New Beardie Owner - All advice will help!!

[monsterbeard]

Hey everyone. My name is Bobbi, my girlfriends name is Dani, and our dragon's name is Monster

Dani and I recently got a new pet - a cute little baby bearded dragon. We got him or her from PetSmart last Sunday.
I would say he is only a few weeks old. He is not very big. resembles the size of a new born dragon, after my research. :study:

Anyways, he is acting a little weird. not as friendly as he once was, one eye is shut, he can open it when he is trying to look at food, and it doesn't look different or red or anything. This only has been this way since last night. And we are taking him tomorrow to the PetSmart vet for a visit, then after that initial 14 days we are going to find our own reptile vet.

He has been eating well, about 10-20 small crickets a day.(covered in calcium)

Here are some other concerns I have, and experienced owner wisdom that I seek!!
looking all over the internet, and even asking two seperate-location petsmart employee's input, nothing seems to-specific. -

- I have looked all over the internet, and once I was here, I finally realized more of the CORRECT ways to take care of a beardie.

- One mistake I made was having 3 small lights ( and I have a 55 gal aquarium )
I have now found that the UVB must be the LENGTH of the cage. - this I am also doing tomorrow I think he might not feeling well because of this!!! but we were seriously mis-informed! multiple times!
I have the thermometer a few inches from the light, and at a different angle, I now know I need to get one for directly next to the largest heated point. anyways it usually reads from 80-90, and I figure its probably about 110 in his direct favorite basking spot
also the cold side is about 75 at this time. - and at night the cage is about 75, cold side 65.
- 13 Wat reptile glow 10.0 UVB by EcoTerra
- the other two lights we have are basking, 100 wat and 75 wat - by EcoTerra
- 175 watt moonlight night glow Neodymium - by Eco Terra
So obviously I need the change the lighting.
please give me some advice on my best options. I know the full length uvb, what strength is best for his size?
and what is a good basking light, should i just get one large round one? more powerful?
and night lights, should I have two??


they hang about 6 inches above his highest climb point.

also we have CALCIUM SAND -- which I was told was OKAY - I'm guessing I'm wrong again here??
It's only used on about 1/5th of the whole enclosure,
also we use reptile carpet, which i've also read can be harmful thru the crickets eating the carpet, and then [monster] eating the crickets!!

I'm trying to upload a picture-- but I'm not sure how. do i absolutely have to use a tinyurl or something every time?

and againnn please any advice.

one last thing-- where do you order your crickets?!
-

 

[brittani299]

Oj couple things wrong. Get rid of the sand ASAP. It is really bad. It is probably in his eye probably why he can't open it. He isn't eating enough. He should be eating 2 to 3 times a day as much as he can eat in 15 mins. That can be up to 100 crickets a day 10 is wayyyyy to little. The brand of lights that you have is bad. That brand has been known to hurt lizards eyes. Change to reptisun 10.0 bulb. Also a regular house bulb can be used as a basking light so don't buy the expensive pet store ones. You should be a prob thermometer. They are $10 at Petsmart. Change the sand to all tiles or carpet. The crickets eating the carpet is not true. You shouldn't be leaving uneaten crickets in his cage anyways. Hope this helps.

 

[monsterbeard]

thank you -- i guess i should have boughten a book instead of relying on pet store employees and the internet.

also- we do feed him about 3 times a day, and he will munch down about 8-10 then stop, sometimes less. and sometimes we will toss one in front of him in between just to see if he is hungry. if hes hungry he will chase them, if not he perches back up on his big tree.

getting new lights tomorrow, and removing the sand.

thanks again so much.

 

[brittani299]

You are welcome . Are you feeding him crickets that are the size of the space between his eyes? If the crickets are too big he won't be able to eat as much. And I will tell you now don't ever feed meal worms and feed only super worms when he is a year old. If you have any questions post them. People on here are really helpful

 

[monsterbeard]

thank you. i spoke with a manager today about the misinformation from her employees. she didnt seem to care. - advised i can bring him in, basically as a return and he would "be taken care of" and I couldn't get him back. or I could take him to their vet (which by the way is $45)
and no credit for the sand, or the wrong lighting that I had bought, nor any refund for his vet visit, and it is within 14 days.

Obviously, I picked out my dragon, and I want HIM. but I don't think I should have to pay for it. Unfortunately, I have no choice.

I will have to borrow money from someone, and until then I will be flushing his eye out, until Monday. At least they will give me store credit for my wrong lighting, but I'm only going to return 2 so I can keep a basking light on him while we're gone.

