New owner need help

[Nuggets13]

I'm a new owner of a baby BD named nuggets. He/she is only 10cm long max and very curious. I only got nuggets yesterday but when we tried to feed it, it wouldn't eat a thing...

We have crickets for it to eat and we put them in the fridge to slow them down for my lil baby to eat with out having to chase it to much however by the time i had realised that nuggets wasn't eating the crickets the crickets had warmed up again and started jumping around. I also have vegies in its tank but doesn't much like them either.

Also i have a rather simple Viv set up at the moment and im very new at owning BD. Is there any must haves that any one can suggest having? I'm buying a temp gage tonight but the tank under the basking light is approx. 95-100 *F. What should the other areas of nuggets tank be?

Please give me some suggestions i'm only a beginner and i want to do it right.

 

[Ethelia]

Hello there,
Congrats on your new baby!

First of all, dont panic. If your little one is new they often suffer from relocation stress and may take a few days to feel safe and start eating.
Id leave her in her viv for a couple of days without trying to handle her. Although its a good idea to put your hand flat down in the viv on occasion to get your little one used to your presence and aware that you're not going to hurt her.

Your basking temps should be 100-110 and the cool end of the tank (away from the basking bulb) should be around 80.

Also how large are the crix your feeding you little one?
They shouldnt be any bigger than the space in between her eyes or she may not even attempt to eat them.
What veggies are you offering her?

In terms of what your viv should have there are lots of options in terms of decorations, hides and substrates.
Could you tell us what you have at present?
It will be easier to help you out that way

Ok so...
What kind of bulb do you have? (brand and wattage)
Is it a MVB bulb? (mercury vapour)
What kind of substrate do you have? (sand/calci-sand/tiles/walnutshells etc)
What do you have inside your viv in terms of rocks/plants?

 

[Nuggets13]

Thanks for your reply,

At the moment her vegies are a mixture of shredded carrot, shredded radish and parsnip with a sprinkle of calcium dust. She won’t even attempt to eat it though. I gave her some water from my hand so she would at least get a source of water if not from her vegies. She lapped it up. I ended up freezing the crickets for much longer last night so that would be slow enough to catch but moving so as nuggets could see. It worked Nuggets finally ate some crickets. The crickets we had were rather large and so we tried to pick out the smaller ones.

I have a UV heat light (150W, Exo terra) for its basking light and temperatures below it are about 100 and are less than 18” away from the basking spots. I have a 4 foot tank so the heat does not travel all the way to the other side of the tank. What type of light should I get for the far side of the tank? Its about 60 F. I want to pick up a light as soon as possible to solve this issue.

My Viv has a rock background, two basking rocks and a large piece of timber which she loves climbing all over, exploring curiously. I have fake grass on the bottom of the tank at the moment as I heard that if you give little ones sand they try to swallow larger pieces. I have no plants in it at the moment. Hope you can help

 

[LJean]

Congrats on getting your beardie!

Do you have a UVB bulb? I don't think the Sun-glo is a UVB light. You will need one. A good UVB light and temperatures are very important.

It could be relocation stress . Some time to get used to the new surroundings will help.

 

[Ethelia]

Thanks for your reply,

At the moment her vegies are a mixture of shredded carrot, shredded radish and parsnip with a sprinkle of calcium dust. She won’t even attempt to eat it though. I gave her some water from my hand so she would at least get a source of water if not from her vegies. She lapped it up. I ended up freezing the crickets for much longer last night so that would be slow enough to catch but moving so as nuggets could see. It worked Nuggets finally ate some crickets. The crickets we had were rather large and so we tried to pick out the smaller ones.

I have a UV heat light (150W, Exo terra) for its basking light and temperatures below it are about 100 and are less than 18” away from the basking spots. I have a 4 foot tank so the heat does not travel all the way to the other side of the tank. What type of light should I get for the far side of the tank? Its about 60 F. I want to pick up a light as soon as possible to solve this issue.

My Viv has a rock background, two basking rocks and a large piece of timber which she loves climbing all over, exploring curiously. I have fake grass on the bottom of the tank at the moment as I heard that if you give little ones sand they try to swallow larger pieces. I have no plants in it at the moment. Hope you can help

Hi there,
Id ask the same question as LJean about your bulb.
The far side of your tank is too cool. It should be around 80 during the day. At night this will probably drop to around 70 but shouldnt ever be 60 im afraid, especially not in the day time.
Time to invest in a better UVB/MVB bulb and/or get a thermostat to make sure you stay on top of your temperatures.
Im not sure myself which bulb to recommend, I think perhaps you'd better hold out for a more seasoned keeper to answer that for you.

