New beardie owner here

[smackey]

hi guys, im a noob to lizard world and i just got a juvenile bearded dragon 2 days ago. I bought the 40 gallon exo-terra terranium for his enclosure. I also have the 100W basking bulb and the resptisun 10.0 for the ubv. Here is the pic of the enclosure.

What do you guys think of the setup? Did I place the lights correctly? The temp on cold side is 77F and the basking spot is 98F.
I noticed that my beardie is not moving a lot and usually he will bask just under the log. he will also stay in one spot for hours without moving.

I have to move him manually into the top of the log so that he could get more heat.

he also don't have a lot of apetite and will not move to eat. It would have to be in front of him so he would eat it. Yesterday he ate 1 mealworm and 1 small cricket. I noticed that he is also shedding skin on his legs. Is that the reason why he is not moving and eating a lot? i would appreciate any suggestions and tips. thank you guys.

 

[alexonti]

Welcome!!

 

[Josh]

Hello and welcome! It is normal for dragons to bask and lay out for a while. It's not normal for him to not be eating voraciously. Are you positive the areas he can reach are hot enough for a basking spot?
Is the ambient warm enough to keep him happy? Sometimes with such large enclosure and tiny dragons, they can get drafty and feel cold or vulnerable being out in the relative open

 

[smackey]

Hello and welcome! It is normal for dragons to bask and lay out for a while. It's not normal for him to not be eating voraciously. Are you positive the areas he can reach are hot enough for a basking spot?
Is the ambient warm enough to keep him happy? Sometimes with such large enclosure and tiny dragons, they can get drafty and feel cold or vulnerable being out in the relative open

Thats the reason im concern is because i heard that juvenile beardies should have a big apetite compared to adults. Right now i don't have a temp gun to accurately monitor the ambient of the enclosure. Im using the exo-terra thermo/hygro combination for now. The cold side is around 77-79 and basking spot is 98-101 on the top branch. I cannot get it to 110. im using 100w bulb should i get a higher wattage to increase the temps? do you think he might still be under stress and not yet fully acclimated thats why he's very inactive?

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

Firstly your dragon is stressed from the trauma of being in a new environment and will require a 10+ day acclimation period. That is part of what is going on with him. When creatures stress especially reptiles the very first thing they do is go off food.
You need to give him time and patience and minimize handling during his acclimation period.
Secondly in order to get his temps and gradient read correctly and set up right it is best done using 2 (two) digital thermometers with remote probes. One needs to be placed in the coolest part of the enclosure to get his cool side temp.
The other probe needs to be attached directly to the basking spot. Not near it but directly to the basking spot. This can be done using a variety of methods. I use simple zip ties.
One you have the probes attached and placed properly then you can determine whether or not a higher or lower wattage bulb is needed to get the basking spot at the right temperature of 110 degrees F that your dragon need.
With out the right temp and proper UV your dragon can not process food which is another partial reason he may not be hungry.
Your UV and basking light both need to be shining onto his basking spot. This can be accomplished by setting them up as in this diagram at either end of the tank.

Your dragon will spend the vast majority of his time on his basking spot so setting the lights up like this will ensure he gets the UV he needs and by doing it at one end of the tank it will give him an area on the other end of the tank to get away from the UV when he desires.
Here are some other links to a wealth of correct info on bearded dragons and their proper care that will help you get up to speed
Enjoy

Basic BD Care Sheet-A Place to Start

Bearded Dragon Exclusive Care Library

Bearded Dragon Diet Nutritional Information

Bearded Dragon Co-Habitation-A Good Plan???

How To Sex A Bearded Dragon

 

[CMahoney]

Welcome! Your dragon will be fine as long as you keep your heat/uvb gradient correct and ensure he is getting proper nutrition. As mentioned above, make sure you change your lighting so that your dragon may receive heat (around 110 degrees fahrenheit for younger dragons) and uvb from his basking spot. When you move your uvb light it may make the cool side too dark so you may want to look into investing in another light just to brighten up the cage a bit; this will encourage him to be more active and increase his appetite. It looks like you have a cave of some sort so he will still have the option to hide away if he ever wants to. Also try hand feeding your insects and see if that will help him eat more if he is having a problem with that. Very good looking dragon by the way. They get big very fast!

