New beardie Dad and completely freaking out….

Chieftoad

Member
Hello all!

Well let me start off by saying my experience with animals is with dogs, but Leia here needed a home. Her original owner is having a baby and they need the space. So, being the animal lover I am, my wife and I became beardie parents. Now to say I research everything is an understatement. I have had her a week now, and every time I find an article, video, or ask a local shop owner questions, I immediately turn around, and someone has a completely different opinion. Not only have my assumed mistakes given me hellacious anxiety, but it also costs a ton of money. BTW I cannot find the profile area to list my setup, but I’m going to include what I can here;

She is tip to tail about 10” long.

Tank is 20”X36” we got it from her previous owner along with a ceramic basking bulb holder thing.

Mesh top

Basking light is propped up on a stand and is 125w multi purpose with uvb and reaches around 100 degrees on her basking log.

Also she has a basking log. One one side under the basking light. The other side has no light above it.

I am using this large larger sized moist wood chips for substrate. (Reccomended by the reptile shop).

She has a small salad dish
Small corner salad dish

1 fake cactus cave. Recently realized she can go inside of it, and once in there does not want to leave.

1 hammock thing.

Okay now the part I have anxiety over. Her diet…

THIS LITTLE GIRL WILL NOT EAT GREENS!

I’ve tried premade mixes with sweet potato and carrot to sweeten them, I’ve tried mango juice. Mushed, whole leaf bits, I’ve tried feeding her something live with it or immediately after she starts munching. I make wiggle, jiggle, sweet, savory, in a dish, on the floor, from a pair of tweezers….. the list is long but I’ve tried all the things. She just stares at me like I’m an insane person.

So she’s mostly eating crickets. I hate crickets… half of them die on the way home. I refuse to feed her dead stuff. I coat them in the dust stuff for good measure, but….. “from what I’ve read,” they really are kinda garbage low protein compared to other sources etc.

Did I mention she’s around 10mos old?

She’s 10 months old.

Anyways so I started searching for other sources. Dubia roaches were then purchased along with meal worms, silk worms, and a salad mix (mixed at the store, she thinks it’s beneath her or something..anyways). I then read that silks and dubias can be combined as staples. Problem is there are few stores near me, and they are having trouble keeping them in stock… many online sources seem to be having similar issues in bulk quantity. So I asked the dude at the store if she could have super worms. Shes still adolescent age but decent size. Immediately after I start finding videos about compaction, and if you feed them more than 3 they will explode! Immediately followed by “those people are smoothed brained, that’s a myth!”

So at this point I’m beyond confused. If I can staple silk worms at a reasonable cost I know she’ll eat them. Assuming I can get them.

She will eat 1-3 dubias a day that are like 3/4” (refuses to eat males).

Now she is snubbing crickets too. and the only thing she would eat were those super worms. Now I’m like cool she’s going to get compacted and feel like crap or die, because I can’t figure out how to feed a lizard…

I think she should be eating way more, but then I’m told not to give in and that maybe she needs to be a little hungry to get her more interested in greens…

I was still out there then I stopped at Walmart for a tub to bathe her in. Didn’t know that was a thing… considering they are desert animals, and people keep saying too much humidity or water can seriously hurt them…

She seems calm, when allowed she will adventure whether it’s out of fear or interest I still don’t know. She did well in her bath and I got a bottle to “mist” with. Although I’m not sure how often this should happen…

So I’m conclusion, I’ve over researched to the point I can’t tell my rear from my face, and all I want is to be a good parent to this little girl.

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions etc. are desperately wanted. Obviously I want to make sure she has everything she needs, but I need help before I spend another $500 on figuring it all out.

Much love,

Dustin
 

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seleghari

Member
Beardie name(s)
Morty
Most important information you left out of your setup. We need temps for both sides, including basking spot. How you measure those temperatures? (The analog gage in her picture isn't gonna cut it) And do you have a proper UV tube light for her? Because sadly the multipurpose light you described isn't gonna cut it as well.

Improper temps and UV can effect their appetite. So no need worrying over forcing salads on her until you get her set up correctly. And at this point thats way more pressing to prevent metabolic bone disease.

