New to beardies

[tlpiorkowski]

Hi,
We are new to bearded dragons and have to say that in the 2 days we've had ours I'm really loving her/him. This is my son's first pet all on his own. He has been asking for one for almost 2 years but I never gave in and bought one. So he earned the money for the tank, the dragon and the food. I'm here as a backup but this is his baby. I'm looking for suggestions and any help the forum can give to help us keep her/him healthy and happy. Thanks so much in advance!

Stats:
Name: not sure yet, contenders are Fluffy and Flat Stanley for either boy or girl
Sex: unsure they say too young to tell just yet
Bought from pet store on July 1
Fancy color - s/he has orange and blue colorations
40 gallon tank - the beginner tank - National Geographic brand from Petsmart and have added another food dish, and a couple rocks.

I'll try to upload some picks.
Thanks!
T & G

 

[OscaredCricket]

Often times the kits don't have the appropriate lighting, so a good way to find out what your dragon needs will be to go to the Care Sheets and Articles page and look at the Newbies Guides. You've got yourself a cute little baby, and I can see that you'll take good care of them.

 

[destiny1998]

Hi. He is cute . I see for a uvb you have a coil / compact. You definitely want to replace that with a reptisun 10.0 Tube or the Arcadia brand 12% tube. I use a 24 inch, but you can use one smaller. A T5 you can put on the screen as it gives off fairly strong uvb. If you go with a t8 you'll need to mount that in the tank, because the screen filters out the uvb rays.

 

[tlpiorkowski]

Thanks for the pointers. I am concerned about the lighting because there is so much information out there, so many opinions and some of it conflicting.

I'll see about swapping out the UVB light for something more powerful.

I have also been watching the temps, it seems to hold a little over 90 degrees in the tank during the day and down to about 70 at night. I've seen info that says those are good temps, and then I've seen info that says those are too cold for a young one. Any guidance on this? I don't want to run out and get a ton of new stuff when it's not needed but don't want to put off something that is needed for Fluffy's health. (Yes, the boy went with Fluffy as his/her name)

Just found some other articles on here and a couple of threads that others like me are already asking, so forgive me for duplicating requests for info, I'll read through those, but please feel free to throw any and all info you think I should have my way!!!

Thanks

 

[Adriana0918]

Personally, I use the Reptisun 10.0 UVB T5 High Output Tube for UVB and UVA. I used to use a Mercury Vapor Bulb those are great as well. For basking bulb, I use a normal house bulb which gets my beardies basking spot around 108-110 degrees, which is ideal for a baby.

 

[Adriana0918]

At night, temps shouldn't be too high either. They need a chance to cool down at night. i usually let my tank go down to around 72 degrees but never under 67 degrees.