Hi all!
I'm new, but have been lurking for a bit. I've learned a lot here thus far but am looking for some specific answers and direction.
My 8 year old daughter begged me for half a year to get her a beardie for Christmas. I tried to deter her by making her write reports on them, do lots of research, put together her own care guide, quizzed her, etc. Needless to say she was diligent and won me over. I was hesitant because as I did my own research, I learned how expensive and involved their care can be.
I fell in love immediately. Totally worth it. I think I enjoy Emmy more than she does. We've had him for a month now and I want to fine tune how we're caring for him. I'm a huge animal lover (we have fish and an aquatic frog, 4 dogs...you get the idea).
Emmy is 6 months old (7/7/14), he (she?) is a tiger sandfire leatherback. Emmy was and still is a runt (I have attached a picture of Em with his brother of the same age before we took him from the breeder- huge size difference).
I have also attached a picture of Emmy, his habitat & his vitamins. 40 gallon tank, ZooMed Heating & UVB lamps.
Here's what we've been doing along with my questions:
7AM- Emmy's lights come on. Potential issue- daughter gets up for school at 6:15 and Emmy opens his eyes. I hate disturbing him; she is as quiet as possible leaving the room but he still wakes up for a moment. Should I move the timer to have lights on at 6:15 instead?
Side note: his basking temp is between 103-110- not the temp shown in the pic (I had just taken the light off for feeding, etc.)
11AM- I cut up whatever produce we have for him (we do a produce co-op and always have a variety of fresh organic veggies- butternut squash, radishes, apples, celery greens, spaghetti squash, collards, etc). I add "Baby Bites" to his veggies per the breeder's suggestion. Change water, say hello, etc. Offer crickets. 5-10 eaten. He can be lazy as far as "hunting" goes. I try not to straight up hand them to him, but I have occasionally.
6PM- More crickets (5-10).
7PM- Handle him. He doesn't seem to like being held. Some days he's more receptive to it than others, but he's so small and quick, I try not to push it. I'm terrified he's going to get out of the room and end up with the dogs. One second he's chilling on my shoulder, the next he's off and running.
8PM- Lights out. He goes right to sleep with no issues (lays his head down within 5 or so minutes).
Bath time- Live and learn. We were bathing once a week but I read that it needs to be much more often. What would you suggest as far as frequency for a 6 month old? Is 20 minutes sufficient? How many days a week?
Vitamins- another live and learn. We'd pick up 50 crickets from Petsmart, they'd dust them for us there, and that was it. We weren't dusting the crickets after that. From what I read I need to be dusting them daily? I have a lot of questions surrounding that. How do you do this? Just take a few from the "cricket keeper" and shake them in a bag before offering? How do you measure out the two supplements for such a small amount of food? Do I need to put vitamins on his greens?
Emmy sheds with no issue. He poops normally and often. His eyes are bright, his hearing and eyesight seem to be great. He looks as us when we come in. He looks at me when I talk to him. He's not super active, at least not when I'm in there, unless he's SUPER hungry. Otherwise he basks where you see in the picture, or hides under the hammock. He's been in the caves less than a handful of times.
I'm sorry this is so lengthy. In summary:
Lighting: Should I move the timer to earlier since he's being disturbed? So a 6AM wake up and a 7PM bedtime? Is 13 hours of light too much/not enough? Or do something different altogether?
Eating: Is 10-15 crickets a day enough for such a young beardie? How do you handle the supplement measuring and frequency with the crickets? Should I be doing something different with his food? Are the "Baby Bites" necessary with his veggies? Any other food suggestions?
General: Should I be worried about his size? The breeder said he'd get bigger once he had a large tank to himself, but honestly he doesn't seem to have gotten much bigger. I see him everyday so I'm not sure about this. Behavior-wise, should I be concerned about anything?
If you got this far, I cannot thank you enough for entertaining my novel and answering any (or all) questions. The people at the pet stores are too laid back about him for my liking and I don't want to bombard the breeder with a million questions (though she has emailed to check on him- very sweet).
