The adventures of angel,Christine and Isabella!!!!

Hello everyone one of my close friends bought this little baby bearded dragon about a week ago and someone in his apartment told the owner and he had to get rid of it he was going to sell it to this one kid and he had like 3 of these and all died i think the oldest was 5 months so i steped in and said ill buy it so i have this little guy/girl.
I could really use any advise i can get this is what i got set up a 20 gallon tank "guy gave me a 10 gallon but thought it was to small rit now"a basking rock 2 temp and hum gauges 2 domes and got a day white light incandescent spot,uvb bulb and a night black heat.
this little guy/girl is 5 inches she eats like 20 crickets a day "had him or her for 3 days" and greens 3 times a day which it loves big time i spray him or her onces a day with water.
Any advice would be great how long to get the basking light on uvb light ect anything will help also on other things i need to get that i didnt just bought some of that calcium powder to
thanks for looking!!!1

 

[ghostkid90]

yea i will be doing that even if i get a store credit ill be happy

 

[sweetiepie9]

Hi, your baby is beautiful, loved the pics you took. I'm Deb, so Mike (Zeus) pm'd me to check your thread. You're doing great so far, I love the fact that your baby loves his/her greens and she/he looks wonderful, great little belly happening. Yes, you need to put calcium on her bugs or her veggies, whichever works better for you but only once a day for 5x/wk, then you need to get vit/min (I used Flukers, as they didn't like the repcal) and that's once a day 2x/wk. This is just because you have a baby, they use less calcium/vits as they get older, but for now that's the amount you need to use.

For heat at night I never had to use heat at night because my living room heat was always on & it never got under 65F. If it did I did use heat lamps but I always covered by babies (I've only ever had 3, the others were adopted as adults) with a facecloth, as they can't have any light on or they won't get a good night sleep. If you want, you can get a ceramic heat emitter, it gives off heat but not light. You want to get a low wattage one, 60W, as you have a small tank & you don't want the tank to heat up over 70F at night, they need the cooler temps to sleep.

Heating pads are for geckos, not dragons, as dragons feel heat from above, they have a "third eye" on their foreheads & that's how they guage heats. For the basking light, I've always used regular household lights. The clear ones are the best ones, if you can find them, and they're alot less expensive than the flood lights or others like that. They also are easy to replace, as you can buy them cheap at Lowe's or Walmart. The digital probe Mike was talking about is inexpensive at Walmart $12 I think, I have a temp gun that I use, it's great & give very accurate temps. You want to have the basking spot on for about 45 min to check the temps, but your baby can still sit there for that time & then you can move her to check the temps. Should be between 105-110 for good digestion, even though it's probably right, as those other ones are usually off by 20F or so. It's expensive to get the right stuff at the beginning. I like the using of velcro to set up the reptisun 10.0 tube, but if that's not possible you can get a good fixture from a hardware store. The Reptisun 10.0 are good for 6 mo, so you'll have to make sure you can replace them regularly. That's the most expensive cost, is the UVB light. If you have a credit card you can order them from http://www.petmountain.com or http://www.lightyourreptile.com.

The other thing is to check this great nutrition list at http://www.beautifuldragons.com It's great & I've been using it since 2006 to find different veggies & greens to give my beardies. I live near Vancouver, BC, Canada, so not alot of good greens up hear, but found out Walmarts that have grocery sections sell collard greens, which are great greens for dragons.

I think I've covered your basic questions. Once your baby gets bigger you'll want to get her a 40 gallon breeder, or make your own. There are two sections on here to help you with enclosures. "Enclosures" and "DIY" (Do It Yourslef), you'll get great ideas from those two sights.

I'm going to include pics of my four guys, so you'll have an idea of how different adult beardies can be, hope you don't mind, I like to brag about my babies:
Leo, 5 yrs old:

Rubio (my big guy & my baby, 4 yrs old):

Lonzo (my old guy, 9 yrs old):

and Didi, my littles & most colourful guy, 6 yrs old:

Hope we see more pics of your little one, eventually, as he/she grows you'll be able to tell what sex he is.

