worried please help

[frosty]

hi all my wife and i are new to the site and it looks great by the way.
we bought spike our beardie from a local reptile shop and have had him now for 2 weeks and really want to make sure we are doing things right he is only 5 inches long from head to tail (after 2 weeks should we have been able to buy him at that size?)we have a 3 ft vav with a 5.0 uv, heat mat and playsand.we went to a differant repltile shop today which is much bigger and family run who said remove the mat as he is too young and put in a basking lamp.should the lamp be on 24hrs as if we turn it off on a night with the uv there will be no light or heat surely thats wrong also on average he eats about 2 medium size crickets a day along with a little fruit and veg (is he getting enough)we re really worried we are not giveing him the care he needs and want to do things right
any help would be gratley appriciated thanks in advance steve and lynn

 

[cbudelier]

Hi and welcome to Bearded Dragon.org!!!!! This is a great site for anything you ever wanted to know about beardies but were afraid to ask!
The basic things your baby needs are:
1) a REPTISUN 10.0 UV light or a Mercury Vapor Bulb for the proper amount of UV rays
2) take the play sand out of the tank and use something simple like paper towels, newspaper or textured shelf liner. Beardies lick things and the sand can cause dangerous impactions.
3) You can also get rid of the under tank heat mat....they can't feel the heat through their bellies and may burn
4) Beardies are light sensitive, so you don't want any kind of light on at night. If the area around his viv gets colder than 70 degrees at night you might consider getting a ceramic heat emitter.
5) If he is only 5 inches long, you want to be feeding him tiny crickets. The general rule of thumb is to never feed them anything bigger than the space between their eyes. Pinheads are probably the best for him now. After they get over the relocation stress (can take 3-5 days) they can eat as many as 100 crickets a day. Mine ate about 5 dozen a day when he was that size.
6) He will also need water. Some beardies don't actively drink water, so dripping a little water on their nose may inspire them. A soak in lukewarm water a couple of times a week is also good for them.

I'm sure others who know way more than I do can also give you plenty of help.

Good luck with Spike!!

 

[frosty]

the heat lamp that we have is a nocturnal red spot bulb should it be turned off at night

 

[frosty]

After they get over the relocation stress (can take 3-5 days) they can eat as many as 100 crickets a day. Mine ate about 5 dozen a day when he was that size.

we have had him for 15 days now but is still only eating about 2 maybe 3 a day

 

[vickson420]

Hi
What size crix are you feeding?What type/brand UVB are you using?Part of the reason he isnt heating I bet is because of the red bulb.Beardies need bright white light during the day.Remember they are diurnal animals so they worship the sun so to speak which means bright light.There is no need for heating or uvb in the evening as long as the tank temp belows 65F.How are you measuring the temps and what are they?

 

[Twobeardieguy]

I also agree!!!