New Baby

[Shauna_T]

Hi I am new to the forum, I just bought my grandson a beardie and am looking for the correct information to get his setup correct. And of course the correct care for him as well. I have a 4ft x 2.5ft x 1ft fish aquarium I will be using temporarily. Where i bought the beardie I thought I seen a post it that said his hatch date was in april but he is only 7or 8 inches long does that sound correct? It just doesn't sound right to me after doing some research... so anyway... I also have a chameleon and breed my own dubia, I use miner-all vitamins for my cham I was wondering if I can use those for the beardie as well? I am going to use a topsoil play sand mixture as the substrate for him with live plants. I have some aloe plants, chick's -n- hens and I would like to maybe do some pathos as well. I know I will need to use a che at night as my house gets cold at night like 60° and I was going to get an arcadia t5 12% for him, but the guy I bought him from said I can use one of the basking bulbs that puts out uvb it is not a coil bulb or a tube it looks like a nano tech basking bulb but I didn't really read it and I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that. I was wondering what your thoughts are on that. I have paid for my beardie but have not brought him home yet as I want everything correct first so I thought I would start here. I would greatly appreciate all the help I can get.

 

[J4ckdaw-]

Hi I am new to the forum, I just bought my grandson a beardie and am looking for the correct information to get his setup correct. And of course the correct care for him as well. I have a 4ft x 2.5ft x 1ft fish aquarium I will be using temporarily. Where i bought the beardie I thought I seen a post it that said his hatch date was in april but he is only 7or 8 inches long does that sound correct? It just doesn't sound right to me after doing some research... so anyway... I also have a chameleon and breed my own dubia, I use miner-all vitamins for my cham I was wondering if I can use those for the beardie as well? I am going to use a topsoil play sand mixture as the substrate for him with live plants. I have some aloe plants, chick's -n- hens and I would like to maybe do some pathos as well. I know I will need to use a che at night as my house gets cold at night like 60° and I was going to get an arcadia t5 12% for him, but the guy I bought him from said I can use one of the basking bulbs that puts out uvb it is not a coil bulb or a tube it looks like a nano tech basking bulb but I didn't really read it and I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that. I was wondering what your thoughts are on that. I have paid for my beardie but have not brought him home yet as I want everything correct first so I thought I would start here. I would greatly appreciate all the help I can get.

Hi there

Alright… so his hatch date was April? That would make him 7-8 months old, and at that age 7 inches is considered very small (for context, when my boy was 8 months old he was 21 inches; the range is generally between 12-18 inches I think) which may be a result of improper care previously, or it could be stunted genetics adopted from being bred at a reptile mill (depends on the store, Petsmart is the main offender for this).

As for UVB, that won’t cut it. Go out and pick up either an Arcadia T5 lamp or a Reptisun 10.0 lamp, it should cover at least 1/2 to 3/4 of the tank but make sure you provide places to hide. A bearded dragon knows how much light they need, and will self regulate. Once you get your hands on one of those, I will flag the lighting guru of this forum. She can help with distance.

What are your temperatures and how are you taking them? Generally speaking, the requirement would be between 105-110 degrees on the basking spot, but older dragons may prefer cooler temps such as 95-105 degrees. The temperatures should be measured using a digital probe thermometer, as opposed to a stick-on or a temp gun. It gives the most accurate readings.

Everything else you mentioned is fine

 

[KarrieRee]

Hi I am new to the forum, I just bought my grandson a beardie and am looking for the correct information to get his setup correct. And of course the correct care for him as well. I have a 4ft x 2.5ft x 1ft fish aquarium I will be using temporarily. Where i bought the beardie I thought I seen a post it that said his hatch date was in april but he is only 7or 8 inches long does that sound correct? It just doesn't sound right to me after doing some research... so anyway... I also have a chameleon and breed my own dubia, I use miner-all vitamins for my cham I was wondering if I can use those for the beardie as well? I am going to use a topsoil play sand mixture as the substrate for him with live plants. I have some aloe plants, chick's -n- hens and I would like to maybe do some pathos as well. I know I will need to use a che at night as my house gets cold at night like 60° and I was going to get an arcadia t5 12% for him, but the guy I bought him from said I can use one of the basking bulbs that puts out uvb it is not a coil bulb or a tube it looks like a nano tech basking bulb but I didn't really read it and I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with that. I was wondering what your thoughts are on that. I have paid for my beardie but have not brought him home yet as I want everything correct first so I thought I would start here. I would greatly appreciate all the help I can get.

I posted on the other dragon forum website for you

 

[Chris.]

I agree with J4ckdaw, at 8 months the dragon should be bigger. IF the hatch date is correct. Check for sunken fat pads or visible hip bones, thise are good signs the dragon is underweight and/or dehydrated.
The supps you use for the cham should work just fine.

