scorpius66
New member
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.
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.
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.
, I have no problem with the crickets
, I usually feed him a smaller size than he can handle anyway to be on the safe side and figure they are softer as well
