Our new beardie

[crickett]

Hi all
We got my daughter a bearded dragon for her birthday day before yesterday at petsmart. She's been wanting one for months. The lady at petsmart didn't know his/her age but he or she is about 3 & 1/2 inches. Thing is, he's was born missing two toes on his back left foot. He seems to get around ok anyway but i don't know how much that would effect his ability to grow (if any). As far as i can tell that would put him in the age range of about 4 weeks old (anyone able to clarify that for me?) If that's the case then the food that the lady sold us is on the forbidden foods list as far as i can tell (mealworms) we also got wax worms and some sort of freeze dried foods that he seems to dislike immensely.
I'm headed back to the store in the morning for crickets even though he does seem to be eating the worms ok, i just don't want to take any chances. Any other foods that are by any chance better than others besides just the crickets? I read fruit fly's but have no earthly idea where i would get those. Since he didn't like the freeze dried foods i've been chopping up lettuce and shredded carrots from the bagged salad i bought at the store. Any other suggestions?
Also, we bought him a water bowl but he isn't drinking from it as far as i can tell. Even though they told me at petsmart that he didn't need to be misted i read on several sites that he actually DOES need to be misted so i mixed up some water with a few drops of the stuff we put in his water to make it safe to drink and that we use for the turtle water when we change his water and have been misting him.
He's currently in a 30 gallon terrarium but we plan on upgrading to a 40 within the next few months. We bought him a 55 but it was too heavy to go upstairs in my daughters room so we switched it out with the 30 gallon we had the turtle in.

 

[mommisgurl]

Firstly,congrats and welcome.! We would all love to see pics.!

I'm sorry to say that alot of Petsmart employees tell new owners the wrong things :roll:
I hope you will take my advice,although I am an employee myself as well..this site has taught me right from wrong,so I'm glad you came here.!

From what my manager has told me, they are between 2-3 months old when we get them. One of them that we just sold had most of his tail missing from getting into a fight with another baby..and he was the healthiest and biggest one in the bunch.! So I don't think missing toes will affect his growth at all.!

As for the worms, stick clear of the mealworms,as well as waxworms..for right now that is. Mealworms have a hard outer shell that makes it possible for the baby to get impacted..nothing bigger than the space between his eyes..since he is still so small,you have to make sure everything is super small. waxworms are used more as a treat because they are so fatty.
I would suggest sticking to crickets,or even small dubia roaches(if your up to that :lol: ) they are high in protein, which is what babies need the most of at this age. They also won't pay too much attention to the greens..all protein as of right now
A site that most everyone uses as a sort of food bible is http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
I myself use it to the T

As far as the water bowl..babies don't recognize standing water..so I'd be very careful with how deep and how much water you put in there..the baby might end up drowing since it is so small :/
Alot of people will tell you to give him a bath,and I say the same.! Bathing is a good way to make sure the baby is hydrated,as well as to help with shedding. Just be sure to use a shallow saucer of some sort,and warm(not hot) water..much like a baby.

What does your set up look like.? Uvb,basking bulb.? substrate,temps.?

Hopw this helps.!

 

[crickett]

Wow, ok my entire reply disappeared. LMAO
Like i said it's a 30 gallon aquarium. 30inx12inx18 (high) that is blacked out on the back but not on the sides, i read that i should do that as well? And it has a screen top.
we bought the carpet instead of substrate. His basking area is a short of converted shelf that has room underneath it and is accessed by a ramp. A piece of mopani wood is in that area that he seems to really like to hang out on. That side has a basking light that is 100 watt (zilla) and the temp is about 110 degrees with humidity about 20
The other side is the spiral light that was recommended at the store and the temp there is 80-85 degrees. His food and water is on the "cooler" side.
Even though we were told we didn't have to mist him, i read that we needed to do that so i'm doing that with a spray bottle that i use for plants (no chemicals have been in it other than the drops of the reptile safe stuff we bought at petsmart to make our turtles water changes ok and have been using it for his water dish, which i guess i need to take out of there so he doesn't drown)
As far as food, He won't eat the freeze dried stuff at all but loved the salad mix i fed him. it was that bagged salad that you buy at the grocery store, it has no dressing or anything on it, he ate the veggies from my hand and seemed to enjoy them.
Any other recommedations?

