New owner, lots of questions....

[MelanieS]

Hello all!

So very happy I found this forum! I adopted a bearded dragon from a couple who's son left him at home when he went to college and they didn't want to care for him anymore. I am somewhat familiar with reptile care as I have a Russian tortoise that I've learned quite a bit about through a similar forum for tortoises. So here it goes, hopefully I include everything needed.

So my newly found friend is named Rex, the previous owners say that he's about 5 years old, and he's about 1-1/2 feet long. He was on a diet of Fluker's buffet blend for adult bearded dragons and 25 crickets every 3-4 days. I've added greens, veggies, and fruits to his diet since I've gotten him this past month. He does eat mustard greens pretty regularly, I've gotten him to eat a couple pieces of strawberry and pepper, as well as some dandelion, but he doesn't seem to like it very much compared to the processed junk.

When I got him, he only had a flood light from the hardware store for basking, and that was all. I quickly got him a 100W ZooMed PowerSun UVB light, as well as a ceramic heating element that stays on 24/7. I also switched out his flood lamp with a reptile basking light (I don't remember the brand or wattage, it was something off Amazon). The basking and UVB lights stay on from 8AM to 9PM every day.

As far as temps go, his warm side stays between 95 and 100, and the cool side is closer to 80-85. He's in a 75 gallon tank and he has an under tank heater underneath his hide. I haven't thought to measure the night temperature, but I imagine it stays around 75-80 with the ceramic heating element, I'll measure it tonight when I come home. I measure these temps with a temp gun regularly, but I will be getting him an in-tank temperature monitor. He does have a sticker temperature gauge, but I just recently covered this up with a tank background.

I don't know if tank backgrounds are healthy for him or if it stresses him out more, but an issue I had when I first got him was that anytime he saw my tortoise wandering around his enclosure, he'd get all mad, his beard would turn black, and he'd claw and ram the side of his tank where the tortoise enclosure is. He also had a similar problem when the landlord mows the lawn, so I figured a background would be good for him. The first day I put the background up, he just stared at it. I was worried it was stressing him out, but he has seemed to get used to it over the past week.

He does have a little water dish in his tank, but I was wondering if he was supposed to have more of a soaking dish big enough for him to get into like my tortoise does? He doesn't seem to touch the water much.

I was giving him warm water soaks once a week, but he's started shedding his skin so for the past two weeks I've been soaking him 3-4 times a week in hopes of expediting the process and maybe making it easier for him? I have no knowledge to back that up, that was just the logical way my mind worked through it.

I am mainly concerned about the shedding because it is something that is entirely new to me, my tortoise sheds very slowly, to the point that you barely notice it happening, but Rex is very different. Yesterday when I went to class, he looked fine, but when I came home half his back had peeled off but it was still stuck on there. Am I supposed to help him to peel it off? I'll admit, I have been trying, but he gets visibly irritated with me after a few minutes. Is it painful for him to shed his skin? I just feel so bad for him cause now he's all crinkly when I pet him and he doesn't seem to like the noise...I could be over-analyzing my dragon at that point though.

So I guess my questions are: Is the enclosure suitable for him now?
Do I need to get anything else for him?
Am I giving him a proper diet?
Does he need a larger soaking dish in his tank?
Am I soaking him too much/too little outside of his tank?
How long does the shedding process take/how many times annually does it happen?
Should I help him by peeling the dead skin off?
And is it painful/stressful for him to shed?

Sorry for the essay :? but any advice at all will be extremely helpful and put my mind at ease. And if you need further information about his setup, I'll be happy to answer.

Thank you!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...you'll be glad you found this site, you'll get answers on just about every topic related to beardies. I'll answer a few quick Q's, others might chime in as well. The Powersun is a good bulb usually, his temps. are O.K but could be 5 degrees higher on the hot side. Water bowls can harbor tons of bacteria....b.d.'s walk through their poo and/or even use water dish as toilets. You can hydrate him and help him shed by spraying him lightly every other day...mine drink as I spray them lightly on the head. Never pull the shed off...they can take a long time but it's not a problem so let it come off in it's own time. Greens are better than the processed food, so stick with the ones he likes. Try squash as well. And lastly, post some pics of him + his tank...everyone loves pics, and if there's something that needs attention it can be pointed out. Here's how :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then hit XIMG

 

[MelanieS]

I just checked his nighttime temps, cool side was 79.9, under his basking light was 85. I'll figure out pictures tomorrow when he's not sleepy

Thank you!

