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New Owner with LOTS of questions!

M

Minimom

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Hello: I/we are new baby bearded dragon owners. My son has wanted a Dragon for years but I wanted to make sure that he was old enough for the responsibility. He is now 12 and received "Gizzard" for Xmas.

When I bought Gizzard, I went to a pet store. The person helping me pick everything out for him was simply reading from a list of supplies recommended and I bought all that was on the list. I bought a very large reptile tank/aquarium, a light fixture with three bulbs in it, one for basking, reptile carpet (I read sand is a no no) a water dish, fake trees, a log for basking and a piece of driftwood. I also bought a cricket habitat, dust and food for the crickets. I bought a hygrometer and temp gauge.

The pet store employee told me to feed him two crickets in the morning and remove any live crickets at night before going to bed. We have been leaving all the lights on during the day and turning them off at night.

Now to my questions:

I asked about feeding greens and read online that absolutely NO lettuce is to be given. The pet store employee told me to only feed him baby crickets at first as he is too little to eat anything else. We have seen him eat his crickets but should we be giving him more than two per day?

After reading on this forum all the information I can find and yes, it has taken days, I bought organic mixed baby greens from the grocery store in order to give him a snack but don't know how much to give him and is the lettuce caution for real?

We have been misting him with clean/room temperature water a couple of times a day but I've also read about giving him a bath. How often should we be sitting him in a bath? The water should be the same temp for a baby, correct?

Sorry about all the questions but with all the information out there and all the different opinions, I am very confused. Lettuce? NO Lettuce? Sand? NO sand? Hopefully you guys will understand my confusion and give me guidance as this little fellow has become a family member and is loved tremendously already!
Thanks in advance,
Confused mom in Atlanta
 
Hello

Hello,

Congratulations on your new dragon.
Great you are asking questions as a new owner.
Personally, I don't use sand, but alot of people do. However, if you do choose to use sand, please use washed & sifted playsand. Do not use calcisand or vitasand as they clump when they get wet & cause impactions.
I personally would use non adhesive shelf liner, tiles or paper towels for a baby first until he is a year or so old. They lick everything when they are babies.
What type of UVB lights did you get? Please be specific. Is it a compact or coil light or a flourescent type of light. What brand is it?
What type of basking light are you using, is it a bright white light or a colored one?
What sized tank did you get?
What are you measuring your temps with, a stick on type of thermometer or a digital probe or a temp gun? It sounds like you got a stick on dual with the humidity & temperature gauge. Unfortunately, that will only measure the ambient temps, not the basking. So, you will also need to get either a digital probe or a temp gun for better accuracy. You can find a digital probe at walmart in the plants section, it is accurite brand. Or, you can get a temp gun from www.tempgun.com or www.reptileuv.com
As far as feeding goes, no lettuce, it is too watery & has no nutritional content & can cause diarrhea too. I would opt for mustard greens, collard greens, dandelion greens, escarole or endive as the greens.
Oh, no mealies, either. Just crickets, smaller than the space between the eyes & phoenix worms.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Tracie
 
Thank you so much for your reply. Unfortunately we threw away the sticker that was on the aquarium so I have no idea how many gallons it is. It is about 4 ft wide and has a screen top. The little thing looks so small in there! LOL The light is a flourescent fixture that has three bulbs in it. The PetSmart person came out of the back room with a list of what I needed to purchase and we pretty much went down the list and bought what it recommended.

We have two small, round gauges, one a thermometer and one a hygrometer. We have these sitting on the bottom of the cage and are keeping the temp around 80' and the hygrometer is reading around 50. We have been using sterilized, warm water to mist him as well as the moss on the bottom a couple of times a day.

I bought an organic salad mix and picked out what I believe to be dandelion greens. I washed a couple of the leaves and put them on his log but he has had no interest in them at all.

We have been giving him two crickets (very small) in the morning and if there are any lives ones at night, we try to get them out. He has been eating both of them so should we be feeding him again in the afternoon? I don't want the poor thing to be hungry.

My son is absolutely in love with him! He is a video game junky, even got new Wii and Xbox 360 Live games for Xmas but all he wants to do is sit and stair at Gizzard!

Thanks again for your help and I hope we are doing the right things!
 
