New beardie :)

[Nickthegreek]

Hello everyone. Just bought a new beardie yesterday after the untimely death of Kevin (recieved some bad advice from a vet that didn't really know much about beardies). Say hello to Red:

I have a few questions, since kevin was quite a bit bigger when we first got him. Firstly, is he too small to bath? I guestimate he's about 7-8 weeks old, around 6 inches long including tail. I literally can't feel him stood on my fingertip :lol:

Also, how does my set up look? It's a 30 gallon 3 ft tank, basking area is 43-44C (around 110F) and cool end is 30C (86F).

When we got Kevin he took a few days to settle in which isn't the case this time, yesterday when I first got him home he ate about 6-7 crickets and a bowl of greens! Been today to buy him some buttternut squash, mint leaves and mixed salad leaves (spinach etc). Is this ok for a baby? I'll dust crickets every day with calcium, and give him a sprinkle of nutrobal 1-2 times a week (mainly for the D3).

The UVB is a repti-glo 10.0 15W, is this ok for this size viv? Also it's flat against the back wall, should I find a way to get it more central?

Lots of questions I know but I'm a bit weary after the death of my last beardy

Thanks for reading!!

 

[catUK]

Just relax, everything looks good and sounds like your doing right. A couple of suggestions, mixed salad packs and spinach are not great for beardies- little nutritional value etc- i would check on http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html site for the best greens. Butternut squash is great. Also that water dish looks too big- risk of drowning and raising humidity levels. I don't have a water dish in my viv (its not necessary) as many beardies don't drink from it. Keep him hydrated by misting daily and baths when he's big enough. Hope you dont mind my suggestions. The UVB is fine- i keep mine on the back wall positioned like yours and it looks like your beardie can get within the appropriate distance. He is gorgeous and don't worry because of your last beardie, you sound like you really care and will do a great job

 

[Nickthegreek]

Just relax, everything looks good and sounds like your doing right. A couple of suggestions, mixed salad packs and spinach are not great for beardies- little nutritional value etc- i would check on http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html site for the best greens. Butternut squash is great. Also that water dish looks too big- risk of drowning and raising humidity levels. I don't have a water dish in my viv (its not necessary) as many beardies don't drink from it. Keep him hydrated by misting daily and baths when he's big enough. Hope you dont mind my suggestions. The UVB is fine- i keep mine on the back wall positioned like yours and it looks like your beardie can get within the appropriate distance. He is gorgeous and don't worry because of your last beardie, you sound like you really care and will do a great job

Cool, thanks for the reply. I'll get a smaller water bowl, but my girlfriend saw him drinking out of it earlier so it's probably best I keep one in there. For his food bowl I used the lid off a hot chocolate jar (lol) I'll see if I can get another one of those for his water. I also just read that the repti-glo 10 isn't very good and and I should get an MVB, but is this necessary if I'm supplementing him with neutrobal?

As I was typing this he did his first poop and gave me the 2 armed wavy thing so looks like he's settling in ok

 

[deh05001]

Everything looks and sounds like it's in order. I find it really cool that he's only 6 inches yet eating lots of greens and using the water dish already. Your dragon doesn't seem affected by relocation at all. For UVB , I say switch the reptiglo out for the reptiSUN 10.0 UVB tube. It did wonders for my dragon (went from eating 5-10 crickets a day to over 30!!! He's been so much more active and growing better because of it). I think it's great that you're really determined to make this a good home for your dragon and keep him/her happy. Good luck and Congrats!

 

[RolandKyramere]

Aw, he's so cute!!!

 

[Nickthegreek]

Everything looks and sounds like it's in order. I find it really cool that he's only 6 inches yet eating lots of greens and using the water dish already. Your dragon doesn't seem affected by relocation at all. For UVB , I say switch the reptiglo out for the reptiSUN 10.0 UVB tube. It did wonders for my dragon (went from eating 5-10 crickets a day to over 30!!! He's been so much more active and growing better because of it). I think it's great that you're really determined to make this a good home for your dragon and keep him/her happy. Good luck and Congrats!

I live in the UK and I've been having a lot of trouble finding a reptiSUN tube, I've even gone as far as looking on eBay lol. Is there something equally as good that I could use?

 

[Nickthegreek]

Aw, he's so cute!!!

Thanks he's so tiny!

 

[catUK]

Ah its good that he's drinking from the bowl, wish mine would.

I live in the UK and I've been having a lot of trouble finding a reptiSUN tube, I've even gone as far as looking on eBay lol. Is there something equally as good that I could use?

