New Beardie owner and a few questions!

[harlock]

Hey Everyone!

Just got my first Beardies a few days ago and thought i will finally register and say hello. I have been lrking in shadows over past several weeks researching and gathering information needed for keeping my new beardies healthy.

Now, being done with introductions I would like to ask a few questions as the guy from pet shop confused me a little (but I still trust your oppinion more than anything else guys)

First of all: Skarsnik and Gobla are young and judging from their colours fairly stressed - are the stress marks going to dissapear any time soon?

- Should I worry about overfeeding young dragons or will they know when to stop eating? (unlike my cats hehe)

- I dont want to put the water bowl inside as they dont seem to eb interested in it at all and it will just add to the humidity. Should I give them a bath regularly? I see on the forum you say weekly or even daily but the guy in the shop said to never do it? I know they are desert animals but I just dont want them to be dehydrated or anythin! I gave them some fresh peppermint sprinkled with water and both of them munched on it like crazy - would that be enough water if they dont have a water bowl?

Also I have heard that keeping two beardies in the same tank can lead to serious issues - should I really be worried about it now when they are young or is it something that only adult dragons do?

Last thing would be a few pictures to introduce my new family members:

Skarsnik and Gobla basking on my router (warmest place in the house) waiting for their new tank to warm up a bit.

Enjoying the first day at home ;-)

Summarizing: THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP TO DATE! MUCH APPRECIATED

 

[dechainechel]

Hello! Welcome to the wonderful world of beardies!!! You are welcome to ask all the questions you want, this site is an excellent rescource. I'll answer your questions to the best of my knowlege, if anyone has another opinion feel free!
Yes, hopefully w/the proper care the stress marks should clear up eventually.

They will eat a lot! It is surprising at first. You should be able to feed them as many crickets(no larger then the space between their eyes) as they can/will eat in 15mins. You may have to feed them in seperate containers if you insist on keeping them together. Otherwise one may not get enough food.

It is rare that a beardie will drink out of a dish. Most of them get most of their moisture from baths and salads. Mine will drink from a dropper, but I'm not sure that is common. I think bathing them regularly is very important. Not only do they take in water through their vent, but they also absorb it into their skin, which helps them shed, and keeps them healthy. The guy is wrong about baths in my opinion. Bath time is also a good for helping your beardie stay "regular". A lot of people train their beardies to go in the bath, so it doesn't dirty up the viv. In the wild, beardies only live half as long as they do in captivity, if they are given the proper care.

I am honestly very concerned about the safety and well being of two bearies sharing the same tank. Dominance and violence can happen any time. I was at the local reptile store about a month ago, and while I was watching, one of the babies bit off another baby's toe. I yelled for the owner, and she came over and grabbed the injured baby. She just shrugged and said, "happens all the time". I was horrified. Trust me you don't want that to happen. Even if they don't injure eachother, one of them will most likely be more dominate than the other. That can result in 1 fat happy dragon and 1 skinny malnurished unhappy dragon. Maybe you will get lucky, I personally wouldn't risk it.

If you haven't yet, take some time to check out the caresheets on the home page of this site. They are very helpful!

You have adorable dragons! Take good care of them and the reward will be worth it. They make great companions!

 

[fresnowitte]

:wave: Hello & Welcome to BD.org!
And...........
Congratulations on those 2 cuties! :love5:
And thanks for sharing the pic's of Skarsnik and Gobla. Love their names! :lol:

Dechainechel Very well said I must agree. :wink:

I'd also like to tell you about my experience using one of those
cage/basket type fixture with little ones.
I've had babies leap onto the basket in-order to scheme that great escape.......
and get burnt. I was using a heat emitter in mine but I'm sure that bulb is just
as hot. :shock: I found that it's best to use the dome fixtures even with the
heat emitters when it's one a viv to a young beardie.
They are very daring and don't fear much as well as quite curious.
So they chances of them trying it is pretty high. :wink:

Again Welcome Aboard!

 

[LJean]

Welcome and congrats on getting your baby beardies.

 

[Rocco]

Welcome to the forums! I am new here myself, just got my little guy 3 days ago

Out of curiosity... what substrate is that? I have heard some horror stories of impaction caused by small, loose substrate that gets ingested.