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He's Here!!!

T

techgirl

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ok so i got my new little guy today. he's 5 months old and gorgeous!! he's called a sunburst and both parents were sandfires. my friend got him from a guy who used to work at sandfire and is now an offshoot. not too interested in eating tonight but i'm not surprised. i was told that the reptisun 5.0 uvb light i have isn't good enough so i got an esu super uv coil lamp 20 watt. is it ok to use both together? does it need to be on timer as well? how long should it take him to eat? thanks for your advice?
 
ok i figured out the timer ? (duh!!). now being 5 months old, is he still too young for mealworms? i have the basking temp at 105 and the cool side is at 75. i did leave a bowl of romaine and collards in the tank tonight and did mist him a little. anything else i should do? thanks. oh i do have him in a 30 gallon breeder tank and that should be ok for him for a little bit.
 
He should be big enough for small mealies. The rule of thumb is to measure them between the eyes on the beardies head. That is as big of a mealie/cricket size you want to feed. So far things seem fine, he should sleep well. Good luck and congrats!!
 
thanks. the only concern i have is when is he going to eat? i know stress can cause to them to not eat, but how long is too long? all he did in the 30 gallon was sit in a corner. i actually put him into the 20L now to see if maybe he was freaked by all the space. right now i just put in 4 crickets and he's just staring at them from atop his basking spot. any suggestions. i am going to leave him alone at this point because i know that all i'm doing is stressing him out as well. just being paranoid. :rolleyes:
 
Jessica, it's not uncommon for them to not be really interested in food shortly after arriving in a new home, but if you haven't given him any water yet, I would give him a bath in 2" of 85-90* water for 10-15 minutes or so. If he was shipped to you, he could be dehydrated (shipping seems to dry them out a little). Most of mine are pretty hungry an hour or so after a good soaking.
 
i do keep a small bowl of water in there at all times and mist him twice daily. i get home tonight at 3 am and can soak him then. i might try changing his basking area because all he does is sit there and never moves. it's pretty high so i am goin to try and get one a little closer to the ground and see it that will want him to start chasing his food. of course he ate the 6 small mealies i put in there last night while i was at work. what i'm planning on doing is taking out the reptile carpet(all the crix are hiding under there) and taking newspaper and taping it down, getting a lower basking spot, soaking him, and offering some small discoid roaches that i have. i checked his temps right now and the cool side is 78, middle(basking site) is 110, and other side is 92. i have 2 of the esu 20 watt uv coil lights and a 60 watt ceramic heater. i have the ceramic heater in between the two lights so he gets the full spectrum of light. any suggestions before i do everything at 3 am? thank you so much for dealing with my paranoia. i'm leaving for vacation in two weeks and want to make sure he's ok before i go.
 
Well i winded up getting home more at 9 am instead of 3(crazy nite). He finally did have a bowel movement. It was about the size of his head!! I did drop it off at the vet this morning to have it checked out. It was loose and mucoid in appearance. I did give him a good soak this morning as you suggested Paul. Still no real interest in crickets, but he is starting to move around more in the tank. I think you're right about him being a little dehydrated, he's skin is a little wrinkled but not too bad. I may just soak him once a day for now if that's not going to be a problem for him. Unfortunately the girl who is going to be taking care of the geckos, snake, cat, and hermit crabs just told me last nite that she doesn't think she will have enough time to come over more than once a day to take care of everyone so i had to find someone else to take care of Stoner. The only down side is that she lives an hour away so i have to bring Stoner to her. I was hoping to keep the stress level for him down but i can't avoid it right now. The plus side is that she is a vet, not too familiar with bearded dragons but she can do some basic things if need be. Now i have a silly question, does he really need to eat crickets? can i get away with feeding him mealies and discoids? I'm only asking because when I got my leos I was told to feed them crickets but found out that they can live on mealies and roaches. Thank you for your advice and help and getting Stoner used to us.
 
Well i just got his fecal results back and he was positive for pinworms and coccidia. They will be calling me with the doses to give and what meds I need to pick up (I can get it through work). I'm glad I got that done and that can explain his little eating problem. At least now I can work on getting him back on track to a healthy life style. I know my friend will be able to medicate him with no problem so there are no concerns there.
 
P.S.---Paul i still want one of your corn snakes!! I have to wait out the boyfriend on this new purchase and then I'll start working on sneaking in the snake :hehe: Hey i'm getting a tax refund and my birthday's in may, I deserve it. :hehe:
 
techgirl said:
Well i just got his fecal results back and he was positive for pinworms and coccidia. They will be calling me with the doses to give and what meds I need to pick up (I can get it through work). I'm glad I got that done and that can explain his little eating problem. At least now I can work on getting him back on track to a healthy life style. I know my friend will be able to medicate him with no problem so there are no concerns there.
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Jessica, that's definitely a good thing that you got a fecal done right away, but I would be VERY careful when taking care of him or any of your other animals. I don't know what type of gecko you have, but they are much more susceptible to coccidia problems than dragons from what I understand. I'd just be certain to make sure that you sterilize and quarantine everything as best as you can.

To answer your other question, I don't think he necessarily NEEDS crickets as long as he's receiving a balanced diet from the other foods you're offering him. My juvenile and adult dragons rarely get crickets anymore, but crickets do seem to be the most popular, and safest, first insect for babies. Adding other insects to their diet, such as mealworms, waxworms, silkworms and superworms (when they're big enough) isn't a bad idea. Honestly, I'd rather rely less on crickets just because they're so damn annoying compared to the worms! lol

Good luck with treating him. I hope everything goes well.
 
thanks for the info paul. The leos have their own bowls and so does Stoner. I have newspaper down in his tank right now (it's covering the vinyl tiles)and i'll be replacing that every day. He's actually being active today, running around and all. I did order some small mealworms from wormman for him so i can get him off the damn crickets (I hate them). my leos will be getting a little special treat tonight to get rid of the little buggers. fortunately i don't put back crickets if they are not eaten. I was always taught to throw them out to avoid possible cross contamination. so tonight he'll be getting mealies!!
 
techgirl said:
fortunately i don't put back crickets if they are not eaten. I was always taught to throw them out to avoid possible cross contamination.
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Good call. :hehe:


Hey if you have a picture of him and/or his setup, you can email it to me and I'll post it for you again if you want. I'd like to see him. :)
 
sorry it took so long for pics, baby hid the camera and finally found it in her toy bin. here's some pics of stoner and his set up
 
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