Please help me with some new owner questions; cage & feeding

[pamelacoe]

We are new beardie owners and I have read so much conflicting information!

Today our dragon (a baby, about 4" with tail) didn't eat anything. My son even tried picking it up a sitting it in front of the crickets or herding the crickets towards it. No reaction. It did it before. After looking through several sites, I hope I may have hit on the problem. First, today I checked the basking area and it was at 91 degrees F. I didn't see it go any higher during the day. From what I have read, they have to have a higher temperature before they eat; the pet store pamphlet says the basking area should be between 100-120 degrees. He did eat when he first arrived, but we were having a heat wave and the temperature inside the housing was practically basking heat! Seriously, his basking at that time was hitting about 98-105 or so degrees and his ambient temp was about 75-78 degrees. So I'm thinking the eating could be a temperature thing. Does this sound right?

Since we have well water, which we don't drink ourselves, I purchased distilled nursery water for him. We keep it in a bottle and change and clean the bowl every morning. He has never pooped in it. He does seem to like the veges, especially carrots. But I read that these are supposed to compromise only 25% of a juvenile's diet and that the gut loaded crickets were the most important. Tell me if I'm wrong. We dust the crickets with calcium bi-weekly.

The second issue is the inside of his cage. He has a reptile carpet substrate. He has 3 bowls: water, juvenile bearded dragon food (which he pretty much ignores), and a vegetables bowl. At the beginning, we had a set-up in there that we purchased as set (one of those ready to set-up things). We have discovered some problems. First, the ceramic branch has a hole in the bottom from the process of being made. We discovered that the crickets were crawling up there and hiding so I am not sure on our eaten cricket count. They were also hiding in another piece that was in his cage. So we shook them both off and took them out. He also has ceramic basking rock with a little cave/tunnel under it. It seems more difficult for them to hide in there. We did not buy one of those half logs and I'm wondering if we went wrong by not doing that.

We also took out the two plastic plants. Currently, he has a basking rock w/ hiding tunnel (it has some attached plastic plants), two ceramic cacti, a ceramic scull a little bigger than him and his bowls. I don't want the crickets to have too many hiding places. Is this too little in his cage?

Suggestions?? Please???

BTW, we going to the pet store tomorrow to get new UVA/UVB and basking bulbs. We'll let them know the temperature variations & hope it will help.

 

[definitions]

Hi welcome to the site! I my self am a new Beardie owner... I have kind of noticed the same thing as you my beardie likes to eat when it is hot. You have to remember these lizards come from very hot places.. so they like it hot. Plus the heat helps them digest there food. as far as the water situation goes bottled water is best atleast I feel. If you had regular tap water which you don't they sell Reptisafe it removes chlorine and ammonia in the water. Offer veggies on a daily basis, but the main source of food they should be eating are crickets for the protein. Baby and juvenile beardies eat allot of crickets. I usually feed mine twice 12 in the morning and 12 in the evening along with offering him his veggie plate. Which he really ignores ! as far as the substrate the reptile carpet is great,or paper towels work also newspaper.. Just NO SAND until he gets older. The best way I have found for mine to eat his crickets is to have just a basking place and food and water dishes. Less places for the crickets to hide. The half log offers the beardie a place to go and hide, or sleep. It does help but not necessary at the moment. I usually dust my crickets every feeding. hope some of this info helps I know its not perfect info, but they have allot of informative people on this site. I'm sure someone with a little more experience can give allot more help. As I am just talking from my newbie experience. If you are going to get a uvb bulb get the Reptisun 10 tube and the fixture the compact coils can cause eye problems. I am using a 50 watt basking bulb I don't have central heat or air so I had to drop the wattage down. My ambient temp was getting to high. Good luck!

 

[pamelacoe]

Thanks...I know my UVA/B bulb is older. I only recently read that you should not let it get over 6 mo old and I know it is older. I can't get the bulb out of the light so I am just bringing in the whole thing tomorrow. My husband and sun like it cooler in the house, but if I had it my way, my little Lizard of Oz would be happy. I like it warmer.

How old is your dragon? I don't think mine has a stomach large enough to eat that many crickets! He is so tiny. I am also not too sure I trust that stupid cricket food. For our first batch of crickets, we used a piece of potato. Only one died, and I think it suffocated under the potato. OOPS. But with the cricket food cubes, a bunch of them died. Great...I'm going back to potatoes once we are done with this batch.

I also think you are right about providing the crickets with less places to hide. They don't bother with the fake cacti or skull, so I'll probably leave those in there. Otherwise, I'm going to clear it out a little more so he can find his dinner.

 

[kimmie]

You should be dusting the crickets daily vs bi-weekly, especially when they are young. Here is a great nutritional chart that tells you a lot of things http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html Also carrots should be given occasionally. I know they love them but don't give them too much. Collard greens are great and look for other great staples in green.

Make SURE you do NOT get a Compact UVB coil type bulb. Actually you don't need to go to a petstore for bulbs (they'll only be more expensive because it's for pets). For basking bulbs a standard house bulb (clear, no energy savers) are good. Look thru this sight for heating information.

You'll also need a UVB bulb - get the fixture at hardware store, walmart, etc and then the bulb from www.petmountain.com (ReptiSun 10.0) is what you'll want.

