Hi, I am a new bearded dragon owner. I’ve done countless hours of research on bearded dragons and their living conditions, trying to get everything just right. I bought my baby dragon (don’t have a name yet bc I can’t decide!!!) a week ago. When I first brought him home I noticed the swollen back left foot/ankle. I don’t have an exotic vet or the money to get one. He doesn’t limp and he walks fine, he will even run after crickets.
His basking spot reaches 105 normally and the humidity is always high 30s low 40s. Since he has been home, I have not had much success getting him to eat greens at all. And even crickets are a challenge to get him to eat. But he’ll munch on mealworms like they are going out of style. I ordered Phoenix worms and they are coming today so hopefully this will satiate his calcium needs and food intake. But still not sure how to get him to eat veggies. His salad is usually collards, sweet red bell pepper, blueberries, yellow squash, kiwi, parsley, and sweet potato. Nothing seems to interest him.
Please let me know if I should make any changes, or if you know what is going on with his back left foot, or if you have any suggestions about feeding him greens.
No way, it’s not a bearded dragon?? I went to the reptile store near my house, they only sell reptiles so I figured it would be better to buy from them other than PetCo or Petsmart. I asked why he looked a little different and they told me he was a different kind of beardie, and that he wouldn’t get as big as one.
Did you see the youtube video I linked ? Your rreptile guy just doesn't know or flat out deceived you,. The Savigney's is an agama, but there are hundreds of types of agamas [ beardies are agamas, frilled neck dragons are agamas, japalura splendida, red head, clown, etc, but they are not beardies. These Savigney's look like baby beardies but are not closely related, not even from Australia and only get about 8-10" as adults. Get a hold of your pet store + tell them what he's selling so he doesn't deceive people.
What is the care for a agama? Is it different from a bearded dragon or the same? Should she go ahead w/ the UVB and get rid of the coil? He looks in bad shape from the one pic
Karrie
Well it's good that he's active + eating and that the ankle doesn't seem to bother him. My guess is that the ankle may have broken at some point and just healed llike that, lizards are tough. Hopefully it's not gout, that would be more serious. Make sure you have a water bowl for hydration. Hold off on the mealworms, they might cause impaction but most lizards do O.K. with a few in their diet. When you give him crickets, try to cripple them a bit so he doesn't have far to chase them. Anyway, these are cool little lizards, I'd love to have one myself and from what I've read they can be kept in small colonies. I hope your little dude/girl does well for you ! Keep posting here anyway so we can see the progress, we don't get to see these cute buggers here.
Yes I watched it again --- I had a hard time hearing it the first time -- so she has a desert one I am assuming as they also have woodland lizards --- I was asking because of the difference in UVB's they require -- they did not say anything about basking temps just that temps should be kept around 80 or so at nite -
Karrie
You can take that down Karrie, that is another type of agama, completely different. It's a butterfly agama, nothing like a beardie, a Savigney's, a clown, etc. There are hundreds of agamas. That one is just one of hundreds.
The main point about care is that it's similar to how we would keep a beardie. And again, don't feed any more mealworms because when I look closer at the pics of your little one the belly looks bloated. He may vomit [ hopefully not ] so if he does just keep him hydrated and wait until you get your Phoenix or calci worms and crickets are O.K as well.