New Beardie owner... HELP

[soccerstephie]

Hello,

I am SoccerStephie and I just got my first bearded dragon, Sully is 2 years old and I got him from a local pet store. Sully is very friendly and loves to be held and played with. The pet store had him in a 55 gallon tank with a female beardie, he got crickets and these pellets for food. She said sometimes they gave them romaine lettuce. I heard lettuce has no nutritional value for beardies so I got him collard greens and green beans. Sully loves to eat his crickets but the pellet food and the other veggies he does not seem to be eating. He did like carrot that I gave him the other day but I am wondering how do I get him to eat more of the other veggies? Also, I gave him his first bath today. I was very gentle and slowly got him into the water because I was told he has never been in the bath. Sully did not seem to mind the water as long as I did not put it on his head. Is there a way to get him more comfortable in the bath instead of just sitting there looking scared? Lastly, after I took him out of the bath his eyes took on a yellowish tint, I don't that this was there before but I cannot be positive. Should I be worried about this? Thank you for all your help and suggestions.

SoccerStephie

 

[blue11]

WELL! congratualtions
Sully sounds like a super sweet dragon!
would love to see some pics of him

im so glad he is getting baths!!! i cant believe he never had any for that long ... its a great way to bond and to HYDRATE him! good for you. and you can put a washcloth on the bottom of the sink so he can feel a grip under his feet, and that mike make him feel a little safer.
other than that, its probably something he is just 100% not used to, and he will get better about it. some beardies love baths, some hate them, some look at you at you like "really? whatever" and just tolerate it.
he seems to be pretty calm about it, which is great! my beardies like water dripped over their head, but other beardies dont, its all up to the individual dragon
i think after a while of bathing him you will be able to tell which category he falls into! teehee.
i bet it felt good to him, nice warm water

you are spot on about the lettuce. anything that has lettuce in the name, skip past it.
collards, mustards, escarole, endive ... greens like that are what to go for.
i wouldnt worry right now about him not digging on the veggies ... just offer them, keep them moist, and see if he comes around to them. you can always try the old "phoenix worms in the salad bowl trick" to make the salad "wiggle" ... but beardies are pretty smart and will pick around the dang greens just to get to the worm. ha! they totally will.
oh the world of dragons!!!!
as long as they are offered to him, he probably will start taking bites of it here and there, and that is an excellent start, even if it is just a few bites.
it can be a battle of the greens with some beardies.
my youngest beardie, Blue, she is 1.5 years old ... she will one week eat her collards, and the next wont touch them. its a beardie thing. minds of their own!

im not a fan of pellets, but some people use them. ive never used them. i like fresh greens and live protein (bugs/worms)
a good worm (great worm actually) that is the perfect feeder to leave out in a slick bowl that cant get out are phoenix worms.
you can get them online, just google them

other great feeders are dubia (roaches) ... i swear by them. some people feed their bugs and worms the dragon pellets.
i feed my roaches and superworms greens and squash, that way if Blue wont eat the greens, she is still getting some of the benefits of greens by eating the bugs that actually DO eat them. its a good way to balance things out, and feeders need food too so if you feed oyur crickets greens, then he will be getting some into his system.

if you ever get tired of crickets, roaches are a good alternative!
the dubia roaches dont jump, bite, or climb smooth surfaces and are really easy to keep. you can get them online also.
but crickets work too!
with me, when they jump and freak me OUT. and mine were always really smelly and gross. *shiver*
can you tell im not a cricket fan?

dont worry over the pellets. you can probably just stop feeding them if you want, as long as things are dusted with calcium and a multi-vitamin at least twice a week for an adult, you are good to go. pellets have fillers and additives in them anyhow. blah. but if its something he seems to enjoy, no reason to take them away i suppose. up to you, you cold try taking them away ... that would leave only the greens for him to eat, and that might just get him to eat more of them!

maybe once Sully settles in, you will see an increase in him eating salads. they go through re-location stress when in a new environment, ya know, new people, smells, sounds, sights, all that. but he sounds like he has adjusted REALLY well. thats awesome.

