New to the site - My first dragon

[JuniorBeardie]

Hi, I have had Junior for about 5 months. we got him at 10 inches. He is now 17 inches+.

He is pretty awesome however I discovered this site and have learned I have made some setup mistakes. He is in a 40 gallon tank. So I know I need to move up in size I just don't know that I can customize one and have not really found something online that isn't over the top ($2000+).

I probably need to switch his UVB light out to a full length one. And his tank is runs about 91-103 degrees during the day. Mostly in the 90s. At night we use a heat pad (its mounted to the side of his tank not the bottom, and a ceramic bulb) We put him in a little sleep sack at night. His cage gets into the low 70s at night.

He had been eating phoenix worms but now won't touch them so I need to start adding calcium to his food (he is eating superworms, waxworms, and butterworms) he used to eat crickets but stopped once we introducted superworms. I give him about 9-10 for a meal. That's around 5-6pm We have him on one meal a day that consists of 9-10 superworms, 2-3 butterworms, and maybe 4 waxworms. He gets veggies in the morning (used your veggie list here). He doesn't always eat that much but sometimes he seems like he wants more. I don't want to overfeed him!

we let him out to roam every day. We also bathe him once or twice a week.

I mist him once day, just on him, especially when he is shedding then I might do it twice.

How does this tank setup look?

 

[CooperDragon]

His setup looks OK but you do want to make a few changes. Are you getting the temperature readings from that gauge on the back or do you have a temp gun? Having accurate readings around the tank is important.

In a 40g breeder tank I'd use a T8 bulb in a reflective fixture. With that big branch you may be able to just mount it on top. Otherwise you could mount it inside the tank using some command hooks. If you get a bigger tank you'll want to switch to a T5 bulb because it is higher output and has a longer effective range (12'' or so vs 6'' for the T8).

The overnight temps are OK so I wouldn't bother using any additional heating. As long as it stays above about 65 or so it should be fine.

It sounds like his diet is pretty high in fat. I would stick to leaner bugs like black soldier fly larvae, silk worms, dubia roaches, and crickets. It's likely he is being stubborn and holding out for the superworms but those aren't the best for him aside from an occasional treat. You'll want to get him to start eating a lot of veges which should become his primary diet over the next several months.

 

[Hberg87]

There are two gauges the one you see is his cool side under the smaller UVB light. We just got the big branch yesterday but it's not real wood and I am surprised how warm it gets - we ended up pushing the basking light further down toward the lower end of the branch. I realize i need to go with a full length Uvb. The second thermometer is behind the branch in the picture so you can't see it. The dome (smaller) just houses an extra 50 w basking bulb when it's cold and the ceramic heat bulb for night. The back hoods hold a 100w and a blue day light - probably overkill with the blue light?

 

[CooperDragon]

Yeah I'd nix the blue light. For UVB I'd get one that runs about half of the length and put it over the basking area. The 22'' T5 works well in most situations. That way you'll provide an area of low UVB and heat which will allow for self regulation.

The gauges can be inaccurate so I'd pick up a thermometer that will read surface temps. This is a more reliable way to adjust lighting. Either a digital thermometer with a couple of probes - one for the basking surface and one for the cool side - or an IR temp gun would do the trick. Something like this https://www.amazon.com/Nubee-Temperature-Non-contact-Infrared-Thermometer/dp/B00CVHIJDK