New Bearded Dragon Owner

[Mysticfly]

Hello everyone. I am new to bearded dragons. My husband purchased a baby bearded dragon and setup for my birthday. I been reading alot about them. I was able to sex my baby bearded dragon by lifing his tail and seeing the little 2 nodes.We named him Cajun. I am not sure what type of breed he is for color wise. This is the setup he bought for him is http://www.zilla-rules.com/products/deluxe-bearded-dragon-kit.htm . I am not using subtrate for him, He has tan reptile Carpet.Here is a picture of the little guy. I am trying to figure out how to keep his humidity up. I have read mixed opinions on care. Anyone have any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you !!

 

[Pat B]

He sure is a handsome dude. I am thinking your tank is a 20 gal? I looked at the site but didn't see the gal size it just said 20-long. Eventually you will probably want to get a 40 gal. I never worry about humidity and don't keep water in Spikes enclosure. Your main concerns are temperature for basking and the cool spot. It is suggested to let him acclimate to his home for about 10 - 14 days. If you don't have digital thermometers with a probe that is the way to go. It gives you a very accurate temperature unlike the round ones. Someone on the forum will post some things to read which are very good. Oh....duh....Welcome to BDF. Best beardie forum on the internet!! Come back often and good luck with your little guy!!

 

[Mysticfly]

Thank you very much. He is a little cutie. Yes he is in a 20gallon long. His basking spot is around 100f to 110f. By the pictures could you tell me what kind of BD is he? Here is some pictures of his setup and a close up. We are not sure how old he is either.

 

[Germ]

You have a normal pretty\handsome Dragon ...

In my opinion, your set up is much too cluttered to start a young BD out in. It is best to use the K.I.S.S. method (Keep It Simple Stupid) to start out with. The way it is set up now, provides way to many hiding spots for the feeders, making it difficult for it to hunt for it's food. A water bowl is not needed, as most BDs will not recognize standing water to drink from & will just raise the Humidity. I don't understand what you mean by figuring out how to keep the Humidity UP . The majority of us have to figure out how to keep it as low as we can. Ideally the enclosure humidity should be in the vicinity of 10%-30% for a BD. These are a desert species, very few puddles to romp around in with low humidity in their natural habitat. Fake plastic plants can be hazardous, should it pull off a piece & ingest it.

Bearded Dragon 'Kits' are very poor setups & give newcomers a false sense that everything is right, when what is supplied is either 'crap' or not with the health & well being of the animal in mind. The thermometers that are supplied are garbage & not suited for this application. Will give more the temp of the glass which is affected as much by the outside ambient room temp as the inside enclosure environment, thus inaccurate readings. Basking temps need to be taken directly at the Basking Spot, not half way up the back wall, where your BD will never be. How can you tell that it's basking temp is 100-110F, when your thermometer is not anywhere near the basking spot or from the looks of it, even on the right side . As Pat mentioned, Digital Thermometers with a sensor\probe that can be placed\attached directly on\to the basking spot, are what is required, along with another one that can be placed at the coolest area of the enclosure, generally the area furthest from the basking bulb. Those 8.5" dome fixtures are too wide, making it very difficult to get the Basking & UVB Bulbs close enough together to be effective at the basking spot.

Night lights\heat are not wanted or needed. Night heat should not be provided unless your ambient room temps drop below the mid to low 60sF at night. A BD should be allowed to cool at night, it slows their metabolism for a good nights rest, generally normal room temps are just fine & night lights of ANY color will bother most BDs sleep. Should your ambient room temps drop below this at night, a low wattage CHE (Ceramic Heat Emitter) should be used on a dimmer or thermostat to provide just enough heat to take the edge off with no emitted light.

Both the Basking & UVB bulbs should be placed side by side over the Basking Area in order for it to receive any benefit from it, because if your temps are setup properly with the right heat gradient (110F Basking Spot - 80-85F Cool Side), that is where it will spend the majority of it's time, so it will receive the needed heat to enable it to digest it's food & UVB which will enable it's Body to manufacture it's own Vit D3, which in turn allows it's system to process it's much needed calcium intake.

Example of a Basic Setup: Showing the recommended Basic requirements, proper Temperatures & the points at which they should be measured from, in Red & the optional choices that are actually used in this particular example enclosure, in Black.

Read More: http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/index.php?threads/basic-bd-care-sheet-a-place-to-start.5177/​

A few good links to help get you started ...

Basic BD Care Sheet - A Place To Start

Bearded Dragon --- Exclusive Care Info Library

Beautiful Dragons Nutrition Chart

Is Bearded Dragon Co-habitation a good plan?