Also I'll remind you she's still experiencing relocation stress. So try to relax on your concern over the diet for now. Maybe use those energies to finding more dubia sources. Or read up on breeding your own! I know...a whole other rabbit hole of research but it will end up saving you $500 easy.
 

hdochow

Sub-Adult Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Sir Henry of Scales
for the easy part..... welcome to dragon induced anxiety land! my name is hillary and i'll be your tour guide today. join the club, you are in good company with the rest of us here. i swear i worry more about this dragon than i did about my own child!

to find the profile area to enter your information, find your name at the top of the page and click on it. a drop down menu will pop up. click account details on that list. (this is on a pc. not sure how it looks/acts on a phone.)

1648698449660.jpg


you can ignore most, if not all, of what you are told by pet stores. i would get rid of those wood chips and switch to either newspaper/paper towels, non-adhesive shelf liner, or slate tiles. the chips are going to allow bacteria growth, be hard to clean, and possibly be ingested, which could lead to impaction.

at 10 months she should be big enough that mealworms/superworms should not be a problem as far as impaction goes. the problem is they aren't good for staple feeders like dubias/silks are. and they tend to get addicted to them and refuse to eat other bugs. they are better left as treats. i'm with you on the crickets. nasty stinky fast dying little guys. we feed dubias as a staple and order from dubiaroaches.com at about 500 a time. we used to buy thousands, but henry is almost 2 now, so he is only eating 3-5 of em 3x a week.

greens/salads are another fun game. they need to eat them. but why do that when you can have tasty bugs and drive your owner crazy? we leave salads in the enclosure every day and if henry eats, he eats. if not, they get fed to the roaches after lights out. there are tricks you can use to lure them to eat more salad, but i'm not too up on those because we've never had to use them. i'm sure others will chime in on it. in general, the older they get, the less they eat, so there's that too.

what type of supplements are you giving her? calcium w, w/o d3, vitamins, etc.

bathing is not that important. we usually do once a week unless we have a dragon poop mess to clean up. too many baths can be harmful and cause their skin to dry out. if you have seen anything about them getting hydrated in baths through their vent, ignore it, it's not true. if dragons are being hydrated in the bath, it is because they are drinking the water. water intake usually comes from bugs and misted salads.

is the combination bulb the only uvb you have? i would recommend getting a long tube bulb to use with it. the not eating much could be from inadequate uvb. here's the one i have, but there are other options too. Arcadia ProT5 12% UVB Bulb With Hood.

outside of that, my best advice is to come on here and read every post every day. that's what i did and i learned so much! there are some really great people on here that are more than willing to help.
 

Chieftoad

Member
Original Poster
I’m going to order that light asap. Thank you for the link. I also visited the dubia roach site and I’m going to get that order out on Saturday when I get paid. I have dubia roaches and crickets still in case she won’t eat greens still.

Also I’m curious. Based on the picture what kind of beardie is she? How does her color and stuff look?

My next step I think is to figure out how to breed silk worms she loves them, and from what I understand that have good nutritional and moisture value. I’m not sure how I feel about breeding roaches in my house quite yet haha.
 

hdochow

Sub-Adult Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Sir Henry of Scales
that link has options for multiple lengths so pay attention to that. i have a 4'x2'x2' enclosure and use the 36", but could use a 24"too. the 36" is just what the guy that custom made my enclosure put in it. the 48" would be too long because it would take the entire length of the tank and you want some areas they can get away from the light if they want to.

as for what kind she is, i have no clue. visually she looks good. possible shed coming on for the back legs and tail, but that could be the lighting of the picture too.

we haven't used silks yet. i only recently started to consider them, but haven't started cause they are hard to find right now. as for the dubias, we don't really breed them. we have a 30 gallon tub that they live in and is stored in one of the cabinets we made a stand out of. (pics in profile.) they're really hardy and last a long time. so when we get low we will buy smaller ones than we need and then let them grow naturally.
 

Chieftoad

Member
Original Poster
I forgot to mention. I have the calcium powder for her crickets and stuff. What other supplements would you recommend? Thx!
 

