New to Beardies and have questions.

[Coopersdad]

As the topic title says, I am new to Beardies and even though my girlfriend has 3 Beardies, I am still a newb to them. My own Beardie (Cooper) has been a complete different lizard compared to the other 3.

1) Cooper has yet to grow: she was purchased from PetsMart on March 5th of this year, and has only shed twice with growth at less than an inch total (this also makes her hard to sex, but I believe her to be female due in part to her looking like the girlfriends female Dragon). She is maturing, just not growing. Right now, she is at a hair short of 7" total length. After what I have been reading here so far, I wonder if she doesn't have some bit of Rankin/Lawsons bloodline in her.

2) She was attacked in an attempt to try to eat a cricket/worm by a larger dragon, and was quite badly injured across the head. With help, she healed up well, but the experience I believe traumatized her into not eating live feeders. I have tried multiple times to live-feed her, to little avail. She has eaten a total of 6 mealworms in the last 5 months. I have to mix and syringe-feed her daily. I use baby foods (mostly Chicken, Squash, and the fruit/veggie flavored Stage1 stuff from Beechnut) mixed with Calcium, Herp-Vitamins, and Pedialyte. She will eat about 1 to 1.5 syringes full (2cc syringe) daily, and poops on a regular basis.

3) Lately, she has become somewhat lethargic, with her seldom opening her eyes. from my readings here, I believe it might have something to do with her lighting. THAT will be cured this weekend, as payday will help me purchase better equipment than what PetsMart recommended. I want her to have the best I can afford, as making it this far in her life with everything that has happened to her so far has been a miracle in itself. As of yesterday, she has become a little more active and alert, but I am still on guard and watching her like a hawk (she is sitting here on my right shoulder now, watching me type this).

I love my little Dragon (this is coming from a cat person); she is fun to take out and see how people react to, to scratch under the chin (love watching her one eye close as I scratch), love the way she runs and plays around in her terrarium (40 gallon), and just overall her personality. I didn't think I could find this level of 'understanding' and 'humanization' in a reptile until I started playing with the girlfriends Beardies. That led to me getting my own, a decision I am glad I made. I will continue to search, read, and learn. I will also ask questions, so please bare with me.


Brad (Coopers Dad)

 

[zooeymama]

Is she housed with any other Beardies? I wonder how she got hurt? I am also pretty new to Beardies. I have devoured this site though and it seems like a lot of times it's the lighting if the tank temps or good, eating, substrate is not sand/crushed walnut shells. I have read some pretty amazing stories from people unknowingly use bad bulbs. Have you tried a ReptiSun 10.0 bulb? And I totally know what you mean- I have 3 cats and a dog and always thought I was a cat person...thought. I love my beardie. :mrgreen:

 

[Coopersdad]

Not now. Cooper was with 2 other juvenile Beardies when she was staying at my girlfriends (March 5th to May 5th). One of them was growing much quicker than the other two, with Cooper growing not at all. The attack happened the later part of April, and I brought her home to me on May 5th, where she has been in her own 40 gallon the rest of her time to date.

I will be purchasing the Reptisun 10.0 today (paydays are great), along with a few other things to make her life better. I didn't know anything better was out there until I started lurking here. now, I know what I currently have is pitifully inadequate (that is what I get for trusting in PetsMart). Right now, I have that terrarium mat down, put that will come out soon as I have started to make a custom base for her with Linolium tiles. Hopefully, along with lighting upgrades, she will be happier and healthier in her newly renovated home.

Basking spot is usually at about 105* with the cool side around 80*. New fixtures and decorations will hopefully bring the cold side down a few degrees and provide some shade as well. Her water bowl is in the shade side, and every now and then I will see her in either it or her digging bed.

As for pictures of Cooper, I will have to download them from my phone to Photobucket and get some up.

 

[randommonks]

Have you tried other feeders besides crickets and mealworms? At his age, he needs to be getting as much protein as possible. Mealworms are a very poor staple for a bearded dragon. If he won't touch crickets anymore, could you try ordering reptiworms, roaches, silkworms, hornworms, etc. off the internet? There are often a lot of people on this site in the For Sale section selling/advertising those things. The reptiworms in particular you won't have to dust with calcium (the way you do with most other feeders) because they already have high calcium content, I believe from the food they're fed.

Are you offering any veggies right now?

 

[Coopersdad]

Well, just by switching to a better UVB light, Cooper has become more active as of late. The bulb I have in now is just a place-holder until my Repti-Sun 10.0 gets here, but it too is a 10.0 now (was an 8.0). I have also increased her protein intake by mixing beef/beef broth baby food into her mix of Chicken/Apple and Vitamin/Calcium mix. Once she becomes more active, I will try different live feeders. She would ignore crickets and (as stated earlier) only ate less than a dozen mealworms. She is VERY skeptical, and wouldn't even eat the worms if I was nearby, as my very presence (I believe) scared her and reminded her of the attack. She is eating better now, and I have noticed a difference in the consistency of her poo as well. I used to gauge how much of what to mix in/feed her by what she left in her poo; I will continue to do so, but I will have to re-learn the curve as she is digesting food better.