New owners, several questions

[usmcfamily]

Hi everyone, we brought home a new beardie yesterday and he is 4 months old according to the breeder. We have Spencer in a 20 gal tank with a reptisun 10.0 tube and a flood light that's 38watt (translation to 50?). He spends almost the entire time in the basking spot and hasn't roamed at all, though it seemed he spent the entire night sleeping on top of the log hide in the cool spot. There's water in the tank as well as crickets and a bit of dusted bok choy and and Swiss chard. He has eaten only two crickets today but did poop white and brown (guessing that's stool and urate). My temp gun is arriving tomorrow so I can't be 100% sure of temps until then but he feels warm to me so I haven't worried too much.

Questions-

1. How much should he be eating a day and when should I be concerned about him not eating? And just crickets and greens, correct? Anyone want to share a good online for cheaper retailer for crickets/Dubai?

2. How often can he be held, could handling him be stressing him out?

3. He seems to be mid-shed, his legs and tail are shedding. Could this be a cause for the lack of appetite?

4. Are baths encouraged this young?

5. After a poop, can it just be picked up and tossed or does everything need to be cleaned? How frequently should he poop?

Thank you in advance for the help. We've tried to educate ourselves and have found this community so enlightening. Look forward to learning as much as we can.

 

[CooperDragon]

Welcome to the forum! Spencer is a healthy looking little guy (I saw the photos on your intro post). It sounds like you're off to a good start and I can help you with your questions.

His appetite will vary. Some days he will eat tons of bugs and other days he will eat just a few. It depends on his hunger, current phase of growth (eat more during spurts), if he's shedding or not (they sometimes stop eating during sheds). After a while you'll get to know what his "normal" is. As long as his weight is steady or increasing, and he's active and alert, he's probably fine. I used to order crickets from PremiumCrickets. I've heard good things about Armstrong as well. I get my worms from LindasGoneBuggie. I got the starters for my dubia colony from ABDragons. I would offer a salad every day but a young dragon needs protein from bugs to help support quick growth so don't be surprised if he ignores the greens for the most part. If he's used to them being available it makes it easier to transition him to a mainly veg diet at 12-18 months. You can get some good ideas for salad items here http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

At first, go easy on the handling to let him get used to his new home. Once he's eating regularly and acts like he's settled in you can ease into handling. Start by just making him familiar with your hands in the enclosure to change food etc. Then you can take him out and hold him (be sure to support all hands and legs - they don't like being off balance). If you have a safe place in the house for him to roam around, you can let him explore a bit with close supervision. They are VERY curious and like to check things out. If you hold him in the evening around lights out, he's likely to curl up and fall asleep on you.

Yes, shedding can cause lack of appetite. That's nothing to worry about. His appetite should return soon.

Bath's aren't necessary but as long as it doesn't stress him out too much you can give it a try. Just put some warm water in a suitable container (up to about his elbows) and let him splash around a bit and see if he likes it or not. If he doesn't mind you can offer a bath a few times a week. That will give him an opportunity to have a drink if he wants any extra hydration.

It depends where he poops. You'll need to spot clean regularly and I'd do a thorough tank clean/disinfect every week or two as he's young and poops in the tank a lot (less when he's older if he gets on a routine of pooping outside of the tank). You can use some F10SC disinfectant or a handheld steam cleaner to sanitize the furniture and tank. Carpet substrate will need to go in the washer and then hung to dry. Tile or shelf liner can be sprayed down and put back.

I think the temp gun will help quite a bit with getting the lighting all dialed in. Having a good temperature gradient is very important. He will also likely outgrow a 20g tank pretty soon. I'd begin budgeting for and planning a larger tank at least 4'x2'x2' that he can use into adulthood. This will require a more powerful basking light and a good T5 UVB light that runs about 1/2 the length of the enclosure. I can help you with all of that when the time comes if needed.

 

[usmcfamily]

Welcome to the forum! Spencer is a healthy looking little guy (I saw the photos on your intro post). It sounds like you're off to a good start and I can help you with your questions.

His appetite will vary. Some days he will eat tons of bugs and other days he will eat just a few. It depends on his hunger, current phase of growth (eat more during spurts), if he's shedding or not (they sometimes stop eating during sheds). After a while you'll get to know what his "normal" is. As long as his weight is steady or increasing, and he's active and alert, he's probably fine. I used to order crickets from PremiumCrickets. I've heard good things about Armstrong as well. I get my worms from LindasGoneBuggie. I got the starters for my dubia colony from ABDragons. I would offer a salad every day but a young dragon needs protein from bugs to help support quick growth so don't be surprised if he ignores the greens for the most part. If he's used to them being available it makes it easier to transition him to a mainly veg diet at 12-18 months. You can get some good ideas for salad items here http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

At first, go easy on the handling to let him get used to his new home. Once he's eating regularly and acts like he's settled in you can ease into handling. Start by just making him familiar with your hands in the enclosure to change food etc. Then you can take him out and hold him (be sure to support all hands and legs - they don't like being off balance). If you have a safe place in the house for him to roam around, you can let him explore a bit with close supervision. They are VERY curious and like to check things out. If you hold him in the evening around lights out, he's likely to curl up and fall asleep on you.

Yes, shedding can cause lack of appetite. That's nothing to worry about. His appetite should return soon.

Bath's aren't necessary but as long as it doesn't stress him out too much you can give it a try. Just put some warm water in a suitable container (up to about his elbows) and let him splash around a bit and see if he likes it or not. If he doesn't mind you can offer a bath a few times a week. That will give him an opportunity to have a drink if he wants any extra hydration.

It depends where he poops. You'll need to spot clean regularly and I'd do a thorough tank clean/disinfect every week or two as he's young and poops in the tank a lot (less when he's older if he gets on a routine of pooping outside of the tank). You can use some F10SC disinfectant or a handheld steam cleaner to sanitize the furniture and tank. Carpet substrate will need to go in the washer and then hung to dry. Tile or shelf liner can be sprayed down and put back.

I think the temp gun will help quite a bit with getting the lighting all dialed in. Having a good temperature gradient is very important. He will also likely outgrow a 20g tank pretty soon. I'd begin budgeting for and planning a larger tank at least 4'x2'x2' that he can use into adulthood. This will require a more powerful basking light and a good T5 UVB light that runs about 1/2 the length of the enclosure. I can help you with all of that when the time comes if needed.

Cooperdragon, thank you for your detailed response. May I ask a few more questions?

I've read on here to offer as many bugs as young ones will eat in 10-15 minutes, he doesn't eat when we feed him right now so how many is good to put in? We went with 5 this morning and he only ate two all day. So do we pull the rest out and do what with them?

Substrate- we've gone with carpet, but the thought of washing it daily sounds tedious. Is newspaper an option?

Thanks again, in advance for your attention to detail.

-Brittney

 

[CooperDragon]

With a little guy, offer calcium dusted bugs twice a day for 10 minutes or so as you said. I offer them in small batches a few at a time so they're easier to track around the tank. It may take a bit for him to start hunting them down so be patient. After the mealtime remove any remaining bugs. Crickets can be especially nasty and bite your dragon while he's sleeping. It's best only to have bugs in the tank during mealtime. The salad can always be available though and you can put some soft worms (Phoenix Worms for example) in there if you wish.

The carpet can be tedious without having several sets handy. You can go with newspaper or butcher paper if you'd like. That makes things easy to clean. Butcher paper is a little thicker and harder for them to bite and ingest. Non adhesive shelf liner is a very good option because it won't be ingested and is easy to clean or replace.