Chieftoad

Member
Original Poster
that link has options for multiple lengths so pay attention to that. i have a 4'x2'x2' enclosure and use the 36", but could use a 24"too. the 36" is just what the guy that custom made my enclosure put in it. the 48" would be too long because it would take the entire length of the tank and you want some areas they can get away from the light if they want to.

as for what kind she is, i have no clue. visually she looks good. possible shed coming on for the back legs and tail, but that could be the lighting of the picture too.

we haven't used silks yet. i only recently started to consider them, but haven't started cause they are hard to find right now. as for the dubias, we don't really breed them. we have a 30 gallon tub that they live in and is stored in one of the cabinets we made a stand out of. (pics in profile.) they're really hardy and last a long time. so when we get low we will buy smaller ones than we need and then let them grow naturally.
Will the 24” work? I believe her tank is 36 inches, and her basking light is probably 6” wide. Assuming both go on the same side of the tank width wise, if that makes sense. It would just sit on the mesh until I can make a new top…
 

hdochow

Sub-Adult Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Sir Henry of Scales
yes for the 24". we have the uvb and basking bulb staggered a little bit, like right next to each other, and have a long vine under the uvb so he has various distances to choose from. he will go to where he needs light/heat wise.

the other supplement we give is vitamins. henry won't eat anything with powder on it so we give him liquid of both. calcium 3x a week for his age and vitamins 1x. i believe at 10 months we did calcium 5x a week and vitamins 2x a week. we order from tracie, who is a vet tech and a mod on here. her website is Reptile Supplies by Bug-De-Lite
 

hdochow

Sub-Adult Member
Photo Comp Winner
Beardie name(s)
Sir Henry of Scales
we add the liquid supplements to tart cherry juice which he loves and will take from a syringe/dropper. it helps keep him hydrated, plus the cherry is a proactive approach to help head off gout. because of that we don't give much fruit in salads because he's already getting sugars from the juice. when he does get fruit, it's all about the raspberries man! just gimme those razzers!
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi Dustin, she looks very healthy so try not to worry . They are very hardy and can tolerate experimenting with different foods and may hold out according to what they prefer or during times of relocation stress. So when you say she, are you positive about the gender ? Here's how to tell:


And you say she's " about 10" long, have you actually measured her ? She looks bigger than that. If you're not sure and you for some reason don't have a measuring tape or stick , post pics of her next to a pen.
 

Chieftoad

Member
Original Poster
Hi Dustin, she looks very healthy so try not to worry . They are very hardy and can tolerate experimenting with different foods and may hold out according to what they prefer or during times of relocation stress. So when you say she, are you positive about the gender ? Here's how to tell:


And you say she's " about 10" long, have you actually measured her ? She looks bigger than that. If you're not sure and you for some reason don't have a measuring tape or stick , post pics of her next to a pen.
Well not to long ago she laid eggs. This was not to long before we took over for her original owner. My wife just measured her at 14”… apparently I fail pretty bad at guesstimating.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Congrats. on the greens victory, hopefully she will continue to accept them as part of her diet ! So let me get this clear, the former owner says she laid eggs already at 10 months old and 14" long ? If so, that is very, very rare so I think they either allowed her to be with a male while being much too small or it was a very rare thing if she laid infertile eggs. Or they were housing her with another female that laid the eggs.
 

Chieftoad

Member
Original Poster
Congrats. on the greens victory, hopefully she will continue to accept them as part of her diet ! So let me get this clear, the former owner says she laid eggs already at 10 months old and 14" long ? If so, that is very, very rare so I think they either allowed her to be with a male while being much too small or it was a very rare thing if she laid infertile eggs. Or they were housing her with another female that laid the eggs.
I was told that they were put together accidentally while like cleaning or something, And a male got to her. The eggs she laid were fertilized. This is just what I was told my wife was the one that got her and went to pick her up from the family
That gave her away.
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
That was a risky thing to do, her being so young and small and having mated already could have caused health problems but visually she looks good. Be aware that she may develop more clutches so be on the watch for weight gain and, if fertile, you may see what looks like the outline of marble sized bulges on her sides. Be sure to feed her as much as she wants at this stage, esp. because she may be producing more eggs now.
 

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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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