As for the light, I'd get the Arcadia 12% tube as you can't really go wrong with those. If the bulb was a mvb or a hdi bulb you could use them but they are crazy expensive and your dragon would only get uvb when he is basking.
Long story short: tube style uvb and a dimmable incandescent bulb is the best in my opinion

Live plants are a cool idea, just expect them to get eaten, walked over, climbed on, pooped on and just destroyed in general
Except you get one of those docile dragons everyone talks about

 

[NickAVD]

Live plants are a cool idea, just expect them to get eaten, walked over, climbed on, pooped on and just destroyed in general
Except you get one of those docile dragons everyone talks about

You very accurately described the interaction between dragons and plants

 

[AHBD]

Shauna, the dragon in the pic is MUCH bigger than 7-8 inches unless you meant S -L [ snout to vent ] Looks more like 14-15 inches over all. Miner all is O.K, just be sure to use it sparingly and lightly, maybe 2-3 X a week at most. I'll look at the ingredients again, I used to have it in the past but not lately. Be sure to get him eating greens like turnip, mustard, collard, kale, arugula but avoid spinach + swiss chard for the most part, they are high in oxalates which interferes with calcium absorption.

 

[Shauna_T]

I agree with J4ckdaw, at 8 months the dragon should be bigger. IF the hatch date is correct. Check for sunken fat pads or visible hip bones, thise are good signs the dragon is underweight and/or dehydrated.
The supps you use for the cham should work just fine.

As for the light, I'd get the Arcadia 12% tube as you can't really go wrong with those. If the bulb was a mvb or a hdi bulb you could use them but they are crazy expensive and your dragon would only get uvb when he is basking.
Long story short: tube style uvb and a dimmable incandescent bulb is the best in my opinion

Live plants are a cool idea, just expect them to get eaten, walked over, climbed on, pooped on and just destroyed in general
Except you get one of those docile dragons everyone talks

 

[Shauna_T]

Thank you everyone for your help. I didn't think the bulb he recommended was correct so I will be getting the arcadia 12%, this will be a temporary Viv for him we are going to build a 5ft or 6ft x 3ft x 4ft tall one for him so he has a nice size home with lots to climb on so he has an enriching environment. I know he will eat, climb and pretty much destroy the plants but that's ok its healthy to have them in there cleaning his air and providing fresh health oxygen for him, i just want him healthy and happy. the beardie is very health and eats really well. As to the length of my beardie i may have been just looking at his body so i asked my daughter if she thought he was about a foot long and she said yes so i apologize for the misinformation. I want y'all to know i am aware of how appetites change when they are adjusting to new homes and He will not be held for at least 1 week possibly 2 (I will judge his mood) so he has time to get used to his new home and of course again when we put him in his permanent Viv. I dont have temps yet as the viv is not set up but I will be following all y'alls recommendations. I will be using digital thermostat/hydrometers and his basking lamp will be on a thermostat with probe on his basking spot. I also have a thermostat gun so I can check levels that way. If I missed anything please let me know. I am attaching a photo of the aquarium I will be using obviously its not ready for him but i just thought i would show it for size reference. Again ty for all your help!!!
I do have 1 more question at least for now lol, what are the ages for baby, juvenile and adult so I know what food/temperature schedule to follow.

@AHBD Here are some pictures of the miner-all ingredients for you thought that might be helpful.

 

[AHBD]

Miner all is good stuff, since it has D3 just use it once a week lightly, use calcium w/out D3 the other 2-3 X a week lightly.

 

[AHBD]

And that's a standard 55 gal. tank, it will work until you get the new enclosure built. See how friendly the dragon is, you can handle them if they are chill but not too much for the first couple of weeks.

 

[Shauna_T]

Miner all is good stuff, since it has D3 just use it once a week lightly, use calcium w/out D3 the other 2-3 X a week lightly.

Ok yeah I have one with d3 and one with out so I can do that.

 

[Shauna_T]

And that's a standard 55 gal. tank, it will work until you get the new enclosure built. See how friendly the dragon is, you can handle them if they are chill but not too much for the first couple of weeks.

He is super sweet we held him at the reptile shop and he just relaxed, looked around, licked us and when he started getting stressed we put him away. I am not a complete Newby to beardies I have friends that have them. So I do know some behaviors. One of my friends doesn't pay attention to the behaviors and if he wants to hold him even when the beardie doesn't want it he doesn't care he just says he's fine. I have tried explaining things to him but he is in his own world and there is nothing I can do. But anyway yeah I will definitely pay attention to his wants and needs. We want him to love us not hate us. ~ ♡

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Enclosures

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

The Arcadia D3 T5 tube bulb is great & should work really well for him. If everything is setup
properly, he will adjust very quickly. So you may be surprised how easily it will be to handle him
when he is used to his surroundings.
They are pretty good about behavior in general & if you spend enough time with them you can
usually figure things out.
Let us know how he is doing.

Tracie

 

[Shauna_T]

Moved by Moderator from General to Enclosures

Ty sorry I wasn't sure where to go