Spike the baby beardie

[LeslieA]

Ok so I posted yesterday that we had a new baby beardie and I took two pictures this morning. I use shutterfly and it does not give the url to post so I made a share site for him/her. It only has 3 pictures right now the 2 I took today one one of my family when we went to the Dells last summer. As I take more pictures I will fix the site up.
Here's the link:

http://spikethebeardie.shutterfly.com/

It's name is spike at the moment. I think if it turns out to be a girl my daughter will change the name to Rosie.

Anyone want to take a guess at the age? Oh and I read all about the sand and we are going to remove it and put in tile. Just wanted to mention it before everyone tells me to get it out of there.

Thanks for looking!

 

[ladyknite]

awwwwww how sweet.
he looks to be between 6-8 weeks old, just a baby.
Take care of him!!

 

[renich]

Adorable.

 

[LeslieA]

Hi again, I probably should have started another post. But I just wanted to update on our little "guy" Is it to early to tell boy from girl? This is why I ask yesterday after noon after he had his bath, and ate some kale in the bath. It was funny he had it stuck to his nose I have a picture. Anyways my daughter was holding him and I asked her to show me his belly. I wanted to see if he had those circles on his thighs and sure enough you can definitely see the circles. Does that mean he is for sure a boy? Or is it still to early?

So he really seems to be taking to my daughter and seems alert to see who's coming by his cage no matter who it is. But he seems to prefer worms to crickets. When I drop a cricket in, sometimes he'll go for it right away but most times not. So I'm reluctant to drop anymore in. Is that ok? But when we present him with a worm on the tongs it's gone immediately. This morning he had 3. Oh and when he takes his bath we put him in a pie dish in the sink. But he doesn't want to stay there for long and is soon crawling up my or my daughters arm. So we put him back, trying to get him his 15 minutes. Is this normal?

Sorry for all the questions just want to make sure he's doing ok. Thanks so much for the help.

 

[renich]

No worries on the questions. It is normal and why we are here.

What worms are you feeding him? There are a number of worms that are fine as a daily staple, but there are a number that are high in fat and not good as a staple.

a lot of beardies do not like their baths at first. Bernie HATED his. But after about 6 months, he started coming around. Try stroking him under his chin or other favorite spot while he's in his bath. The pie dish is fine if he is small. We had the most success when we had a larger 'tub'. I guess he didn't feel as confined. Keep up the baths. He'll come around.

As far as the gender. I am not an expert in this. My hubby and I thought Bernie was a male. But our vet told us differently based on blood test results. There are a number of posts on this topic. Do a forum search for sexing or something.

 

[LeslieA]

Thanks Renee for answering my questions. The worms he likes are mealworms. And I'm using the pie plate because it's a good depth for him and I wanted to do the baths in a confined space since my daughter is adamant about doing it herself (with me hanging over her shoulder ) He's not as long as the plate so I thought that would be a good idea until he gets a little bigger.

 

[ladyknite]

Try to avoid the mealworms. too much chitin and they're high in phosphorus. the meat to shell ratio isn't really good.

He's a little young to be getting worms just yet. I'd work toward getting him more focused on crix or roaches at this age.

It's still a little early to tell if it's a boy or girl just yet. Those circles will either need to enlarge, or stay relatively small.

*looks around for the sexing pics*
Renee do we have any of those?

 

[LeslieA]

Thanks! Ladyknite.

Guess what he just ate 7 crickets. Whew! Ok I will not give him the mealworms anymore. See the petstore people should know better.....tsk tsk.....

 

[ladyknite]

offer him that as many times as you can and as many as he'll eat and you'll build that appetite well.
Unfortunately, you might understand why we all breed roaches. LOL

 

[LeslieA]

Since this is the most he's eaten at one time do you think he's almost done with his relocation stress? I thought I read that appetite was a good sign of that.

Would the roach thing be a money thing?

 

[zebraflavencs]

it saves you $$ certainly, but roaches are by and far the best protein/fat ratio I have found.. I have raised all my dragons ( 4 of them to date) and all my geckos ( 9 and holding ) on roaches, and I just can't say enough wonderful things about those feeders !
Janie.

 

[renich]

I'm in agreement about the mealworms. I would stop them altogether.

As far as sexing posts, I've seen several. You can simply use the forum search (upper right hand side) and you should see a listing of posts. Some have pics included.