My First Beardie

I finally got my bearded dragon today, after a MONTH of reading up on how to care for them. He's a juvenile, and I have him in a 50 gallon tank. The basking light is on one side of the tank, the nighttime light is on the other for when it turns on, and my florescent light goes along the back. Is it normal for him to climb to the top of the plants/wall and lay there under the uvb light instead of his basking light?

Also, if there is any other helpful information you could offer, that would be great.

Also, one other question, sorry, HOW do you get the clamp lamps to attach to the tank once the screen is on?

Right now my screen is too big and I found an alternate way of doing it, but once my replacement comes in, I need to know how to get those buggers on there. Thanks again!

Congrats on the new beardie. I would not reccommend a nite time light , they need darkness to get good sleep. The heat lamp I just rest it on the screen, The Uva uvb I mount on the tank or on the screen depends on set up, If it has climbing to get to uv then I would wire tie it to the lid. I have this on two tanks and it works great. Make sure to post a pic when you are all done so we can see your new little one.

So it's ok that I have the lamps directly on the screen.....*wipes forehead* that's good. I was at a loss for what to do about them once I got a proper sized screen. Wire tie the uv to the lid? Or something I missed? The tank he's in used to be an aquarium at one long ago point in time. The temps. so far on my first night were great. The heat side wasn't registering beyond 90 F, but the thermometer was in a very bad spot. I moved in on top of the rock for a bit, and it finally registered at about 104 F, the other side registers around 75-85 F.

I finally saw him eat today, he got his first cricket, it was awesome watching him chow down. So I added a couple cut up blueberries to his fruit bowl to see what happens.

Here are two pictures...one of his tank and one of him.

He is very cute. Nice set up also. I guess it depends on what type of uv you are using, I use the tubes fictures, on the ficture it's self there are holes to mount it to the wall, But I used wire ties and mounted it on the underside of the screen. Later tonight I can post a pic my daughter has my camara.

i have a fixture that holds the tube light too but it sits on top of the screen right above where he likes to lay. I just took him out and put him in a bath since he hasn't been spending much time on his basking rock. I've only seen him eat the one crikket, and it seems as if he hasn't touched any of his other food. He didn't drink any of the water from the bath, he just kind of sat there looking annoyed that I moved him from his spot. Should I just stop handling him for 3 days and just change out his water and food and see if he comes to once he's used to his environment?

You can handle him. He will get used to you handleing him, Younger ones are a little more jumpy. I personally do not put water in the tank they usually just make a huge mess with it, I let mine soak in the sink every other day, he will get used to the water. My big males plays around and splashes. the problem with the uv being on the top of the screen is that is supposedly does not pennatrate the screen. Are you feeding him green? A little trick I use with the greens to get them going is to put small meal worms or small superworms in the greens and it make the greens move around, they go after the worms but also get the greens.

Hello,

Congratulations on your new dragon. Just a couple of suggestions for you.
What type of substrate do you have, it looks like calcisand? If so, please do remove that. It is called the deathsand. It causes horrible impactions, as well as harbours bacteria too. Better choices are paper towels, reptile carpet, tiles, or non adhesive shelf liner.
As for the feeding, I would not feed any mealworms or superworms, as he is too small. The mealies are too fatty & are not a recommended feeder for bearded dragons, no matter their age. Superworms, they are not recommended feeders until the dragon is at least 15-16 inches usually. Small dragons have sharply curved intestines & have a hard time passing some things.
Stick with small crickets, & maybe some phoenix worms or butterworms or silkworms.
We definitely need to know the type & brand of UVB you are using. There are some out there that are junk & do not put out any UVB hardly at all. Are you using a digital probe to measure your temps with? The flourescents need to be 6-8 (new) or so inches from your dragon, for best exposure.
Usually new babies take up to 2 weeks to adjust to being in a new home. It is called relocation stress. I think he will be fine. Please do take him out of that calcisand, if that is what you have. I would hate for him to become impacted.
He is a cutie pie.

Tracie

Yeah I have just realized he prefers moving food. He just downed 7 crickets for lunch. Then went to his rock. I thought it might do him some good to go outside, so I took out one of his stacking rocks, filled up an old toy organizer container with sand and put the rock and him in there. His colors brightened up almost instantly once he got out there. All the neighborhood kids were around him the whole time too.

After he was out in the sun for a bit, I allowed them to take turns holding him for a picture. It was funny.

I haven't tried greens yet, are canned greens ok? Or should I use the fresh ones? Otherwise right now all I have are apples, blueberries and bananas. The little boys around here are digging up worms since I read somewhere that those are ok too, if not, I'll head to a bait shop tonight and pick some up when I get a spray bottle to mist him. I have a feeling my crickets won't last long at the rate he's going.

I have normal fine grained sand in there, with a small amount of calci sand mixed into it. Not enough for him to actually get anything out of it, I don't think. He doesn't sit in his sand anyways. He prefers to be up on the branches of the leaves 3/4 of the day/night.

I have commercial juvenile bearded dragon food, which he doesn't even touch, I guess because it doesn't move, I also give him finely chopped apples, blueberries, or whatever I have available at the time for his fruits, which he also doesn't touch. My husband is bringing home some romaine lettuce for him tonight. I hope that goes over better than the fruits.

I don't know what type of uvb/a light I have, it was just the standard light that was with the tank when given to me.....that's why I took him outside for a 1/2 hour today in hopes that it would make up if it's not a proper one. I plan on going back to the store to pick up a new one once I get more money in.