New Beardie - Concerned About Amount of Food Being Eaten

[CooperDragon]

It's no bother at all, feel free to ask as many questions as you'd like. I'm here to help as much as I can.

 

[jarich]

Ah, nice, you have the Euro range Arcadia. Thats great. They last longer than the normal T8s and have a bit better output, so you only have to replace them every nine months instead of the typical six months on the others. I would recommend that you buy one of the reflectors for your fixture though. It will basically double the output of your bulb, which is a good thing given the distance to your dragon from the light.

Id agree with Cooper about replacing the red bulb with a normal halogen outdoor flood light. Its not that the red light is bad necessarily, just that with a flood light you get the added benefits of brightness (lumens) and some UVA as well. They are able to see the red light as well as we can, so thats why its best to shut it off at night. They will, like you said, go to sleep when they want anyway, but every animal needs a day/night cycle. For the flood light, you want a nice wide beam like a PAR 38. Since you have the 60 watt there, I would say get the same for your flood light. No need to have any heat on at night unless it gets really cold in the room in the winter.

As for the feeding, there is a lot of variability from dragon to dragon. Some will eat 20 a day, some will eat 80, some 40. (remember small crickets are about a tenth the size of medium locusts too) Some wont even touch vegetables until they get older, some prefer them right away. So saying it must be x number of insects a day or 70/30 insect to greens or whatever is a little misleading. Its a guideline to help you get an idea of ranges, but dont get too worried if your dragon doesnt follow our human rules.

 

[LMilton]

Well at least I've got something right lol.

I'll have a look for a white bulb, is an 'Exo Terra Sun Glo Tight Beam Spot Lamp' any good?

He's eaten a few locusts and some meal worms today so I feel a bit happier.

Thanks for your continual help guys.

Luke

 

[mands1397]

Just noticed the water bowl and wanted to mention most dragons wont drink standing water... so you'll need to mist him and we also rinse our greens to add some hydration that way. I wouldnt worry hes not eating much greens as he's so young but keep them available and varied and eventually he'll start taking in more vegetables than locusts. Also ensure any food is torn/cut smaller than the space between his eyes. Make sure your dusting your feeders with a calcium supplement. We dont use night heat basking lights either

 

[jarich]

Well at least I've got something right lol.

I'll have a look for a white bulb, is an 'Exo Terra Sun Glo Tight Beam Spot Lamp' any good?

He's eaten a few locusts and some meal worms today so I feel a bit happier.

Thanks for your continual help guys.

Luke

No, those bulbs arent very good and they are overpriced too. You want something that has a nice wide beam angle instead of anything 'spot' or 'tight beam'. Generally for a basking light, the way to go is to just get a normal halogen outdoor flood lamp. The higher the PAR, the better, as this usually means that the beam angle is wider. So a PAR 38 is what a lot of people use. Id guess probably a 75 watt or so would be good, but it depends on how far away the bulb is from the basking area.