Newbie Beardie Owner with new Dragon in the family and Questions

This is my first post as I am a new Beardie owner and wanted to post
to say hi and ask a couple of questions, I have been lurking here
for awhile to read about proper care of bearded dragons so when I
finally got one I would be prepared.

After giving some thought to the matter I decided to adopt instead
of purchasing one so I could give a good home to a beardie that
needed one and help an owner who could no longer take care of their
pet.

I finally adopted a 1 1/2 yrs old Beardie appx a week ago and got a male
(they think but I will have to confirm this myself) along with his
enclosure. He is alert, active and looks very healthy with no
signs of illness. He is appx 13 - 14 inches long (you will have to
add a couple of inches to that figure as he has a rounded tail from
an old injury he received at the pet store as a baby prior to the
previous owners purchase)

Past History;
He was purchased as a tiny baby by the previous owner at a pet store
along with his enclosure a Zilla 20 Gal habitat w/ sand substrate.
it had 3 dome lights a basking dome, red light dome and a UVB dome
w/ a Desert 50 coil bulb.

He was fed a diet of crickets, red lettuce, tomato and possibly
some other veg items though none were mentioned and to my knowledge
he never had vitamins or calcium dusting. There was no thermometer
in the tank to check temps, He was never given a bath though there
was a large flat Zilla water dish in the tank I was told that he
liked to poop in. He was handled periodically so was mostly hand
tame and had a great personality. He lived in the 20gal tank from a
baby to his present adult size (all his 1 1/2 yrs of life)
The previous owners were sweet and kind people so I am sure they
thought this was alright and were just following "pet store" advice.


Present
It was a 2hr return journey to bring him to his new home and I
planned on doing some housing/lifestyle changes for him as per what
I read on the forum but wanted to wait a few days because of the
long and stressful relocation.

Changes so far;
day one I bought some mustard and collard greens, calcium powder and
crickets. I wanted him to get use to me so I hand fed him his
crickets which he timidly ate then readily went for as he became use
to me. I had his greens in a bowl but he showed no interest in them
perhaps because he never ate them before. I decided to make
"cricket sushi" and he ate it, then I tried to feed him greens by
hand and he ate them as well, now he eats them out of the bowl. I
dusted the crickets and also greens as I believe he never had added
calcium in his diet before. His poops have been text book beautiful
(after the last of the tomato passed through his system)

After a couple of days I placed him in a larger tank (40 breeder)
with some nice basking rocks, repti carpet flooring and his large
water dish and food dish. To do the transfer from the 20 gal to 40
gal he let me pick him up the first time pretty easily with a
minimum of hissing or leg scratching. I tried picking him up 4 more
times later that day for a couple of minutes and each time and it
got easier.

I am temporarily using a stick on thermometer but a temp gun is on
order and temps show a 94 degree basking area and an 82 degrees cool
side of tank. I read so many bad things about the Zilla coil UVB
bulb that I tossed it out today. He has been here 5 days so far and
seems to be getting use to the changes and his belly stress bars are
lighter now and I hope they will be totally gone in another week or
so.

I will be giving him his first bath soon (as per what I have read on
the forum) and I can only imagine how he will behave as I tried
misting him yesterday and he did not seem to care for it too much.

My two questions for now (I'm sure there will be plenty more later)
are;

1) What is a good "tube bulb" to purchase for his UVB needs as from
I have read both quality and price vary greatly.

2) What are good vitamins to get for him and what amount and how
many times per week should he have them?

I plan on posting this on a few forums to get a good consensus on
what the majority use and thank you in advance to all who reply.

Hi Anton!

I am nowhere near an exper, but a new beardie owner myself! I adopted a male and female adult about 6 weeks ago too. I have learned so much on here but the best information yet came from a wonderful herp vet that I have found.

Anyways, from everything I have read (and I read this stuff CONSTANTLY!) the best bulb is the Reptisun 10.0. Supposedly this is the only one that comes close to providing the UVB light needed to keep them happy and healthy. My vet however says that the Megaray lights are the best. You can find them/order them at ReptileUV.com. They can be a little pricey, but I am told they will last about 18 months. So, kinda get what you pay for.

As far as calcium, there are a ton of em out there to choose from and I've not really seen a super strong preference for one over another. I have Repti-vite Calcium w/D3 for my beardies and also have some Fluker's w/D3 for my mountain horned dragon.

Congratulations on your new baby. I applaud your decision to adopt one that sounds like although his previous owners may have meant well, needed a much better home.

Good luck! and if u can, maybe some pics soon?
--Donna B.

Oh, and also, I believe you will want to raise your basking area temps. They like it hotter, more like 100-110 surface temp of basking area when u get your temp gun. If that isn't about right, am sure somebody will come along and correct that soon.

Ugh, and yet again....the Megaray lights, aren't the tube kind, but the kind you put in the heat deflectors and clamp on...The higher basking temps are what I've seen and also where my vet said they shoudl be. She was amazing. Spent over 2 hours w/me and my two beardies on our first visit and has studied BD's extensively in Australia....Apparently mine are way too fat and she has me weaning them off so many insects, giving them only occasionally. Says they don't eat the way that we feed them in their normal habitat. I really learned a lot from her...

Hi Donna;
Thank you for your reply and info, when I get the temp gun I will see what the actual temp is , it must be somewhat close to his needs as he opens his mouth to regulate his internal heat when basking.


I gave the little fellow his first bath yesterday, after a bit of scratching and panic he settled down after I gave him a little belly rub, he was a brown color when I got him and after a good wash to remove a year of sand dust and stuck on tomato seeds (with a little help of some baby shampoo) he's seems to be more of a light faded orange with some dark purple bars. I had a bit of a scare when I saw some bumps running across his hind legs and thought "oh no tumors" then I did a quick forum search and saw they were femoral bumps, they are the large type so I assume he is male.