I am SO frustrated! thank you for all the help\\

and yes the crickets are smaller than the space between his eyes. some of them are bigger so I just toss them out the window to enjoy their freedom.

 

[brittani299]

I totally know what you mean. I got daisy at Petsmart and they didn't tell me anything. I got her home and found this site and was like omg I am messing up. So don't bet yourself up. You should be able to make him better just flush his eyes out and keep us updated

 

[monsterbeard]

you're right - he is doing much better! haven't taken him to the vet, sand is gone, his eye seems perfect now.

got all the right lights now too

another question- i know youre not suppose to let them submerge their face underwater, but on youtube ive seen many videos where they let their beardie swim in open water, or in the bath tub, completely submerged... so, i guess im confused

 

[brittani299]

Yeah I am glad he is better. The lights make a difference don't they . I had a coil light on daisy and she never moved and was like blah. Now she is more a active and seems to be way happier. And the water thing. I give daisy baths and she gets water all over her head. It should be fine. Lots of people put beardies in baths. As long as the water goes up to their shoulders and not higher.

 

[XtinaBeardieMom]

I'm sorry about the bad advice & sheerly bad service you received from the pet store employees. The same thing has happened to a ton of members here. Just do a forum search on "PetSmart" or "PetCo" and you'll find an abundance of angry posts. Unfortunately, there aren't even any books out there that give sound beardie advice. The good thing is, you're here now amongst thousands of owners who KNOW what works for this species through years of valid experience.

The UVB light doesn't necessarily need to be the full length of the tank, 2/3 the length is fine so if you have a 55gal tank then a 24" bulb should be good. One thing, very important... the UVB bulb you get absolutely needs to be a Reptisun 10.0 linear fluorescent tube or an Arcadia 12%. Yes, the brand and type really matters that much. Other brands and types have shown multitudes of issues, from causing eye problems, to inadequate UVB output, to too much UVB output, etc. You will need to get a fixture for the tube light (a T8 fixture for the Reptisun 10.0, the Arcadia 12% comes in either a T8 or T5). Most people use cheap under the cabinet fixtures from Walmart or any hardware store. It will need to be mounted inside of the enclosure within 6-8" of your dragon's basking point. Some people use industrial velcro (make sure it's rated to hold the weight of the bulb + fixture) or you can use 3M Command hooks. As far as the basking light, a bright white household bulb will do. The "bright white" part is important and it needs to be placed adjacently to the UVB bulb to protect your beardie's eyes. As far as what wattage to use, that depends on your ambient temps and such. You can also use a dimmer to control the temps more precisely. It's very important to get either an infrared temp gun or digital thermometer with probe, as those are the only tools which will accurately measure your temps. Don't use ANY kind of light at night as it will greatly disturb your beardie's rest. No source of heat is needed at night unless your ambient temps in the room that his enclosure is in get below 65 degrees. If it does get that cold, then you can use a ceramic heat emitter which gives off heat but no light.

Good job getting rid of the sand. The reptile carpet is fine & any unbeaten crickets should be removed from the tank immediately after feeding (they can bite your beardie!) so they wouldn't even have a chance to eat the carpet anyway. If you're still nervous about the carpet, then other substrates you can use are paper towels, newspaper, slate tile, or non-adhesive shelf liner.

I agree that your beardie should be eating more. Do you know how old he is? You're doing the right thing by offering him small live feeders 3 times per day. He could still be getting over some re-location stress, but eventually he should be eating closer to 60-100 feeders per day if he's a young baby. What kind of supplementation schedule do you have him on? He should be getting calcium 5 times per week and multivitamin 2-3 times per week. If he's still not eating more within the next two weeks, then it will be time to take a fecal sample into the vet for a parasite test. Most parasites are easy to treat, you just have to catch them early before they have the chance to do much damage.

Also, babies get dehydrated very easily. Most beardies don't recognize standing water (like in a water dish) to drink from. So it's advised to soak them in 90-95 degree water up to their armpits for 15-20mins a few times per week, as they absorb water through their vent/butt.

If you have any more questions, just ask away - you've come to the right place! You're on a great track
already and props to you for correcting the mistakes (which were no fault if your own) so promptly

P.S. Great question about letting them submerge themselves in water. I have definitely heard of some avid swimmer beardies. Can someone else offer any insight to this question?

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[monsterbeard]

Thanks again so much!

