? on Beardie health

Hi everyone, I am usually hanging out on the Leopard Gecko forum. I won that wonderful Beardie on the Fauna Fund auction and have a few questions. The Beardie seems to be doing great, he is eating well and very active. He had his first shed in my care and all went well. I do have a few concerns though and clarifying questions.

1) Since he is an adult I understand he should be eating 75% veggies to 25% bugs. What I have been doing is feeding him about 12-15 crickets or superworms every other day. Is this enough bugs or should I increase that amount?

2) He gets a salad of mixed veggies and/or greens everyday. (Always gets some type of greens, most of the time but not always has some other veggies included) I dust this every 2nd or 3rd day with repti-vite. Any problems there?

3) I attempt to spray him each day and he used to really like it. Lately he has taken to shaking his head and running away from the spray instead of drinking it. I thought it meant he was not thirsty but he kept it up for 3 days running, so I sprayed him down anyway. When he does that should I quit spraying him? or go ahead and spray him? I started spraying extra on his veggies when he acts that way so I know he is getting some water.

4) I put him in the tub or sink to swim/soak about every 3-4 days and give him water as explained above but his skin still appears loose. Is it normal for a beardies skin to be a bit loose and wrinkled appearing? Or is he still not hydrated enough?

5) What should I do to help him shed? This last time I gave him the baths as explained aboveand also sprayed the whole length of his body every day that I observed dry loose skin. he had a clean shed but I don't want to give him a URI from to much moisture either.

Husbandry info: Housed in a viv that is about 36 long and 24 in wide. I have tile for the substrate a flat rock under his basking spot and a resin rock formation on the cool side to hide under/behind although most of the time he is on top of it instead. Temps run from 105 under the heat (CHE) to 85 on the cool side. I put a water bowl in there for him on Monday and he did drink from it and also tried to swim in it. When I put him in the sink though he did not want to swim or soak I forgot to remove the bowl so it stayed in there all night. When I changed out the water Tues and offered him fresh he was not interested so I took out the bowl.

Thanks for taking the time to read my long post, and thanks for any advise that you can offer.

Oh yeah one more thing, I take him outside 15-30 min every day or two for UVB.

Start reading here:
http://www.dragonsbynature.com/care.htm
http://www.reptilerooms.com/Section...es-secid-1.html
http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/caresheet/
http://www.kakadudragons.com/caresheet/
http://blackninjakitty.com/herps/dragons.php
http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html

1) I feed my adult dragons 10-15 superworms 3 times a week... So it sounds like your feeding him a bit much...
2) Sounds good...
3) For adults you only need to spray a couple of times per week...
4) Baths are good but only necessary once a week for adults UNLESS the BD is shedding, in which case you can bath more.
5) See above...

The tank sounds okay for now, although a *bit* on the small side... Temps are good (although i would use a light because BDs associate light with heat). No bowl is necessary. As for the UVB, either get a fluorescent UVB lamp such as reptisun 5.0 or 10.0, OR increase the sun exposure to an hour a day. UVB is ESSENTIAL to a healthy dragon.

congrats on your new buddy

1) sounds good ad long as he is eating his salads. He probably would not eat too many bugs even if he had the chance as they don't have the appetite for bugs that younger BDs do.

2) you need the calcium more than the vitimans, try rep-cal, pink label. That has calcium with D3

3) thats fine Humidity in the wild can average 40% or more. It is not a desert enviornment.

4) Wrinkled slightly yes but not all the time.

5)mist and bath are good but give him enough time to dry out after or the skin wiont peel off. Adult BDs can take a month to shed completely, sometimes more.

36" is fine but some folks say 48"
CHE are good as long as there is a lot of light in the cage too.
Some BDs use a water bowl some dont

you may find some more useful info here
http://www.beardiedragon.com/pages/Care/BD_Care_QA.html

Whoops, thanks Bennett, I didn't notice that it was a multivitamin not just calcium that she she was using! Thanks for catching that!

I do have the calcium with D3, I have not used it as this vitamin supplement contains the calcium with D3 as well. What I am hearing here is to stop the vitamins and only use the D3? Or should I alternate so that I dust 1-2 times with the vitamins and 1-2 times with Just calcium D3? Do I ever use the straight calcium with no D3 for the beardies?

You can overdose on D3... It is best to let them regulate their own D3 with either natural sunlight (1 hour a day) or a UVB fluorescent (like reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 on their normal day/night schedule). NO ADDITIONAL D3 IS NEEDED!!! This way they can keep themselves from overdosing. They can't regulate ingested D3.
-Drew

Bennett Greenberg...

2) you need the calcium more than the vitimans, try rep-cal, pink label. That has calcium with D3

Drew S...

NO ADDITIONAL D3 IS NEEDED!!! This way they can keep themselves from overdosing. They can't regulate ingested D3.

Okay I have one person stating use D3 and one stating do not use it. Can you clarify this for me please.

I have both as for my Leos I keep a dish in their cage with plain calcium and dust once a week with either the reptivite (which contains calcium with D3) or the rep-cal with D3

If I put a dish of plain calcium in the cage will they lick it when they want/need calcium like the Leopard geckos do?

I recommend either dusting the greens or the insects with *plain* calcium powder. I used to keep leos so I know what you are talking about, but I have never heard of doing that (keeping calcium in the cage) with a beardie... D3 is best supplied with natural sunlight or UVB tubes. Bennett may disagree, but that is my, and many others (read those caresheets) opinions (don't get me wrong, Bennett is a very successful breeder and whatnot, but I disagree with him on this issue.)
-Drew

Thanks Drew, I appriciate the help. When it comes to animals health I like to err on the side of caution so here is my plan. I will continue with the Vitamin dust but drop it to once a week as the reptivite does contain the D3. I will either increase the time outside or rig a way to hang a floresent uvb light inside the viv. Oh hey wait I just had an idea, the uvb can not penetrate glass but it can go through screen right? I can build in an upper level to put him with the recommended 6-8 inches of the light. Also my viv is just a little bigger then I thought actual floor dimentions are 40" long and 26" wide so that is 1040 sq inches. The ones I saw recomended 48X18 which is 864 sq inches so I think I am good here. Do you see any problems with my plan?