• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Nervous about my new silkie any info will help..

M

melissamann

New member
Joined
Nov 19, 2009
Messages
66
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
san diego
I just got a new silk back and I dont know to much about them. It is 4 wks old about 5-6in. It eats crickets okay but it wont eat the greens. They told me to put shed ease on her or him. I wont to post a pic but I dont know how to post one on here. I have the humidity in the tank and I spray her/him A few times a day. I got it yesterday I wish I knew if it was a boy or girl so I could name it but I dont know. I have hatched my own babies but I have never had a silkie before I was gonna breed my 2 leather backs to get my own silkies but I saw this one and wanted it so I got it. Now I want to make sure I care for it the right way. It is from Josh Dovenbarger and I bought it at lll reptile In Oceanside ca. This silkie is so cute not alot of color yet but does have yellow and orange already. Any info would be helpful.
 
Hey Melissa, we have some silk babies over here and they are fun, they are only a few days old, but the care we give for them and all other silks is pretty easy really, originally we started out using lotion(baby lotion) on them and giving baths, now that we have had more experience we mist them atleast once a day, and give baths well they are in shed, also only use a 5.0 uvb as to high of uvb could hurt them, and keep them on sand i haven't tryed anything else but was told sand is good because its soft and wont hurt there soft feet, also dont keep it in with other dragons, im sure you already know that but they easily get hurt, and at that size a nail could do some damage that the dragon may not come back from(stop eating and such) also dont pull the shed off, i havent done this myself but was told that you end up with BIG problems if you do, also check there digits and tail when they are shedding and make sure the shed doesn't get stuck, and cut off circulation if this happens soak her for a while and hopefully it will loosen

if you need anymore info or have questions you can email me

[email protected]

oh also sexing put him/her in the palm of your hand with the tail hanging off the end of your hand and flip the tail up and look under the tail base above the slit not on the stomach but on the tail base there will either be one center bulge or 2 side bulges 2 is male one is female, also the greens trick is to drop them slowly on the plate in pieces so they look like they are moving that works over here anyways.
 
Thanks. I will stop using the shed ease. I have her as far as i can tell it is a girl. in a small melamine tank with 33 percent humidity. By the way my bright orange leatherback girl I got from you is doing great she eats more than my adult lizzards and she is beautiful. I did order the silkie some silk worms because she doesn`t seem to eat as much as my newly hatched babies. they eat like monsters. She takes her time but she does eat all the crickets it just takes all day. She is so cute and I just want to make sure she is okay. Oh and she is in a tank alone. So is my leather back girl. Thank you so much for your help.:eek:
 
Use baby lotion if anything i think, and thats great the orange leatherbacks doing good:) got a pic? im sure she will start eating better, my silks love silkworms lol. Im glad to help just message me anytime you need something and ill do my best to help.
 
Thanks. I have pics of both of them but I dont know how to post them on here. Do the silk backs grow as fast as the normal babies? have you breed a silk back yet?
 
I had a silki a few weeks ago(traded since) i used baby lotion every every 3 days and misted daily as well as bathes right after bath.My silki actually grew faster than most of my other dragons it seems. im think its cause with sales the skin has room to flex and move but with silkies the skin gets tighter faster with less room to starch so the shed more or faster ???just what i see.
 
We have not breed a silk yet just produced them but we have a male thats almost ready to go,as for her eating my little silks are takeing there time getting gowing, but once they are going they seem to do fine as long as you give them there extra care, my big male silk is doing great he loves to eat silkworms i think he likes that they are soft and slow, but who knows maybe they are just yummy, for me once i got a dragon to eat the silks 5 times they get hooked and love to eat them but at first they seem a little confused, also i am so glad to hear that the Lb female is doing good i told you she was a pig, pigs out all day long.

To post pics you can click GO ADVANCED(its a button next to the post button)
Then up at the top of the green box there is like a smiley face and a paperclip and some other stuff click the paperclip then click browse and find the pic on ur computer, and then click ok or what not, then go down to the next browse for another picture and so on...LOL hope that helps like i said if you run into a problem shoot me an email
 
[/ATTACH]
I hope this worked this should be a pic of my silkie
 

Attachments

  • my silkie 004.jpg
    my silkie 004.jpg
    72.6 KB · Views: 213
Does this silkie look good for 4 wks old? Not to much color but she is young and does have yellow and orange. And I believe Josh Dovenbarger is A good breeder.
 
