Please Help Me and My First Beardie

[FirstBeardie35]

i dont know how to put pictures of him and his cage he is very small not sure how old but definitly not a juvenile. but i have a very cold room because it is right next to the ac unit so its like a meat locker lol. anyways i bought a RZilla bearded dragon kit that came with a 30gallon tank water bowl and some lights and a few other things. anyways i had to buy a 100 Watt day light in order to heat the cage. his hot side is only about 85 now. and his cold side around 78-79. i have one full light fixture unit that came with the setup it has a UVB long day light. a 75 Watt black light and a 75 Watt blue heat light which i switched for the 100 Watt day light because of the heat. i was wondering what i should do about the heat issue if i should get seperate fixtures for each light or what? and i give him veggies tuesday, thursday and saturday. Crickets every day usually about 5. and meal worms as treats. His bedding is some Rzilla pellet type that came with the package. should i switch to sand? and what about a undertank heater? should i get one? any help will be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

[jennybud]

a 30 gallon will do for now but you need to invest in a tank that is at least 8 square feet 4 ft x2 ftx 2ft is the recommended minimum for a bearded dragon. the heat is definatly not good enough what are the demensions of your tank. it could be that you may need to get an extra heat lamp or just a higher wattage to get the temps up to 100-110 basking and 80's on the cool side. don't use undertank heaters or heat rocks beardies can't feel heat from underneath them and can result in some horrable burns. also most uv lights that come in package deals aren't the best look into investing in a better uv light. you probably also need a better thermometer mostlikely they gave you a stick on dial and you need one with a digital readout. you should be offering veggies everyday. mostly collard greens mustard greens and turnip greens. squash is good and my guy likes a little cilantro(fresh not the stuff that you have on your spiced rack) or parsley. you have a baby and he may not want a lot while settling in but soon he should be eating atleast 50 a day not 5. look for online supplyers of bulk crickets i like nyworms. NO MEALWORMS! at his age he can't digest the hard outer shell if you want to pick him up a treat try pheniox worms or wax worms. the pheniox worms you can give him as many as you want but limit the wax worms they have a lot of fat but taste good. only give him a few every couple of days would be my advice. again for the substrate/bedding for his age the best options for his saftey would be paper towel, reptile carpet or felt, shelf liner, or the best in my opionon is slate tiles. anything that is small partical present an impaction hazard. if he eats it it may block his stomache or intestines that can result in the death of your beardie. this only covers the questions you asked so my last peice of advice would be to read all of the caresheets listed on this site. they will help you learn the things you havn't thought to ask about yet like vitamins and calcium, what veggies he can and can't eat, equipment, feeding, ect. . . there is still a lot you probably need to learn cause unfortunately the pet store you bought him from was probably ill educated. we've all recieved bad advice from pet store employees thinking they are doing the right thing cause that was what they were taught. so good luck! oh and the cool temps are probably another reason he isn't eating a lot right now. so be prepared for when he will want more food.

 

[DreamcatcherDragons]

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