Murray2020
Member
We brought our first Beardie into the family about 3 weeks ago. My son loves them and “Murray” is his new best friend. We read everything there was to read and I think our starter set up is good for now: 20 gallon glass aquarium with a mesh cover, Reptisun T8 10.0 mounted inside just under the screen (covers 2/3 the length of the tank), Zoo Med Spot Basking Bulb (100 watt, sits on top of the screen, above a driftwood branch for basking), another branch for climbing/hiding on the bottom middle of the enclosure, and a plastic “rock cave” hide on the other far/cool side, underneath a Beardie hammock. We switched the basking bulb to a 100 watt because it was struggling to reach 100 degrees in his basking spot; now it stays 105-110. We do not keep any water in the enclosure to maintain humidity approximately 35%. Murray comes out for a bath every 2-3 days... sometimes he drinks sometimes not. We have small crickets loose in the enclosure but they mostly hide up inside the driftwood branch. We offer him chopped collard greens, squash, carrots, berries, etc. daily. We have gut loading gel in the cricket enclosure and also have small Dubia roaches. We keep 5 or so roaches in a small bowl in the enclosure at all times. We sometimes offer small wax worms in his “salad” and last week bought and prepared the Repashy Beardie Buffet, which we also put small pieces in his salad. We dust his salad with calcium and vitamins several times per week.Our concern is that even though we’ve had him for 3 weeks now, he doesn’t seem to have much appetite or energy. My son handles him every day, we bathe him and have even resorted to placing him in “feeding box” a large shoebox with some Dubia roaches to try and excite him into eating. Mixed results with that - he will eat 3 of the roaches maybe once a day, but today he did not want any. He hasn’t gotten any bigger since we got him (he came from our favorite pet shop; they said he was about 2 1/2 months old. Since they grow so much the first 8 months of life, we are just a little concerned about him. He is too young for brumation from what I’ve read, so is this normal baby Beardie behavior as far as appetite and energy? He spends most of his time either basking near the top of the log/branch or resting closer to the middle of the log or on the floor near the base of the log. The bottom of the enclosure is covered with the brown Beardie reptile “carpet.” He doesn’t eat much, if any salad, and just a few insects per day. We are doing the best we know how to do and want to make sure he is ok... or if the experts here see something wrong with his enclosure, or another problem, we want to know - we want to take the best care of Murray and keep him growing, happy and healthy! Thank you in advance- Kate M. (& Evan... and Murray)