New to everything can you help?

[BenGatenby]

hello my names Ben and I've never kept bearded dragons or any type of lizard. my partner and i am really interested in owning bearded dragon. i've done loads of research but keep getting conflicting information and i'm getting really confused as to what i need to buy to be able to keep a couple of females dragons. i went into my local reptile specialist and he said a 4ft viv with a uvb bulb (not a strip bulb but a spiral looking bulb the size of a energy saving bulb) a heat lamp, substrate (sand) and tank decore for a basking site. do i need a thermostat because everything i have read says i should but the guy in the store said he never uses them for bearded dragons. if i do need one is the GEKO Reptile Digital Thermostat Heat Controller any good also what temp should the basking site be as it says different things all over the place.

p.s anything you guys can recommend for me to buy when i buy the habitat or any other useful info would be great thanks guys and gals

p.p.s
sorry about all the questions but i want to get the habitat after xmas and want to have as many facts as i can before i spend my hard earned money

 

[zarrianna]

Ok Ben. Nice to know that your researching everything. I too am hoping for a beardie and have done more than enough research. NEVER EVER EVER use coil/compact UVB bulbs. They are the most problem causing things like EVER.Use the tubes!How old would these beardies be? If they are babies, NEVER use any loose substrate like sand and especially not calci-sand. It impacts their bellies and can end in death. Although somee would, I would never reccomend sand for even an adult. I will most likely use repticarpet or tile. Both of these are 100% safe and its better safe than sorry.Yes, you will need at least 2 thermostats (one on the highest/hottest area on the basking side and one on the coolest area on the other side) and the GEKO thing I have never heard of. Id be careful about that cuz it could be some Chinese fakers :shock: .The temps for the place your beardie can reach on the basking side should stay bout 100-105 F. Id recommend RepCal phosphorous free with D3 calcium supplement (pink package) and RepCal Multivitamin(blue package) for supplementation. Here is also a useful chart on supplement use:The top is multi vitamin and bottom is calcium. This original chart is from beautifuldragons.com.
Less than a year old
4 - 5 x
7 x
1 - 2 years old
3 - 4 x
5 - 6 x
Over 2 years old
2 - 3 x
4 - 5 x
Pre-breeding or gravid
2 - 3 x
5 - 6 x
Sick or emaciated and less than a year old
3 - 4 x
5 - 6 x


Hope this answers everything and if not plz ask away!

 

[RedInkAus]

G'day mate,

Enclosure: 4x2x2 is good 4x14x18 is to small so make sure you get the 120g (4x2x2)

Substrate: sand for a first time keeper is not good it causes impaction (death) if your husbandry is not perfect. Stick to a solid substrate like tiles or repti-carpet.

Lighting: coiled bulbs causes health problems mainly in the eyes (photo-kerato conjunctivitis) causes the dragon to become lathargic and stop eating as it's too painfull for them to keep their eyes open. I suggest getting a megaray MVB or reptisun 10 strip fluoro.

Basking temperature: they should be at 110-115F for babies checked with a digital thermometer and about 75-85F on the cool side.

Keeping them together: In order to keep two dragons you need two enclosures. Dragons are solitary and highly teritorial it will lead to injuries and even death. Females can be kept together but it's still a bit dangerous to do so as if one is dominant then the other will suffer.

Feeding: should feed babies up to 30 crix a day 3 times a day. Never feed meal worms and the crickets should be no bigger than the space between their eyes. They should also be offered green daily. A good source of what to feed can be found on beautifuldragons.com

Thermostat: Thermostats are used to keep the enclosure worm at night as long as the ambient temp in your house does no drop below 65F then you don't need on. If you need to keep the temps up at night do not use a red bulb, instead a ceramic heat emmiter as there is no light from it so as not to disturb your dragons sleeping pattern.

What ever the pet store guy told you is all wrong so its best to fire all the questions here instead of listening to them.

Cheers

 

[darwin08]

Zarrianna and RedInkAus basically said it all. She is right about the spiral shaped energy saving bulbs NEVER use them. It hurts the beardies eyes. I would recommend the Repti-Sun 10.0 Linear fluorescent tube.
http://www.petmountain.com/product/fluorescent/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html
You will also need a heat source to go along with this, which can just be a normal household bulb. The dragon needs to be able to get within 6-8 inches within the UVB bulb so you are going to need a basking spot. You can either just use rock caves, or the turning more popular hammock.
http://www.petmountain.com/product/basking-platforms/512442/zoo-med-repti-hammock.html
As the substrate Zarrianna and RedInkAus already said no sand which is true. You shouldn't use sand. I use Repti-carpet but plan on switching to tile soon. It helps file down their claws other wise you will need to cut them. And you also said you plan on getting femaleS. It's not recommended to house bearded dragon together, because they are territorial and one of the dragons is going to be more dominant leading to stress, and the other one most likely not to eat. I am not sure if that is just with males or females too so I would double check that. Other then that dragons are great pets, and if you need help be sure to ask. I started on this site having no clue hat I was doing and all the people here helped me out greatly.

 

[BenGatenby]

well thanks for the reply's guys that really helps the guy in the store said the curly bulbs were better and that i could keep two girls together as they are sociable creatures!! i was planning on buying everything from him (as i thought a reptile shop would have the right answers and kit) but it doesn't sound like what he was going to sell me was suitable. does anyone have any god websites where i can get everything i need perhaps in a starter kit???

 

[BenGatenby]

sorry one more thing why would i need two thermostats as i thought the only heat sorce would be the basking light what would the other thermostat control! really confused

 

[lilStewie]

For temps I would go with a digital thermometer.. You can find them cheap at protempguns. Tile is defiantely the way to go...Most Lowes will cut the tile to size for you, easy to clean. I don't know of a one for all store.. The best bet is to do all your shopping online. You will save a tremendous amount of money. Just do a basic search on google or, keep browsing through this site. you will find many places to find the stuff you need. I would highly recommend you use this site for all questions and answers.. You will love owning a dragon and your dragon will thank you for using all the smart people that use this site for advice. Welcome to the family!!!

 

[zarrianna]

You will need to buy 2 thermostats to monitor basking temps on the side you put the heat lamp at and one to monitor cool temps on side farthest from lamp. Any more questions just ask away.

 

[Youkai]

You will need to buy 2 thermostats to monitor basking temps on the side you put the heat lamp at and one to monitor cool temps on side farthest from lamp. Any more questions just ask away.

Sorry, just to clarify... thermostats would be used to regulate the brightness/intensity of the basking bulbs (NEVER use them for the tube UVB bulbs).
Thermometers are used to monitor the temps on the basking and cool sides of the viv.

It's a little confusing when you say to use thermostats to monitor temps. :wink:

 

[zarrianna]

Ohhh sorry my b. Anyway..yeah