Hello, so our daughter bought a bearded dragon after her first passed away from impaction. We are worried over everything because of what happened so just gonna go over concerns. This one (cupcake) has a completely different personality and she is so much more active we are suspecting her first dragon may never have been healthy. Cupcake spends almost all her time in her basking area where as sprinkles avoided it almost all the time. She loves taking early morning bathed even before her light comes on where as sprinkles hated the water and only voluntarily went to it once that we ever saw and only for a drink he did not climb in. She loves eating more then just insects, she likes kale and loves berries and she even liked pumpkin when we gave her a small taste. She is so much more active and even holds her head up higher. So is she normal or was sprinkles normal because they are night and day
I am sorry to hear about little Sprinkles -- this often happens and you can only do the best you can --
The most important thing in that tank is the basking temps and UVB -- this is what you need for her to stay active and healthy - from the way it sounds Sprinkles was ill when you got her and that is not uncommon -- so the basking temps need to be 105-110 taken w/ a digital probe thermometer NO stick ons they are inaccurate and you want surface temps - place the probe on the spot where she basks -- NO colored bulbs NO off white bulbs NO yellowish bulbs -- you want a CLEAR bright white basking bulb example Exo Terra Intense basking bulb - NO day time bulbs they have a coating on them called Neoyidium -- UVB a long tube fixture like a 24" fixture for a 40+ gallon tank --- Zoo Med comes w/ a 5.0 bulb you will need a 22" Reptisun 10.0 T 5
Zoo Med ReptiSun T5 HO Hood
Zoo Med ReptiSun 10.0 UVB T5 HO - Hight Output Linear Lamp for desert reptile terrariums. Shop all lighting supplies at Pangea Reptile
www.pangeareptile.com
Arcadia ProT5 12% UVB Bulb With Hood this one is sold out in 24" but I wanted to show you
or this one 24" or 2 ft
SunBlaster NanoTech T5 HO - Fluorescent Fixture with 6400K Lamp
these bulbs will need to be changed out in approx one year I recommend a month prior to -
Nutrition Content ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
Please dust the insects 5 x per week w/ calcium D 3 ONCE per feeding lightly coated vitamins w/ beta carotene 2 x per week ONCE per feeding lightly coated -- she will go thru relocation stress and her eating may go off for a time but she should still be eating if she quits eating all together there is a issue -- but w/ the proper basking temps and proper lighting she should be good --- your UVB has certain distance and placement so I can help you get that set up it will depend on the screen for the T 5