The arcadia 12% UVb is as good as, if not better than the reptisun. I ordered mine from http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/rep...-lamps-562/arcadia-d3-reptile-lamp-57099.html for about £24- i had the reptiglo at first and since putting in the arcadia she has become more active

 

[Nickthegreek]

Ah its good that he's drinking from the bowl, wish mine would.

I live in the UK and I've been having a lot of trouble finding a reptiSUN tube, I've even gone as far as looking on eBay lol. Is there something equally as good that I could use?

The arcadia 12% UVb is as good as, if not better than the reptisun. I ordered mine from http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/rep...-lamps-562/arcadia-d3-reptile-lamp-57099.html for about £24- i had the reptiglo at first and since putting in the arcadia she has become more active

Ahh that's great thanks! I'll order one probably on friday If Red gets any more active I think I'll have to buy him an 8ft viv lol

 

[catUK]

Ah its good that he's drinking from the bowl, wish mine would.

I live in the UK and I've been having a lot of trouble finding a reptiSUN tube, I've even gone as far as looking on eBay lol. Is there something equally as good that I could use?

The arcadia 12% UVb is as good as, if not better than the reptisun. I ordered mine from http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/rep...-lamps-562/arcadia-d3-reptile-lamp-57099.html for about £24- i had the reptiglo at first and since putting in the arcadia she has become more active

Ahh that's great thanks! I'll order one probably on friday If Red gets any more active I think I'll have to buy him an 8ft viv lol

haha, aww they're cute when they're little!

 

[Nickthegreek]

Just a few more questions, I hope you don't mind answering.

Firstly, should I wait a while before I start letting him out of his viv/handling him etc? I was told to let him settle for a few days to avoid him getting stressed, but then I was told I should be getting him out to let him get used to being handled. Which is right?

Also, he seems to have his eyes shut quite a lot, is this normal? He sits under his vine quite a lot of the time just chilling sometimes with his eyes open and sometimes with them shut.

Edit: Just ordered him some small calci-worms from www.reptilecentre.com - along with an Arcadia D3 are the worms ok for him to eat at such a small size?

 

[catUK]

Just a few more questions, I hope you don't mind answering.

Firstly, should I wait a while before I start letting him out of his viv/handling him etc? I was told to let him settle for a few days to avoid him getting stressed, but then I was told I should be getting him out to let him get used to being handled. Which is right? i was told the same when i got mine but i was impatient and held her straight away. It didn't do her any harm. she used to be a bit jumpy and run off but i held her little and ofen at first. Now she is 100% comfortable with me to the point where she comes and cuddles in to my neck and sleeps. It wont hinder the taming process if you leave it a few days- its really up to you. if he struggles, don't let him down as he'll learn struggling = getting his own way/getting put down. Also hold him near the ground as they have a tendancy to jump at a young age

Also, he seems to have his eyes shut quite a lot, is this normal? He sits under his vine quite a lot of the time just chilling sometimes with his eyes open and sometimes with them shut. closed eyes can be from bad UVB. You've ordered a new one so you may see a difference.

Edit: Just ordered him some small calci-worms from http://www.reptilecentre.com - along with an Arcadia D3 are the worms ok for him to eat at such a small size? calci woms are very small so they'll be fine- a lot of babies eat them

any more questions, just ask- we're all here to help

 

[Nickthegreek]

Cool! Thanks for your help. I just did a Google search for "Bearded dragon eyes closed" and 95% of the forum topics I read, the poster was using a repti glo 10 UVB tube (the one exception was where it was a repti sun, and the dragon genuinely had an eye infection) :? what does that tell you? :roll: Some people reccomended turning the tube off and getting a replacement, but my new tube won't be here until Friday :?

 

[catUK]

I wouldn't be confident turning off the tube but if its affecting his eyes then you may have to. You could start a new post asking for help with this issue, im sure ppl will know what to do. Im guessing they'll say to turn off the UVB as its only just over a day you'll have to wait. I used a repti-glo tube for the first 3 months of having my beardie with no problems (before i knew it wasn't a great bulb), but maybe i was lucky. Sorry i can't help you on this one

 

[Nickthegreek]

I wouldn't be confident turning off the tube but if its affecting his eyes then you may have to. You could start a new post asking for help with this issue, im sure ppl will know what to do. Im guessing they'll say to turn off the UVB as its only just over a day you'll have to wait. I used a repti-glo tube for the first 3 months of having my beardie with no problems (before i knew it wasn't a great bulb), but maybe i was lucky. Sorry i can't help you on this one

Was it the repti glo 10.0 you used?