My first Beardie

[Mikhail]

Hello everyone. I just joined the forum and must have overlooked the intro spot so I decided to make my first post here. Never had a lizard of any sort before. Right now I'm raising an argentine horned frog, and 12 Tarantulas (plus a ton of roaches). One of my T keeping friends just had a hatch of dragons and he is waiting for her to lay the second clutch. I'm on the list for babies and wanted to make sure I was good to go.

I have a 40 breeder sitting around I figured I would use.
As I said fresh insects are no problem here.
I'm not sure what I'm going to use as substrate yet. It's my understanding that beardies don't need the humidity of a frog or tropical T so peat and coco-fiber don't sound right. I want to avoid sand. I thought perhaps a layer of sand for heat holding purposes covered with something more digestible.

Heat I figured a 100w would get me daytime basking temps. a 60w red/blue/black for night I'm guessing. Undecided as to whether or not to get the acurite w/probe or a PE-1. PE-1 might make it easier to read all of my multiple tanks. Right now most of my animals are at room temp. I like in FL so it's already hot and humid.
UVB. I would like to use a regular screw in UVB (reptiglow 5.0/10.0 or somesuch) but not sure if he needs a long flourescent that runs length.
I think the UVB, substrate and temp are my only real concerns.

Nice to meet everyone here. If you ever have a tarantula/roach question I'm here and if I don't know I will be glad to pass it on.

 

[spurlee01]

Welcome! Beardies are such amazing creatures. You will be sooo happy you got one.
First, Substrate. Beardies should not be housed on any particle substrates, especially as babies. Loose substrates not only pose a risk of impaction if they are ingested, but they also harbor bacteria. Good substrates are: tile, reptile carpet, non-adhesive shelf liner, paper towel, or newspaper. When they are over 1 year, some people opt to you sifted play sand, but I wouldn't because of the bacteria problems.
Okay, now temps: for a baby you want anywhere from 100-110 (some say 105-115). 105 is the temp to shoot for with babies in my opinion. As they get older they'll want it a little cooler, 95-105 or so. A 100 watt will probably be good in a 40 gallon breeder, but keep track of temps to be sure. Beardies can actually see colored lights unlike most reptiles. They should not hve any light in their tanks at night. If temps stay above 65*F, you do not need any heat source at night. If they fall below that, you will need a ceramic heat emitter which puts out heat but not light.
UVB- beardies do need a UVB TUBE. coils/ compacts actually cause problems with beardies. [ Invalid URL Removed / p= t=65424 f=1 ]
The reptisun 10.0 is by far the best UVB light. http://www.petmountain.com has the best price. The reptiglo 10.0 is also dangerous viewtopic.php?f=34&t=101703&p=793076&hilit=ReptiGlo+10.0#p793076. If you can't get the reptisun10.0, the reptiglo 8.0 or reptisun 5.0 are okay bulbs, but not great. Feel free to ask more questions as they come up.
Sara

 

[peera]

Always glad to see people researching FIRST, not just after they realize something is wrong!

Substrate- Any type of loose substrate really isn't the way to go, so you get your wish- No sand! The best thing is slate tile like you can find at any hardware store. It's easy to clean, looks nice, files their nails and eliminates all danger of ingestion or "litterbox effect".

Lights- Any regular household bulb will do for basking, the wattage that's right for you is dependent on your set-up and area. Night bulbs are not something to be concerned about with dragons. They do much better with 11-12 hours of full dark at night. If your temps dip below 62* at night then you can invest in a CHE, but I don't see that being an issue in Florida! UVB, you want to avoid compacts as they give off uneven light and can hurt lizard's skin & eyes. You want the ReptiSun 10.0 tube. It's cheapest on http://www.petmountain.com

Any other questions, don't hesitate to ask!

**Edit*** Jeez, just beat me AGAIN Sara!

 

[spurlee01]

hehe well hopefully Mikhail will realize we've got our info right

 

[Mikhail]

Well thanks a lot. It's good to hear about the substrate and bulb choices.
I COMPLETELY agree with what you said about it being nice to see someone researching beforehand. I know a lot of people that will pop up and say that they just got a burmese python and can it live in a 20L or they have their first Tarantula and it's one of the most difficult/fast/painful species.

I'll definitly follow your advice. I'll either go with non adhesive shelf liner or tile with some sort of rubber to prevent it scratching the glass. And UVB tube it is.

lol about beating each other to the post. I always sit around on the Tarantula forum trying to give advice but usually get sniped. It's funny because almost everyone has the same advice and they're all questions that I was asking about tarantulas six months ago.
Thanks again

 

[peera]

I also love that you're willing to take advice once we give it! I'm constantly amazed how many people ask for it and then proceed to argue that what they're doing (all to often the reason their pet is having a problem) is perfect because the pet store told them it was ok.

Yeah, that Sara's a crafty one, but her advice is always on the mark and I just post mine to fill in any holes that the person might wonder about.

 

[Mikhail]

Pet stores have got to be the single worst source of information. I always see tarantulas that are labeled incorrectly, sometimes to the stores loss. They almost never care for their tarantulas right and it doesn't look like the do for most of their pets. One store was telling people that Tarantulas drink through their legs, that their bite is fatal, whew. Next thing you know bearded dragons will be breathing fire at petsmart.

 

[spurlee01]

I think petsmart is content to just sell people fatal products and sick beardies actually. Sorry, bad joke- didn't mean to offend anyone, just my opinion. Anyway, I wanted to be sure you are aware that beardies are total and complete pigs. I know you've owned other reptiles and a lot of reptiles don't need a ton of food, but these guys do. You will want to feed your baby 2-3x a day, whatever he or she wants to eat in 10-15 minutes. Some babies will eat 100 crix in a day. At 7 months my girl is eating up to 60 a day, but typically around 30. I buy my crix by the 1000s from ghann's farm- http://www.ghann.com. Since you have roaches, those can be fed, but you will only want to feed food smaller than the space between your babies eyes. Just wanted to be sure you knew that. I don't know much about frogs so I have no idea if this is different.
Sara

 

[peera]

Next thing you know bearded dragons will be breathing fire at petsmart.

What? You mean they can't???? It's a joke around our house not to tell Gibby he can't, since as far as he's concerned he's the biggest, baddest thing in town.

 

[Mikhail]

Ya I've heard they are pigs. Right now I'm raising lobster roaches which are a great size for the young beardie and then when he gets bigger I'll switch to blaberus discoidalis which can hit 2.5"+ long and ridiculously plump. I feel well prepared. If it gets out of hand I have a buddy with about 10K lobster roaches who is always trying to get rid of them. Looking forward to the appetite actually.

My frogs not a big eater because he's prone to obesity so I regulate it. He bit my finger once and held on for a good five minutes. Definitly hungry

 

[spurlee01]

I just wanted to be sure . Some people think you should feed babies like 3 crickets a day and end up with very sick little guys. Glad you have an endless supply of roaches. I am going to be ordering a colony of dubia soon and can't wait. My little one eats the roaches off the tips of my fingers before I can get them unstuck- she loves them. Good luck with your baby and let us know if you need anything else.
Sara