 

[ghostkid90]

alrit now thats what im talking about good info i was about to have a heart attack because i woke up and she was laying on her side up against the glass as soon as i get the light on she was running around i think she doesnt like the dark please tell me if thats a bad thing im trying my best here and feel like im failing already the light is my big concern i have a fish tank light can i use that to put the tube in>? also when should that be on?
will one of them white bulbs work for like a house?
love your beardies very nice

 

[ghostkid90]

Is the reptisun compact 10.0 any good or no?
Heres a picture of her when she finally got back on her rock
http://i1247.photobucket.com/albums/gg626/ghostkid63/DSC03927.jpg

 

[Zeusmybeardie]

No you want the fluorescent tube

 

[ghostkid90]

can i use a fish tank light housing? just asking because i have like 6 of them lol

 

[sweetiepie9]

This is what the box looks like:

This is what my housing looks like, it sits on top of the tank

I hope this helps, as this is the kind of UVB your baby really needs. Coils will hurt her/him's eyes or worse. I wish they'd take them off the market.
So see if you have a fish housing that will fit the length of the type you need. If she/he's in a 20 gallon, you'd probably need a 18-24". The one above is a 24" Reptisun 10.0 tube.

Please, anything else, just let me know. Getting the set up right is the most important thing your baby is going to need. Once it's done, you're good for at least 6 months.

Hope I can help with anything else.
Deb

 

[Zeusmybeardie]

I thought ur supposed to mount it in cause they need to get 6-8 inchs away

 

[ghostkid90]

Hey there i do have a fish light that a 24 in bulb will fit thank god i dont gotta buy one i went to walmart and they didnt have temp gauges that i need i was like really got everything else but that so far this is what ill need when i got to the store...
1 reptisun 10.0 24in bulb
2 a temp gauge some where lol
3 the rit basking light that will let it go to atleast 105
i put her back in the 10gallon because i was hoping temps will be up alittle more seems to work but basking is still 10 degress less i think idn know thats what this dam gauge says i only have a basking platform in there anything else it needs is there anytime i can do about the whole light thing she flips out when its dark

 

[sweetiepie9]

You'll find the accurite digital probe in the gardening section at Walmart, of all places, but that's where I've been told it is. So see if you can find it there. Let me know. Glad to hear you have a fixture for the 24" reptisun 10.0, it will make a huge difference with your little one. Don't put on the coil light anymore. Do you know when you can get the reptisun?

Once you have the digital probe, try a 60W regular household light bulb, if that doesn't work, try the 100W. You should be able to find those anywhere. Much cheaper than the floodlight you have already, but try that first before going to get any other bulb.

Let me know how your little one if feeling now.
Keep in touch,
Deb

By the way, getting the lighting & the basking spot temp to the right temp is the most annoying part of the set up. Once that is done right, you're good! The rest you already have figured out! And the fact that she already likes to snuggle is a real bonus!

 

[ghostkid90]

the only place i didnt look lol OMG!!!!!!! i was thinking about taking her out today in the sun its like 70 out and really sunny im going to try end call the locale pet store and see if they got it i know they have the compact ones but there no good how long should i have that on for when i get it also basking light

 

[Zeusmybeardie]

If ya in the us u can order it on petmountain.com

 

[sweetiepie9]

You can take her out but be really careful, you'll have to hold her to make a leash to per on her so she doesn't run away. That's all you'd need, but outside sunshine is so good for her. For a leash, just use a long string, make an x over her shoulders & under her belly & voila, you have a harness to hold her in place. Don't take your eyes off her for a minute, you could also put her in the 10 gallon, but stay close as you don't want her to over-heat. A plastic bin would work well, too. So some suggestions!
Deb

 

[ghostkid90]

i am in the us i took off work today to get this all straighten out i took her outside before and she just lays in my hand and doesnt move much lol and when she does she just jumps on my leg and lays there some more it bothers me that she was so active when i got her and now today she seems depressed so i wanna take her out for alittle and see if it makes her alittle happyer

 

[sweetiepie9]

Real sun is the best thing for her & will perk her up alot, so you're doing the right thing. Have fun in the sun!