Chief the Bearded dragon

[Laark]

well, I thought I should display my handsome boy chief. (Who is now shedding heavily, so these pictures aren't the most recent.)
Chief's pretty fabulous. this was his first day home. I couldn't wait to feed him and love him to death...fortunately I had a little more control.

A month later and chief got some rocks in his tank! he's lovin' the cuddles and feeding. He eats like a pig. almost 200 crickets a week (disregarding the ones that die in the keeper, or the ones that are too big to feed him)

He has somewhat lightly colored markings around his face, and he darkens as he goes.

He was unsure about the camera lens on my phone.

this was a week ago, during his daily "cuddle time". He likes sleeping under my shirt, or directly under my chin so that I can't bend my head to type around him.

Chiefs tank. several hiding caves, including the one he continues to dig himself under the rock. as well as three different ones in those actual rocks there. All are stable.

He loves this log. its on the "hot" side of his terrarium.

His hidey hole and climbing branches/wide basking branches.

He enjoys showing off his caves. you can only see two of them from here.

"Hi mom! I frolicked through my water dish and food dish and made a mess! but you think i'm adorable so it's ok."

He does have sand in his terrarium, and I check daily for issues. So far he enjoys burrowing a little, or digging spaces under things. He's finally hunting crickets instead of having me tong feed them to him. He refuses to eat any type of veggies, so any help on that would be appreciated.

 

[atochats]

All wonderful pics Chief is all that and a bag of chips! One tiny suggestion?...if he's not at least 10 inches from nose to tail tip I'd prolly stay away from sand. Go with the reptile carpet or paper towels till he gets bigger When he's ready stick with either Reptisand or washed sifted children's playsand. Stay away from Calcisand like the plague. Hope to hear and see more of you two.

 

[Luvthemanimal]

Like atochats said ditch the sand.

Even though you r checking to make sure there r no issues you can not see inside your beardie.
They lick everything and one particle here one particle there equals a cement block in his tummy over time.

Yes it looks pretty but it really does more harm than good to your beardie.

Mines over 14" now and still has newspaper as a substrate.

Cheers.

 

[Laark]

well my family never actually has newspaper, or paper towels (silly I know.). er...I have been considering tile though. could that be a possible substrate choice for chief? it would make cleaning a lot easier. though I'd have to sand down some things....

 

[atochats]

Ceramic tile with a rough texture is a GREAT choice as a substrate! Measure the inside of your tank and pick yourself out some 12x12 or 6x6 or both...ask if the store can cut them for you if you need a bit shaved off some of the sides. I have access to a diagram here somewhere for a 40gal breeder tank I can try to post...what size is your tank?

 

[atochats]

Original post by Mungis Buddah

 

[Laark]

mines a 40 gallon =) my dads a construction worker and i help him out, so we own our own tile saw and I can easily use it for this. I think I have three choices for tile though.

-salteo
-travertine (which is smooth and has many holes, so its not a likely choice, but its there...)
-slate

Im leaning towards slate because its really quite lovely, as well as very well textured and has its own natural "shelves". Salteo has a rough surface as its basically clay, but is really plain and stains easily (not that this would be basic salteo, not the glossy finished stuff.) and travertine has a glossy finish and is pretty, but i dont really like it for this tank. though it comes in large slabs of 2x2 foot tiles.
which do you think would be best?
the slate is a dark grey with different hues in it, so would that absorb more heat? could that be an issue? the salteo is clay colored, and the travertine is white/tan.


also that chart is very, very helpful!! I was wondering how I could lay it out x.x

on a bizzare, slightly off topic side note...
should I add some fake plants to his tank? i think they'd look nice, and could add some nice hiding places for chief (who as of five minutes ago, has been identified as female...whoops.)

 

[atochats]

NO to the fake plants! It is possible for beardies to mistakenly eat part of them...which would in turn possibly lead to impaction issues. Tile...key things to keep in mind are 1. No matter how hard you scrub...you'll never get bacteria out of the pores of the stone. It will absorb fluids. Choose as non porous of a stone as you can. 2. Texture... you want a nice rough surface. It helps keep their toenails short. It sounds like you got it goin on girl! I dont know how the color of the stone might affect temperature you'll have to kinda play with it. If it were me given those choices I'd go with the slate. Get and trim yourself extra for replacements down the road if one breaks or stains get too bad etc.

