Unbelievable!Thats why u SHOULDNT listen to petstore people

[beardieparents7780]

She's totally retarded and should be smacked in her head!

 

[beardieparents7780]

And I agree with Zandi202 I stopped watching about a min in !

 

[beardieparents7780]

I dont know guys . Im totally sick of pet stores selling setups that are not even close to what beardies need. First of all Im a reptile lover as well as many other pets. I have 2 kids, 3 dogs, turtles, 2 cats, fish and 2 beardies. Ive had boas,pythons, monitors, beardies, geckos etc. I hate the petco/petsmart type places that sell ppl these pets and give ppl false info and just sell these premade starter setups making ppl think thats all they need!

 

[beardieparents7780]

I work my a** off keeping my pets (family) in the best health possible and it just is frustrating seeing so much false info given and ppl believe it! My suggestion to everyone is before you buy a reptile, dog anything etc.. Know what youre getting into and be ready to commit a part of your life to them! They arent just for show.. they are family and have feelings and need proper care!

 

[zandi202]

See, for me the biggest problem is that when I first decided to get a beardie, the three people who worked at Petco helped me set up the viv and they each had their own beardie. The woman who recommend calci sand to me had had he baby on it for years and years with no signs of impaction so that was one of the reasons why I had it at first.

Honestly, if I wasn't a worry wart of a mom typing in questions about Jace into Google, I would have never found this place and he would still probably be on calci sand along with Zy.

 

[Fizzylady]

I'm just curious - is the whole concept of sand/loose substrate leading to impaction a relatively new development? It seems like every single start up video I find on youtube starts with "fill the bottom with sand/crushed walnut ..."

 

[Brandonforty2]

I did agree on some stuff. What she said about the water fountain is good. You have it on an hour a day and empty it out after the hour. I really saw three big mistakes in there. Read my comment before it is gone. I have the same name on YouTube and beardeddragon.org.

 

[beardie]

I'm just curious - is the whole concept of sand/loose substrate leading to impaction a relatively new development? It seems like every single start up video I find on youtube starts with "fill the bottom with sand/crushed walnut ..."

No, it's one of the oldest arguments in beardie pet trade (at least 10, but likely 15 years of debate on this topic). The risk of impaction is real, but it's not a certainty. I honestly don't know if anyone has any stats on what the chances are of it occurring with a beardie kept on the various substrates. But it does occur. The argument ultimately comes down to, how much risk is "acceptable". Personally, I will strongly recommend to people to use a non-particulate until they're full grown (or nearly). Beyond that, I'm not as much as stickler about it. My females were on play sand for most of their adult life (about 8 years of their 10-11 years). My male was on slate tile (no special reason other than I liked it in the setup).

 

[zandi202]

Beardie, i like the names Pinky and Brain. That was such a great show.

 

[bunnyrut]

I did agree on some stuff. What she said about the water fountain is good. You have it on an hour a day and empty it out after the hour. I really saw three big mistakes in there. Read my comment before it is gone. I have the same name on YouTube and beardeddragon.org.

i don't see your comment on there.

a lot of people post the wrong info. i get that.

but when comments are deleted and you are blocked for disagreeing which what they say, i can only assume that they KNOW they are not giving the right information. they just don't want other people to see the right info so they can continue to sell the products.


and i think the issue with sand is that beardies are classified as 'desert reptiles'. but they live in Australia, not the Sahara.
Their natural substrate is a mix of dirt, sand, rocks, plants. not just sand.

i did have sand for Mr Dargon for a while, but i removed it because even though i was not feeding him on the sand he was still licking it. and it was showing in his poop.
plus it smells after a bit and you need to toss it all out and replace it.
it was just more cost effective to buy tiles that i can wash off and put back in the viv.

 

[SkeptiBee]

I like how she uses the "would you eat off the floor?" remark to dissuade people from using tiles or linoleum. We don't throw their food on the bottom of the cages. It goes in a bowl that we keep clean. People walk on tile flooring all the time where other animals or kids track their germs all over. Sometimes they do so with bare feet. You can't tell me that's any less clean than a reptiles tile that gets disinfected and cleaned up after they poo. The logic falls flat on its face to me.

It boils down to how much risk do you want to assume with your pets health. If you plan on adding things in a viv that might contribute to successive bacteria breeding or respiratory problems, you better be prepared to spend more money on vet bills to correct the damage. Or more time cleaning tanks out to thoroughly ensure this doesn't happen. Why make it more complicated than it is though?

The censorship of alternate viewpoints just tells me they are concerned more about money. You get a sizable group of people to stop using loose substrate and it cuts into company profit. Why would they not try and shut the other side up?

 

[GlueStick]

I can agree and disagree with the waterfall concept. I agree with the situation as long as it is used in a larger terrarium and when it is used properly, as she suggested in the video.

I've noticed that having too low humidity in a cage especially with baby bearded dragons (whether in groups or singles) causes tail and/or finger issues. Whether during shedding processes or dehydration, which induces a gangrene response on the tail tips or fingers (causing the digits or tail tip to die off and continue to spread up the tail), the waterfall when used properly and in a larger setup can help with these common issues.

My male is commonly dehydrated and will not drink from standing water. I can soak him throughout a week, but sometimes life keeps me from soaking him the amount of times a week I should be soaking him. Not that I am buying the waterfall, but he does live in a 90 gallon tank and a waterfall prob may encourage him to drink and would not affect the humidity in any significant way when used appropriately.

I cannot agree with the sani-chips of course. As it has already been stated, while loose substrates may not cause issues, the fact that they CAN and have with my male dragon would dissuade me in any situation from adding any loose substrate. After spending an apprx. $2k in vet bills for loose substrate use consequences, I will never personally agree with loose substrate use.