 

[kyleena29]

They can get a little grumpy during shed. It can itch and is uncomfortable. You can mist or bathe them more frequently to help the shed. Like the other person said you shouldn't help him peel. The only exception is you can help with the toes if they won't seem to come off on its own. You don't want it to constrict his toes of blood supply. Usually it's not a problem. As for night time temps, it is fine for it to get down to 65, you don't really need the CHE if it doesn't get below that at night. I'm not sure why but it's good for them to get cooled off at night unless they are sick. Any visual changes to his enclosure could stress him out but give him a couple of weeks and he should get used to it. It might be the same for the tortoise but if he doesn't seem to get used to it you might want to move him out of view. You don't need to soak him often unless during shed, otherwise once a week is fine. Unless he really enjoys his bath, just make sure he gets dried off well. I don't know what your humidity levels are but if it gets above 40 I wouldn't have any water in there. Make sure you are giving calcium 2-3x week and vitamins 1x weekly. I don't think they shed that often once they are an adult but don't freak out. They usually shed in stages, head one week, legs/body the next week and so on.

 

[MichaelO]

Hi, never peel their shedding off. Just make sure you have logs or something that he can use to scratch off the annoying bits.

 

[MelanieS]

Hello again!

My Rex is almost done with his shed now I think, it looks like just one of his back legs is peeling and everything else has come off. I started spraying him down with a spray bottle every day (several times a day when his shedding was real bad) and he seems to enjoy it, quite a bit more than the soaks, so I've got him back to just one soak a week. I think the pattern on his back seems darker/more pronounced than it was before...is that normal?? Or I could just be used to seeing him with his skin all flakey, I don't know.

I know someone mentioned calcium and vitamins, I have a multi vitamin that I use for both my tortoise and Rex, it's Zilla Vitamin Supplement with beta carotene. I can post the breakdown of what's in it if you'd like. It's got 60 ppm calcium, and he gets it twice a week sprayed on his crickets, and I spray it on his greens 1-2 times a week. Is there something else/ in addition I should give him??

I also took his water dish out, he never seemed to use it, mainly just got substrate in it every chance he could, so I figured it wouldn't be bad for him. Humidity stays around 43-45%.

I also forgot to mention the substrate in my initial post: it's a ground walnut substrate I believe is what the previous owner told me. Does anyone know where I can find more like that? Or is another substrate better for him?

He's also gotten used to the backdrop, which is good. At first he would get upset when I was out of view taking care of the tortoise (the tortoise enclosure is on the floor to the right in the picture I'll post), but he's gotten used to that too as he realized I always come back into view. I should clarify that the tortoise never really had a problem with the dragon coming into our home, it was just Rex that didn't like seeing the tortoise roaming free. Rex also doesn't like when my cats sneak into the reptile room when I'm doing my morning clean and feed. He doesn't charge the glass or anything like that. He just never takes his eyes off the cats (my orange kitty especially...the white/gray fluffy cat is scared half to death of Rex, which isn't surprising, he's scared of just about everything)

I've finally figured out how to get pictures off my phone and onto here (it's really easy to get them on the website, I just had a heck of a time getting them OFF my phone :? )

Here's a couple pictures, one of the whole enclosure, and one close up of the mighty Rex

Hopefully that works!!! If anyone notices anything that should be changed, please let me know!

Thank you!!

 

[SpacialCoogs]

You need to remove the substrate. It's not a good thing for these guys and can cause problems internally.

I would recommend replacing with tile, newspaper or non adhesive shelf liner. Something easy to clean that he can't ingest. The tile has an added benefit of helping to file down his nails.

They like climbing so if you can get some branches or something for him to run around on it will provide enrichment.