New Beardie Owner

[Meganimoo]

Hello, I'm new on this site and to beardies in general. I bought a 2 month old beardie 2 days ago. He seems fine, he's not very active but I'm guessing that will change as he gets comfortable with his enclosure. He's eating plenty.
I have him in large vivarium with all the right heat and uv lamps etc. Here's a pic of his tank, what do you think?
The temperatures are usually at 35-37 degrees hot side, and cool side about 27 degrees. Is that too hot for the cool side? At night it drops to about 22.
Any tips you can give me will be greatly appreciated thanks! X

 

[Josh]

Love the enclosure! He'll have lots of fun in there!
As for activity - he looks healthy, maybe a bit lean. I bet as he eats more and more his energy level perks right back up! COngrats on the new addition, welcome to the BDF family and thanks for sharing about your cute dragon!

 

[Germ]

Pretty enclosure ... I'm thinking that those Plants offer too many places for the feeders to hide, which will make it difficult for your new Dragon to find it's crickets or whatever other feeder you are using. Possibly being a stresser. Also are an impaction risk should it try to feed on them & pull a peice of & ingest it. The stick structure blocks much of the enclosure floor from the light for a young dragon also provide hiding spots for feeders as most are nocturnal & will hide to get out of the light.

To start out with, it is generally better to use the K.I.S.S Method (Keep It Simple Stupid). Once your BD is a little older, more acclimated, then dress up the enclosure.

It is generally recommended to keep handling minimal & to maintenance only for the first week to 10 days, to allow as stress free an acclimation period as possible & to get it used to you as it's food source.

Where exactly are you measuring your Basking Temps (hot side)? They should be measured directly at the Basking Spot, the hottest point that your BD has access to, generally the closest point to the Heat Bulb. The Basking Temp Should be in the 43-44C range. The cool side should be in the 27-30C range.

A young BD (Under 10" from nose to tip of tail) should not be on a particle substrate of any kind. The substrate appears like it could be Calci-Sand, if it is, it is a dangerous High Impaction Risk substrate for any age BD. If it is Repti-Sand, that would be fine once your BD is 10+", but should not be used until it is bigger than that.

X-Ray of a BD with a Calci-Sand Impaction. More like a Rock with legs, than a BD.

Not as elaborate as yours, but this gives the basic temps & such required & where.

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/#ixzz24C4MnBer​

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?

​

​

Welcome to BDF & Good Luck​

 

[blackclaw83]

I love the viv. Looks great. I agree with germ though on the feeder hides. My first attempt had the same problem. Welcome and great looking dragon

 

[Meganimoo]

So far I've been feeding him from tweezers because he doesn't seem to catch them himself. He's not interested in his veg at all at the moment, the calcium powder is what was recommended at the pet shop. I was told he needed a hide so I got a big one so he can grow into it. The thermometers are right on his basking spot and at the lowest point on the other side of the tank. I don't know why its not getting hot enough, should his basking spot be a bit higher? Thanks for all the tips

 

[blackclaw83]

He really dosnt need a hide as of yet. The reason he may be having an issue is all the hides that are there. The basking light may need to be alittle lower or as you said the area for basking may need to be higher. One other issue i see is the branch by the UVB bulb, that one there is to close and there may be reason to worry about burns. I dont know since i could not see any other angles. I am not tring to nit pick bud. Just tring to help out.

 

[Meganimoo]

Okay I'll take the wooden hide out for now, and put the stick on the bottom instead. And I'll see if he's interested in catching his crickets then thanks. I just gave him a bath because I noticed he's only done one poo since I got him. But he didn't do any in the bath :/

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[blackclaw83]

What size Crix are you feeding

 

[Meganimoo]

They are called 3rd brown crickets. They are really tiny, he eats them fine. I've changed his tank around a bit, it looks a bit empty now! But if that's better for him then its fine

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[Germ]

To get the temps hotter at the Basking Spot, as you said, raise the basking spot or use a hotter bulb.

Pet Stores are notorious for giving incorrect, dangerous information. Very few are species specific knowledgeable of proper husbandry. BDs will very rarely us their hide, most do not put one in a young BDs enclosure because if it does use it it keeps them away from there needed UVB, heat & provides a haven for the feeders to hide in. He likely won't hunt himself because as mentioned earlier, the enclosure is too cluttered to start out with, giving to many hiding spots.

That enclosure is pretty to look at, but the set up is not very practical for a young BD starting out, should be much simpler furnished right now. What about the substrate? You should also get that out of there until it is older. What is it?

 

[Meganimoo]

The substrate is sand. I read about it being bad for them because they can eat it but the woman at the pet shop said she's had beardies for years and they've always had sand :/ so I thought it would be okay. Also cos that's what they live on in the wild x

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[Germ]

Sand is okay for larger BDs, I also have housed all my larger BDs on Strained Children's Washed Play Sand. But it is dangerous for smaller ones under 10". I really recommend removing it for a while until it gets bigger. Is it regular sand or is it Calci-Sand?

 

[Meganimoo]

Its just regular sand. What would you recommend instead of sand?

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[Germ]

Paper towel, newspaper, butchers paper, no-adhesive shelf liner, repti-carpet, textured ceramic tile, slate, textured lilo, vinyl deck flooring, and the list goes on. There are any number of Non-particle substrates that can be used for a youngster.

 

[Meganimoo]

Okay I'll look into it. The sand came free with the tank so its not like its a waste of money. I've just fed Percy again with less clutter and he chased after the crickets he's soo cute!

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[Meganimoo]

Also.. The temps have gone to 41 on hot side and 29 on cool side.

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[Germ]

You could save the sand & use it in a few months if you like. Sounds good on the hunting on his own. Sometimes good advice helps .

Good Luck