My new dragon

[mcguire dad]

8) My family and I just got a new bearded dragon (Sparky). It was given to my son by his aunt on Christmas. We have all grown to love him; he is a full grown male. Sparky has a fifty five gallon tank with a heat stone, a piece of drift wood, a wood cave, food, and water plate. I have two lights on top of the tank heat & florescent. I noticed that Sparky spends most of the time laying flat on top of the heat rock and doesn’t do much wondering around the tank. I read that heat rocks are not good for the dragons but my sister told me he always had it, so I left it. Is this normal behavior for a birdie to have? What can I do to help him become more active? I well come any comments or advise that you can give for our new family member.

 

[patches]

leave him the rock but cut the cord off of it what are your temps and what are you using for uv

 

[BlackMagic]

Congrats on your new beardie! As the previous poster said, heat stones are generally not a great idea because BD's only have heat sensors on the top of their body, so they could lay on the stone untl they burn themselves and not even know it. I recommend reading the care sheets provided in this website to get you in the right direction! Here some are some quick questions that can help us help you, just to make sure there aren't any potential problems!

How old is your dragon?
How long have you had your dragon?
How long is your dragon?
What is the sex of your dragon?
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have your dragon on?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, what kind and how old?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
What do you take the temps with?
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed?
Do you gutload your feeders?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements?
Do you bath your dragon? How often?
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other then in the bath?
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon?
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done?

 

[mcguire dad]

How old is your dragon? I don’t know, how can I determine age?
How long have you had your dragon? Sense Christmas
How long is your dragon? About two feet head to tip of tail
What is the sex of your dragon? Male, I had him checked at the reptile store ( they told me he had two members, lucky guy)
What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 55 gallon tank
What type substrate do you have your dragon on? I bought the colored sand from the store, but after reading the care sheet I went out to Home Depot and bought some play sand.
Do you use UVB lights? Yes, one that screws in, I don’t know the wattage, but the guy at snakes said that’s what it took
If so, what kind and how old? I just bought it about two weeks ago
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? It’s at the top of the tank so I figure its about a foot length.
What are the basking temps? Don’t know
What is the cool side temp? Don’t know
What do you take the temps with? I don’t
Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? It’s a heat rock, he wont get off it
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. Meal worms, med crickets, dragon treats, Squash, mango and lettuce.
How often do you feed? Veggies in the morning ( about 6:00pm), critters in the afternoon ( about 6:00pm) the lgith goes on at 6:00 and off about 7:00
Do you gutload your feeders? I don’t know what that is
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? yes vitamin powder, I don’t remember the brand
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements? I think so
Do you bath your dragon? How often? Yes, about once a week.
Do you mist your dragon or offer water other then in the bath? Yes he has a shallow water bowl.
Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? No, he is King
Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? No, I need to find one in South Miami, FL

 

[Catalyst]

Do you use UVB lights? Yes, one that screws in, I don’t know the wattage, but the guy at snakes said that’s what it took
If so, what kind and how old? I just bought it about two weeks ago
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? It’s at the top of the tank so I figure its about a foot length.

Do you mean it's a compact UV light (looks like one of those energy saver lightbulbs)? If so, there are some concerns about how fast those lights decay - i.e. how quickly they stop putting otu a sufficient amount of UV rays for your dragon.

If you look at the bulb it should have the name (and number if there is one) printed right on it. If you can tell us exactly what it is, we can let you know how good it is.

With the flourescent UV lights, your dragon needs a place in the tank where he can get to within 6 inches of the bulb.

Another option for UV lighting you might want to check out is the mercury vapor bulb. I've read many people talking about how much of an improvement they saw in their dragons after changing to this type of bulb. You can find out more at http://www.reptileuv.com - Bob, the guy who runs the site is very helpful.

What are the basking temps? Don’t know
What is the cool side temp? Don’t know
What do you take the temps with? I don’t

This could be one of the reasons your dragon is lazy. They need a basking area in the 95-105* range for an adult, and then the cool area of the tank should be around 80*. You should pick up a digital thermometer with a probe (can get it from walmart or home depot) to get an accurate measurement of the temps. Temperatures, UV lighting, and good diet are the keys to a happy dragon

What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. Meal worms, med crickets, dragon treats, Squash, mango and lettuce.
How often do you feed? Veggies in the morning ( about 6:00pm), critters in the afternoon ( about 6:00pm) the lgith goes on at 6:00 and off about 7:00

First I'd suggest switching from meal worms to superworms - the supers have more meat to them and are a better buy overall than the mealies. Also, as an adult he should only be getting the equivalent of 50 crickets a week or 35 superworms. The majority of his diet should be a big daily salad.

Squash is just fine as a staple for your dragon, but mango and lettuce aren't that great. Mango should only be fed occassionally and most lettuce has little to no nutritional value, they're mostly water. For a very helpful chart showing what types of greens, veggies, and fruits are good for your dragon how often, check out http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I'd also suggest either turning his lights off a bit later (a 14hr day is fine for them) or feeding him his live bugs earlier. I beleive a dragon should have about two hours after a feeding to completely digest his food before all of the lights go out.

Do you gutload your feeders? I don’t know what that is

Basically are you feeding your bugs good stuff so that they're nutritious when your dragon eats them.


Hope this helps Feel free to ask any questions you have.
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