And yes, she does pack that cage with too much stuff

-Glue

PS: stating in the title of this thread that you "should not listen to any petstore associate" is quite rash and frankly childish (no offense please =)). What I tell all of my customers is, while I am knowledgeable as a pet store associate of many years, I do encourage them to research the topic thoroughly especially with reference to this website and develop their OWN opinion on the care and concern of their new bearded dragon. I believe you can NEVER stop learning about animals and the care of them. It is all you can do after all - everyone is going to do what they will with the information given, as we are human beings. Saying that caring for any animal one way is the only way is not appropriate =}

 

[randommonks]

Saying that caring for any animal one way is the only way is not appropriate

Keep in mind that there is no absolute way of caring for beardies. While there are some consistent recommendations you will see almost everywhere, there are many that vary. I've seen the opinions on this site change over time even. In all honesty, I think people should share their views, then trust and support the decisions people have to make for their own beardies.

I think people could do to keep the above in mind. What might work for one might not work for the other. The longer I'm on a site like this, the more I see differing opinions and methods of care and the more my own opinions loosen. I don't see the value in calling someone else names because their care happens to differ from the method you choose to use.

I have used a Reptiglo 10.0 tube in the past with 0 harmful effects to Darwin, my oldest male, and probably will do so in the future. For my special girl though, I'll keep her on the Reptisun since that's what her breeder recommended and it's working for her. It's useful to take other people's experiences and use them to your own advantage but I've heard a lot of opinions passed down fourth or fifth hand as facts. All you can do is make an informed decision based on what you, yourself, experience and what others have gone through.

 

[LLLReptile]

Hi everyone!

I'm the one who made the video, and I'd like to clear up a few things.

First and foremost, the bedding - as I state in the video, everyone has preferences, many prefer tile or carpet, I personally much prefer sani chips. I feel they are much easier to keep clean and in general much more sanitary because you are completely removing any substrate that comes into contact with fecal matter. They do not cause impactions in animals that are housed properly - my 5+ years of experience working with thousands of bearded dragons at the store(s) tells me this, as do many local breeders, including a staff member who's been breeding beardies for the last 10+ years. I'm not just recommending it because it's there, it's my experience with a large sample size of animals that helps me with my recommendations. You all much prefer tile; I do not. I feel it is more work to maintain and wipe and sanitize tile (carpet being worse - as it absorbs urine, fecal matter, and easily breeds bacteria on and within its surface). The way I often describe this to customers is to ask them if they'd like to live in a house where everyone pooped on the floor - but the floor is wiped down and cleaned every day. Yes, you can bleach it, and wash it, but I know I would not want to live on the same surface that feces is repeatedly being deposited on, nor would I want my animals to live on it either. For this reason, I much, much prefer a particle bedding not just for beardies, but for all herps in my care.

The waterfall. Again, this is a matter of personal preference. I have helped keepers with beardies that have issues drinking - and I also state in the video if you are concerned about humidity, only run the waterfall for an hour or so a day. Not only have I used waterfalls in the store with excellent success, especially for younger beardies, but I have several friends and customers who also utilize them and love that their beardies will run right over to the waterfall and drink. As pointed out by other members, with the heat lights and the screen top cage, it is extremely unlikely that the humidity would rise to a level that would cause a problem for the beardies. As I have pointed out on this forum before, many keepers of tropical species of reptiles struggle immensely just to keep humidity between 40 and 60% with just a low wattage heat bulb and a heat pad - adding the kind of heat and low-moisture substrate common for use with beardies is going to keep humidity extremely low. The fact that beardies often need to be soaked to ensure they are getting adequate moisture is one indication that they are actually probably being kept TOO dry, if anything. The staff member who breeds bearded dragons studies herpetological medicine, and his observations in the chronic dehydration common in beardies is one reason so many of us now use and recommend waterfalls.

I disagree about packing the cage with too much stuff, personally. There are large pieces of wood for the beardies to climb, and the person who purchased that setup and took it home raves about how their beardies clamber all over everything in the cage. I often see bland, boring cages with little in them and a bored, fat beardie sitting under the light. Beardies should have the option to climb things and exercise, which can prolong their life and enrich their lives beyond simply sitting in the cage.

Again, as has been pointed out by others, there are many different preferences for caring for beardies. I personally disagree with the advice given on this forum from time to time - for the reasons I've stated.

I create these videos to help answer questions we commonly get asked on our pages, in our stores, and phone calls, and do extensive amounts of community outreach, girlscout tours, boyscout presentations (I will be helping at the local Boy Scout Fair next month, in fact) and the sole reason I post on forums is to help others out. My entire job is community outreach, pretty much, and the reaction we were getting on the videos of responding to the various comments and repeating the same comments over and over again were not beneficial or constructive. If posters would like to add respectful, considerate comments to the videos, we'll leave those up. I believe there are some older comments talking about tile and reptile carpet being preferred which we left up - as they were respectful and simply stating a difference of opinion. Posting absolutes and all caps blasting me and the video are naturally going to be deleted, not just by myself but by the other internet manager.

I spend a lot of time trying to help people - the setup in that video has happily housed two beardies in it since it was made, and from the phone calls, emails, and posts we get, there are many, many people who found the video helpful for their situations. I have extensive experience with reptiles - I personally keep and breed a few dozen species, and help manage our breeding center. While I understand that many of you feel very strongly about beardie care, please consider that I speak from experience with a much, much larger base of reptiles and beardies in general, while many keepers only have a handful of animals. I know the problems and questions I commonly get, and many of my videos are geared towards these commonly asked questions.

So can we agree to disagree, and continue this discussion in a more reasonable tone?

-Jen

 

[htidavid]

I kind of like the idea of the water fall. I've yet to see my Beardie drink while I give him a bath.