I have the reptisun 10.0 light and a fixture- but you said INSIDE the tank?? is it okay if its outside, resting on the top of the screen and is still within 6-8 inches of his basking spot? He is there most of the time, unless he is getting food, so I think you're right one is 24" is enough, but you said also, the basking light should be adjacent ? but I want the UVB and a basking where he basks, right?..

Also, we have given him one bath, and plan on doing that at least once a week, but he does run thru the water, and we do mist him at least once daily.

and right now, I have some from PetSmart (basking) not sure the brand name, but one is 150 watt I think, the other 75, and the heat stays on point in there like that, I am attaching pictures, as youll see he has a makeshift lid that I made with strong clips and some aluminum screen from home depot. -- Just know that I am waiting for my actually lid to get here, as I already waited 2 weeks on the all 3 pet stores in the area who were all 3 "waiting on the shipment to come in 'next week'." so I gave up, and ordered one online. anyways- this is how he is set up, I will also attach how it looked with the sand.

His eye got better almost immediately, but as of today, he is keeping it closed again, I already cancelled the vet appointment because I thought we were good, but I will be calling after I'm done typing this up here to set up another one .. His eye is not discolored at all, and he started favoring it a little bit yesterday, so i started lightly applying a warm rag onto it a few times yesterday, seemed to help, and also sometimes when you take him out he doesn't close it at all! So wondering if the basking light might be hurting his eye? I'm really not too sure. When he does open it, it looks a little gunky, but not much, like wet like he was crying, and gunk, like dogs get in their just from sleeping, you know, an eye booger is what it looks like. He is shedding, maybe some loose skin got in his eye? I guess I just don't want to spend $80 at the vet for them to tell me to give him vitamins, wash his eye out, and wait a week and call them back. So I want to do all the preventative stuff now, so I can say I already did all that crap and now he needs antibiotics so get on it!!

Oh one last thing-- I do use a night light!! I use two black lights and that keeps it about 70 degrees in there at night, it is pretty cold in my room, so I do need heat- it doesn't seem to bother him, but could that hurt his eyes?? Where do I find the heating bulbs?

This is before we took the sand out. it was calcium sand. and he rarely went into it

This is the full view, including the lights on top. UVB is on the left side with a basking, and more to the right, another basking, then his cold spot, which he also rarely visits.

this is him being super cute and surfing on his mushroom !

a different angle of his habitat.

Him the day we brought him home! look at those colors! he is in the middle of shedding now and turning more orange!

relaxing on his chair kind of want to glue this on his tree so it looks like he is tanning haha.

He likes to sleep on the leaves at night! so adorable he always looks so comfy. sometimes he will sleep straight up, hanging on

this is him being super charming

and thats all folks.

Still here reading all your advice. I really appreciate it. He should have an appointment either today or tomorrow. I will continue using a warm wash cloth on his eye. I was told I shouldn't use the human salene solution as it has too many chemicals.. Is this true? any certain brand I should keep at home for him in the future?

 

[monsterbeard]

Ooops I made a double post.

 

[vampy]

Not all saline meant for humans has chemicals in, but some does, just look at the ingredients, it should be water and 0.9% NaCL, and that's it. Something like this would be fine http://www.amazon.com/Ubimed-Cleanoz-Preservative-Saline-Solution/dp/B002SG7LAG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349722499&sr=8-1&keywords=sterile+saline

Personally I make my own from boiled water and non iodised salt, i use it on myself and my cats, never needed to use it on a beardie. It's not sterile, so I wouldn't use it inside a body cavity during surgery or anything, but for surface wounds or irrigating eyes and stuff like that, it's fine.

 

[monsterbeard]

Thanks! and as an update for my dragon--

I actually havent called the vet yet. I gave him a bath, and washed his eye, and he immediately opened it. it seems like somehow the eyelid was damaged, maybe from rubbing it while shedding, but the gunk is pretty much gone, it must have just crusted over last night, the second water hit it it loosened and he opened up. its not discolored or anything, still just a little watery, and it appears to have a little knick in it. I'm trying to get a picture of it, also it's opened up all the time now, just not as wide as the other eye. right now he is drying off then i will pick him up and see if I can get a good pic of it to post up here. as far as healing, I'm wondering if it just keeps going well the next few days if he should be fine?

 

[vampy]

Personally I'd just keep an eye on it. If he is eating and pooping well, generally alert, can obviously see okay with that eye and it doesn't have an icky discharge or anything, i'd leave it to heal by itself. Once you post pics I may or may not revise that decision