How To Sex A Bearded Dragon

Good Luck

 

[Mysticfly]

Thank you so much. About the humidity, We was told by the so called pet store that it needed to be at least 50% to 60% Humidity. We have a veiled chameleon and her humidity is set for that. So we thought that was kind of odd for BDs. We moved the(garbage) Themometer/Humidity gauge near the basking spot. His humidity is at 13% as of now.We have removed the fake plant decore and water bowl.. My husband has a thermo temp gun from work. They use it to measure the temps above water in water tanks. I will be purchasing the correct one for reptiles tomorrow. We took the night bulb the kit came with out of its (small)fixture and placed the basking bulb in it. The basking and uvb bulbs are close together over his basking spot. We have tiny pin head crickets and some very small cut leaf peices of collard greens in his food bowl. He hasn't eaten anything as of yet. We do have Multivitamin Herptavite powder, calcium with and without d3 for our chameleon to share with his feeders when needed. He is in his basking spot and I notice he closes his eyes alot. When I turn the lights off he opens his eyes. Lights come back on he closes them. Could it be the type of lights we have? The basking bulb the kit came with is a Zilla Day Blue light incandescent bulb (150w). Once it was on for a bit, my husband checked the temp and it was reading 121f at the basking spot. Way to hot. My husband removed that bulb and placed a house bulb (90w) and the temps are staying at 109f as of now. The UVB bulb that the kit came with is a Zilla 50 Desert Series Flourescent UVB Coil Bulb. The basking spot is 9 1/2 inches from the bask light. I want to do everything I can to keep him healthy and happy. If there is any other corrections I need to make I will do them asap.

 

[Pat B]

Ah.....the petstore told me blah blah blah! Pet stores so called reptile specialist don't know squat. Please don't listen to them. Come to this forum for your questions. There are a lot of very knowledgeable people that will help.....Germ, Buddah (Brett) and Aleena are the moderators and really know their stuff. Good luck and come back often....

 

[Germ]

Any white\clear bulb of sufficient wattage to produce the basking temps required will do the job, so the 90w watt may just do it for you. Be sure to check your temps after the lights have been on for approximately 4+ hours to be sure everything in the enclosure has warmed up. Different setups have different distances & average ambient room temps, so we all have to play with different types & wattages of bulbs & distances from them to the Basking spot until we get it right. Personally, I use regular Halogen Bulbs (Philips to be exact - halogen, not the Halogena) found at most larger hardware stores, generally for less than half the price of a Pet Store bulb. I get mine at Home Depot. Brighter, whiter light (BDs thrive on bright white light), more heat per watt (So cheaper to run too). A 50W halogen would likely work well for you if you choose to go that route. Sometimes we have to raise the basking bulb (Sometimes just a bit off to the side) or raise\lower the basking spot to achieve the correct temps.

Infrared thermometers are great to use providing that you have access to the places that you have to measure without moving the lighting. Such as enclosures with split tops or front opening. That enclosure appears to have a full single screen top, meaning that the lights have to be moved to allow access to take the temps with an infrared, changing the heat radiation & therefore not giving you accurate readings. This is why Digital with a probe is the best all round solution & they give you constant readings at a glance when the sensors are placed\attached in the proper spots & left there.

Something like this works great, sometimes you will find the exact same thermometer in the Fish department, cheaper than in the reptile department .

Having the UVB bulb being filtered through the screen, which can block\reflect\filter as much as 50% of the UVB from ever entering the enclosure, so you should try to setup the basking spot so it is within approximately 8" from the center of the UVB bulb in order for it to be effective (UVB bulbs have a very limited effective range, do not emit effective amounts of UVB as far as the light radiates. If my memory serves me right, the Desert 50 is only effective to 12" from an unfiltered bulb), then find & setup a Heat bulb that will give you the proper temps at that distance. Sometimes takes some experimentation. UVB bulbs mounted above a screen, should be replaced, minimum every 6 months, as their effectiveness dissipates quite quickly as the bulb ages.

Also about the 'Kit', am pleased to see that you are not using the alfalfa pellets as a substrate, as it is also a very poor choice for BDs of any age.

 

[Mysticfly]

Wonderful information. It is greatly appreciated to have some guidence when we was put down the road to failure from a pet store. Thank you very much. What still worries me is his eyes closeing alot while he is basking. Is this behavior normal? Also how long can he go without eating? When we purchased him, he was with 2 other BDs his size in a small glass cube, free ranged small crickets and a bowl of small meal worms. So we not sure how much he ate before we got him or even if he ate at all.

 

[Germ]

As Pat mentioned earlier, it can take a week to 10 days for many BDs to acclimate to it's new surroundings, this is normal. During this time their appetite may be affected, but will improve as time goes on & they become more comfy in their new home. Also during this time, this can be the hardest part of being a new owner, try to keep handling to a minimum, for maintenance only, to help with as stress free a transition as possible. To answer your question about how long, I've seen some take a week or more to start eating consistently, with any luck, yours will not take so long.

As far as the closing of the eyes, this is also common, until you get things just right, even then they will often relax under the lights while basking with closed eyes. Keep an eye on them for any discharge or irritation though.

 

[Mysticfly]

That puts me at ease about his eyes.I will watch for it, Thank very much Germ !! I am very glad I found beardeddragonforum !!!

 

[Germ]

We will do our very best to help in any way that we can, with good solid, tried & proven advice through much research & many years hands on experience.