I have handled him alot now & there's no more hissing and he is very happy to get picked up, he fell asleep in a my lap just before bedtime and everyone loves him as he's really a cute little fellow. I'll post some pics as soon as I get all the bugs worked out in his new tank.

so far most people who replied on the UVB bulb have recomended the reptisun 10 so I will get one asap, I have an 18" bulb housing and just have to decide if I want a bigger housing which will require a bigger bulb before I buy one

another beardie owner who replied recomended Heptivite for a vitamin supp (do more than 1 company make this or is it a company brand name?)

lot's of mustard/collard greens..mine love carrots and grapes and will pick them out of their food. they will also pounce on a pinky like a small child will suck down pinkie. note that these are treat items and not staple foods. and if he's really a year and a half, you can start moving towards more veggie/less crickets. they older a beardie gets, the more veggies they need. somebody on here sent me a great list of things to feed beardies...if i find it i'll post it.

and my 2 beardies aren't too fond of bathtime....but it's worth it to bring out their colors and keep them clean. also, you can clip their toenails and then they can't really scratch as much. when they're longer, they get sort of a spike...there's the toenail, then it tapers down to just a thin, pointy bit. that's the bit you clip. just a teeny nip, but it makes all the difference in handling them.

Aw....can't believe he had tomato seeds stuck to him, that is so sad!...Wierd, that is one food I hadn't yet heard of anybody feeding their dragons...I would think the acidity wouldn't be good, but not sure on that...I know citrus is not a good thing to feed, but like the other poster said. collard/mustard greens are like an every day staple....My guys LOVE bok choy more than anything. Have tried lots of different fruits, w/little to no interest. (raspberries, grapes, blueberries/apples) They get shredded carrots and zucchini mixed in on occasion along w/a dusting of vitamins, but again, when they eat, tend to eat mainly the bok choy...I think this is cuz the prior owner really did feed them WAY too many crickets mainly. So trying to 'wean' them off those and more onto the greens.

And yes, mine don't mind the baths either, I do it maybe once a week. It realy helps em poop since they take water into their vents that way. LOVE when they poo in the tub, nice and easy cleanup! I have found they are more comfortable with a small hand towel on the bottom to make them feel more secure and less slippery.

Oh, and my bad, it is the Repti-vite calcium powder that I have/use, and it is made by a company called 'Rep-Cal'.

Also, I found the link that I believe the other poster was talking about. It is the very BEST info on diet/foods for our beardies. Talks about which are 'staples' and which are 'occasional treats' due to calcium and vitamin content...You may have already come across it, but...It's really so great, so here is that for you:

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtrem...Nutrition.html

My guy "Thor" is super cool about being handled too. He has slept for a few hours at a time on my chest while watching TV..."Cera" is gravid right now, so we are leaving her alone. She is a bit 'snotty' at times, a little finicky and at times skittish. Just not a 'snuggler' like my boy. They have never really hissed, and only scratch when climbing on my arms etc, and that's of course never intentional.


As for their nails, when I got them I took them off their crushed walnut substrate (ick BAD!) and put them on slate tiles, which so far I love. Helps keep nails down too along with their basking rocks. Easy to keep clean too, though I have heard that reptile carpeting is very good and folks like that a lot too.

Yep the 'gaping' behavior can indicate he is regulating temperature for sure. That is good, if it is too hot, they will change spots. I had heard that the temperature should be the actual *surface* of the spot, so the temp gun will be perfect for determining that, is what I use too...

You sound like a super caring owner and I look forward to hearing how things continue to go. This site is really nice and folks are quite friendly and helpful I've found...

Keep in touch!
---Donna B.

Oh, and per that excellent food list, tomatoes are on there...just says they should only be given rarely.

UGH! I meant "Herptivite" IS the one I use. not sure why I have Reptivite stuck in my head. I think that is another brand....but Herptivite like you mentioned, is what I do have...Sorry for my goofiness! (Wish there was an 'edit' feature for posting. GAH!)

Congrats on the new addition! We're happy to help here however we can, the beardie community on this forum is pretty awesome

I use ReptiSun 10.0's for all of my beardies, with an additional basking light. Believe it or not, in my case, using the two lights SAVED me money versus the mercury vapor bulbs. I like the ReptiSun bulbs, I've heard bad things about the Repti-Glo (by ExoTerra) bulbs, particularly the compact coils. PetMountain.com is a good place to buy fixtures/bulbs at reasonable prices

I dust my crickets with Rep-Cal calcium powder, and try to dip the superworms in there as well. Look for the pink label, I've used this since I was a kid, and it's worked great for me so far. I only use supplements that contain little to no phosphorus, I can't be too careful when it comes to my dragons Try feeding him dubia roaches - most dragons I know go crazy for them, they're more nutritious (albeit more expensive) than crickets, and best of all - - they don't smell and can't climb smooth vertical surfaces! They have a very high "meat" to chitin ratio, much smaller chance for digestive issues


Good luck with bath time - half of my dragons love it and look forward to it, the other half give me the death stare and try to escape.

Oh! And I agree with upping the basking temps. I have a couple of beardies that are most comfortable in the 95-99 range, but the majority prefer the 105-110 range. Check out to see if your beardie opens his mouth slightly while in his basking spot - - if he is, he's thermoregulating and allowing excess heat to escape, it's a good indication aside from an infrared temp gun as to whether or not your temp is in the right "range".

You do sound like a super great owner, and we're all happy to help however we can!

Cheers,
Stephanie