 

[atochats]

Saw

NO to the fake plants! It is possible for beardies to mistakenly eat part of them...which would in turn possibly lead to impaction issues. Tile... a wonderful option! but key things to keep in mind are 1. No matter how hard you scrub...you'll never get bacteria out of the pores of the stone. It will absorb fluids. Choose as non porous of a stone as you can. 2. Texture... you want a nice rough surface. It helps keep their toenails short. It sounds like you got it goin on girl! I dont know how the color of the stone might affect temperature you'll have to kinda play with it. If it were me given those choices I'd go with the slate. Get and trim yourself extra for replacements down the road if one breaks or stains get too bad etc.

Oops...I just meant to edit...not QUOTE myself. I added that tile is a great choice. I'm a blonde gimme a break

 

[Laark]

Alrighty, no fake plants then ^^ thank you! I didn't realize beardies could nom them, though it makes sense once I think about it. We have several boxes of slate which is nice. As for the bacteria issue, would baking the slate during cleaning help remove that issue? I bake the rocks in his tank, as well as the wood. To prevent any outside issues popping up.

Another side note, can beardies become stressed out like fish? I have a cat that sits in a chair in my bedroom that watches him constantly, and was wondering if that could cause stress for him? (the cat is never in there if I am not in there. And the lid is never off of her tank, and chief is never out of her tank around my cat.)

 

[atochats]

Baking the slate to kill bacteria? ...I'm not sure about that one. It certainly wouldn't hurt I don't think. Stress
.. is Chief showing signs of being stressed?

 

[Laark]

well thats just it, im not sure what signs of stress are. The only one I heard about was stomach markings? I really have no idea

 

[atochats]

Is SHE (haha) not eating well? Hiding often? In a lot of cases they'll get used to a cat or dog in the household without being stressed at all.

 

[Laark]

She is going through almost 200 crickets a week. and has no problems basking while the cat watches her. (also, my dad and I have agreed on renaming her Chief Lilly. Chief for short. woo not changing her name!)

My dog sleeps in my room at night and she never hides in the dogs presence. So I guess the cats don't bother her either. Now I feel better. I sort of stress out about if chiefs ok or not. The first week of having chief was hell on my stress levels. I continuously worried about the lights malfunctioning and the temps spazzing out. If you haven't noticed, I kind of like talking about chief.

 

[atochats]

LMAO that's totally fine. This is the place to do it. Sounds to me like she's doin just fine

 

[Laark]

to be honest, during my six months of research I stalked this particular site for helpful info I'm glad I finally had the courage to join it! So far everyone has been quite nice, and very helpful! I really appreciate it, since it definitely helps to not be completely on my own here.
And my dads grateful that I will stop randomly spurting info about beardies at him.

 

[atochats]

I'm sure I'm not alone in saying we're happy to have you here Also on a side note...thanks again to Mungis Buddah for the original dimensions posting, and also Germ who took the time to dig it up and re-post it when I needed it!

 

[Laark]

Thank you guys =) it definitely helps price wise. much cheaper to buy the slate than it would be to do an emergency vet run I do appreciate the help!!

 

[Luvthemanimal]

Slates a good choice for the basking area for sure as it will absorb ALOT of heat. Just watch how hot it gets because don't wanna burn her belly as they have no heat "sensors" on the belly and will just lay there..

Beardies are easily stressed. If the have grayish lines on there neck and bellies those are stress mark. When nothings on them and it's pure white they r happy.

Baking the rocks is an awesome idea to kill of bacteria etc. I would fallow that with hot water and vinegar scrub. It will kill of parasites etc. Don't ever use bleach.

As atochats said don't use fake plants. As they look pretty to you they serve no purpose to your beardie other than a possible health risk. Make sure she has some places to hide under to get out of light etc.

You have a great handle on things. And luck to have easy access to all tile and tools. Lucky girl u r.

Cheers

 

[Laark]

Thank you she has several hiding places throughout the tank, so plants wouldn't be needed as hiding places ^^ and thanks for the stress tip I will look for that in the future on my girl.