Hello

Hello,

Ok, the aquarium sounds plenty large then, no problems there.
However, I do need more information from you please. I have a feeling that the petstore sold you cruddy UVB lights. Look on the tubes & it should have the brand stamped on them. They are long flourescent tube bulbs then?
IF it is an ESU or Zilla, I am afraid that you are going to have to take them back, as they are not good lights. What type of basking lights are you using?
The stick on thermometer is only good for measuring the ambient temps, & wont measure the basking temps. So you will need to get a digital probe or a temp gun for the measuring of your basking temps. The humidity is ok at 50% but no higher. They need humidity, but too much can cause a respiratory infection too. I would say 40% is pretty much perfect for them.
What did you decide on your substrate for him?
The greens sound fine, no problem, & the crickets are good sized, too. Yes, do not leave ANY crickets in at all during the night, or they will bite him.
Are you using calcium? What type & brand? At his age, he will need it 5 times per week.

Tracie
 
Hello

Hello,

A few other things. The flourescent tubes, are they long, or are they compact & shorter than the traditional flourescent tubes? This is very important, I need to know this information. Thanks!!
Yes, feed him 2-3 times per day, that is good, & dust with calcium once daily, 5 times a week.
The basking temps need to be 95-110 & the cool end 78-82.

Tracie
 
The lights are small coiled ones, not the long ones so that means I need a different light source. We think the two bulbs are the same and one bulb that they called the "basking" light is different. All three bulbs are in the same contraption and this thing just sits atop the screen.

We'll definitely go get a different thermometer today as well as a long tube light fixture.

What kind of calcium do I buy? Is there a dust or is it feed or what and do I put the "dust" directly on his body? The substrate I bought is called reptile carpet. We also have a mound of moss that I was told to mist once per day.

Because last night was New Year's Eve, my kids are still asleep as we had our annual kids and adult party last night. As soon as they wake up, I'll go into his room and get more specs on the light. I am worried now that he is not warm enough. Do you guys have a different "basking" light that is a different light source than the regular flourescent fixture?
 
Hello

Hello,

Ok, that is kind of what I thought since you said it was a setup already. The compacts or coils are not good lights, I hate to tell you that unfortunately.
I do need a brand though. Is it Exoterra Reptiglo, Zoomed Reptisun, or ESU/Zilla? This is very important. The compacts & coils have been causing alot of eye problems. I posted a report in the bearded dragons section. Please read that, it will give in depth information. The lights give off low wavelength UVB which is harmful for your dragon, & not to mention how low the actual UVB output it.
The better option is to get a single Reptisun 10 flourescent UVB tube bulb, (the long one) & then just get a bright white daytime basking light, for the heat. Just use a ceramic dome fixture to put the basking light in & then place that directly beside the UVB light.
I normally recommend the repcal calcium 4-5 times per week, & the repcal herptivite 1-2 times per week, for babies. Once they are adults, you can back down. You can usually find that at pet stores, but it is cheaper online though!
OK, great the reptile carpet is fine. You will just need to take it out weekly & wash it to make sure it stays clean. The moss, well, that is ok, just make sure he doesn't begin to eat it. The humidity should stay around 40% or so. Watch for mold growing from too high of humidity.
Let me know how things are going!

Tracie
 
Welcome to Fauna and the wonderful world of Beardies, Angel! :)

Tracy has done a good job of answering your questions, but I'd like to add a few things that I noticed from your posts...

2 crickets is NOT enough food per day for a growing baby dragon! If the crickets are of appropriate size (no larger than the distance between his eyes), he will be eating many of them at a feeding. A good rule of thumb is to drop in a couple at a time, and feed him all that he will eat in about a 10-15 minute period. Growing babies should be fed crix more than once a day, and a salad of diced greens should be left available at all times, replaced with fresh at least each morning. The greens should be put in a dish toward the cooler end of the tank, they will stay fresh and appetizing longer. What you picked out of the baby salad mix is more than likely a baby leaf lettuce, it looks very similar to dandelion greens. Try a variety of greens as Tracy suggested, all cut to appropriate size, and also try adding in finely cut bits of colorful veggies such as red or yellow peppers, squash, and even diced fruits such as strawberries.

50% humidity is pretty high for a Beardie. I would lose the moss in the tank (or at least stop misting it). I would also go with a simpler to clean substrate than the reptile carpet (I always used paper towel with my babies - cleanup is a snap!), but even the carpet is a much safer choice than the sand would be.

When you get your new thermometer, make sure you are measuring his temps directly under the heat source on his basking spot, as well as on the cool side and ambient temps. Beardies, babies especially, need the high temps (100-110) to properly digest their food. They need a specific basking light to produce this heat.
 
Thank you so very much. Tomorrow we will be returning the light fixture and buying what you suggested. I hope our Petsmart sells the correct ones. He actually ate some organic dandelion greens for us today although I didn't know how much to feed him, we put six or seven small leaves in and they ended up being gone when we checked back after a couple of hours.

