Hellow

[Ric]

I'm Ric and this is Magma

She's being held by my daughter. She actually belongs to her. I've had her two days now. She's from Bloodbank Dragons.

This is the top of the tank that she is in.

I have two 18" Reptisun 10.0's Basking temps are 110-117 cool side is a low 80's and the tank never drops below 78 in the summer. We will see how it is in the winter. She's on slate tile and we're going to paint some cardboard for a temporary background and maybe find a log for the length of the tank. I want to build a background and basking site from foam when it cools down enough to work outside.

She's fed crickets and dubia right now. I have some phoenix but she won't touch them. She did lick one when I first offered them and she shook her head like my dog does when he smells a stinkbug. They do smell worse than crickets though so I don't really blame her.

She is my second one. We lost the first one to a combination of being a week old when sent home with me, a novice, and having coccidia and catching it too late. They offered me another one but wanted the other one back. We had already buried her. We also weren't willing to risk getting another dragon from that shop. I was told too much wrong advice and sold subpar products. I just walked out still with a store credit that I prolly won't use.

Anyway, Magma seems very healthy and has given consistently good poos, I have pics if anyone wants to see :. She eats minimally in the mornings but a good bit around lunch and minimally in the evenings. I have seen her munch on the veg pile everyday so far though so I'm not all that concerned. The first day she ate about one 1/4 of the plate.


The only thing I've seen her do that might be cause for concern, is scratch her head and nose against the floor once yesterday.

 

[renich]

HI and welcome. Gorgeous little one you have!

Sorry about your first dragon. It has happened to the best of us. Poor advice. You'll see and hear it over and over again. A sad truth.

I would say the scratching may be relief from a shed coming on. As long as you don't have anything sharp that would cut her, you should be fine.

 

[staylor]

Welcome and sorry about your first baby. looks like you have a good handle on things now. Thank you for the pics she/he is beautiful. The rubbing of the face sounds like a shed coming on. Both of mine do this when their faces start to shed. You may also see the beard puff out too.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but 117 is too hot at the basking site even for a little one. A good temp is 105-110*

 

[Craiger]

Welcome aboard, Ric. It's very nice to have you, here.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but 117 is too hot at the basking site even for a little one. A good temp is 105-110*

This can be a "hotly" debatable topic. On some forums, you'll get flamed for suggesting 105-110* Fahrenheit. There are some that'll tell you their beardie does much better with a higher basking temp (some around 125*F). Some will tell you they do worse. I'm just not real comfortable with having my temps that high....especially given the fact that parasites tend to increase at a faster rate with the higher temp. Personally, I try to stay within the 105-110 F range.

117* is probably okay...especially since he's able to keep the cool side of the enclosure in the low 80s. It just means that beardie won't have to bask as long in order for proper digestion. If it were me, I'd just leave it alone and keep a close eye on beardie to see how it does. If it doesn't want to bask, I'd drop it and see how he/she reacts to the change. If it decides it wants to bask, now, I'd keep it at the lower temp.

 

[Vesta]

Welcome...What a beautiful Dragon!!! Love the colors!! ;D

 

[pscaulkins]

Welcome, what a cutie pie you have..

 

[staylor]

Thank you for that info Craig, did not realize some keep the temps that high. Piggy will not bask if her temp are over 105* so she would prob have a fit if they were 125*

 

[Ric]

I would say the scratching may be relief from a shed coming on. As long as you don't have anything sharp that would cut her, you should be fine.

I think she just finished a shed. Her first bath had a lot of flakes in it.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but 117 is too hot at the basking site even for a little one. A good temp is 105-110*

She's just hitting two months. I've read and heard more to raise the temps for the young ones than I have not to. She basks almost all day and has never hidden but does wander the tank some.

 

[Craiger]

Thank you for that info Craig, did not realize some keep the temps that high. Piggy will not bask if her temp are over 105* so she would prob have a fit if they were 125*

It was a big deal a couple years ago. There were some that kept monitors and beardies (not in the same enclosure, mind you) that claimed their beardies faired much better at the higher temps. There are monitors that need their basking temp up around 140* or higher, but as we all know, beardies are not monitors. However, that doesn't mean that beardies "can't" benefit from a higher basking temp. There are just those of us that aren't comfortable with it for the very reason I already mentioned. Parasites thrive in higher temps. If our beardies can digest their food properly and enjoy basking at 105 to 110, I'll most defnitely feel better providing that environment.

 

[Ric]

That said though I just got an infrared thermometer and it's reading about ten degrees lower than the probes are. I'm wondering if maybe the black probe is collecting and storing heat that it is reading wrong.

 

[Craiger]

I'd trust the temp gun over the digital thermometer any day. Have you been able to verify either one? Perhaps check the thermostat in your house and take a test measurement of one of your walls with the temp gun to see what you get. If the temp gun reads accurate, I'd take out the digital thermometer.

 

[Ric]

Well, I bake a lot. I saw the zilla thermometer in petstupid one day for cheap. So I bought it to use to test my water for yeast. So i know that it reads the water correctly cause yeast won't work over 110 or under 100. I've always mixed at 105 so... But measuring water for a couple of seconds vs cooking in direct light for hours i think makes a difference in the appliance collecting the heat vs reading the area correctly.


I don't know. Has anyone else experienced this?

It is a cheap thermometer from Harbour Freight that I gave $29 for.

I think it's a matter of ambient heat vs direct heat. It's been a long time since bio 101

 

[staylor]

What could be making the reading higher is if the probe is in direct contact with the basking surface. there is a thread in here somewhere I will dig up saying how to take the temps with a probe.

 

[Ric]

So I played with it some. The thermo was reading 118 by it's own read out. I shoot the infrared at the probe and it reads 118. I shoot the rock that it's laying on about 1/4 inch away and it reads 110. at an inch from the probe the rock measures 105.

So from that I would say that the probes are more for ambient temp. If you want a surface temp then you need a non contact thermometer.

My question now becomes what temp do I need to be concerned more about? A surface temp or an ambient temp?

 

[Ric]

What could be making the reading higher is if the probe is in direct contact with the basking surface. there is a thread in here somewhere I will dig up saying how to take the temps with a probe.

That would be cool.

 

[staylor]

http://mybeardie.com/bearded-dragon-forum/bearded-dragon-habitats/using-a-probe-thermometer/

 

[Ric]

That helped a little bit.

Thanks

 

[Ric]

Wow. I put the phoenix in a small bowl and set them in her tank. She looked then went back to basking. So I put her in the bowl with them. She started to run then noticed them and stopped tilting her head side to side and then went to town. I had about 20 in there and realized too late that she was going to want more quickly. I went and go some and when I came back the bowl was empty and she was perched on the side looking out towards me kind of smacking her lips and holding her mouth open and flicking her tongue. LMAO. I may be wrong but I swear she wanted more. I tossed the others in there and she was eating them as they fell from the tray they were on into her bowl. She left about 10.

Just WOW

 

[Craiger]

That's cool, Ric!

Oh....and you want to keep track of the surface temp, not air temp.

 

[Ric]

Ate about 10-15 crickets this AM but only ate about two this evening and one or two phoenix.

I know they will gradually eat more as they calm and adjust to the new surrounding sounds and smells but I dunno. I've lost one and dammit I don't wanna lose another. Shouldn't she be eating more? This is only the end of the third day though. I worry.