NEW BEARDIE OWNER

[dragongirl]

Hi everyone! I'm a new bearded dragon owner ( just got him last night). He seems stressed and isn't eating a lot. Is there any way to calm him?
Also, should I turn all the lights off when he goes to sleep? Or leave a heat lamp on (has a black bulb so no light is emitted.
He seems to be shedding a little too.
Here are pictures of the tank and my beardie (Mr. Steinbeck)
ANY COMMENTS/ FEEDBACK WOULD BE GREAT!

 

[PatsyB]

Welcome. At the bottom of my comment there is are links to some great startup information.

Lights should be turned off at night. If their tank drops below 65 degrees at night, you can use something called a ceramic heat emitter. It gives off heat with no light. Bearded dragons can see all sorts of light spectrums that we can't see. Black, Red, Blue, Purple lights are all bad to use because they can still see it. It casts a shadow over their head so that even though they are sleeping, they can still see the shadow and think that predators are after them.

Bearded dragons go through a period of relocation stress. Try to limit your handling for the first few weeks. When you do handle him, go slow and scoop him up from under his front legs, never go over his head to pick him up. It may also help to cover 3 sides of the tank to make him feel a little more secure.

You have a lot of lights on top of your tank. What are you using for UVB? Also, what do you use to measure your tank temps?

 

[dragongirl]

Thank you!
I have an exo terra thermometer in the center of the tank, two digital thermometers on each side, and an ink bird thermometer in the center as well.
The basking area is 97 degrees F; the light is a powersun UVA & UVB. (It gets very hot so I will sometimes raise the light).
On the middle (I usually have this light off) is a ceramic heating light.
On the opposite end it is 82 degrees F; the lights are a reptisun 10.0 UVB (have this on) and the other bulb is a repti basking spot lamp 75 W (usually have this one off).
The floor is zoo med, eco carpet.
We got him from a pet store and his tank there was (at the most) 70 degrees F.
If you could help me with the lighting that would be great!

 

[BeardedHippy]

Hi, welcome to BDF,first forget anything they told you at the pet store, on the whole they have little to no clue about the needs of beardies. You need the basking light on, he needs it to digest his food, also the UV. Leave the ceramic heater off unless it gets really cold. There are a number of articles here about lighting, click on the links under Patsy's post, that is a good place to start, then your more specific questions can be answered.
How old is he? he looks about 10 inches long from your pic, but maybe you have small hands lol
hes gorgeous anyway

 

[PatsyB]

His basking spot needs to be at least 107 degrees, 97 is too cold for him. The digital probe thermometers are good but they only work if you put them right on the basking spot. Having them taped on the wall of the tank is only going to give you the reading at the wall of the tank and not where your beardie is actually sitting.

I'm assuming that the ReptiSun 10.0 is a compact bulb. Those are okay to use in an emergency situation but they don't provide adequate UVB coverage. If you are using a PowerSun then you shouldn't need additional UVB bulbs. Most people use a ReptiSun T5 tube style UVB and a dome light with a basking bulb. A CHE is good for night if your tank temps drop below 65 degrees.

When BeardedHippy said that the basking light should be on, they meant during the day so they can digest their food but all lights should go off at night. Make sure your last feeding is at least 2 hours before lights go out for the night so that they have time to digest.

 

[Hdrydr31]

I would also like to add you need the basking bulb and the UVB bulb to overlap some as they need the combo to digest and covert the nutrients properly..
Yes take a look at the links below our comments for the info for new comers.. you can also find these info threads in the general care discussion section at the top..