New to reptile keeping and need some advice

[amotoole]

Hi! I’m very new to reptile keeping and want to do things correctly. I was given a 20 gallon tank and informed that for my baby beardie it is ok, so he is living in it for now. Hopefully this suffices for a few months but I am ordering an 80 gallon tank as soon as I have the money. Is this ok for now?

So far my little dude seems settling in fine. He is very active and had a big poop today (his first one, I brought him home last night). I am keeping handling to a minimum, but I have picked him up a few times to get the crickets out of his cage.

Also, he is eating but not a huge amount. He probably ate between 5-8 crickets today and ate about 5 yesterday. Is this normal? I am worried about MBD developing if he isn’t eating enough. I have dusted all of his crickets but three (I just wanted to see if he would eat so I dropped them in without dusting).

I am also using a UVB coil bulb and heat lamp in a dual housing but am thinking of switching to a bar UVB light instead for more coverage once I get the bigger tank. I also have a ceramic heat emitter for night time since my roommate has an axolotl that requires the house to be quite cold (65-67 degrees Fahrenheit).

I guess my overall questions (besides the ones above) are:
1. How much calcium should he be getting per week? Should I dust everything I give him?
2. Should he be eating this little? If not, should I find a way to make eating easier for him?
3. When should I start to handle him? For how long should I do so?
4. Any general tips?

 

[GSieg]

Welcome to the world of Beardies, they are super easy as far as reptiles go. So for the crickets, are you gut loading them? (I recommend Dubia roaches; they live longer, gut load better, don't make noise, don't smell.) What I do for calcium personally, dust with calcium + D3 on days I can't get them outside or every other in the winter, calcium without D3 on the other days and sundays they get their vitamins. I only dust their first feeding of the day typically. Also for calcium without D3 I recently switched to the liquid spray from Zilla (heard good things about bioavailability).

As for what your little dude is consuming, he is stressed from the move, don't start gauging anything. Make sure the heat is setup right, it can affect a lot of how they are acting.

I don't recommend dropping feeders into the enclosure loose, especially crickets, try a feeding tub. Just put the bugs in a tub and put the lizard in, let your Beardie eat to their little hearts content. It's cleaner, and the bugs won't be able to nibble on your lizard. Make sure you are offering leafy greens (not lettuce or spinach), as babies it's not as important, but they should be eating them throughout their life, ratio leaning toward more veggies as they mature.

Handling is pretty easy, I have 3 very friendly Beardies. You want to start with brief interactions around 5-10 minutes, a couple times a day, increasing frequency and length as you go. Doing hand to hand is a great way to get them used to you (let them walk from one hand to the next). Even things like being in the room their enclosure is in will help acclimate them to your presence.

 

[Sadie]

Hi! I’m very new to reptile keeping and want to do things correctly. I was given a 20 gallon tank and informed that for my baby beardie it is ok, so he is living in it for now. Hopefully this suffices for a few months but I am ordering an 80 gallon tank as soon as I have the money. Is this ok for now?

So far my little dude seems settling in fine. He is very active and had a big poop today (his first one, I brought him home last night). I am keeping handling to a minimum, but I have picked him up a few times to get the crickets out of his cage.

Also, he is eating but not a huge amount. He probably ate between 5-8 crickets today and ate about 5 yesterday. Is this normal? I am worried about MBD developing if he isn’t eating enough. I have dusted all of his crickets but three (I just wanted to see if he would eat so I dropped them in without dusting).

I am also using a UVB coil bulb and heat lamp in a dual housing but am thinking of switching to a bar UVB light instead for more coverage once I get the bigger tank. I also have a ceramic heat emitter for night time since my roommate has an axolotl that requires the house to be quite cold (65-67 degrees Fahrenheit).

I guess my overall questions (besides the ones above) are:
1. How much calcium should he be getting per week? Should I dust everything I give him?
2. Should he be eating this little? If not, should I find a way to make eating easier for him?
3. When should I start to handle him? For how long should I do so?
4. Any general tips?

He won't be in the 20 gallon long- I can post links for optimal size tank 120 gallon or a 4x2x2-- you need a 24" zoo med fixture for a 40+ gallon tank this can be used on your 20 gallon use the 5.0 bulb that comes w/ it for now-- it will need to be unobstructed 6-8 inches directly above your basking decor - this can go into the 120 gallon but you will need to change the bulb out to a 10.0 bulb - you uvb is critical and will help him absorb the calcium he getting - he needs D 3 5 x per week lightly coated on his insects ONCE per day

 

[amotoole]

Welcome to the world of Beardies, they are super easy as far as reptiles go. So for the crickets, are you gut loading them? (I recommend Dubia roaches; they live longer, gut load better, don't make noise, don't smell.) What I do for calcium personally, dust with calcium + D3 on days I can't get them outside or every other in the winter, calcium without D3 on the other days and sundays they get their vitamins. I only dust their first feeding of the day typically. Also for calcium without D3 I recently switched to the liquid spray from Zilla (heard good things about bioavailability).