We also sat him in a bowl with about 1/2 inch of warm water today but he didn't care too much for it as he kept trying to climb out.

I've been looking at online supply stores but seeing as we will be going to our local pet store tomorrow, I'll go ahead and buy the calcium the first time from there.

It seems like having playsand in the bottom will help with cleaning the tank as I suspect you could scoop it out like cat litter instead of having to take the carpet out once a week and clean it so maybe we'll get that tomorrow as well.

I'm worried about the light fixture so we will go as soon as we wake in the morning. Thanks again!
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I posted "changing to sand" before I read the last post from Cat 72 so paper towel is the way we will go now. Wow, so much information to absorb. It really makes me wonder why the pet stores sell things that are harmful to our pets and are so misinformed about so many things.
 
You are so right, Angel....the vast majority of the pet shops have no clue how to PROPERLY care for herps, but they like the $$$$ that selling all of the accessories they "need" with them. If they would just stock the RIGHT accessories, lol.

Most of the employess at the pet stores are just going by their store-provided training, which usually is sadly lacking or completely incorrect information.

I will say though, it's always refreshing to see a new Beardie owner going to such lengths to make sure they are doing things right for their new critter, kudos to you for being such a responsible owner! ;)
 
We bought a different light fixture, a 10 UVB long light and a ceramic round light fixture with a basking light, repcal calcium & the repcal herptivite. We will change his cage in a little while and replace the carpet with paper towels and take out the moss. I also bought two more thermometers, the adhesive kind, and a hammock (Alex's idea).

we bought yellow squash and strawberries along with what says is "wild organic greens" on the package so I'll see if I can figure out which ones are NOT lettuce.

Thank you guys so much. After we clean out the cage we'll take pictures of the little fellow!
 
So, the herpivite and calcium are to dust the crickets with on the times per week you stated above? I didn't realize that this stuff was to dust the crickets and I was wondering how you get it into the lizard.

Also I read that on the squash, I should cook it a little first or is it okay to just chop it up small like I'll do the strawberries?
 
Hello

Hello,

Great job, in getting everything all taken care of so quickly. I am sorry for all of the trouble. As stated, it is frustrating to go to a petstore & have them sell you stuff you shouldn't use!
The paper towels would be a better choice right now, for sure.
You can just grate or thinly slice the squash raw in fine slices for him & the strawberries can be fed several times a week, no problem.
The calcium & vitamins can be dusted onto the feeders. The calcium should be used 5 times weekly & the vitamins used 1-2 times weekly.
He should be offered feeders 2-3 times per day & offer greens & veggies daily, even if he doesn't eat it right away. Gradually, he will.
Keep us posted on him.

Tracie
 
Just make sure the strawberries are a small portion of the daily ration, a few bits sprinked on top of the salad. Different beardies all have different preferences, of course, but almost all of mine go completely crazy over strawberries...they also seem to really like the red and yellow bell peppers. Sometimes that bit of brighter color on their salad is enough to entice them into eating their greens (just like adding cheese sauce to get your kids to eat their broccoli I suppose, lol).

Looking forward to seeing pics of the lil guy. ;)
 
Hey guys, today he lost a portion of his skin, hopefully he is moulting? (sorry, I've had birds in the past and can't remember the correct word to use - LOL) Is this normal for him to do this already? We noticed a small part of his back flaking up today and then in his hammock a pinky finger sized piece. Does this mean he is growing or should I be concerned?

Here is his enclosure:
DSC02698%20(Medium).JPG


here is Gizzard (sorry pic quality isn't very good)
DSC02701%20(Medium).JPG


My 14-year-old is in love with Gizzard as well so if all goes well with him and we know we are doing everything we need to, I'll probably be purchasing another Dragon soon. The 14-year-old has always wanted a chameleon, anyone have any experience with those?
 
Hello

Hello,

Gizzard is a cutie. :D
The setup looks pretty good, too. The shedding is normal, & it means he is growing so there is no problems there!
Chameleons are pretty difficult to care for as a beginner. They require specialized watering systems, & care. What type were you thinking of?



Tracie
 
Oh my gosh, he is a tiny guy yet!! What a cutie! :)

One question, where do you have his "basking area" set up in his tank? It looks like the only raised area in there is that small piece of wood in the middle of the tank?

The best way to set up a basking area with the proper temps of 100-110, while still maintaining proper ambient temps, is to have something such as a rock (which will also radiate the heat) raised up closer to the basking light on one end of the tank (the "warm end"), allowing the temps to gradually drop toward the other end (the "cool end"). The basking temp needs to be measured directly on the spot where he will be laying, and the cool end temps should be monitored as well. What are you getting for temps readings?
 
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