I'm new, but have been lurking for a bit. I've learned a lot here thus far but am looking for some specific answers and direction.
My 8 year old daughter begged me for half a year to get her a beardie for Christmas. I tried to deter her by making her write reports on them, do lots of research, put together her own care guide, quizzed her, etc. Needless to say she was diligent and won me over. I was hesitant because as I did my own research, I learned how expensive and involved their care can be.
I fell in love immediately. Totally worth it. I think I enjoy Emmy more than she does. We've had him for a month now and I want to fine tune how we're caring for him. I'm a huge animal lover (we have fish and an aquatic frog, 4 dogs...you get the idea).
Emmy is 6 months old (7/7/14), he (she?) is a tiger sandfire leatherback. Emmy was and still is a runt (I have attached a picture of Em with his brother of the same age before we took him from the breeder- huge size difference).
I have also attached a picture of Emmy, his habitat & his vitamins. 40 gallon tank, ZooMed Heating & UVB lamps.
Here's what we've been doing along with my questions:
7AM- Emmy's lights come on. Potential issue- daughter gets up for school at 6:15 and Emmy opens his eyes. I hate disturbing him; she is as quiet as possible leaving the room but he still wakes up for a moment. Should I move the timer to have lights on at 6:15 instead?
Side note: his basking temp is between 103-110- not the temp shown in the pic (I had just taken the light off for feeding, etc.)
11AM- I cut up whatever produce we have for him (we do a produce co-op and always have a variety of fresh organic veggies- butternut squash, radishes, apples, celery greens, spaghetti squash, collards, etc). I add "Baby Bites" to his veggies per the breeder's suggestion. Change water, say hello, etc. Offer crickets. 5-10 eaten. He can be lazy as far as "hunting" goes. I try not to straight up hand them to him, but I have occasionally.
6PM- More crickets (5-10).
7PM- Handle him. He doesn't seem to like being held. Some days he's more receptive to it than others, but he's so small and quick, I try not to push it. I'm terrified he's going to get out of the room and end up with the dogs. One second he's chilling on my shoulder, the next he's off and running.
8PM- Lights out. He goes right to sleep with no issues (lays his head down within 5 or so minutes).
Bath time- Live and learn. We were bathing once a week but I read that it needs to be much more often. What would you suggest as far as frequency for a 6 month old? Is 20 minutes sufficient? How many days a week?
Vitamins- another live and learn. We'd pick up 50 crickets from Petsmart, they'd dust them for us there, and that was it. We weren't dusting the crickets after that. From what I read I need to be dusting them daily? I have a lot of questions surrounding that. How do you do this? Just take a few from the "cricket keeper" and shake them in a bag before offering? How do you measure out the two supplements for such a small amount of food? Do I need to put vitamins on his greens?
Emmy sheds with no issue. He poops normally and often. His eyes are bright, his hearing and eyesight seem to be great. He looks as us when we come in. He looks at me when I talk to him. He's not super active, at least not when I'm in there, unless he's SUPER hungry. Otherwise he basks where you see in the picture, or hides under the hammock. He's been in the caves less than a handful of times.
I'm sorry this is so lengthy. In summary:
Lighting: Should I move the timer to earlier since he's being disturbed? So a 6AM wake up and a 7PM bedtime? Is 13 hours of light too much/not enough? Or do something different altogether?
Eating: Is 10-15 crickets a day enough for such a young beardie? How do you handle the supplement measuring and frequency with the crickets? Should I be doing something different with his food? Are the "Baby Bites" necessary with his veggies? Any other food suggestions?
General: Should I be worried about his size? The breeder said he'd get bigger once he had a large tank to himself, but honestly he doesn't seem to have gotten much bigger. I see him everyday so I'm not sure about this. Behavior-wise, should I be concerned about anything?
If you got this far, I cannot thank you enough for entertaining my novel and answering any (or all) questions. The people at the pet stores are too laid back about him for my liking and I don't want to bombard the breeder with a million questions (though she has emailed to check on him- very sweet).