New Baby Owner

[Woodstock]

Hello,

My wife and I are the proud owners of a new baby named Woodstock. Before I get into the questions, here are the specifics:

How old is your dragon? About 2 months

How long have you had your dragon? 2 days

How long is your dragon? Approx. 6 inches

What is the sex of your dragon? We believe female, but can't be sure at the moment

What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 10 Gallon

What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? Paper towels

Do you use UVB lights? Yes

If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? Coil

What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? Reptisun 5.0

How old is your UVB bulb? 2 days

How close can your dragon get to the UVB? Approx. 10 inches

Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? Yes, its a regular bulb, 75 watt

What are the basking temps? 108

What is the cool side temp? 83

Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? Probe

Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? The highest part of her basking branch

Do you use a heat rock or heat pad? no

What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. Morning: Kale and Strawberries, followed by @6 crickets Evening: 8-9 crickets

How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? Morning and Night

Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? Yes

Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? Rep-cal calcium daily, Rep-cal multivitamin weekly (thats the plan, anyway...)

Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? Yes, commonly in her dish after she eats her greens

Do you bath your dragon? How often? the plan is twice weekly

Do you mist your dragon or offer water other than in the bath? She gets misted outside the tank twice a day

Does your dragon share an enclosure with another dragon? No

Have you gotten a vet check and fecal done? Not yet

Now that that's out of the way, my questions are as follow:

1- Are we doing everything right?

2- How long should it take her to get use to her new environment? She seems to have 'stress marks' frequently, but she eats regularly and seems fairly active.

3- She does not seem to like her basking spot. It's basically a large branch. She'll climb it ok, but seldom basks at the top. Typically, she hangs out on top of her hide, where the temp is around 90-95.

4- What is an ideal number for humidity? I just bought a humidity probe, and was wondering where is the best place to stick it?

5- As she is so small now, the 10 gallon works well when it's time to hunt the crickets. I know she'll grow fast, so when it's time for a new enclosure, should we just go with the full size that she'll have as an adult (something like 4'x2'x2'?

Thanks for any input. I'll be sure to post pics of the little darling as soon as I can.

Thanks!
Tom

 

[pscaulkins]

Welcome to the forum Tom. Oh, we all love baby beardies. A ten gallon is a bit difficult to maintain the proper temps. For a baby, they need basking temps 102 to 110 max. The cool side needs to be about 82 degrees so they can thermoregulate. I notice you have a coil UVB. Those have been proven dangerous. Here is a website to help explain, http://www.reptileuv.com/. The best tube UVB is a Reptisun 10.0. Your baby would do better in a 20 gallon long tank so the cool side can be maintained. Believe me, in about a month your baby will outgrow the tank you have. Babies grow so fast.

Here is a good website on feeding, http://www.beautifuldragons.com, Kale is not the best for greens. Collard greens, mustard greens and turnip greens are better. Babies need three feeding of feeders a day.

Since you just got your little one, it may be in relocation stress. It takes a few days for them to acclimate to their new surroundings.

One of the biggest things about babies is they get dehydrated very easy. A daily soak in warm water help with that. Since yours is only 6" long, I would use a small container and fill with 1/4-1/2" of warm water like you would use for a human baby. You can put a papertowel on the bottom so he/she won't slip around in it.

As for humidity, about 30-40% but since you have a small tank, you may not be able to maintain this. My tanks have lower humidity but I give each a soak every morning so that helps.

We all love pictures. Post a picture of your new little one.

Sandy

 

[dolcedragon]

I think pscaulkins pretty much covered it! I just want to say I think it's great that you are doing your research and really seem to care about your dragon. They can be expensive at first but are sooo worth it in the end. With my dragons I went immediately from 10 gal to 40 gal and had no problems. At first they seemed a bit nervous so I divided the tank to make it smaller, expanded it later, and everyone was happy.

 

[Woodstock]

OK, so a 20 gallon tank makes sense. I'm kicking myself you know where for not grabbing that in the first place.

So my new question is, if I get a 20 gallon tank and the appropriate sized hood/tube UV light, will I need to then buy a new hood/light once she grows into her final tank? My thoughts for a final tank are the Exo-Terra Terranium (36x18x18) with the doors that open in the front.

Thanks for everybody's input, we appreciate the advice (and experience). We bought her from a breeder, who just opened his own store. However he's about an hour away from us, so it's not easy to just stop by and ask questions. As a funny story, I went to Petsmart last night for some crickets (we'll be ordering online from now on...). They said they feed their dragons 1 small cricket per inch of dragon each day!?! Woodstock would be a little upset with us if she only ate 6 crickets a day. At least their enclosures looked better than Petco's.

Thanks!
Tom

 

[pscaulkins]

You should be able to use the UVB with both tanks. They don't need the whole tank covered, just where they bask. Oh, I have seen those exo Terra tanks. They are the size of 40 gallon breeder fish tanks.

Some pet stores feed very minimal because the animal will grow and people want babies. So sad.

 

[Woodstock]

OK - our little girl has a new tube style Reptisun 10 light. It's a little busy on top of her cage, but she seems more lively and has a better appetite now so I'm happy.

My new question is what should I use for a background?? We've tried a standard desert scene background, but she keeps trying to jump up on the rocks and plants in the pictures. With no background, she seems to always have a little showdown with her reflection and often bumps her nose into the glass. She also seems to chase the reflection of the crickets in the glass. Is there some kind of dull background that can go in the tank, covering the back and two sides?

Also, we got her a place to perch and hangout on the cool side of the tank as well as the basking area. She seems to enjoy hanging out in both areas, but does that make her cage too busy? I'm not sure how much floor space she should have.

Thanks for everybody's input!

 

[NegativeCreep]

My thoughts for a final tank are the Exo-Terra Terranium (36x18x18) with the doors that open in the front.

These are really nice looking enclosures, but they are really too small. The ideal size for an adult dragon is 4x2x2 feet, but a 40 gallon breeder will do, if all of her other conditions are met well.
I would skip the 20 gallon breeder and purchase something bigger, since you will have to buy something bigger later. Save some $$ that way.

 

[fresnowitte]

:wave: Hello Tom & Welcome to BD.org!
And................
Congratulations on the New Baby!
Look forward to seeing those pic's of your little precious one. :wink:

Again Welcome Aboard!