You'd be surprised how many crickets young dragons can eat and wonder where they put them all. Let him eat as many in a 10 min span that he can. Also feed him in a seperate bin than his viv so you don't have to search for remaining crickets.

You don't need anything special for keeping crickets either. I use the same food I feed my beardie to feed the crickets (collard greens, etc). Potatoes/carrots for moisture. (although I do use those cricket quenching crystals)

 

[definitions]

My beardie is about a month and 1 week now.. oh yeah he has a stomach for allot of crickets trust that. I use a product called Bites. its a Gutload and a liquid in one little cube . Just remember refrigerate after opening.

 

[pamelacoe]

Okay, I have just gotten back from the pet store. We started out by giving him a bath (soaked folded paper towels). I discovered that the water we had been using had fluoride in it so I got rid of it for him and replaced it with plain distilled water. While he was sitting on the towels, we heated up his mister (also distilled water) like a baby bottle so it was warm and misted him. He lapped it up and we kept misting him after about 15 minutes when he slowed down, but left in his "bath" for a while longer, so I could take care of the cage. I removed everything, cleaned out his bowls with hot water, as well as his basking rock and other deco items. The first pet store we had gone to told us to put misted moss in his cage and it was rather all over, even though my son had done his best to remove the bulk of it. This time, I took it out the reptile carpet and vacuumed it with an attachment to a hand-held vacuum. We have replaced his UVB bulb with a new Repti 10 (and put a sticker on the back of the fixture for replacement date). Also, the 75 watt basking bulb has been replaced with a 100 watt. It rests at about 9 inches from the tallest point of his basking rock, so I am wondering if I need to get another, or a piece of driftwood that goes taller and put that under the basking spot. Now we are waiting to see if the temperature improves and hopefully that will aid his digestion and get him eating. I also put fresh water and fresh misted parsley in his cage. I'm waiting a little bit to try some crickets, I want to watch him and the temperature right now.

I now know that he is very young for him to have been sold, but we are going to do our damnedest to pull him through his early difficult period. When we purchased him, they said that a larger dragon in the cage stressed him out and he really didn't go for the crickets because every time he went for them, the big dragon lunged and got the crickets. They were feeding him turkey baby food there by sticking a little on his nose. When we first got home he ate some crickets, but I am wondering if he is still having stress about that. I purchased some baby food on the way home, but I have not fed him any yet. Do any experienced owners have advice? Thanks.

I will be so sad if he dies.

 

[pamelacoe]

Oh God, he seems so lethargic and weak....he won't eat at all. I'm going to contact a vet tomorrow.

 

[fresnowitte]

Pamelacoe forgive me if you already said but when did you get your beardie?

Beardies go through a period of relocation stress which is the time it takes to get aquainted and settled in to the new environment. They can stress for up to 2 weeks which can cause a them to not eat. Baby beardies dehydrate very quickly especially when not eating so do make sure to soak your baby in lukewarm water a couple of times a day until he starts eating. Because the more dehydrated they become the less appetite they have.

Psst! I have 19 babies that are less than a month old and they are all eating between 25 and 60 crickets perday along with salads. You'd be surprised at just how much they can eat and just how much they can poop. :wink:

I'd try to raise the basking spot so that your baby can get closer to 6" from the Reptisun.
Since you have the babyfood what I'd try is just get your baby to lick it several times a day will help...a lick several times is better than nothing and it will prime his appetite possibly.

How is he doing now?

 

[pamelacoe]

Barbara,

I'm sorry to say that our dragon passed away some time about 7pm EST on Monday. We have a new beardie now and I pray that our experience has made us that much more the wiser....but this web site is indispensable. I will consistently come here for advice. Thank you for your offers of advice.

BTW, I have to say that Zak-n-Wheezie is one (one and half?) cool lizard. Many cheers to you for not letting him just meet his doom because he is special - doubly so, I would say!

 

[fresnowitte]

I was very sad to read last night that your little one hadn't made it.
R.I.P. Little One

On a better note....

Congratulations on the new baby...
Have you posted any pic's on the site of your baby yet? I'd love to have a look.

Thanks btw!

 

[pamelacoe]

I tried to get some pictures last night, but he was zooming back and forth in his new surroundings so much I couldn't get one. I'm not sad about that though, I am thrilled to see him bright and active!

 

[fresnowitte]

They are little zoomers when they are healthy. I'm glad you now have a healthy baby.

I'll be keeping my eyes open for pic's though. :wink:
Maybe it would be a good idea to start a new thread in Introductions for your new baby.

 

[pamelacoe]

I will do that, what is the appropriate forum category for that? Thanks

 

[Valex]

I would go in introductions...

I just want to make sure, incase the first one was sick, did you disinfect everything in the tank, and the tank itself before letting the new one settle in? If not, you can do a soak in 1 part bleach(or amonia) to 10 part hot water, and then let it soak for an hour, and then rinse, rinse, and rinse until you can no longer smell the cleaning solvent.

 

[pamelacoe]

I had washed everything, including carpet, with hot water and let it dry. But I will do that disinfecting during his bath tomorrow, thanks.

EDIT: I've posted some pictures of him in the Introductions section under "Lizard of Oz (II)" ---probably not the most original name, but my son liked it.