New to the world of dragons, grateful for any help

[slavetoIzzie]

Hi, just became a slave to a large beardie.He/she is about 4 yrs, about 20'' long, and living in a 36 x 18 tank. We got Izzie from a friend, who's in the midst of a divorce and can no longer keep him.

When he arrived, he was pale, lethargic, and had patches of skin that hadn't shed properly. He also hadn't eaten in several days. We bought him new lights, including an UVB, a large heating rock, T-Rex pellets, Repti-cal powder and some mealworms. We also gave him fresh greens and some wild crickets and Grasshoppers(we're in the country). After a week, he finally had a large, smelly poop after trying to climb the walls. About 1/2 an hour later, he had a second large poop which didn't smell as bad.

Izzie is now a dark gray, spotted with black, on his body, a lovely lemon around his eyes and mouth and much more lively. He eats a salad of dandelion leaves, carrot shavings and apple chunks for breakfast and as many 'hoppers as we can catch him. We dust his 'hoppers with Repti-cal. However, the $15 jar of Pellets we were told he absolutely needed by the petstore, is untouched. I think he ate one by accident and then spit it out.

Anyways, if you can let me know if I'm doing alright or need to do more, I would really appreciate the advice.

 

[mikey]

hello there! glad to hear izzie is feeling better!

a few suggestions... even though i am relatively new to beardies myself, i have read through many posts and learned a little bit.

first, tank size, you may need to upgrade to a larger tank to help keep izzie comfortable. take some pictures of iyour current setup, if you can!

second, lose the heat rock! beardies seem to prefer overhead heating... you can still have a rock, but let its temperature be regulated by the over head heat source. if the heat rock short circuits and overheats, it would mean trouble for your little one!

finally, wild insects could have ingested pesticides while roaming free. even though it can get expensive, farm raised insects would be alot safer for izzie!

as for the beardie pellets. i bought a jar of juvi pellets for kaida... i get them sopping wet... she wont usually go after them when i sprinkle them on her salad, but if i flick them at her, she chomps them right up. if you want, you can try soaking the pellets in a juice to add some flavor, see if izzie likes that! i hate to see $15 goto waste! :lol:

 

[slavetoIzzie]

Thanks Mikey!

Spent my afternoon reading up on the topic of a cricket farm for Izzie. It doesn't seem to be to hard and we have the room upstairs. Also looks like our setup is pretty sub-par. The tank he came with has a coconut mat for a substrate, no basking spot and was heated only by the the lightbulbs about 20 or so inches away from him. We have an old 72 gallon fishtank that we're planning on converting into Izzie's new home, with enough room for hot and cool zones. I'll send some pics as soon as I can borrow a good camera.

One question, Izzie spents alot of time sitting facing us, with his mouth just slightly open. It's not really a gape, more like he's smiling at us. He turns his head and tilts it at the same time, especially if we're talking to him. Is this normal? Could he really be smiling or am I imagining it?

Well, the other half is crying for his supper, so I'm off for now.

 

[Starghoti]

Hey those $15 pellets won't go to waste-
Crickets love them.
Just soak them in water and put them in a small flat plastic lid
LOL
And that way your dragon will eat them (in the crix)

LOLOL

:laughhard:


ps: been there myself.

Anna