than you have used should still hold up burrows... Though I haven't ventured into the territory of dirt/sand mixtures myself, I frequent tortoise forums where many keepers utilize a mixture of dirt and sand using no more than 50% sand by weight, not volume. With these mixtures, burrows hold quite well. It doesn't take a great deal of sand to get dirt to hold its shape.

Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to venture into the more sand heavy mixtures and see how that works, but for now I think I'll be trying a more dirt heavy mix like many keepers use for their Russian tortoises (big burrowers) and similar species.

Those are excellent photos. Thank you for sharing. Reminds me not to forget to add some good climbing opportunities when I do Man Ray's caging upgrades.

 

[Skymall007]

Thank you for the pics! Those are amazing!!!!!! I wish I could give my beardie a tree. Someday if I have the money I would love to make an atrium that has everything they need including big climbing trees =)

It's so cool to see them in the wild =)

 

[Madmonk420]

Troops heres my viv set up similar to the ones in the post. Ive had ten fold results from an otherwise dormant hiding beardie that would not poo for days on end and eat about 4 crickets a day. Now hes is eating lots more and goes regulary. His activity has increased no end. Always running around. He is very brigh and alert.Sorry for the blurry pics i took them on my phone and they looked ok on the small screen. This is my viv now and a picture of Ajay`s first beard display lol. Pooping and eating a lot better and has as much activity as ive seen since we got him in March. Thanks for the advice guys. Would you change anything around in the viv?

Temps

Basking platform is 135f. Top stack is 97f second stack is 84 and bottom is 76.
Hot end is 88-97
cool end 85-88
humidity 44%
He only goes to the cool end to eat and poo so hes not too hot even with the basking spot up at 135f. Contradictive to most care sheets but its working

 

[stangbanger]

awesome! he looks great...glad his health problems are clearing up

your results are similar to those of at least 3 other people i know of on the other forum as well......at least the people around here wont think im the lone crazy guy anymore, now they know theres at least 2 of us :lol:


oh, and roxy finally testing out her hot side branch

 

[stangbanger]

few pics of the other dragons i mentioned in the post above....please note, these pics are not mine, and neither are the animals...but they are all thriving

this dragon uses this hot spot for up to 30-40 minutes at a time as she sees fit

 

[stangbanger]

keep forgetting to sift her enclosure...excuse all the chunks...i sifted my other enclosures already, just not this one....i really think both beardies need a little more substrate anyways

but she was using her "burrow" today lol....well, its not a real burrow....but close enough....its underground enough to help keep cool...i believe its in the high 70s in there, which she very rarely uses

 

[Anathawa]

Our enclosure.

 

[stangbanger]

ana - its not showing

 

[varanusdotus]

in response to LLL reptiles.....

I actually love some of the advances being made in captive lizard husbandry that are being utilized in keeping monitors

Can you please explain why you have a youtube video "Basic Monitor Care" that clearly instructs the public that it's acceptable practice to use a glass vivarium with a screen top and a high wattage lamp as a varanid enclosure?

http://youtu.be/CU7HZTdyn34

Sincerely, Wayne A. Harvey [email protected]

 

[diamc]

[This thread needs to stay "on topic" and has nothing to do with the video that LLL reptiles posted over a yr ago.]

 

[Jessica90]

Deff find this to be a pretty remarkable thread i will keep my eyes on it

 

[stangbanger]

female finally went down into full brumation ......she has since woken up, and is flaring up like crazy....havent seen her so bright and good looking for months!....when she brumated, she dug down into the half log, tunneled out the back of it, and slept in the very corner of the tank with a small dirt mountain around her lol

bumping for any newbies

 

[snazzyglasses]

You've caught yourself a newbie
What a beautiful little lady! I love her colors. And your male looks super happy and healthy. I honestly didn't even notice he was missing part of his leg until you mentioned it!
And your enclosures are awesome. Definitely something I'm going to consider when I have the money

I do have a couple questions about the higher basking temps- Did you have to slowly increase the temps to get your dragons to utilize the hotter basking areas, or did your dragons figure it out on their own? It sounds like they naturally seek out the higher temps after eating rodents, but do they use the hotter areas after they've eaten bugs? (Sorry if you already addressed those and I missed it though! ). Because our 4 year old male refuses to bask if the basking surface temp is over 107*F, even though he's adequately hydrated. He tends to stay where the surface temps are 101-104*F, according to the temp gun. (I would appreciate it if he liked the higher temps though, since it would probably eliminate the occasional bits of superworm exoskele's in his poop! :roll.
Totally following your thread from now on. Thank you for sharing your awesome dragons and their setups!

 

[stangbanger]

You've caught yourself a newbie
What a beautiful little lady! I love her colors. And your male looks super happy and healthy. I honestly didn't even notice he was missing part of his leg until you mentioned it!
And your enclosures are awesome. Definitely something I'm going to consider when I have the money

I do have a couple questions about the higher basking temps- Did you have to slowly increase the temps to get your dragons to utilize the hotter basking areas, or did your dragons figure it out on their own? It sounds like they naturally seek out the higher temps after eating rodents, but do they use the hotter areas after they've eaten bugs? (Sorry if you already addressed those and I missed it though! ). Because our 4 year old male refuses to bask if the basking surface temp is over 107*F, even though he's adequately hydrated. He tends to stay where the surface temps are 101-104*F, according to the temp gun. (I would appreciate it if he liked the higher temps though, since it would probably eliminate the occasional bits of superworm exoskele's in his poop! :roll.
Totally following your thread from now on. Thank you for sharing your awesome dragons and their setups!

thanks for all the praise!!

to answer your questions about basking temps....the 125-130* spots are rarely used, but i provide them to give them the choice....my male uses it more than the female does....both of them are most often found basking around 105-110....if i feed rodents, they utilize the 130 spot to process it, and sometimes immediately after a large dubia meal they will also use it....they dont bask there routinely, only if they eat a ton (i feed them roaches until they stop taking them, i dont offer a set amount every x amount of days).....my female takes about 8 roaches per serving, and my male about 12-15

i didnt increase temps slowly, but i made sure to have areas that are lower...i have 3 basking spots, plus the stacks....top of stack is 125-130, the branch next to the bulb is around 105-110, and off immediately to the left of the stack is in the mid 90s...cool side branch is mid 80s, and its high 70s in the log.....the stack levels vary in temp from 80-100 depending on the level

my female uses her stack all the time...my male has never used it....female also likes to dig and burrow, but my male prefers to climb....thats the great part about providing options...if they want to dig they can, if they want to climb they can, if they wanna be 80 - 90 - 100 - etc, they have the option.....i dont force them to do anything, just providing choices and observing how they react

 

[stangbanger]

you can also notice in the above pic, the entrance to the half log is almost completely buried....thats from her going into it head first, and burying down...she kicked the dirt backwards and actually sealed herself inside for a few weeks with the back and front buried....she was completely under ground...it was very neat to observe! then she dug the back out and came out for a little bit, then dug a little ditch and went into full brumation