what kind of lighting does Sully have?
im wondering what they sold you ... sometimes pet stores can really sell you bad lighting. mine did!! i had to toss everything and get the right bulbs when i got my first beardie Blue.
i was like ahhhhhh why didnt i come here first. could have saved so much trouble.
the right lights are so important for Sully. Lights and Temps are the key to a happy healthy beardie!
if you want, you can put up a pic of the tank set-up, that way you can make sure everything is right on.
plussssssss we love pics here. alot. and we welcome pics here. alot.
im so excited for you, you are gonna love being a beardie parent!!!
ANY QUESTIONS ... ask away. no question is dumb
~Em

 

[soccerstephie]

Thank you Em for all your great suggestions! Yes Sully is super calm and awesome and I feel much better about things now.

I am working on figuring out how to put up pictures but some should be coming. Hopefully soon! :roll:

Sully right now has a 40 gallon breeder tank with an under tank heating pad that I always leave on. Then he has a heating lamp which I believe is 75 - 100w on the same side of the tank. Then on the other side of the tank he has a UV lamp. The two lamps I have on timers so they turn on at 8am and turn off at 10pm.

Thanks again

SoccerStephie

 

[Goodtruant]

Congrats on the new beardie!

Here are a few other tips for new beardie owners.

-Lighting: (UVB) Reptisun 10.0 or Acadia 12% linear tube lights are the safest choice. Or a good Mercury vapor bulb. Coil and compact UVB bulbs are known to cause health problems for bearded dragons, please refrain from using them. Same goes with other brands of linear tubes. You can use a normal incandescent light bulb for basking (clear or bright white), or a reptile specific basking bulb. Basking light and UVB should be on 12-14 hours per day. MVB bulbs should be placed around 18" above the basking surface.

-No night lights, use a ceramic heater emitter instead. If you can afford it, a light timer and a thermostat take alot of worry out of lighting.

-Lots of room to roam around. 40 gal breeder tank minimum for an adult. Young beardies grow super FAST! 1-2" per month in some cases!

-Feed 2-3 times a day. At 2-3 months old they should be eating 10-30 crickets (or other feeder) per feeding. 30-90 a day! (THIS IS FOR YOUNG DRAGONS, Older dragons eat less protein and more veg.) Dubia roaches are a much better feeder for them, and are MUCH easier to keep (no escapes, live longer, can't climb, can't jump, don't bite...crickets will bite your beardie if left in the cage, smell 10000% better, don't make noise, less likely to have parasites, more nutritious). Small dubia nymphs are great for growing beardies.

-Dust feeders with calcium +D3 (5 feedings per week) and/or multivitamin (2 feedings per week). Phoenix worms are worth a try. High in calcium (no dusting)! Also look in to hornworms and silkworms. Great for adult beardies.

-Good greens: collard, mustard, dandelion. Squash is great too! Offer greens daily, even if they don't eat them, they need to learn. I have to mix in some arugula or cilantro to get ours to get the greens.

-75-80 degrees on the cool side of the viv. A larger enclosure will provide your beardie a much better temperature gradient, from cool side to hot side. They can pick where they are comfortable that way.

-Basking surface temp of 102-105 should be good for most beardies. Take temps with a digital thermometer with a probe. You can get accurate surface temps with a infrared temp gun, but a probe placed on the surface will work too. Leave the probe in for 30 minutes to get a good temp reading. A probed temp is usually about 5-8 degrees lower than the actual surface temp, so take that in account.

-Bath water up to about her shoulders, and warm, about 90 degrees. Beardies seem to like to poo in water, and should be pooping once a day. Do this at least once a week if your beardie isn't eating many greens. You can also mist beardies with a bottle sprayer when they are young to hydrate them.

-Substrate: I would stay away from using sand, beardies might ingest the sand, which will cause impaction. Some use washed play sand with some success....but wait until your beardie is an adult. Never feed your beardie on sand, they will eat it. Repticarpet is a good choice, but can be annoying to keep clean. If you use carpet it's good to have two, so you always have a clean one. Sandstone/ceramic tiles are a really good choice, easy to remove and clean. They can also be baked to sterilize.