 

[Love4animals]

You shouldn't mist him or her as it causes humidity in the cage and they are desert so humidity is a no no.Also some of the veggies that you buy at the grocery store in a bag can be bad for him or her like beats spinach and iceberg lettuce. Good veggies are collard greens and kale.It would really be helpful if you posted a pic of your setup.

 

[crickett]

Thanks to all for the help. He or she (we still don't know the sex) is doing well and we are in the process of building a viv for him (her). I have absolutely no idea how to post a pic here though, as soon as i figure it out i'll post those pics though.

 

[mommisgurl]

If you go onto Website Comments on here, there is a stickied topic on how to post pics on here really simple and fast

 

[crickett]

Ok
Thank you.. lets give this a try
This is Angelo (my daughter named him/her but i'm not sure if it's going to stick) and i don't yet have a great picture of his current habitat but i'll take one tomorrow and post it, it's really not anything fancy at this point. Just a 30 gallon aquarium that we converted to temporary housing for the little guy.

and this is the viv that we are in the process of building.

 

[kcarello]

Please go to the beautifuldragons.com nutrition list and follow that, nothing at all that has the word lettuce in it. Not too many carrots,,too much Vit. A, kale too. You need to get a Reptisun 10.0 tube uvb light. And you need a digital thermometer with a probe for measuring temps.

 

[crickett]

Thank you, i thought i had posted this earlier but we have his food situation straightened out. And carrots are ok in very small amounts, if given consistently over the course of several months it can be bad but once in awhile as a treat is ok. I stopped giving him carrots after the first couple days though so as not to take any chances. And we are feeding him cabbage, kale and collared greens although cabbage in small quantities since it doesn't have quite as much nutrition in it as we want him to have. Along with pinhead crickets. (he gets 4 crickets 3 times a day and the veggie mix once a day).

 

[crickett]

oh and we have the 10.0 UVB as well as a 75 watt basking bulb (the 100 watt was making his viv too hot but when we get the new viv complete it will be used in that since it will be a bigger habitat)
We do need to get the thermometer with the probe though since we got the sort that is a thermometer (on one side)/humidity(on the other) and sticks to the glass but are finding that it's not giving us the best reading unless it's laying on the actual floor.

 

[kcarello]

The uvb light that you have, is it a coil kind as you stated in one of your previous comments? If so, it can cause eye and health issues and needs to be turned off until you get the proper one. The stick on dial thermometer you have can be off anywhere between 20 -40 degrees. If it is reading 110 where it is stuck on the glass, then it is probably too hot on the basking surface. When you get the digital with the probe you need to leave the probe on the BASKING SURFACE for 45 minutes to an hour before getting the final reading. Then leave it on the floor on the hot side for the same amount of time, and then the cool side. The basking surface needs to be 105 - 110, the hot side 85-95, and the cool side 75-85, the hot side and cool side can be off by a couple degrees and be ok, but the basking surface temp is important, especially for babies, they need the temps correct to digest they're food. The uvb light needs to run the length of the viv and mounted inside the viv. You can buy the fixture at wal mart, it has to be the T8 type, then you can use command hooks or strong velcro to mount it inside the viv. Your dragon needs to be able to get within 6-8 inches of the uvb light and you need a bright white light for the basking light and it needs to be right next to the uvb. I hope this isn't too much info all at once!! LOL! It can sound complicated, but its not and these things need to be done so your dragon will have the best home possible! You should give your baby nice warm soaks about 3 or more times a week. Lots of dragons go poop in they're bath which makes it alot easier to keep his viv clean. I realize that this is probably alot different advice than what you were givin by the pet store, and that happens all the time, the important thing is that you are on this site to get the right information to have a happy healthy dragon,
If you have any more questions, let us know!
Good luck with your baby and congratulations!!
Kelly

 

[crickett]

wait, what do you mean the coil UVB causes health and eye issues? It's a Zoomed light that goes in a dome fixture, is there something i'm missing here?
Is there an article i can read about this because i'm really confused now.

 

[kcarello]

Yes, there is an article, let me go find it and I will get you the link.

 

[kcarello]

viewtopic.php?f=34&t=148006&start=0
This should explain it all very clearly and its very helpful.