New Owner - Looking for some tips

[camfink]

Hey guys, I just bought my bearded dragon last Thursday ... so roughly 5 days ago, and i just had a few questions.
Im not sure if it is a he/she yet, cause he's only maybe a few months old (Hes about 5 or 6 inches head to tail).

The only issues I am really having with him are just climatizing him. I took him out of the aquarium yesterday and he appeared very spooked as he started to show stress marks on his belly, so i put him back in the cage and let him calm down. I also notice when i am feeding him crickets that he will eat 4 or 5 in a feeding, then either grow tired or get full and just stop eating all together (I figured he'd eat more than that).

Now what I've decided to do is to let him completely climatize to his new surroundings by putting up white paper around all 4 walls of his enclosure so he doesnt freak out. I figure just feed him and clean the tank for a couple weeks just so he can settle down. He is in my room, so i have his lights coming on at 6:30AM and going off at 10:00PM (Is this too long to be awake?) I can post some pictures of the tank later tonight if someone wants to give me some pointers.

Thanks a lot,

 

[camfink]

Here is the image i said I'd post. I have 2 UVB tube lamps above the cage.

I bought some pellets for him, because due to my job i am not here from 7 AM till 5, so rather than leaving crickets in the tank i decided to let him eat these.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Hi Cam, welcome to the Family!
You only need one UVB , two is over kill, and can actually harm your baby.

Rather than leaving those unappatising pellets, try leaving phoenix, or silk worms and a nice salad of well shredded (by hand) collard greens or mustard greens with some yellow squash.

If you use the phoenix worms, you won't need to use calcium, they come packed naturally with their own.

Are you using sand as a substrate ? If so please consider that sand can impact a young dragon and harbors high levels of unhealthy bacteria, sort of like a litter box for a cat, except the cat would have to live in it.

Safer alternatives are: ceramic tile (like slate), non adhesive shelf liner, paper towels, or reptile carpet, however with the carpet, you will want two lengths, one in the viv, and one in reserve when you launder the first one.

Hope this helps out !
Janie.

 

[spurlee01]

I agree with Janie. Just wanted to add that 6:30-10:00 is a bit long for lights on. This time of year we do 14 on/ 10 off. Even at that they seem tired by the end of the day.
Sara

 

[camfink]

Awesome, thanks for the tips guys.
I had two UVB lamps going only because they seem like they are so far from the tank in order to get to him, but if school serves me correctly that shouldnt really matter much, so no idea why i was doing that.

Ok well i am going to try and get him on a 14 on/ 10 off schedule.

And yes, just for your concern that is not sand it is a brown mat which said it was safe for reptiles...but i appreciate the concern.

Yeah maybe I'll get some worms for him, i heard they weren't good for them though because the shells can sometimes cause impacton, but i need to find a food that i can quickly give him in the morning. I can feed him crickets when im home from work.

But once again, thank you for the advice, i look forward to contributing here from time to time.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Cam the two I suggested are actually considered staples. No hard shells to worry about.
You can find these :
http://www.mulberryfarms.com/

Janie