Social dragons and UVB

[LokiMcG]

Hi

This is a pre-emptive health concern rather than anything symptomatic right now. Wasn't sure where to post this.

We have 2 juvenile beardies. Loki is 8 months old. Stellar is 6 months old. Both are in good health. A bit fussy with food after breakfast but nothing concerning. Loki is crazy about his salad and Stellar prefers to eat plants such as Aloe (she has one in her viv) They both love locusts and dubia roaches but crickets not so much. Calci dust and minerals are dusted on alternate days. Loki has a rock to bask on, Stellar loves wood branches to bask on (she has both options).

So in the most part very different little beardies with very different personalities except for 1 thing...they both want out of their vivariums. The temperature is not more than 100 at their basking areas and drop to 80 on the coolest spot. So it appears they just want to be out with us. Sitting on a shoulder while I work, up on a window sill or climbing into the Xmas tree to get high enough to look out the window (dragons, me and kids are not impressed that the hubby has the tree down, different problem for a different website lol) So I insist that they need to be left in their viv with UVB for at least 6 hours before they can come out. Then when they're out not for more than 30 min or so. We got them hot water bottles for their window sill watching, we are in the UK so our home is warm but up by the windows it can be "fresh". Hubby insists it's fine taking them out as soon as they surf and have them in and out throughout the day. We can't indulge this as we will return to pre-Covid working conditions and then I will be coming home for lunch to clean, feed and take them out for a short bit. But that is not my concern primarily. I can't find how many hours they must be under UVB for. I don't count window time as we are in the UK it's overcast a lot in winter. So we can only count vivarium time.

Any advice from anyone would be great. We are super lucky to have super social little beardies but we can't spoil them with affection at the cost of something like MBD. I am starting to realise as am more anxious with their health than I was my newborns, I guess that is due to the lack of vocal indicators from beardies.

Thanks in advance!!!

Oh and merry Xmas to you all!

 

[AHBD]

Hi there, I agree with you that they need at least 6 hours in the viv under the lights, and not taken in + out all the time. Of course you can vary from that at times, no one knows the exact amount of uvb exposure they need but they do need quite a bit especially while still growing. Some owners buy a mercury vapor bulb to mount above the outside basking area. BTW , your dragons DO look great, very healthy and obviously are living large in " their " palace. Just be a little careful with feeding too much protein, they can get chubby when they are huge eaters that are on growing spurts and suddenly they are overweight.

 

[LokiMcG]

Thanks so much for the reply.

It is somewhat reassuring to have a guide, I figured experienced beardie keepers would have a time frame to guide. Of course it isn't an exact science with them as each set up is different....

With regards to the feeding, that is exactly what happened to Loki. He suddenly got a bit porky so we put him on a "diet" meaning he has the same frequency of feeds but less each time. He is putting on weight still just slower. He weighed in at 400grams last week :shock:

And great shout on the vapor bulbs will definitely look into setting that up for cooler months.

 

[AHBD]

Good for you , taking note of the chubbiness coming on and taking measures right away. And yes, a MVB can be a good option for beardie basking out of the tank. One of the mods. here, Cooperdragon, has a set up like that outside of the viv for his dragon.