My First Beardie

Hi, sadly, my petstore does not carry repti sun nor mercury vapor like I suspected. I picked up an higher wattage basking light for now. I am going to have to order the other lights online.

I did however, see some new beardies there. But they were TEENY TINY! They couldn't have been more than a few days old from hatching. So cute, but very sad that they would sell them that small.

Toby is starting to get darker on his back. You can see small dark spots showing around the sides. And it seems that every time he sheds, a couple more show up.

Well, that's it for now. Just wanted to give an update on how he's doing

Reptilesupply.com seemed to have some really great prices on the mercury vapor bulbs. The power sun are around $55-$60 locally, but only $38 at this site. They seem to have good prices on a lot of stuff.

Seems like your beardie is going to have a great new tank. Neat background.

We got our first beardie a month ago, she was 5 months old. Then yesterday we got one we "rescued". He's a year and a half.

I've only had mine for about a month, I know he isn't much older than that, but I have no idea how old he really is.

I'm hoping his background turns out as good as that picture. Maybe even better.

I'm trying to think of something I can make for him while he's not in his cage, like a playground of sorts that he can climb and jump around on. But I'm blank on ideas at the moment. I'll eventually thing of something.

I went to get him his harness yesterday, but they were out of small ones, so I'm thinking I should wait anyways since he's growing so much. I don't want to get one harness then a few months later he's too big for it.

I will check out that site later tonight though. Thanks bunches!

Hello Amber!

Great Toby is doing so well, & getting new colors each time he sheds. It is really neat to watch his body change huh?
I don't know why they sell them too young, because it is very stressful on them & alot of them do not make it either.
Well, I am not surprised your petstore doesn't carry the mercury vapor, but surprised they don't have any reptisun lights at all? That is strange.
I would get either the Megaray or the T-rex if you are getting a mercury vapor because they are much better than the Powersuns. Those have not been improved yet, to my knowledge & don't provide a whole lot more UVB than the reptisun 10's, so they are pretty weak for a mercury vapor bulb.
Is he still eating tons?? I hope he is still eating his veggies & greens too!

Tracie

It seems he's backed off on eating. He's eating crickets once a day opposed to twice. But I think he's been eating his commercial food. And earlier tonight he ate some of his greens, only reason I knew this is because his mouth was stained from the baby food I mixed in with it.

He's been acting kinda weird lately. Usually when I take him out of his cage to let him run around, he'll do just that, run around. Lately, he's been crawling under things and just laying there. He doesn't want to run around anymore. I don't know if it has something to do with it getting cold out...I thought he was too young for burmation....those are the signs of going into it though from what I understand, less appetite, less active.

I went up from a 75/100 watt basking bulb to a 150 watt basking light in hopes it keeps it a bit warmer in his tank. I've also looked at the way Harmony's room is set up, I might move some things around and put his cage in a different spot, it might help if I move him away from the window, although it doesn't leak as far as I know. Either way, I hope it might do some good.

I start collecting things I'll need for his new home tomorrow. I won't be able to start building it until later though. I've figured out how to make the back open so I can clean it, even though it'll be all "rocked" up. I'll just have to do the "rock" on the doors separate from the rest of the tank and then hide the small cracks with the vines or something.

Our six month old female waves quite a lot at the new 1 1/2 yr old ,ale we just got. And he does plenty of bobbing! Turns his chin/beard nice and black etc. It is fascinating watching them ,their behavior. The color changes are so cool. I don't let them stay w/n view of each other in general. Just once on a while when I'm w/ them and doing cage things etc. But when I block their view of each other the male immediately turns back to his normal shades and looses his 'black beard'. Such careful arm movements when they do the wave. I too would be interested in others experience w/ the winter behavior or changes of behavior? Gigi

Hello Amber!

Oh no Toby thinks he is going to brumate! He is way too young. Definitely try to rearrange his tank location if you feel it is getting too cool. Going up to a higher wattage was a good idea too. Just make sure he doesn't get overheated.
Also, he is probably in need of a good UVB too, so that could be part of it also.
Keep him as active as possible. You could remove his hides right now if he is spending too much time under them & not basking. Unfortunately sometimes you have to do that with the youngsters.
I hope he starts perking up again. At least he is still eating though & sneaking his greens & veggies in as well.

Tracie

He's not hiding really in his cage, he still sits up where he normallly does. It's when I have him out of his cage that he runs and hides wherever he can away from everything which is weird. I've been picking him up, holding him as tightly/gently as I can, but he still wants to jump down and run off and hide. He got himself under a bookshelf the other day trying to get away. So we had to move that without hurting him. He still sits on his vine in the tank after eating, and he still eats, just not as many times as he used to. I will have to look and see if he's just taking in more crickets in that one feeding than he used to and is why he's cut back on them, or hopefully it's just because he's filling up on his veggies and commercial food. Least, I'm hoping that is all that it is. It's def. a bit warmer in his tank on the one side, it went from 104 to about 110 F on the one side, I still think the other side is around 75-80F so it's a good fluctuation. He gets up pretty close to his UVB light, I'd say about an inch away from it if that. It's in his spot at the top of the tank he likes to squeeze into.

Today he acted a bit better. He's spent more time under his basking light today, and he didn't run away to hide when I had him out for a bit. In fact, he stayed on my lap until Harmony scared the bejeezes out of the poor thing. Then he went to the floor. But still didn't go to hide. Just ordered him his second batch of 500 crickets this month! He's down to maybe 50 at the most in the tank, and surprisingly, very few had to have died during this time. I can't believe he goes through 1000 crickets in a month! Insane I tell ya. Now if I can get him to eat a second time today, it'll all be good.

Hello Amber!

Great that Toby ate better today. So he basked more & sat under his light & UVB as well? That is a good sign. It must have been getting just a bit too cool for him with the weather fluctuations. That makes a big difference especially on the young ones. Which UVB do you have again? I forgot! It is an older one, right?
At least he didn't run & hide like he has been doing. Geez, having to get him out from underneath the bookshelf could not have been fun, as I know how afraid you must have been that he could get hurt. Crazy dragons, they love to make us panic.
I am happy you haven't had hardly any die offs with your crickets. He is eating tons of them, too. You are gutloading them right? Just checking.
I am glad he is behaving himself now!

Tracie