Newbie with some questions!

[Shawnee]

Hi guys, it's nice to meet you all. This is actually my first post on the forum, but I've been lurking for much longer!

Basically I am getting my FIRST ever bearded dragon! (Literally cannot contain my excitement..<3)

I have his tank set up, and I've already checked all of his equipment to make sure it is working correctly and gets to the temperatures I want, but I still have some questions.

He is 3 months old, Red Flame/Citrus who I've named Jax. I bought him from A1 Reptiles, and they say he is currently 8 inches long. He is being shipped tomorrow, and I will get him the following day.

(1) How long would you recommend I wait before really handling him? I normally wait 1.5-2 weeks for gecko's, and around a week for snakes, then I just monitor their behavior to see if they are ready. Would this time frame also work for beardies?

(2) Night time. I have his 50gal in my bedroom, and I put my house at 71 degrees at night, and I use my fan on high at night. I have a heat bulb that doesn't emit light, but I am wondering at what degrees I should set the thermostat to for night time? His regular basking heat is 108, and I don't really know the right temperature to set for night time..

(3) How many crickets should I feed everyday, and how much greens/fruits/vegetables? I believe I read that babies need 80% bugs and 20% greens/fruits/vegs, and then switch that for adults, is this information correct? Even so...how much is that, exactly? Do you only feed them once a day, twice a day, three times a day? The feeding is confusing me a little

(4) I see a lot of people with reptiles let them all over the house/furniture/etc, does this contain a risk for disease? I mean, I wash my hands after handling my reptiles, but I find it hard to believe that people are washing their floors/couches/beds every time after their reptile touches it. I've also seen a lot of people kiss their reptiles. Is it ok to do these things? Will you not get diseases? Perhaps I'm just a hypochondriac, I don't know, :lol:

(5) How are bearded dragons with other animals? I have...a zoo, in my house. But the only animals not in cages are my two cats and a dog. Do you think he would do ok with these species of animal?

(6) Soaking/Bathing. How often do you do this for a baby and when they get older? Also, do you only soak them in warm water, or bathe with soap and everything?

I think that is all for now, thank you for any help ^^

 

[Taterbug]

Welcome! Do share picture when your little one arrives

1) I'd do the same as with the snakes/geckos, give him a while to be eating and pooping well before handling a lot, and move at his pace
2) 70 is good, down to 65 is ok too. so even with a fan, unless it's on him you should be ok
3) as much as he wants. Keep a fresh salad at all times and as he gets older you can offer insects less, and vary the schedule so he is more apt to eat salad first. (Ie feed insects in the afternoon, salad in the am)
4)yes. But for the most part as long as you keep clean and practice good hygiene they aren't much more risk than a dog or cat around the house. It's worth noting that there have been salmonela outbreaks that have been linked to having dragons in the kitchen (baths in the sink). So yeah, practice good heigene.
5) pepper is not so keen on our cat, tater didn't mind him. Pepper doesn't care one way or another about the snakes or mice.
6) if you soak, just plain water.

 

[Shawnee]

Welcome! Do share picture when your little one arrives

Thanks! I will definitely post a picture of him!

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you answering my questions.

So with the night-time, I don't really need to have a heat source for him?

And with the soaking, do you only do that when he starts to shed, or do it weekly?

 

[NattyB]

My gorgeous girl is now 14 months and loves her time out of her enclosure to run around the house. She also loves big cuddles with the whole family. Just like any animal use good cleaning habits . Enjoy

 

[jerichosmom]

1) Feel it out as far as handling goes. If he seems calm and doesn't have a lot of stress marks after 4-5 days then he's probably starting to settle in. Sometimes it take a week or two. Also depends on the hustle and bustle in the house. Sounds like you have a busy household. Will the other animals be restricted from your bedroom so the dragon will have peace and quiet?

2) We don't use any night time heating of any type. Whatever our house temp is, that's what their tank temps are. We live in the cold northeast but our room temp never drops below 68 so it's fine. Keep in mind they are meant to be outside in the Aussie dessert. It gets cold in the desert as soon as the sun goes down so they can handle the temp change as long as it's within range.

3) We never believed in control feeding. We fed our babies (and still do) until they stop eating. Most animals are smarter than humans, they'll stop eating when they've had enough. Our girl ate 160 small crickets once, in one feeding! But there would be other days where she would eat 10 or 20. We did 3x a day feeding until she was about 4-5 months old, then went to 2x a day. Eventually we went to 1x a day when she wasn't eating at that 2nd feeding.

Even now as an adult she's different everyday. I give her worms everyday and see what she eats. If she eats them all I give more. Today she happened to go for seconds, yesterday she didn't. When they are shedding they usually don't eat much. If they're preparing for brumation they slow down. So I let my beardies tell me how hungry they are. I would never limit their food based on what I think they need.

As for the 80/20 rule, like others have said, offer veggies from day one. Some will eat them as babies, some won't, but it helps them get used to them. Our girl wouldn't hardly touch veggies as a baby but our boy loved them when he was little. They are all different.

4) The main time to be concerned with disease from your beardie is potty time. Like others have said, don't let them poop in your kitchen sink, there's enough germs in there already. We bathe our beardies in the bathtub (individually) and when they poop we just rinse it down the drain, spray the tub with a bleach solution (1 part bleach:9 parts water) and then rinse again. As I'm writing this my girl is sitting on my lap. We have had her for 3 1/2 yrs and never had a problem. We don't wash our hands after touching our beardies and we let them roam around the house.

The other time to be concerned is if you are keeping feeders in your house. Crickets and worms are just nasty little bacteria-carrying insects. We used to have hundreds of crickets at a time, now we do worms. But I always use clean techniques to handle, feed, change them.
(4) I see a lot of people with reptiles let them all over the house/furniture/etc, does this contain a risk for disease? I mean, I wash my hands after handling my reptiles, but I find it hard to believe that people are washing their floors/couches/beds every time after their reptile touches it. I've also seen a lot of people kiss their reptiles. Is it ok to do these things? Will you not get diseases? Perhaps I'm just a hypochondriac, I don't know, :lol:

5) We have had our beardies for 3 1/2 yrs and 2 yrs and then got a puppy a year ago. She still can't be trusted around the beardies. We keep her gated in the kitchen and we'll bring one beardie to the gate and let her observe them from a distance. It took a few months but eventually she stopped trying to paw them through the gate. I'm not quite ready to let them all jut hang out though. I would use extreme caution, especially because baby beardies are so small in comparison and look a lot like a squeaky toy.

My beardies don't really seem to care much about the dog, but she is very very interested in them.

6) As a baby we usually did a bath every other day or so. It's good for them to soak up some extra water and get used to bathing. Our girl doesn't mind the bath, never really has. She even goes under water (which scares me every time) and drinks in the bath. Our boy however, hates the bath. He used to swim like crazy trying to escape. He's finally calmed down but still not a fan. As adults we usually bathe them every other day, alternating whose bath day it is.

Hope that helps!