​

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

If you choose to add ambient light on the cool side of the enclosure you will want to make sure and use a very low watt fluorescent bulb that will not emit heat that would throw off your cool side temp and gradient. It is a totally optional thing though. I use a 13 watt coil type on our Mungi's enclosure over the cool side but it is purely used due to the live streaming video we run on his enclosure each day so that the video picture looks better. He could truly care less about a cool side light...lol
I really would not encourage hand feeding of your dragon as has been suggested. The main thing that he needs is time to settle in and in order to provide him minimal added stress during that time it is important that handling and direct interreaction be avoided and kept to only that which is absolutely necessary. By doing this he will acclimate much faster.
The other reason that hand feeding is not a great idea is that these dragons are very notorious for getting spoiled by such things as hand feeding and spoon feeding extremely quickly. They tend to have a very lazy streak in them anyway which comes out more and more as they age. Once they get accustomed to you hand feeding them (which can happen after only a few days) they will then expect it and be less inclined to hunt and chase their live prey after. Then you will have to revert to good old tough love to get them back to going after their dinner on their own.
An occasional hand fed offering is okay but more than that is a bad idea.
Again..Best course of action here is to make the corrections to his enclosure to get his temps right and just give the lil guy a little room to settle into his new home

 

[smackey]

Thanks for the advice guys. Im considering moving the whole the uvb fixture inside the tank so he could get more exposure from the light. Any advice on how to do it? Do you guys think double sided tape will hold it on place?

 

[Germ]

Hot glue

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

You can use an inexpensive under cabinet mount fixture found at Walmart and many other places for under 10 bucks and as Germ mentioned use hot glue to mount it like I have in the pic below.
It would however mean that you will need to remove the faux rock background. Those are cool but you will find that they don't last very long anyway. Your dragon has a nice set of claws that will grow even more sturdy as he ages and that background is just a light layer of paint over foam. They also usually offer feeders a great place to hide behind. My opinion is that they are more suitable for reptiles that don't have claws which they love to dig or climb with.
Anyway here is the pic of an inside mount for the UV light using hot glue

 

[ravenwolf]

hello and welcome, the above links really helped me out when I first joined looking for info so have a good read of them, try not to worry little ones in all species can get a bit overwhelmed with a lot of space and of course travelling and settling in can offset them so keep an eye on his/her weight and if necessary put a divider into the setup just to make it smaller if you think that will help, some dragons don't really seem too fussed by a lot of space but I have heard of some folks who use a divider in a larger viv and gradually increase the size as the dragon grows

 

[smackey]

hi guys i just want to give an update of my beardie's viv. i moved the uv light inside using electrical wires and gorilla tape to hold it on place. i noticed that he is getting more active now. i even gave him a bath today and he poop in the water. Also he ate two crickets and a bit of salad today.

BTW, my beardie's name is stewie and he looks more happier now.

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

He does look quite happy indeed!
BTW, you need to keep an eye on the tape that you used for mounting your fixture inside the enclosure. The heat inside there and from the fixture may soften the adhesive causing a potential danger of the fixture dislodging and falling.
It would be much more secure and safe if you would use the hot glue as has been suggest to mount the fixture.
Enjoy!
Edit...I misread your post about that you had used both wire and tape to secure the fixture. As long as you are sure that it is secure then should be no worry.
Good Job!

 

[smackey]

Stewie chilling on his viv. The shedding slowed down probably because i gave him a bath everyday.

 

[Noella]

Great that Stewie's doing better. He looks a lot happier than the first pic.

Welcome to BDF.

 

[smackey]

Thanks. He had a full body shed two days ago. I noticed that his color is turning lighter too.

 

[smackey]

Just a couple of pics i took the other day.

 

[smackey]

 

[ravenwolf]

looking great

 

[smackey]

Thanks. the little guy has a monster apetite for dubias (almost 50/ day) but still wont touch his veggies though.