New Beardie and Viv

[frazz]

Hey so finally went out and bought my first bearded dragon today.
Heres a pic of my viv and setup and was just wanna see if you guys/gals had any tips or opinions on it, my wee guy seems happy so far and is just away too sleep for the first night in his new home

 

[krolmariusz]

sand will kill him.

 

[frazz]

This was how the exotic pet store set it up for me and when i questioned the sand they seemed too have an answer for everything.
To be fair they have years of experience and are selling clutches of morphed dragons every week :shock:

So if i take the sand out and i use the lino i originally had planned for it would this set up look okay or am i missing anything??

 

[Catalyst]

Is that dial thermometer the only one you're using? It is recommended to use thermometers with a probe so that you can get the most accurate reading right at the basking spot and on the cool side of the tank.

It may just be the picture, but you want the tank to be brightly lit during the day (in imitation of the dragon's natural desert environment) so you may want to put in additional lighting to brighten things up.

Sand isn't recommended, particularly for young dragons. As clumsy hunters and with a tendancy to lick their environment, young dragons are prone to ingesting sand and it can then lead to impactions. The safest option is to go with a solid substrate, like tiles, paper towels, or nonadhesive shelf liner (nothing with glue on it, since glue can potential leach out chemical fumes when heated).

Hope this helps

 

[frazz]

Yeah as i said this is how the shop set it up for me so currently its sitting around 32 in the centre of the vivarium i checked with a thermometer on the rocks under the basking lamp and it came in at 40 degrees. I've just ordered the exo terra digital thermometer from ebay so hopefully that will arrive soon and i can monitor it more accurately.

I think it was just the way i took the photo from my phone to be fair as it is bright and the picture was taking when the house was dark aswell....

I'm hoping the sands not already affected him as they've obviously been raised on sand in the shop and with him being at 14 weeks that is quite an amount of time for a small dragon, will bathing him in warm water daily help remedy this?? :study:

 

[Catalyst]

I'm hoping the sands not already affected him as they've obviously been raised on sand in the shop and with him being at 14 weeks that is quite an amount of time for a small dragon, will bathing him in warm water daily help remedy this?? :study:

Many dragons have been raised on sand - if they all got sick and died it woudn't be used by anyone any more, however it does pose an unneccessary risk to your dragon that can be eliminated by using a solid substrate. Bathing him often will help to keep him well hydrated, which in turn does help keep all of his insides moving along. Keep an eye on his poops for any signs of sand coming through, or any difficulties he has in pooping.

 

[jellybaby90]

I will never ever use sand again..
When I had Jaffa I bought her from a breeder that kept all his beardies on sand, and was told to continue using it..
6months later I had to have her put down due to sand impaction, and it killed me.. I now have a new baby and have used slate for the bottom of the tank..
Sand also makes the tank harder to clean, starts to smell quite quickly, and can harbour mites and parasites..
Its your choice, I mean there are people who keep them on sand and never have a problem, but to be on the safe side, especially while your beardy is young, get the sand out, I would.

Hope this helps

 

[frazz]

I'm off on Wednesday so just gonna make do with sand till then. I've got some lino lying around so will cut this up and use it on the ground at least till he's big enough then i can decide what too do from there.
Another thing is my beardie doesnt seem too be going directly under his basking lamp more towards the back of the tank on his log and obviously not getting the full effects of the heated basking spot any ideas too conquer this??

 

[jellybaby90]

move the log under the lamp? lol
beardies seem to like basking at a kind of 45degree angle, maybe try a branch leaning against the side of the viv? or just something to climb on