My 10 year old son has been wanting a reptile for a long time and after meeting a couple of Bearded Dragons we decided we would like to add one to our family,but we would wait until September after summer vacation and my son's birthday.I had spent hours reading the forums here,gathering information,since I had no reptile experience,then we even went to see a local breeder where we purchased a few roaches to start our colony,after reading about the voracious appetite of young dragons on this forum. We are planning to get a baby from them in September so we can raise it and bond with it while it's still young.
Well,I was browsing Craigslist on Saturday and I came across an add,a few days old where someone was selling a setup that came with a free "lizard".The picture showed a bearded dragon and he looked so sad and pathetic to me,I talked to my husband and we decided to "rescue" him.
When I saw him,I was shocked to see how very small he is.His owner told us "Spike" is 6-7 months old,I might weigh him today to keep track of his weight,but I'd say his body without his tail is only about 3 inches long.His tail is long and very skinny,more like a rat's tail,there is a kink in the last inch or so and it looks almost dried up,I have been reading this could be a sigh of calcium deficiency?
According to his owner,he was fed 4-5 mealworms a day,he did say the bulbs he had in the fixtures were only a couple of months old,but he had mounted the fluorescent UVB on the wall outside the tank and there was no physical way for the beardie to get within the recommended 6-8" of the light.For the basking light he had some kind of blue bulb,but it was broken in the fixture,so I have no idea how long he has been without lights.He did say the beardie liked his night light,which was a red bulb.
When I replaced the fluorescent tube(we stopped on our way home and bought a 100W CHE,a 10.0 reptisun for the existing 18"fixture and a ZooMed 150W basking light,ReptiCal with D3 and crickets) there were no numbers,marks or anything at all on the tube,so I am not sure what it even was.
He was living in a tank filled with smelly red sand,had no vitamins and there was tons of dried up poop all over his basking log.
The first thing we did when we got him home is wash dump all the sand and scrub his long and hidey,cover the outside of the tank with paper so he could feel more secure.He was very skittish and tried to jump out of your hand, dark stress marks all over...
I finally got done getting everything ready around 3 am,so we didn't try to feed him that night,he had fallen asleep in a showbox with a fleece "blankie"...
So now I have a ton of questions,hoping that experienced people on this forum can help me out..
Will the 18" light fixture be ok for now with a 10.0 Reptisun in a 36" long tank?
My husband mounted it down in the tank underneath the screen,and temperatures are up to 105 in the basking area,with the coolest temps in the tank only 75,but he does have a wide range in between.
On Sunday I gave him a bath and let him soak for 10 min.He didn't like it and kept trying to escape but I was afraid he might be dehydrated,poor little guy!
He is very skittish in general,the paper helped a lot though and we were happy to see him leave his hidey to bask under the lights yesterday!He seems to prefer temps closer to 95 than 105.
He has been choosing to "perch" on the highest point on his basking log,which puts him within maybe 3 inches of the Reptisun,is that bad for him? He does have the option of picking a spot 6-8" away,also.
We were thrilled when he ate about 12 crickets dusted in ReptiCal,4 mealworms and a tiny little newborn dubia. Can't really feed out of the colony yet,though,and I have to say it was a little hard to feed a baby roach,it was our first clutch of babies after about 2 weeks of having the roaches.
Reading the rescue stories here gives me hope that our little guy could be ok in the long run? Should we give him "extra" vitamins? He has not been eating veggies at all,we have tried Dandelion leaves and flowers and red peppers,will get a wider variety at the store today,his owner said "Spike" likes blueberries.
Should I give him another soak today? I hate to bug him too much,but he hasn't had a poop after that large meal yesterday .
I will try to post some pictures a little later and try to get him to eat some greens for breakfast.
Well,I was browsing Craigslist on Saturday and I came across an add,a few days old where someone was selling a setup that came with a free "lizard".The picture showed a bearded dragon and he looked so sad and pathetic to me,I talked to my husband and we decided to "rescue" him.
When I saw him,I was shocked to see how very small he is.His owner told us "Spike" is 6-7 months old,I might weigh him today to keep track of his weight,but I'd say his body without his tail is only about 3 inches long.His tail is long and very skinny,more like a rat's tail,there is a kink in the last inch or so and it looks almost dried up,I have been reading this could be a sigh of calcium deficiency?
According to his owner,he was fed 4-5 mealworms a day,he did say the bulbs he had in the fixtures were only a couple of months old,but he had mounted the fluorescent UVB on the wall outside the tank and there was no physical way for the beardie to get within the recommended 6-8" of the light.For the basking light he had some kind of blue bulb,but it was broken in the fixture,so I have no idea how long he has been without lights.He did say the beardie liked his night light,which was a red bulb.
When I replaced the fluorescent tube(we stopped on our way home and bought a 100W CHE,a 10.0 reptisun for the existing 18"fixture and a ZooMed 150W basking light,ReptiCal with D3 and crickets) there were no numbers,marks or anything at all on the tube,so I am not sure what it even was.
He was living in a tank filled with smelly red sand,had no vitamins and there was tons of dried up poop all over his basking log.
The first thing we did when we got him home is wash dump all the sand and scrub his long and hidey,cover the outside of the tank with paper so he could feel more secure.He was very skittish and tried to jump out of your hand, dark stress marks all over...
I finally got done getting everything ready around 3 am,so we didn't try to feed him that night,he had fallen asleep in a showbox with a fleece "blankie"...
So now I have a ton of questions,hoping that experienced people on this forum can help me out..
Will the 18" light fixture be ok for now with a 10.0 Reptisun in a 36" long tank?
My husband mounted it down in the tank underneath the screen,and temperatures are up to 105 in the basking area,with the coolest temps in the tank only 75,but he does have a wide range in between.
On Sunday I gave him a bath and let him soak for 10 min.He didn't like it and kept trying to escape but I was afraid he might be dehydrated,poor little guy!
He is very skittish in general,the paper helped a lot though and we were happy to see him leave his hidey to bask under the lights yesterday!He seems to prefer temps closer to 95 than 105.
He has been choosing to "perch" on the highest point on his basking log,which puts him within maybe 3 inches of the Reptisun,is that bad for him? He does have the option of picking a spot 6-8" away,also.
We were thrilled when he ate about 12 crickets dusted in ReptiCal,4 mealworms and a tiny little newborn dubia. Can't really feed out of the colony yet,though,and I have to say it was a little hard to feed a baby roach,it was our first clutch of babies after about 2 weeks of having the roaches.
Reading the rescue stories here gives me hope that our little guy could be ok in the long run? Should we give him "extra" vitamins? He has not been eating veggies at all,we have tried Dandelion leaves and flowers and red peppers,will get a wider variety at the store today,his owner said "Spike" likes blueberries.
Should I give him another soak today? I hate to bug him too much,but he hasn't had a poop after that large meal yesterday .
I will try to post some pictures a little later and try to get him to eat some greens for breakfast.
