New owner with a few questions!

[DrogonsDen]

Hi everyone! We just got our new bearded dragon, who we named Drogon, on Sunday. Never owned one before and this is a young one, so I want to be sure I'm doing everything right! We got the reptihabitat (20 gallon with carpet and other supplies included). We did replace the basking light to a 100w because the kit one was lower. We put a hiding log over the under tank heater. The lamps are located on that side above the basking wood that came with the kit. We ordered a temp gun that will hopefully get here tomorrow. The lights are on for at least 12 hrs a day.

He was really active when we picked up up at the store Sunday. The clerk said to give him small crickets, so we did that along with the commercial food and collard greens. He ate six crickets! We went back again for supplies and another clerk said to feed him mealworms instead of any commercial food, so we got some. He ate five of those yesterday with some collard greens. Everything has been dusted with that calcium powder.

The problem is, he hasn't pooped since we got him Sunday. I've been reading about impaction issues and now I'm really worried. I put him in a tubberware with 85 degree water this morning (not for a full 20 minutes), but not for long and he didn't go. Now he's basking. What do you recommend I do?

Also, should I be using Reptisafe in his water bowl and bath water?

Last, is this ramekin too high for him? The mealworms were escaping the bowl that came with the kit.

Thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions!

 

[CooperDragon]

I do have a few suggestions that may be helpful. I would replace the UVB light that came with the kit. Go with an 18'' T8 ReptiSun 10.0 and a Zilla Slimline fixture for it. That will produce good levels of UVB about 6'' below the bulb so you'll want to build a branch or similar up near it so he can get 6'' below the bulb if he wants. Remove the clear plastic cover from the fixture as that will intercept all UVB. That will be a good setup for about 4 more months until he outgrows it and will require something larger. I would plan on building something like this https://beardies.dreamwidth.org/2145.html

As far as food goes, stick with crickets. I would avoid mealworms because they aren't all that nutritious and can be tough to digest in large quantities. Go with a softer worm such as black soldier fly larva (phoenix worms) or small silk worms to compliment the crickets. You could also start a dubia roach colony which is another good option for feeders. Dust the bugs at every meal with a good calcium supplement. I like the Repashy Calcium Plus. https://www.amazon.com/Repashy-Calcium-Plus-All-Sizes/dp/B00CI6K6H6

Provide some extra hydration by dropping some water on his nose and see if he will lick it up. He should get most of his hydration from the bugs (which should be well gutloaded with vegetable scraps) but offering some extra will help him move everything along through his system. You could also give him a drop or two of olive oil or some baby food applesauce to help move things along if he doesn't poop within a couple of days.

 

[DrogonsDen]

Thank you so much for all of your help! I plan on doing all that you mentioned!

 

[OnyxTheDragon]

A few good tips:

Substrates: Use paper towels or ceramic/porcelain tiles as a great substrate! Both are cheap and the tiles look gorgeous.

*Don't use loose substrates! May cause impactation*
*Carpet can be tough to clean thoroughly and it can cause their nails to catch and that could be painful. Sometime their teeth too*

Lighting: Use a reptisun 10.0 uvb Tube or any similar good product as long as it's in tube form and not a compact bulb type. I have a 150 watt basking light and the 10.0 reptisun tube along with a lower wattage light on the cool side (add if wanted for better lighting or if needed).

Apart from that everything seems great!

 

[OnyxTheDragon]

Thank you so much for all of your help! I plan on doing all that you mentioned!

Also you can take the water bowl out if humidity gets too high!

Great ranges are around 20%-35% (the 3 lights used in my last replied help keep humidity down a lot but 2 can work also)

Just give her/him a bath every day or every other/few days to keep them hydrated and you can also mist them somewhere out if their enclosure to keep the hydrated properly