About hydrating your little one you can mist her and her viv daily (just with a plant squirter) and you can also bath her weekly/daily depending on her preference. Warm water, not hot, in a container with the water up to her belly. My beardie, for example, will never drink from anything apart from her bath which she gulps down!

Her viv set up decoration wise seems lovely for a new little dragon.
Her climbing and exploring all over is a good sign. Shes getting used to her home.
I wouldnt start worrying about her lack of appetite until she's been with you for a couple of weeks and she's been handled.

 

[dechainechel]

Hi! It is okay to worry, just don't freak out. Beardies love to make us constantly worry! How big is you viv? When it comes to uvb lights I would say that a repti-sun 10.0 strip light is perfect, as long as your beardie can get within 6-8 inches from the light. Stay away from coil bulbs, they have proven to cause problems. If you have a large viv, you could look into an mvb bulb, I don't know that much about them. Someone else on here can help you with info on them, I'm sure.
Also, I would like to suggest you change some of what you are feeding your baby. Try less veggies and more greens. Collaed, mustard, and turnip greens are an excellent staple. Too many carrots can cause health problems. Try squash instead, Mine love butternut squash! Don't worry if she doesn't immediatly pounce on her greens... :roll: some babies are slow to develop a taste for their salads. Check the care sheets on this site for more great feeding options, and husbandry suggestions.
Remember questions are always okay, this site is an excellent source! Good luck!

 

[Judah'sHuman]

Greetings!

Congrates on your new baby! Since you have a 4' tank I am figuring that your tank is around 45-55 gallons. You can use a 125 watt exoterra solor glo (this is a Merc vapor bulb) MVB are really the best source for UVA and the Very important UVB. the mentioned repta sun 10.0 is alsp a very good blub (repta-glo 10.0 is dangerous) and again stay away from the coil bulbs as they can cause eye problems and blindness. Keep him at least 12" away from the MVB. If you use the MVB, you can use just a plain 60 watt household blub in the other end of the viv for added light. If your area gets colder, you can also get a Ceramic heater. I am in Seattle, so I use a MVB on one end Ceramic heater in the center and a 60 watt blub on the other end. Here is a pic of my viv, just so that you can get an idea of lighting set up, it is 4' long too and it is a 50 gallon:

Ive got the MVB on the far left, the Ceramic in the center and the reg bulb on the end. (BTW this looks like a coil bulb, but its just a reg house hold energey efficant bulb, it had no UVB or UVA emition) I had to put my Heater into a dome fixture, because it is colder in the basment where judah is, and with fall the temps started getting to cold in there for him. Normally it is recomended that you use a wire ficture for these Cer. Heaters but you can actually use them in the properly rated dome fuctures that have to cover.

For feeding options visit beautifuldragons.com this will give you a good list of what to and not to feed. Again babies will eat mostly protein form crickets etc. but are very picky about eating their veggies. You can also try some organic babyfood such as peas, carrots, squash etc. Just be carful about feeding too much of sweet stuff liek applesauce etc. those have too much sugar and can be bad in excess. You can feed the babyfood in a Baby med syringe (as much as he'll eat) mix with a tiny dab of Vits and Calcium. I use Sticky Tongue Minerals, note that this has a bit of calcium along with D3 so you'll wana feed this one every other day in 1 feeding (just a pinch) and a Calcium with out D3 Such as Repta Cal, everyday until he gets about 8-9 months old then you can cut back. If you have the proper UVB and a good diet, as they get older they dont need too many supplements and these can often be over done. Thats is why I recommend getting a calci with out the D3 if your using the Sticky Tongue.

You can get great clean crickets from Reptilefood.com. You ahve to be very carefull where you get your crickets because they can be diseased from retail pet stores and they can make you baby sick. Keep your crickets in a large plastic storage tub, (with proper ventilation in the lid) you can actually start your own little habitat. I actually had another plastic tub to put Judah in for feeding, and then dust the crickets with vits and put them in there and let him go to town. It keeps the crickets out of the Viv and then you dont have strays that can munch on him. You never want to leave crickets running around in the same viv as your baby, they can munch on him while he is sleeping. Having a feeding bin for him, aside from the cricket bin, is a great way to feed your baby with out having to chase crickets down in the viv. It also is so much easier for them to catch them, since they dont have to case them down too much.

Lots o info! hope this is helpfull!
Stacey