No Longer a Lurker

[brr112]

Hello! I've been lurking on this page for about a month now. It was one of the many pages I visited before getting my beardie. My bearded dragon's name is Zerd, thanks to my two year old. I got Zerd because my son was fascinated with the wild geckos that decided to live on our porch. After about three weeks of watching the "zerds" (silly me thought they were lizards, that's how little I knew about reptiles. Zerd is toddler speak for lizard.), they found somewhere else to hang out and my son was devastated. He asked for the zerds and looked all over the yard for them for weeks. I decided to see if I could handle getting him a reptile of his own and it quickly became apparent that the bearded dragon would be perfect for us.

We got Zerd about two weeks ago and I have really grown to like him! I got him planning just to tolerate so my son could enjoy him but I think I like him more than my son! He was sold to me as a "baby" bearded dragon but I'm not quite sure how old he is. I do know that he was born very recently. Zerd seems to really like me and he is amazing with my son. He moves his head as my son shows him cars and explains to Zerd that he has water in his cage (Cars and water are my son's two favorite things, next to Zerd!). We got him the day after my husband left for a deployment on very short notice and having him around has really helped my son adjust to the change. I totally did not expect this little guy to have such a big impact on us in such little time!

I recently made Zerd's house much more beardie friendly. I modeled it after Jess's lighting for newbies thread. Thank you so, so much for posting that!!! There is so much conflicting info about lighting and that thread made it all make sense. I just built him a UVB light fixture thanks to the thread about that as well. His old UVB light burned out today so I figured it was time to upgrade anyhow.

Thanks for being such a consistent source for bearded dragon info. I've been on here daily looking for info ever since we got Zerd!

 

[morphmom]

Welcome I understand far to well! Lol! :lol: I 'lurked' for months as well and can honestly say it's this site that helped me choose what type of 'zerd' was right for us. These little creatures have an amazing way of keeping you thinking about the positve side of life :wink: Good luck with Zerd, post pics when you get the chance.

 

[tgolden]

Hi and welcome!

 

[spikerocks]

Welcome! Sorry to hear about your husbands deployment.
Would luv to see pics of Zerd!

 

[brr112]

Thank you for the welcome! Here are some photos of Zerd.

Here he is on my son's cozy coupe.

This was before he had settled in and would comfortably ride on my shoulder. Now he wants to run and jump around when we take him out of to play.

I do have a question for you guys now. He has been here almost three weeks and has barely had any greens. I've tried kale, dandelion, and collard greens. I've tried putting tempting fruit on them but he still won't eat them. He is eating 15-20 crickets a day and seems satisfied with them. The past few days I've been offering greens first thing in the morning and then crickets around human dinner time but he still won't touch his greens. Any tips for getting him to eat his greens? He is pooping regularly and has put on some weight since we brought him home. I didn't realize how thin he was at the reptile store until he grew a little belly. He seems perfectly healthy but I'm worried that he isn't eating any greens at all.

 

[Flynnthedragon]

Because he is still so little he may not eat any greens at all but some should still be put inside his enclosure so he gets used to them being in their. Buying at a big brandname petstore like petco and petsmart is a no no But im very glad he is healthy and eating. I got one from a petstore and well.. to long of a story to post here on YOUR thread My beardy I have now is 12 inches and she loves her greens. I got her when she was 10 inches so Just make sure to keep putting some in there for him/her sooner or later he will eat some Do you know the length of him? Might give us a better view on how old he is. Im going to say 2 months just because those petstores that i mentioned sell them way to young in mine and most opinions. Mine is 14 weeks old and is 12 inches just to give an idea

Welcome to the forum as well and welcome ZERD!

 

[brr112]

I just measured him and he is exactly 7 inches long. I got him from a reptile store that is pretty well respected in the area but I've realized now that they don't know as much as I thought. They had the little beardies on that sand stuff and tried to tell me that it was safe to use. Thankfully I knew better from lurking here. How old do you think he is?

 

[Flynnthedragon]

mines 3 and a half months.. at 12 inches. so i would say just looking at mine 2 to 2 and a half months? And if its a reptile store then its probably better then petco and petsmart lol. Ive read on here most babies dont want anything to do with their greens untill later and ive read some that love em. im pretty new owner my self. Only have had this one for a month so im not a pro They all grow differently too, if they didnt have the right lighting that can cause them to not grow normal so it is hard to say exactly how old he/she is.

 

[Flynnthedragon]

He;s a cute lil guy though and they grow really fast, Mine grew 2 inches in just the month i've had her. Shedding like CRAZY though. Such a mess