Spike and Me

[Darkaine]

Hello my name is William and that is Spike in the picture above. I am super happy to have him here it seems like a life time wait for me to get him. I have been reading and watching videos a lot about the Viv and I have a few questions about the set up I received spike in today. There are very big rocks down at the bottom of the aquarium is that safe for him. Second it looks very busy in their to me for how big he is should I take them out and just put paper towels down under him. or maybe some outside carpet. I am going to take some pictures of the light-bulb that came with the heating lamp it don't seem right to me.

I have been told that spike is about 2 years old so that would make him full size right?

 

[CooperDragon]

The rocks shouldn't be harmful on their own but if they are taking up a lot of space they may need to be reduced or removed. It's important to provide lots of space so he may need a larger enclosure with enough room for him to roam around easily. At 2 years old he is an adult so he should be on a primarily vegetarian diet with a bug meal once or twice per week depending on how much veg he eats. What do you have in place for his lighting? Can you post some photos of his entire enclosure? I'll be glad to help you get everything just right for him.

 

[Gormagon]

Yes, Spike is very photogenic and, handsome!
It would be nice to see the entire viv and, the lights you have. If you are not sure about the setup, you have come to the best place for answers. Lighting is the most important part of your dragons world "viv"!

 

[Darkaine]

I have ordered a uvb heat light but When I got him they had a regular energy saver bulb in the lamp for his heating. I will get more photos of his Viv and post them. I am going to get his Viv cleaned up it did not look like they cleaned it at all for the hole time they had him. He is very nice and lets me hold him when I want. He does the head bob every time my wife goes close to the Viv it is really funny.
I don't believe his past owner did their research on bearded dragons they insisted that he was not a desert based lizard. I am thinking of gettting the out door carpet for the Viv and only keeping a few of the rocks for him to climb on. along with the tree. I will get pictures up later today. Thank you for all the information on the site. This site has made a world of difference as far as what type of lizard for me to get.

I was told the tank was a 50 gallon tank

 

[Darkaine]

I have a update pic of his Viv still needs some work and have to figure out what to do about his lighting But here is his clean Home now after clearing out all the rocks and stuff that was too big for his Viv

I received the following vitamins for him when I picked him up but not sure what to do with them or how many to give can I plz get some help

 

[CooperDragon]

That looks like maybe a 40g breeder tank. What are it's dimensions? That coil looks like it's past it's usefulness but the dome fixture should come in handy. I'd use that for the basking light. Try putting a halogen flood light in it and hook that to a dimming thermostat or lamp dimmer and see how you can fine tune the temperatures for him. I'd start with a 70w PAR38 bulb and go from there. Up to the 90w if you need more heat.

For UVB, I'd invest in a nice T5 bulb and fixture. That will produce the daylight levels of UVB he needs. It should sit right next to the basking lamp so he gets intense UVB along with warmer temps. http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

As far as the pellets go, I'd use them to feed bugs. Crickets and roaches will eat them. I'd get him on a diet of some bugs (roaches, crickets, hornworms, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, etc) along with a nice big salad every day. As I mentioned in my previous post, since he's an adult he should be eating mostly salad so I'd give him a big salad daily and offer bugs every few days and see how that goes. I'd offer a couple of items from this list http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html and rotate based on what looks fresh at the store each week.