New baby beardie owner from Ireland - "Scooby"

[Lolly]

Hello all, I'm a new mom to Scooby the baby beardie, he's about 13 weeks old and is soooooooo cute. I love him

My only worry is that scooby lets me touch and rub him softly but wont let me hold him, he gets very scared, so I dont push it. Also we brought him to be sexed the other day as we got him at about 4 weeks and couldnt tell and since the trip he wont come near us and is hiding a lot. Is this normal, since the trip he has also lost his appetite and from what I understand now is the time when he should be eating most.

He doesnt let me bath him only showers, he loves them, His substrate is sand because that was what he was on when we got him, but we feed him with a tongs and make a tuting noise so when he hears this he climbs up the wood in his tank to be fed which is very cute. We got the whole viv together with a heat mat, uva/b bulb and heat bulb with scooby for €140 cos the pet shop were getting out of selling reptiles, which is a bargin and since we've added to the tank.

I just hope he's ok and not sick or anthing, is his behaviour unusual???

 

[fresnowitte]

:wave: Welcome to BD.org!
And........
Gratz on the new little guy!

The skiddishness maybe because of his rambuncious age.
Also is he getting ready to or is he shedding?
This will somethimes cause them to not want to have much human contact.
And may also affect their appetite.

Other than that I would check my temps.
The basking spot should be somewhere between 105* and 110* ish.
The cool end no lower than 65* and no higher than 85*.
This temp will vary with changing ambient temps.
You should be checking your temps with a digital probe thermometer or a infared temp gun.
The one they sell at most pet store are not accurate they can be up to 20* off.

Also what brand and wattage is your UVB?
How much is he eating?
Are you offering veggies?
Are you useing a calcium and multi-vitamin?

Sand is not recommended for baby and juvie beardies. It is not very healthy for them and it is not just because of impaction risk. Particle subsrtates harbor bacteria as it is impossible to remove all dropping.
Someone told me once like a "Litter Box!" I understood that and changed.
But not before having to deal with parasites due to the particle substrate.

Also the heat pads are not recommended either because a beardie could actually burn themselves.
All of their heat receptors are on top.

Again Welcome!
And I look forward to seeing some pic's of your little guy.

 

[Lolly]

The skin on his head has started to shed at first I thought he had some disease or something but on closer inspection i realised it was skin. We have snakes also who have the same temperment ie: dont like being handled before they shed so it must be a reptile thing.

Our temps are all right as i check them regularly with a probe. The UVB from what I can remember is a repti glo and its the length of the tank i cant remember exactly but it think its 8.0??? I've thrown away the box now but I think thats what it was.

He's eating about 10 to 15 medium crickets a day sometimes more but never less until yesterday and he has the odd decapitated worm ( I was told theres a 1 in a millin chance of a full worm surviving inside him and eating its way out -gross but I'm not taking the chance)

He gets offered fresh green and small bit of fruit daily but rarely eats it, but it's there for when and if he decides to eat it. We're using and calcium and multivitim powder too and we use "fresh water" products to purify his cleaning water and shower water. We use the same stuff in our fish tank to get rid of any cholrine and it was suggested to us by a breeder.

my only problem with using anything other then sand is that the two pet shop near use that have reptile products dont have any other substrate. We use cork and bark for our snakes but i understand that this can also harm Beardies so I wouldnt use that. I might try to order some reptile carpet off the internet. is it safe to use sand when he's bigger???

The hest map sits under the tank and is about and inch and a half away from the actual base of the tank and doesnt get too hot. Our climate is cold over here and I have to have something to keep the night time temps up or he'll die. i dont want him to do that

Thanks for the welcomes.

I'll try and post some pics soon but its hard to catch the little fecker on camera :lol:

 

[fresnowitte]

Well the shed maybe your problem.
Now I'm not sure about the UVB your useing as I use a MVB but I no that there has been problems with the repti-glo bulbs. Here's a link where Drache613 our light person :wink: :lol: talks about the reptiglo you may also want to google reptiglo to see what comes up.
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I use tile, non adhesive shelf liner (actually looks like a hardwood linoleum), an in Zak's-n-Wheezie's viv I also use repti-carpet. With my babies I use paper towel sense they poop so much.
For heat I use a ceramic heat emitter verses a heat strip.
I'm not sure what worm your talking about.
Sorry I got side tracked and didn't send you the PM , I'll do that right now.

 

[Lolly]

Ya I'll look into the bulb and change it at the weekend, our pet shops are a bit of a drive away and closed by the time i finish work so weekends are really the only time we can shop. I'm gonna change scooby's viv now and use paper for the time being. he's so spoilt already and this is only our second week with him.