As for what your little dude is consuming, he is stressed from the move, don't start gauging anything. Make sure the heat is setup right, it can affect a lot of how they are acting.

I don't recommend dropping feeders into the enclosure loose, especially crickets, try a feeding tub. Just put the bugs in a tub and put the lizard in, let your Beardie eat to their little hearts content. It's cleaner, and the bugs won't be able to nibble on your lizard. Make sure you are offering leafy greens (not lettuce or spinach), as babies it's not as important, but they should be eating them throughout their life, ratio leaning toward more veggies as they mature.

Handling is pretty easy, I have 3 very friendly Beardies. You want to start with brief interactions around 5-10 minutes, a couple times a day, increasing frequency and length as you go. Doing hand to hand is a great way to get them used to you (let them walk from one hand to the next). Even things like being in the room their enclosure is in will help acclimate them to your presence.

Hi!

Thank you SO much for the response! This was extremely helpful!!! I am not gut loading the crickets quite yet (I’ve only had my little guy for 2 days now). Is that something I should look in to? I was thinking maybe the next time I go to get crickets I’ll get a cricket container and begin gut loading them.

Is there anything specific I should be giving the crickets? Again thank you so much for your help.

 

[amotoole]

He won't be in the 20 gallon long- I can post links for optimal size tank 120 gallon or a 4x2x2-- you need a 24" zoo med fixture for a 40+ gallon tank this can be used on your 20 gallon use the 5.0 bulb that comes w/ it for now-- it will need to be unobstructed 6-8 inches directly above your basking decor - this can go into the 120 gallon but you will need to change the bulb out to a 10.0 bulb - you uvb is critical and will help him absorb the calcium he getting - he needs D 3 5 x per week lightly coated on his insects ONCE per day

Yes that would be awesome! So I’m assuming that a 120 gallon tank is about the bare minimum for an adult beardie… the only reason I have him in the 20 gallon right now is because it was given to me by a family member. I will definitely keep in mind the importance of UVB. I currently am using a coil setup since the tank is so small. Should I stick with that for now or immediately switch to a tube style setup?

 

[GSieg]

Hi!

Thank you SO much for the response! This was extremely helpful!!! I am not gut loading the crickets quite yet (I’ve only had my little guy for 2 days now). Is that something I should look in to? I was thinking maybe the next time I go to get crickets I’ll get a cricket container and begin gut loading them.

Is there anything specific I should be giving the crickets? Again thank you so much for your help.

Gut loading is HUGE! You are what you eat so to speak. Feed the crickets veggies mostly, again REALLY recommend Dubia roaches here. The roaches have a way bigger digestive system so gut load WAY better. I have a dubia colony (super low maintenance), I feed them vegetable scraps from the table and rolled oats, with a little layer feed.

 

[Sadie]

Yes that would be awesome! So I’m assuming that a 120 gallon tank is about the bare minimum for an adult beardie… the only reason I have him in the 20 gallon right now is because it was given to me by a family member. I will definitely keep in mind the importance of UVB. I currently am using a coil setup since the tank is so small. Should I stick with that for now or immediately switch to a tube style setup?

Switch- I will post some links later today for tanks

 

[amotoole]

Gut loading is HUGE! You are what you eat so to speak. Feed the crickets veggies mostly, again REALLY recommend Dubia roaches here. The roaches have a way bigger digestive system so gut load WAY better. I have a dubia colony (super low maintenance), I feed them vegetable scraps from the table and rolled oats, with a little layer feed.

This is great. I ordered the 1/4” Dubias from dubiaroaches.com so they should be here soon. I’ll begin gut loading them asap. Thank you so so much for the advice this is really relieving some stress I am carrying about this whole thing!

 

[GSieg]

Great inexpensive site for ordering dubia www.betterthancrickets.com they only have dubia though. If you are ordering from dubiaroaches.com I'd suggest grabbing some super worms and BSFL (black soldier fly larva) as well, variety is a good thing and those are both solid options.

 

[Sadie]

This is great. I ordered the 1/4” Dubias from dubiaroaches.com so they should be here soon. I’ll begin gut loading them asap. Thank you so so much for the advice this is really relieving some stress I am carrying about this whole thing!

Yes and check out their tanks as well - that is one of the sites I was going to post- I have others

 

[Sadie]

Yes and check out their tanks as well - that is one of the sites I was going to post- I have others

Other sites to check out for tanks
www.zenhabitats.com I have two of them w/ the mats for the tanks
www.symtonbsf.com
https://apcages.com/collections/terrestrial-cages/products/t12-48l-x-24w-x-24h Make sure you get all specs - I dont see what the doors are made of --
https://carolinadesignerdragons.com/ these tanks are all glass and very heavy- I dont like the UVB being attached to the basking bulb fixture - those need to be separate because of surface basking temp issues -
https://www.diycages.com/products/c...24-pvc-board-critter-condo-with-t5ho-lighting
Please make sure you read all info on the tanks --- if you haft to contact them for questions