 

[kcarello]

Not sure if anyone caught or addressed the issue of the under tank heater you said you have. You need to get rid of it..beardies neet they're heat source from above. Plus there is a risk of malfunction and fire.

 

[blue11]

wow!
yall are fast
beat me to it
agreed with everything said above ... if you can tweek things to fit those requirements for beardies, you will be in great shape
~Em

 

[soccerstephie]

Thank you everyone for all the great tips!

Sully is doing really today. He was being much more active all day and he ate ALL of the veggies I put into his food dish last night. This afternoon when I gave him more veggies he started chowing right away after he ate his crickets. So I definitely think he is starting to enjoy his new home and trying new foods. Sully also finally went to the bathroom today, after 4 days of having him. I'm not sure how unusual or normal this is but I figured it's a new home so that could affect it.
I am slowly working on putting your suggestions to use and think over the weekend I am going to stop giving him the pellets because he does not seem to be eating them. This means I need to go buy some dusting stuff. Does anyone have any good suggestions on brands or anything that they found very good?
I also add thermometers today to both sides of the tank to make sure they were in good ranges and according to the care sheet that is on this site they are both in good temperature ranges. Also both my lights are on the list of good lights to use!

If someone could also help me add pictures I would love to show you what Sully's home looks like for more suggestions.

Thank you all again for your help!

 

[blue11]

ok ...
go to photobucket.com
if you dont have an account, just make one, its free and quick.
if you do have an account, just click upload pictures, and then once they are uploaded ...
choose the pic
click on "share"
click on "get link code"
then you want to highlight and copy the first code under the "IMG for bulletin boards & forums" (full size code)
then just paste it onto here, and VOILA!!! there ya have it!
~Em
soooooooo glad ot hear Sully is doing great!!!!!
and pooping is a great thing!
my two beardies go everyday, (Lexi sometimes goes twice a day)
but Blue is slowing down for brumation so she is pooping every couple days now b/c she is not eating much at all.
poop is great, im glad Sully went to the bathroom!!!
but no worries, not all beardies poop daily, just keep an eye on it, i would say you want them to go at least every few days, if he is eating daily.

YAY!!!

 

[soccerstephie]

Here is a picture of Sully's house and an up close view of Sully.

 

[blue11]

woooooooo pictures!!!
Sully is CUTE!
very handsome!

if i can make a few suggestions on the set-up, i think you might find helpful

i noticed that the UVB light is on the opposite side of the tank of his basking spot. ideally, you want those run side by side or close together. since that is where they spend alot of their time (basking or around the warm side) having the UVB placed near it will ensure that Sully gets the UVB that he needs. I would just pick up the hood that the UVB bulb is in and lay it next to the heat lamp.

i THINK i see that there is a screen that the UVB hood sits on. If you can do one of two things:
cut a hole in the screen where the UVB bulb touches the screen ... that way there is nothing in between Sully and the UVB rays. i know it doenst seen like it, but even a mesh screen can block out alot of UVB rays. Better yet ... you can take the UVB bulb out of the hood and mount it inside the tank.
its REALLY easy and cheap to do. if i can do it, anyone can do it! although i am the first to admit the simple concept of it took me forever to understand until i actually just thought about it ... then i was like, OH ... DUH!
i can put up some pics of how to do if you like.
it took me about 5 minutes.
That is the best route to take ... mounting in on the inside of the tank. or, at least cut a hole the length of the hood. Its nice to have it mounted inside, that way you dont have to worry about moving the hood on and off. it can be annoying doing that!

another thing is the sand ...
you might want to consider ditching the sand. there are people who house adult bearides on play sand ... but all in all, calci sand or play sand even, can still cause imapction. even a few grains ingested, over time, will lead to a build up in their digestive systems that can impact them.
its also pretty un-sanitary. it might not seem like it, but when they poop on sand, all the excess moisture is soaked in and trapped in the sand. it can also stir up and hte dust it creates can cause respitory problems. if any gets in Sully's eye ... that can be another big problem.
Really great substrates to use are -

