Hello everyone, My name is Ken. I recently picked up a new baby bearded dragon on Saturday from Petco (yeah, I know not the wisest place to buy animals) first time beardie owner.. but not new to keeping lizards/reptiles. Can't really tell what sex the beardie is being so small yet, so I just been calling him Rocko. hoping I can contribute/learn more about things on this board.
Pictures below of my setup and Rocko... I work first shift so I try to give him some crickets before I leave for work.. and then again when I come home.. so I attempt at least 2 live feedings a day but can only get him to eat a few if any.. I give him fresh greens, veggies, and some beardie buffet mixed together and left out all day... waiting on a shipment of dubias. I dust the crickets with Rep-Cal Calcium w/ D3.. and also have some Herptivite for the days I don't dust calcium. Fresh Water/Greens is always in the tank, I just remove them when I drop crickets in.
Tank - 36x18x18 Exo Terra Large Wide
Lighting - ExoTerra 75w Intense Basking Spot Bulb (Couldn't find the ZooMeds anywhere) and a Reptisun T5 10 HO with the hood mounted inside the tank.. I run the lights from 5am-7pm everyday so that gives me a chance to try feeding crickets before I run out the door at 630am.
Temperatures range from 89-95 on the hot side.. basking spot of 100-111 and a cool side temperature that ranges from 79-82 with the lights on. Humidity stays in the 20-30% range .. I know Reptile Carpet ain't the ideal substrate but that's going to be changed to either tile or non-adhesive shelf liner in the near future.
Tank looks good -- you do need a digital probe theremometer to get a accurate basking temp tho as of now your getting ambient temps and your UVB needs to be approx 12-15 inches directly above a piece of basking decor -- please do NOT leave crickets in the tank -- they will come out and bite at nite -- I would feed them one at a time --- or two -- dubias are a better feeder anyway --- you can order some BSFL and use those as a staple as well along w the dubias use them as lures to the salad bowl - you will need a glass or ceramic bowl to keep them from getting out -- add them to the salad bowl in front of him to get his attention DO NOT dust them order large -- www.symtonbsf.com I would get rid of the pellet stuff too --- rinse your salads before serving so he gets moisture from them and make sure your insects are gut loaded - he will get some moisture from the insects but mainly the salad -- and you want him eating salads now even a little bit --