DiamondDen said:
Hey Melissa, we have some silk babies over here and they are fun, they are only a few days old, but the care we give for them and all other silks is pretty easy really, originally we started out using lotion(baby lotion) on them and giving baths, now that we have had more experience we mist them atleast once a day, and give baths well they are in shed, also only use a 5.0 uvb as to high of uvb could hurt them, and keep them on sand i haven't tryed anything else but was told sand is good because its soft and wont hurt there soft feet, also dont keep it in with other dragons, im sure you already know that but they easily get hurt, and at that size a nail could do some damage that the dragon may not come back from(stop eating and such) also dont pull the shed off, i havent done this myself but was told that you end up with BIG problems if you do, also check there digits and tail when they are shedding and make sure the shed doesn't get stuck, and cut off circulation if this happens soak her for a while and hopefully it will loosen
Click to expand...

Good info Corky, i would like to elaborate alittle if you dont mind.

For shedding, some have used baby lotion, shed ease, utter cream, and a few other types of lotion. I have used the above creams and found that I like Curel body lotion "protects and heals". I think everyone has there own preference. As long as it works it doesnt really matter.
Bath time, even less than you would bathe a normal dragon. You keep getting silkbacks wet and dry, wet and dry. Your going to dry there skin out. The more you soak them the more chances your going to have a "bad shed". So the misting there head with a water bottle works the best.
I have used 10.0 uvb bulbs and havent had a problem. I think the problem there with lighting is your "heat bulb". If you have a "basking bulb" (the heat bulbs with a direct beam) thats were there tends to be problems. It gets to hot in the basking area and sometimes the dragon may want to stay in that area to warm up. what can happen is you will give the silkback " sunburn ". One reason i use regular house hold bulbs. Creates heat but doesnt concentrate on one area.
I keep my silkbacks on paper with the rest of my dragons. Its not like walking on soft sand, BUT have you ever walked on a beach on a 90-100 degree day? You start walking on the sides of your feet to get to the water because the sand is lighting the bottom sides of your feet on fire. Silkbacks feet are soft on the bottom side just like ours. I am not a fan of sand anyway.
GOOD point out about the skin around there toes. This is important because the shed can wrap tight around a section in there toe and it cuts off the blood flow and they will eventually lose there toe. This can also happen with there tail! Another point out. Silkbacks tails are very sensitive. If you hold there tail while there trying to get away, or apply to much pressure to there tails you rupture there blood vessels in there tail. Can result in loss of tail.
 
naah tom i dont mind you going into details i was just trying to get her some info fast, so she didnt miss anyting, and letting her know if she needed help that she could shoot me a message, and i wasnt sure about the light thing i was just told by josh to use 5.0's so thats what i have been doing and he said sand because it was soft, but i can get your point about the walking on a beach and it burning your feet, we use clear house bulbs ourselfs and have never had a problem, but i figured to give her the info i have been givin to get her started, i havent really strayed far from the path on the silks, but i guess i like to be safe, and do what others have already accomplished and have no problems with.


Oh also Melissa Josh is an A+ breeder, he dosnt come around much, but he has amazing stuff and is one of the breeders working on all these amazing morphs we are getting, you will find that a nice amount of stuff has been produced by him, its a good thing to have a dragon from phantom dragons.
 
Thanks guys. I will tell you how I have her set up and if anything is wrong please let me know. She is in a 10 gallon size melamine tank with no substrate. she has a 5.0 uvb because that is what i was told to buy for her. I can't get the humidity above 34 percent. I have a med size deli cup with water in it and the lid on it with holes in the sides for humidity but the humidity wont raise. I did soak her today and she shed alot I made sure her toes and tail were clear. I do spray her 2 times a day. She has a bowl that she can soak in if she wants. Josh said to use the shed ease so I got some. She seems to be eating more now. But still no greens. What should the humidity be? and how do I get it to raise. Thank You guys for the info. It is really helpful.
 
