A second time Beardy Owner.

[Shoulon]

Hi everyone. I just recently (today) got A Bearded dragon. Its about 5-6weeks old. Named it Yoshi.
I had a Beardy almost four years ago but it died after 3weeks of owning it, due to cat. Now trying agian, and I will not fail. =/

Don't have any better pic's at the moment since my Camera's Flash broke. But any tips on what I should get or change?

Note - Old Picture.

--- New Picture ---

Current setup.

- 25Gal Vivarium
- 20" UVB Tube
- Ceramic Infrared Heat Lamp (no light, Im thinking this would be a big issue? )
- At the moment newspaper as substrate. Concidering Textured Tile or Reptile Carpet. (prolly Tile)
- Water bowl, Basking rock with hideout under. Fake plant which would be next to water bowl. ( not in pic.)
- *Need wall paper huh?**

and, most importiantly the bearded Dragon =)

 

[staylor]

Welcome and congrats on your new baby. The experienced people on here will let you know about your set up. I do know that once the baby gets bigger it will need no less than a 40 gallon breeder, but for now the viv he is in is good. I found my viv on Craigslist for $50. Just wanted to say a quick welcome and we are a fun group of people on here.

 

[lexi]

Welcome! ;D

Newspaper is a great substrate for a baby (your beardie is adorable, by the way! ) Can you tell me what brand of UVB tube you have? If you're in the US the ReptiSun 10 is the best tube UVB.

You'll need either a probe thermometer or a temp gun to get accurate temps (the stick on ones can be off by up to 20 degrees!). I think the probe ones are $7 at PetSmart or PetCo. The basking spot should be between 105*F-110*F, and the cool side at 85*F. The ceramic heat emitter is great for heat - especially if it gets below 65*F in your house at night. If so, they'll need some night time heat. A rheostat is a good buy, as well, though not necessary - it helps regulate the wattage of the bulbs so that you get perfect temps. It's so much easier than lowering and raising lights and heaters to get the temps right.

I'm not sure if you bought your beardie at a pet shop, and if you did what they told you but mealworms are a no-no for babies. Too hard for them to digest, so they can get impacted and it can be deadly. Same with food that is too large so make sure that the live prey you give your beardie is no larger than the space between his/her eyes.

Also, beardies like it bright, so if you add an incandescent bulb to the basking spot it will help keep the temps up as well as making it nice and 'sunny' for your beardie.

You'll also want supplements... baby beardies get fed 2 to 3 times per day (crickets, live prey, etc.) and should have greens available every day. RepCal is a great supplement - you'll want the calcium with D3, as well as a multivitamin. Herptivite (also by RepCal) is good. Dust the crickets or bugs once a day with the calcium, 5 times per week, and dust with multivitamin once a week. Calcium is very important to beardies. Without good supplements, they can get very ill. It is also possible to supplement too much, too, so if you follow that you should be ok. As far as foods, there is a great chart at the Beautiful Dragons site, which can be found here: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

That's all I can think of right off the top of my head. I wish you lots of luck with your new little one!

 

[Shoulon]

Thank you Staylor and Madison-Alexis.

@ Madison-Alexis - Thanks for the info, that's everything I was looking for, I knew about the worms already. I bought everything from petco so the UVB light is crap(T5 R-Zilla 20"). tomorrow ima get a thermometer from petco as temporary to make sure my beardy is all good.

I will be buying everything all over agian online since just the Ceramic Heat lamp and the UVB was 100$ for just those two items, items includes; Ceramic Heat lamp, UVB Repti Glow 10.0, ReptiCal (with VitD3), Two Coralife Digital Thermometer (these good?)

Also where do I get the UVB tube power source? I want one that just has a Cap at both ends. Don't see any at Pet Mountain.

 

[zebraflavencs]

Not sure what "caps at the end" type is...
But, I noticed that the tube seems to be a bit higher than 6-8" distance from baby. Also, the screen can block some of the rays, so I would suggest raising the basking site a bit more... Can you also move that fixture over closer to the basking site ? The heat and UVB should over lap on the basking area, so baby gets the benefit of both at the same time...
Just a few thoughts.. Everyone else got the rest.
Hope this helps out !
Janie

 

[lexi]

I will be buying everything all over agian online since just the Ceramic Heat lamp and the UVB was 100$ for just those two items, items includes; Ceramic Heat lamp, UVB Repti Glow 10.0, ReptiCal (with VitD3), Two Coralife Digital Thermometer (these good?)

Also where do I get the UVB tube power source? I want one that just has a Cap at both ends. Don't see any at Pet Mountain.

It's the ReptiSun, not ReptiGlo, for the tube UVB. I've heard you can get the fixtures for the tubes at places like Lowes or Home Depot. Are you in the US?

And for supplements the RepCal w/ D3 and the multivitamin (Herptivite). Both very important! ;D

The Coralife is fine for a thermometer. You don't really have to buy two of them, you can move it from the basking spot over to the cool side to get temps for each. Of course, it's easier with two.

These are a few sites I like for supplies:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/reptile-supplies/pr/c/6016
http://www.cheappetproducts.net/default.asp (this place is cheapest but he orders everything when you order it so it takes a bit longer - really nice people, though - the owner forwards their customer service # to his cell phone at night so there is almost always someone available if there's an issue)
http://lllreptile.com

And, I know there's more... I have a bazillion reptile-related bookmarks, so I'll try to go through them today and see if I can find some others for you.

 

[Shoulon]

Pet Mountian still ended up cheaper then the listed. only problem is they dont have any 24" ReptiSun UVB Tubes, cheapest I found was from http://www.cheappetproducts.net/default.asp but the shipping cost just ruins it.

 

[corrine]

I found this one:

http://lllreptile.com/store/catalog.../-/zoo-med-24-repti-sun-100-fluorescent-bulb/

 

[renich]

Hello and welcome to our forum! Your baby is adorable. Looks like everyone has given you great info.

Here's a link to the site's store. Proceeds help maintain the forum -
http://mybeardie.com/bearded-dragon-reptile-supplies.php?itemtype=ReptiSun

Thanks!

 

[Shoulon]

Ok so I got a Thermastat and at the rock its avrg at 94 degrees. Should I get something so he's closer to the heat or should I get a basking light also?

My room temp is at around 71 degrees During the day. idk bout night.

 

[renich]

I replied in your other post. I'd add a basking light.

 

[egg 80]

hi and welcome to the madhouse ;D
im not sure if anyone has mentioned to lazy to read all but i would look into covering 3 sides of the glass tank to help your little yoshi feel more secure and less intimidated about whats coming towards the tank, just remember no question is stupid etc all questions will be answered to the best of all our knowledge and just be careful of any information you may get from pet shops
good luck with your new beardie and glad to have you aboard
paul

 

[Shoulon]

Added a current look pic. It's dark cause theres no flash on the Camera, also the tanks will be moved to that shelf above. Also learned that the shirt covering the cool half makes better ambient temps. The cool side used to be around 74 Degree's now its 83 avrg.

For now Yoshi (two yoshi's on the boards?) is waiting for his new tank gear. uv bulb n ext.