New to the forum and Bearded Dragons..

[usafvet98]

Hey everyone,
My son and I were at the pet store a few weeks ago and he took a huge interest in these beautiful little creatures. He is only four and has already managed to keep alive a hermit crab and fish so for Christmas I decided to get the dragon as a surprise pretty much for me and him. He is with his mother until Saturday night so he will wake up with me Christmas morning to see this gift.

Anyway, a little about me.... I am as my user name states a disabled Airforce Veteran. I grew up in Jersey and now live in the Poconos for the past 6 years. I am a member of the American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and a very active member of my Masonic Lodge.

As for hobbies, I shoot, spend a ton of time with my son and wood working, mainly pen turning. You could see my work on my site at: http://www.poconopens.com

I look forward to getting to know everyone as well as learning from you.

 

[Halister]

Welcome! Sounds like good time spent to care for a BD. Just make sure you supervise there hardy but not sure how hardy VS a 4 year old ha ha

The pens look cool...hhhmmm may be a special addition Bearded Dragon pen...

 

[usafvet98]

Thanks for the welcome. I got this little guy last night and am already enjoying it. Such a cool little creature. How can I tell the sex? As for a pen, im going to work on some ideas I have been getting while watching him run around.. Ill post pictures of him a little later..

 

[Cnochur]

What's your setup like? Might be a good idea to run your lighting, temps, substrate, etc. by the forum here to make sure it's all ideal- 'cause those pet stores tend to send people home with less-than-ideal info.

 

[usafvet98]

I have been reading all morning about this and it is pretty vague. I am hoping I could get some tips. So here it goes. I bought one of the kits which has a tank, the day lamp and the night time black lamp. The substraight is the felt like material because it is still young. I did get a nice large stick for him to climb up to hot spots under the heat as well as the long UVB lamp. he just tore up about 10 small crickets so he must have been hungry. I also got the juvinile bearded dragon food to put in there in case he gets hungry. Now the lady said you cant over feed them but I read differently. He seems to be pretty happy in his habitat and is climbing and exploring. I think I will need to get a heat mat since the room I have him in runs a little cooler.
Inside the tank right now is about 40% humidity which I believe I need to bring down right?

 

[Cnochur]

Okay- others will jump in here but here's what jumps out to me- how are you measuring the temps? If it's by the little stick-on thermometers that come with the tank, throw them out. You'll want the kind of digital probe thermometer that can be gotten cheaply at Lowe's garden center. Make sure the basking spot is around 110 and the cools side is 75ish.

You really can't over-feed them; just make sure the food item is never larger than the space between his eyes. Otherwise, he could become impacted. Don't feed him anything with a hard exoskeleton (like a mealworm), for the same reason. Let him eat basically as much as he wants in a 10-15 min. period. And make sure to never leave crickets in the tank with him overnight- they may bite him while he sleeps.

Also, are you calcium and vitamin dusting the crickets?

To raise his temps, you can just change either the wattage of the heat bulb, or the height it's placed over the tank (or both). Or you can hook a high-wattage heat lamp to a dimmer switch.

Make sure he gets plenty of UVB. I had to cut a hole in the mesh of my lid to let more in, as mesh tops block about half of it.

As for humidity, lower would be ideal, but 40% isn't gonna kill him. If he has a water bowl in there, take it out- they don't drink anyway. He'll need baths a few times a week to stay hydrated. Warm water, up to his shoulders, 10-20 min.

Also, does he have a place to hide if he wants to? A little cave or something?

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[usafvet98]

First let me say thank you for the help as I do appreciate it. I did get him a hideout spot. the thermometer I have came with the tank which is analog. It is round with temp on bottom and humidity on top. Im going to pet store in a little while to pick up a few things, anything specific I should pick up? Ill post a picture of the setup in a minute to show you what I have.

 

[usafvet98]

So here are a few pictures to get an idea of what im working with. Like I said, I am a disabled vet and im working off of my VA compensation so I cant really afford an elaborate setup. He seems to be on top of his stick sort of trying to claw his way out! Anything to worry about?