melissamann said:
Thanks guys. I will tell you how I have her set up and if anything is wrong please let me know. She is in a 10 gallon size melamine tank with no substrate. she has a 5.0 uvb because that is what i was told to buy for her. I can't get the humidity above 34 percent. I have a med size deli cup with water in it and the lid on it with holes in the sides for humidity but the humidity wont raise. I did soak her today and she shed alot I made sure her toes and tail were clear. I do spray her 2 times a day. She has a bowl that she can soak in if she wants. Josh said to use the shed ease so I got some. She seems to be eating more now. But still no greens. What should the humidity be? and how do I get it to raise. Thank You guys for the info. It is really helpful.
Click to expand...
Try taking the lid off. and maybe try moving the water bowl closer to the light. Humidity should be around 45%50%. but its hard as hell. The lotion or shed ease.
I REALLY disagree with giving them a water dish. in and out of water can cause shedding problems. What happens when you wash your hands a few times in a row? feel alittle dry? thats how that silkie feels when its in and out of water. Then drys, but good luck.
 
Okay I can take the water dish out. Should I put her in a reg glass tank? I will also take the lid off. I have roaches and I have no problem keeping the humidity up in the plastic tub. So I thought it would be easy with the melamine tank. should I cover the vent in the back? And what about an under tank heater? I dont use those with my other dragons but I do have a few that I used with my hatchlings. Also what do you guys think about her size. Does she look good for 4 wks old? And do you think she will get more color as she gets older?
 
I agree with tom about the water dish, none of my dragons get water dish's at best they get some water with there greens witch if i do it comes out as soon as they are done eating and drinking, but normally i jut give baths or mist there nose so they can drink, i think the melamine should be fine, as for raising the humidity i would go with what tom said, if josh recommended the shed ease, then it might be a good idea to use it, i would assume that is what he was useing on her then, her size looks pretty fine whats her length?

I think i covered anything.
i dont always check back here alot so if you have any problems you can pm me, or im sure tom would be happy to answer them also
 
Now I have a problem with her. She had a tiny tail nip when I got her. Tonight that part feel off and also she had a small laceration on her upper tail. (you can actually see it in the pics) Also she is shedding and seems to be having a problem witht that. She seems dried out. I did put some curel on her tonight she looks better now. But where the little cut is on her tail doesnt look so great. It does not look infect just looks like it is not healing. This silk back thing is now scaring me. I do not want to harm an animal because of my lack of knowing anything about silkbacks. I am totally re thinking this now. I can not get the mumidity about 34 percent. I even took the lid off of the water container. Should I put an undertank heater under the water bowl? I dont use them but I do have some. On a good note she is eating good even greens now. I got her silkworms in today and she loves them. I am going to take her to the vet on fri. I guess its a good thing I work there and I get a discount. I am just worried that I am going to hear all kinds of comments from people who work there. Noone seems to think silkbacks should be here. And I really dont want to hear it. I hope you guys can help......thank you
 
melissamann said:
Now I have a problem with her. She had a tiny tail nip when I got her. Tonight that part feel off and also she had a small laceration on her upper tail. (you can actually see it in the pics) Also she is shedding and seems to be having a problem witht that. She seems dried out. I did put some curel on her tonight she looks better now. But where the little cut is on her tail doesnt look so great. It does not look infect just looks like it is not healing. This silk back thing is now scaring me. I do not want to harm an animal because of my lack of knowing anything about silkbacks. I am totally re thinking this now. I can not get the mumidity about 34 percent. I even took the lid off of the water container. Should I put an undertank heater under the water bowl? I dont use them but I do have some. On a good note she is eating good even greens now. I got her silkworms in today and she loves them. I am going to take her to the vet on fri. I guess its a good thing I work there and I get a discount. I am just worried that I am going to hear all kinds of comments from people who work there. Noone seems to think silkbacks should be here. And I really dont want to hear it. I hope you guys can help......thank you
Click to expand...

To be honest it would be SOO much easier to help you over the phone. I can help with your above questions. but i am leaving for work and will be pressed for time later. (getting ready for the Repticon show this weekend) If you would like you can pm with you phone # and we can go from there. as for the cuts just put neosporin on the cut and leave it alone. I have hatched almost 20 silkies and only had a shedding problem once.
 
Back
Top