hi and welcome
well first off ... you are in the right place.
thats for sure
very cool you are thinking about a beardie ... i KNOW that looking at some on Cragslist can make you want to impulsively jump right in and rescue. i cant even look at CL anymore.
here is just a little something to think about first:
IF this is going to be your first dragon, do you want one that you know is healthy, that you can see, pick up, look at and choose, whether it be a baby, juvie, or an adult ... being your first beardie, its already alot of care and time and by getting this one that is not taken care of, SUPER small for his age, and who knows what else ... you are going to have to go the extra mile on care and even possible vet bills ... im not discouraging you at ALL to rescue a beardie ... but you will more than likely have to put alot more time, money, and energy into this one. Being a first time owner, you MIGHT want the expirience of obtaining a young healthy beardie that you can tame yourself, watch them grow, and have the correct set-up so that you dont encounter the problems that this CL beardie may have. Or , purchase a healthy thriving adult if you want an adult.
Its so sad, i TOTALLY understand and your heart is TOTALLY in the right place. I would just weigh those factors in before getting the CL beardie. Im sure, whatever you do, will be a rewarding expirience, they are AMAZING animals, i just would hate your first beardie expirience to be a difficult one (ha, more difficult than it already can seem at times no matter what, they make ius worry so much!!! they crakc that whip and wefo running to them teehee) Its a wonderful thing though, it is. Yes, you can love a reptile with all your heart :mrgreen:
But you know, this is your choice
and you will know what to do when you sit and think abotu the pros and cons.
OK! having said that....
yes, 12 inches for a "regular" year old beardie is small. Blue is 6 months old, she is 14.5 inches and growing, just to give you an idea of mine. Not that a little beardie is a bad thing, some ust are small, but just answering you question, mhm, yeah, its quite small. MOST beardies at a year would be somewhere in the 18 up to 24 inch range (thats a very random range, but just an idea of what an adult beardie can reach, even though at a year they can still grow until about 1.5 years. And, a year is sometimes considered a sub-adult still ... but 12 inches is small, which makes me wonder if this dragon has had proper UV, food, calcium supplements, vitamin powder, proper temps ... all that. and being in a 10 gallon is not going to provide a dragon with the temp. gradients they need or room to be active and thrive. you mentioned she is not even feeding it, which is REALLY scary.
I personally wouldnt permantley house any beardie is a plastic bin ... this is just my opinion, but space and lighting and temps are very important, as well as some heigth and climibing room too ....
for this guy you would want at LEAST a 40 gallon breeder.
If you got a screen top, you would want a reptisun hood ... and a reptiSUN 10.0 Uv tube, 18 inches is a great size.
you would want that to lay ontop of the screen right along side a heat source, (lightbulb) screwed into a dome on top of the screen, and that bulb can be a regular bright white household bulb ... the wattage is going to depend on your the room temperature and what not, you would have to play around with wattages until you get the correct temps.
at his age, a nice steady temp of 95 -100 would be great, no less. Some beardies (usually younger) like it at 115 .. some like it at 95 (usually adults prefer it at the 95 - 100 range)
You also want your "cool side" temps running around 80 (give or take a degree) ... again this is something that you will have to play around with, and see what you beardie is comfortable with.
What you need to measure these temps are two thermometers:
digital ones with probes. you put the the termometer in and actually stick the probe ON the actual spot that he would be laying on to bask. that is your temp reading.
another digital thermometer on the cool side, to make sure that it is not too hot and not to chilly.
The UV tube is SO important ... it is our way creating "sun rays" in a controlled environment for them. they need the UVB to process food, metabolize calcium, healthy bones, healthy everything. that is their lifeline. IF you can mount the UV tube inside the viv so the screen doesnt filter any out, that would be even better. Just make sure the hood has NO plastic or plexi glass in bewtween the bulb and the screen. no worries about the uv tube touching the screen, they put out very very very little heat.
As far as food goes, at a year he should be interested in greens or you can get him interested: collards, mustard greens, bok choy are great ones. dark leafy greens that are NOT lettuce. kale is something people DO feed their beardies, but it can bind calcium so i tend to stay away from it.
Protein is something this guy is going to need to. And if it is what is sounds like, he may be underweight or dehydrated.
Pheonix Worms, Superworms, Butter Worms, Crickets, Dubia, SIlkworms, Hornworms .... all of these can be found on the internet and shipped to your house for pretty cheap in comparison to going and buying from a pet store. Convienient too
And they are all good staples, and you can mix and match them.
Dust the worms, crix, or roaches with calcium power for one feeding daily and a multi vitamin for one feedng about 3 times a week. Pheonix Worms dont need the calcium dusting. I also dont dust my Butterworms with calcium, but everything else gets dusted with calcium.
Hydrations is REALLY important for a bearide. The best way i think, is baths. Warm water soaks. They absorb water through the vent under theor tail. Baths also help bearides poop, and alot of them enjoy them too! Wayer bowls inside tanks is a personal choice. i chose not use one b/c they tend to poop in them, harbor bacteria, and raise the humidity levels. but some people use them and everything is just fine.
You dont want any lights on at night for your beardie. They like it dark and and a little cooler for proper sleep. no red lights or even "moonlights" ... if your temps are below 65ish at night, then you can always get a space heater for the room, or get a Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE) for the tank, that emits heat and no light.
As far as substrate for the bottom of the tank, you would want to use newspaper, paper towels, non adhesive shelf liner, or my favorite ... TILE! lowes will cut it for you. super easy to clean. you dont really want a loose substrate like walnut shells or calci-sand, they can impact a beardie and it can get really serious. beardies lick everything, so injestion of sand or a wanut shell sliver can be a very serious nedical situation. Bearides have died of impaction. Its so so so easy to avoid by using the other substrates i mentioned
Im surprised yet NOT surprised she is "considering" your offer. seem to me that she would just be happy to get it off her hands and into someones hands that can care for it. but, that is the USUAL (not all) "way of craiglist" with beardies. its not cool
Hope i didnt overwhelm you!!!!!!!!! lol. i was just trying to think of the important notes ....
any more questions, fire away!
and let us know what you decide to do .... have you been able to see pictures of this beardie? that would be a pretty important thing for you to see.
best of luck, and i hope to hear back from you!!!
i understand your impulse... i really do ... we see an animal in need and its our goo hearted nature to help. sometimes having ab ig heart can work both for you and against you, ya know? like :shock:
If you wold like to see a pic of my set-up, just let me know and i will post one, OR go to the "Enclosures" topic and view the VIV PICS THREAD, you will see ALOT of ideas in that thread.
~Emily and Miss Blue :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
if you're going to the store, you might try some nopales (prickly pear cactus leaves) as well. I know my beardie prefers them to leafy greens. They're super easy to prepare, just make sure you get all the excess spines out. Cilantro also works nicely. Please keep us updated! I really hope everything turns out well.