TILE! (my personal fav, Lowes will cut it to fit the tank, you just put the pieces in and clean up is virtually nothing. just a wipe down is all ya need to do. its looks sooooooo pretty too. Also provides a bit of traction too, and can help keep the nails filed down a bit.
NON ADHESIVE SHELF LINER - i used this once, and it was a cinch to clean.
PAPER TOWELS - cant go wrong with them, but you might go through alot, that is why the above two are much less wasteful. I house my other beardie on paper towels, and i dont go through many b/c she mainly poops outside or in the bath.
NEWSPAPER - always works!
REPTI-CARPET - im not a fan of the carpet b/c like sand, moisture seeps into it. its a bit of an upkeep to keep it clean. the upside is you can wash it, and its not a loose substrate.

you kinda want to steer clear of any loose substrate at all ... sand, walnut shells, woodchips, tiny pebbles ... all of these are a bit of a recipe for danger.

if you REALLY like sand, you can tile like 90% of the floor, and make the small remaining part a little sandbox for Sully. thats alot safer than having the entire floor sand. dragons do lick everything, and if they are fed on sand, then they will ingest it that way too.

you can stop using the heating pad, its not needed and can do much more harm than good, even under the tank, they just dont need it, and it can still burn them. just one less thing to worry about too
and total darkness at night ... no lamp needed at night unless your house gets below 60, which i doubt it does, they take a significant drop in temp at night, its a good thing to cool down in the dark for sleep.
they need the dark and a cool down period like we do.

looks like he has alot of nice space to lounge in, thats a good thing
i think if you tweek those things i mentioned, you will be happier and Sully will be too!!!!
Is Sully shedding?
i noticed some parts are discoloured on him ... is it his scales that are patchy colours? i didnt know if it was sand stain or a shed ... trying to figure that part out lol.
He looks like a super sweet boy, looks verrrrrrry comfy chilling on your leg
let me know what you think of the suggestions ... and if there is ANYTHING else you have questions about.
im SO glad you put up pictures!!!!!!!! YAY!!!! HELLLOOOO SULLY!!!
~Em

 

[kcarello]

What a wonderful beautiful big boy you have!! Congratulations!!

 

[Goodtruant]

+1 to what Blue11 said!

 

[soccerstephie]

Hey Everyone!

Thank you again for the great tips! I am trying to figure out way to mount the UV light inside the tank but I am worried because I do not want it to fall and break inside. Sully has had sand in his tank since the pet store got him, so I am worried about changing too much too quickly.

Tonight Sully also got his second bath tonight. I am not sure how it went. I put a washcloth in the bottom for him to stand on and I put him in the sink so it was a smaller space. At first Sully just sat there but then he started walking in circles and I'm not sure if it is because he was enjoying it or because he wanted to get out. So I took him out and he crawled around on the counter. Then I put him back in his cage and he went in laid under his basking light. I do not know Beardie body language so if anyone has any ideas about if this was good or bad please let me know. Thank you.

Thank you all soo much again!

 

[blue11]

sounds like he was exploring the bath and possibly having a good time
also sometimes they will start moving around in the bath alot of they are getting ready to poop. Blue does that all the time.
im so glad he is getting baths
just let him do whatever he wants to do in the bath, and im glad you went to the sink and did the washcloth thing for him to start out with. perfect!

mounting on the inside:
i can walk you through it step by step if you want and put up pics of each step.
there are only about three or four steps, and its a very secure mount so dont worry about it falling. i did until i realized i could barely pull the darn thing off the inside of the cage. industrial velcro is STRONG! ha! i really could NOT get it off to straighten it!

i think the main thing is to get that UVB switched over to the other side and replace the sand with paper towels until you get exactly with you want for the substrate. heck you might find that you want to stick to paper towels, ha! but honestly, even bare glass is better than sand.
those would be the top things to focus on as a "first things first", and seriously, let me know if you want mounting pics!!!
i have them, i think three pics, one of each step.
i would be happy to put them up!
~Em

 

[soccerstephie]

Hey Em

If u could put up pictures that would be very helpful.

Thank u again!