 

[Cnochur]

Nah, he looks good. The only thing I'd strongly advise is losing those thermometers. They can be inaccurate by 20 degrees, and the right temps are vital to their health. Digitial probe thermometers are like 6 or 7 bucks at Lowe's, and they also have ones that read humidity as well as temp.

 

[usafvet98]

I will pick one up today. Thanks again.

 

[Halister]

Wow what a cutie, he looks like our Thug when he was little. Few items that I would like to throw your way. I made the same mistake with those stick on thermometers. I had two, one for the bask side and one for the cool side and one was 20 deg off and the other was 5. I bought this one for like 10 bucks online and it has everything. Bask, cool side and humidify. Our beardy hates the little probe and will do everything he can to keep it off his basking rock ha ha

I would suggest for that small tank getting a reptisun 5.0 then when he moves into a taller tank go with the reptisun 10.0. One of the best UVB on the market one will reach 12 inches and the other goes up to 20. Seeing how you have a set up a 5.0 would be best.
Otherwise looking good.

For eating let him tear it up all he wants for 10 to 15 min. More than likely he will stop and head out for the basking rock to digest.

 

[dragonlover3]

I'm popping in to say welcome and what a cutie little one you have there! You are going to enjoy him or her so much!
I noticed you said the pet shop sold you one of those kits. You don't need or want any light at night, even a colored
light as Beardies need it dark to sleep so I'd remove that black night light immediately. It is wrong when they tell you beardies
can't see the colored light, they can and it keeps them awake.
I would start putting a small salad in with your little one everyday. It may be a while before the little one starts
to eat salad but it should be available everyday. Here is a link to a nutrition site that is color coded and makes it so easy to
know what to feed your Beardie. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Collard or mustard greens are only 98 cents for a huge bunch at the Walmart near me. I use them for my Beardies staples.
I wash them, soak them in cold water for about 10 minutes, shake 'em off, zipper bag them and place them in my veggie keeper
in the fridge. They stay fresh and last quite a while.
I hope you have a wonderful experience with your son and your Beardie on Christmas morning!

 

[usafvet98]

Ok, so what do you mean by staple? I am guessing you mean the main meal but I was told that crickets should be. Im going to get the greens today. How much should I feed him everyday? Also, I am sure I have to cut it up, how big of pieces should I make it.

As for the heat issue, I picked up a nice heat rock last night and he seems to like it but its been plugged in all night and I have the digital probe on the rock and it is only at 94 degrees. Is that ok?

I truly appreciate all of the help and quick responses. This is a great board and I look forward to sharing and learning with all of you.

 

[AtlasStrike]

NOOOOO!!!!!!! Heat rocks are so so so bad and terribly dangerous!! They heat unevenly and can have temperature spikes high enough to burn your beardie. BDs can't really sense heat from the floor because they absorb heat from the sun and won't know to move if it is getting too hot. Pet stores shouldn't even sell those, they are nothing but dangerous. I had a lizard when I was younger who had to have both his front feet amputated because the burns from a heat rock were so bad.

As for the food, as babies (up to a year) 80% of a beardies diet consists of crickets or other feeders while 20% consists of greens and salad. As they mature, the ratio reverses. You want to make sure that you are offering greens so that your beardie gets used to them and has that part of their nutritional requirement fulfilled. In essence you end up with two "staples:" Staple greens (like collard, mustard or dandelion) and staple feeders (like crickets, roaches or phoenix worms).

You can chop the greens so that the pieces are about the size of the space between your beardies eyes. Some people are more conservative with the size the salad pieces are, but i usually just tear the greens with my fingers until they are a reasonable size.

 

[dragonlover3]

I meant to start offering salads daily now while he/she is young but of course the main part of the diet when they are little are the live feeders. By staples I meant staples as in greens, and yup, you do end up with 2 staples, greens and feeders. Sorry, my previous post did kind of sound like I was saying mainly greens. AtlasStrike cleared it up nicely and is 100% correct! My bad for not being clearer. Thank you AtlasStrike! :notworthy:
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
Amanda