new to beardies, good setup?

[wgparks]

hi, i just got my first bearded dragon a little over a week ago, idk the age but im guessing maybe around a month? he's about 4 inches long head to tail. I have an AFT and a leopard gecko as well so i know the basic care of reptiles, but i want to make sure that I am taking the best care of this little fella. I got him from petsmart and he was very sickly looking, very skinny, and i just had to take him out of there. I have him in a 20G long tank right now (the 90G custom tank that will house him next is currently still under construction) with an UTH under the basking end of the tank, as well as heat lamps, day and night. here are the rest of the specs on whats going on in the tank.
day temp hot side:90 degrees
day basking:100 degrees (i read it should be lower for babies than adults, its a dimmer light i can turn it up so it gets to 110)
day cool side:85
night hot side:85
night basking: 90
night cool side: 80
substrate: repticarpet
food:small crickets dusted with repashy bearded dragon calcium plus, rep-cal juvenille dragon food, with some red vitamins i top it with for young dragons i forget the name because i threw out the package lol.
i also gutload the crickets, they eat the rep-cal dragon food and water source is fluker's protein water gels
he has a rock cave hide on top of the UTH, a perch under the basking lights.
and his feeding schedule is two crickets 3x a day

now, after all of that, am i doing something wrong? temps need adjusted?

 

[twinmommy]

I think you should check out some of the care sheets. There is a link on the top of the page. You don't need heat or light at night unless your house temp gets below 65. You are not feeding near enough crickets. Bump up the basking to 105 and do a lot more research on this site. With a little baby you are going to run into health issues quickly unless you fix the husbandry issues.

 

[wgparks]

i read that babies shouldn't have a basking spot thats so hot, and i feed as much as he eats he won't go after more crickets, i have done my research for the most part thank you and he is looking better than he was. also, my house does get on the cool side at night and its a much smaller NIGHT light, i don't want to make him too cold. i'd like some help without being insulted, thanks

 

[wilddanny88]

i read that babies shouldn't have a basking spot thats so hot, and i feed as much as he eats he won't go after more crickets, i have done my research for the most part thank you and he is looking better than he was. also, my house does get on the cool side at night and its a much smaller NIGHT light, i don't want to make him too cold. i'd like some help without being insulted, thanks

The babies do need the basking temp higher than the adults.105-110 is ideal. I think you got it mixed up. Also, the UTH could burn him and they can't feel heat under them so it is kind of useless. The night time heat is too high. They use this time to cool off from the hot day. In their natural environment, it gets even colder than 65 degrees and they do fine. Your dragon doesn't need extra night time heating.Plus, the lights disturb their sleep. Btw, what kind of uvb do you have. i.e. reptisun 10.0 tube etc. And what are you measuring temps with? We're trying to help, not to be rude. Welcome to BD.org btw.

 

[wgparks]

i read that babies shouldn't have a basking spot thats so hot, and i feed as much as he eats he won't go after more crickets, i have done my research for the most part thank you and he is looking better than he was. also, my house does get on the cool side at night and its a much smaller NIGHT light, i don't want to make him too cold. i'd like some help without being insulted, thanks

The babies do need the basking temp higher than the adults.105-110 is ideal. I think you got it mixed up. Also, the UTH could burn him and they can't feel heat under them so it is kind of useless. The night time heat is too high. They use this time to cool off from the hot day. In their natural environment, it gets even colder than 65 degrees and they do fine. Your dragon doesn't need extra night time heating.Plus, the lights disturb their sleep. Btw, what kind of uvb do you have. i.e. reptisun 10.0 tube etc. And what are you measuring temps with? We're trying to help, not to be rude. Welcome to BD.org btw.

UTH is seperated by carpet and a thick sandstone, i had it in there just to add extra heat during the day, don't have a hood yet with UVB, have to get that this week on pay day, i thought reptiles could not see red light at night?

 

[wilddanny88]

The UTH is probably fine then. Reptiles can pretty much see what we can and then some. So you don't have a UVB? How long has he been without it? They can usually be fine without UV for a week or so, but to substitute for the time without uvb, you could take him outside for the best uvb on the market today,the sun. lol :lol:

 

[herpgirl2510]

I would lose the Uth I know some reptiles use these but Beardies do not need belly heat. They just need a basking bulb and for UVB a reprising 10.0 or a power sun mercury vapor . If you use a power sun you do not need a basking bulb. The reprising needs to be 6-7" away from the basking site and thebpowersun 12".

 

[wilddanny88]

Reprising? lol Must be auto correct! she meant Reptisun, wgparks.

 

[herpgirl2510]

Annoying I phone auto correct.

 

[wgparks]

The UTH is probably fine then. Reptiles can pretty much see what we can and then some. So you don't have a UVB? How long has he been without it? They can usually be fine without UV for a week or so, but to substitute for the time without uvb, you could take him outside for the best uvb on the market today,the sun. lol :lol:

i went ahead and unplugged the UTH and the temps have been fine, i turned the basking light up its now reaching 115 during the day and yeah he has been without UVB for about a week, getting the hood for him tomorrow so he will have UVB, and i turned off the night light and his temps get down to about 75. ive started feeding him more crickets, he gets 4, 3 times a day is that better? he also has dry food and some veggies, the crickets are also eating his food (i chose this to gutload since Zeus won't eat much dry food) and some protein water gels

quick question- does UVB come in a bulb or just hoods?

 

[wilddanny88]

The UTH is probably fine then. Reptiles can pretty much see what we can and then some. So you don't have a UVB? How long has he been without it? They can usually be fine without UV for a week or so, but to substitute for the time without uvb, you could take him outside for the best uvb on the market today,the sun. lol :lol:

i went ahead and unplugged the UTH and the temps have been fine, i turned the basking light up its now reaching 115 during the day and yeah he has been without UVB for about a week, getting the hood for him tomorrow so he will have UVB, and i turned off the night light and his temps get down to about 75. ive started feeding him more crickets, he gets 4, 3 times a day is that better? he also has dry food and some veggies, the crickets are also eating his food (i chose this to gutload since Zeus won't eat much dry food) and some protein water gels

quick question- does UVB come in a bulb or just hoods?

It all sounds fine but a UVB is a tube light not a hood. The UVB that you should get is the Reptisun 10.0 tube. Its this one. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752589 You'll just have to wait for it to be shipped though. You can take him outside everyday for 30 mins to substitute for no uvb.

 

[wgparks]

yeah i know what a reptisun is, i have it for my AFT, but i don't have an extra hood to put the bulb in, because i do have a couple extra bulbs (stocked up awhile back when i won $700 on a scratch off lol.....stocked UPPPPPP on all my pets supplies)

 

[wilddanny88]

yeah i know what a reptisun is, i have it for my AFT, but i don't have an extra hood to put the bulb in, because i do have a couple extra bulbs (stocked up awhile back when i won $700 on a scratch off lol.....stocked UPPPPPP on all my pets supplies)

lol click on the walmart link and it has the under counter fixture I use. MUCH cheaper than a name brand pet one like the hood zoo med makes

 

[wgparks]

how would i attach that to a mesh cover?

 

[Maxiloves43]

I let my beardie have as many crickets as she wants within a 10 min eating period, I also dust them with a calcium before feeding her. You can also feed it dubia roaches, make sure the food is no bigger than the space between his/her eyes. Hope this gave you an idea of how much food you should be feeding it.