I was thinkin of making my own Vivarium to be honest, just downloaded some plans. It may be easier to start from scratch as we will have to get a bigger tank once Scooby gets bigger anyways. Plus I'd like to prove to my partner that i could do it ha ha Only thing is the lighting fixture in building your own and ventilation might be a problem..... I'll have to check it all out first.

 

[fresnowitte]

Check out the "Enclosure" forum you might find some good ideas.

For some reason I was thinking you had Scooby for a month already.
If you've only had him for 2 weeks the reason he is not eating that much may also be relocation stress. Normally they are over it and settled in by 2 weeks but some do take less as some will take longer.

 

[Lolly]

I can see where the mistake came from when we got him we thought he was 4 weeks old but when when brought him to be sexed he was 13, I only just realised i said 4 weeks above but he was actually 11 weeks, the pet shop told us a month but the breeder who sexed them said was older then that. my fault.

I keep forgetting that..... this will be his third week on Friday!!

He let me hold him this morning but he's still very anxious, when I go near the tank he shys away. But he ate some cabbage and cucumber today for me, which makes a change.

I took your advice and got rid of the sand but I think scooby is wondering what the hell is going on...

 

[fireyred]

Hi Lolly, Congrats on lil scooby, i also have a lil 1 called scooby and we are also in ireland.
Where abouts did u buy him from? where did u find the breeder to sex him ???

 

[Lolly]

I live in Cork so I went to a breeder who works in Petstop on the Kinsale road roundabout in Cork, his name is Tim and I'd recommed him to anyone. He's very good at giving information about Beardies.

 

[busymum]

HI i am also a new baby beardie owner from Ireland.My kids named him Simon after the chipmunks I got him well I say him not sure yet ,about 4 weeks ago so he now 11 weeks old.Just a few questions is it normal for them to shed for 2 weeks straight? And anytime i put my hand in cage he goes for me snapping away.I know his bite wont hurt my Im getting tiny bit scared any advice.?

 

[fresnowitte]

HI i am also a new baby beardie owner from Ireland.My kids named him Simon after the chipmunks I got him well I say him not sure yet ,about 4 weeks ago so he now 11 weeks old.Just a few questions is it normal for them to shed for 2 weeks straight? And anytime i put my hand in cage he goes for me snapping away.I know his bite wont hurt my Im getting tiny bit scared any advice.?

:wave: Welcome!
:laughing6: Babies will shed very often so often that it could seem as it's one looong....... shed.
Usually they will shed like head, tail, legs, and then body,(not necessarily that order) but not all at once.
They may shed those areas very close in time to the last area to shed making it seem as one long shed.

Shedding is a good thing no need to worry.

Typically beardies do not like to be handled or messed with when they are shedding.

If you want something from your beardie.........
like for him/her to let you handle him.........
use food.
When reaching in, do it with something to offer him/her to eat.
Beardies make us earn their trust. :whip: :whip: :laughing6:

 

[fireyred]

I live in Cork so I went to a breeder who works in Petstop on the Kinsale road roundabout in Cork, his name is Tim and I'd recommed him to anyone. He's very good at giving information about Beardies.

Bit far away for me i'm up in louth, i got mine from a pet shop and silly me belived every word the lad said, i have now learnt to do me own research first lol

 

[busymum]

Yeah thanks for that , must definetley give that go..Also another question how many crickets should he be eating the guy in the petshop said just give him couple a day ..but I ve been throwing in 4-5 is that to much he eats them all maybe he still hungry.

 

[fresnowitte]

Also another question how many crickets should he be eating the guy in the petshop said just give him couple a day ..but I ve been throwing in 4-5 is that to much he eats them all maybe he still hungry.

I'd say the poor little guy is still hungry. :wink:
Babies and juvies should be fed 3 to 4 times a day dusting one of the feedings.
Feed them as much as he/she will eat in a 10 minute period.
Plus offer salads even thought it may take sometime before they will show interest.

Here's a link to nutritional value of some beardie foods;
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

Here's a link to a comparison chart for some live feeders;
http://www.feedersinc.com/insect-comparison/

 

[Lolly]

[/quote]Bit far away for me i'm up in louth, i got mine from a pet shop and silly me belived every word the lad said, i have now learnt to do me own research first lol[/quote]

We did the same thing and it was obvious after doing a little research that the pet shop we bought him in didnt have a clue....But he's getting nice and fat now, he was very skinny up till last week, his ribs were very visable.I couldnt hold him till the other day but now he's not as fidgety he still tries to do a runner every now and then though.