Say hello to Smaug!

[smaugthebeardie3756]

So a little bit about how I came to own this guy. He started his life as a house pet at the residential treatment facility that I worked. Got him in May of 2021 from Petco. Not sure how old he was, but he was one of the last two from their batch of 5-8 babies that they keep together and had grown some. He was actually discounted and the employee noted that they would have had to separate them soon as they were getting big enough to start getting territorial, but he was definitely still at most a juvenile.

His first day at the house back in May

Made a lot of mistakes (the moss was removed pretty quickly). Had a coil UVB (ExoTerra Desert 150 26W) until he came home with me last month, but more on that later. Fed him spinach a couple of times before I found out how bad it is. Definite learning experience. We dealt with some issues with pooping and things, but ultimately we got very lucky that he does not appear to have suffered any long term damage.

I have to admit that I wasn't exactly excited about this choice of pet. I was hoping for a gerbil or hamster, or maybe a turtle or tortoise if they wanted a reptile, but this is what the residents chose, and since they put in the effort to meet the expectations this is what they got. Over the course of the 7 months that he was living there, I accidentally got attached to him and kind of fell on love. So, when we were forced to close down our residential services due to not having enough employees to provide the proper care, I immediately volunteered to take him home with me. He came home with me at the very beginning of December, and the first things I did were upgrade his tank, lighting, and get him to the vet for a wellness check. The vet commented that he is probably the healthiest looking dragon she had seen in a long time. He is very active and loves to be out of his cage exploring. He's usually a pretty good eater of his salads, but sometimes he will get picky.

This is him now! About 17 inches, and I haven't weighed him in awhile because I can't find the scale since the move.

And here are some more random pictures from throughout his time both as a house pet and my pet so far.

 

[KarrieRee]

So a little bit about how I came to own this guy. He started his life as a house pet at the residential treatment facility that I worked. Got him in May of 2021 from Petco. Not sure how old he was, but he was one of the last two from their batch of 5-8 babies that they keep together and had grown some. He was actually discounted and the employee noted that they would have had to separate them soon as they were getting big enough to start getting territorial, but he was definitely still at most a juvenile.
View attachment 67055
His first day at the house back in May

Made a lot of mistakes (the moss was removed pretty quickly). Had a coil UVB (ExoTerra Desert 150 26W) until he came home with me last month, but more on that later. Fed him spinach a couple of times before I found out how bad it is. Definite learning experience. We dealt with some issues with pooping and things, but ultimately we got very lucky that he does not appear to have suffered any long term damage.

I have to admit that I wasn't exactly excited about this choice of pet. I was hoping for a gerbil or hamster, or maybe a turtle or tortoise if they wanted a reptile, but this is what the residents chose, and since they put in the effort to meet the expectations this is what they got. Over the course of the 7 months that he was living there, I accidentally got attached to him and kind of fell on love. So, when we were forced to close down our residential services due to not having enough employees to provide the proper care, I immediately volunteered to take him home with me. He came home with me at the very beginning of December, and the first things I did were upgrade his tank, lighting, and get him to the vet for a wellness check. The vet commented that he is probably the healthiest looking dragon she had seen in a long time. He is very active and loves to be out of his cage exploring. He's usually a pretty good eater of his salads, but sometimes he will get picky. View attachment 67057
This is him now! About 17 inches, and I haven't weighed him in awhile because I can't find the scale since the move.

And here are some more random pictures from throughout his time both as a house pet and my pet so far. View attachment 67059 View attachment 67060 View attachment 67062 View attachment 67063

Welcome- so what did you replace the coil w/? And I am seeing a pink hue in one of the pics- what is that please?

 

[smaugthebeardie3756]

Welcome- so what did you replace the coil w/? And I am seeing a pink hue in one of the pics- what is that please?

Replaced with a Reptisun T5 48" w/ 10.0 ZooMed bulb. Placed over wide hole screen with cool side "basking" spot 13" from top of tank and hot side basking hammock about 10". The pink hue was the old supplemental heat bulb that was also ditched.

 

[smaugthebeardie3756]

I now have a CHE for supplemental heat if needed, but rarely use it and then only at night. The nighttime temps get around 67-69 generally, so I will turn it on if it's on the lower end and it will raise the temps about 5-10 degrees, measured with probes that stay in the tank.

 

[smaugthebeardie3756]

Here are pictures of the setup. Decor is still a work in progress. The middle dome is the CHE. When I first set it up, the humidity was reading at 10-15%, which is why there is a large water bowl on the hot side. Now reads a very consistent 30%.

Cool side measures 77-82 during the day and basking spot with the probe on the hammock is 103-110 depending where exactly on the hammock it is placed. It is a little higher than I would like and might go back to the 100W basking instead of the 150, but he seems to enjoy it and doesn't hide or avoid the hammock at all.

 

[KarrieRee]

Here are pictures of the setup. Decor is still a work in progress. The middle dome is the CHE. When I first set it up, the humidity was reading at 10-15%, which is why there is a large water bowl on the hot side. Now reads a very consistent 30%.

View attachment 67068 View attachment 67069

Cool side measures 77-82 during the day and basking spot with the probe on the hammock is 103-110 depending where exactly on the hammock it is placed. It is a little higher than I would like and might go back to the 100W basking instead of the 150, but he seems to enjoy it and doesn't hide or avoid the hammock at all.

Ok wide hole distance for the T 5 top of screen should be 8-10 inches directly above the basking decor

 

[smaugthebeardie3756]

Here are pictures of the setup. Decor is still a work in progress. The middle dome is the CHE. When I first set it up, the humidity was reading at 10-15%, which is why there is a large water bowl on the hot side. Now reads a very consistent 30%.

View attachment 67068 View attachment 67069

Cool side measures 77-82 during the day and basking spot with the probe on the hammock is 103-110 depending where exactly on the hammock it is placed. It is a little higher than I would like and might go back to the 100W basking instead of the 150, but he seems to enjoy it and doesn't hide or avoid the hammock at all.

Yeah I think that's why he likes hanging out on that wall on the cool side so that he can get closer to the UV without the heat. The hammock is right at 10, so maybe if I move the heat lamp in front of the tube he can hang out there longer without having to move down and cool off. I'll try that tomorrow and see if it doesn't drop the basking temp too dramatically.

 

[Rubble1212]

Yeah I think that's why he likes hanging out on that wall on the cool side so that he can get closer to the UV without the heat. The hammock is right at 10, so maybe if I move the heat lamp in front of the tube he can hang out there longer without having to move down and cool off. I'll try that tomorrow and see if it doesn't drop the basking temp too dramatically.

Your right about getting uvb without the heat and you could try moving the heat bulb in front and then he could be in his hammock with good uvb but not so much heat. You just set some decor up so he has a basking area in front of the t5 with heat and strong uvb and then have the hammock as a spot with lower heat and strong uvb. That’s why I run my t5 fixture at an angle because it essentially creates two triangles one for basking bulb + uvb and the other for cooler temperatures + uvb utilizing both side of the t5. Cooperdragon once told me to create 4 areas in the enclosure heat + uvb and cool + uvb then heat + low uvb and cool + uvb.