Beardie owners, I need your help

[Snake Dave]

Hey everyone

Right, okay, I might be getting a Beardie in the next month or so. I've been reading through a few caresheets on the internet, and I thought it might be good to get some advice from those who own them here.

Right well the first issue I'm worried about is housing. As adults, the minimum tank size that I've seen is a 55 gal yeah? If I did get a dragon, I'd get a sub-adult, so I won't need to worry about stress from the size of the tank, right?

Secondly, feeding schedules. For a sub-adult male (which is what I'm hoping to get), would I feed them gut-loaded insects (crickets, mealies and locusts) once a day, plus greens that are always available (dandelion greens, mustard greens, finely chopped fruit etc. yeah?). If that's right, how many insects per day. Oh I'd calcium dust the insects every other day and multi-vitamin supplement once a week.

Thirdly, substrate. I'd really like to use fine sand (NOT calci-sand) as a substrate, for a number of reasons. Is this totally a 'no-no' due to risk of
impaction etc, or do some of you use sand? If he were a baby I'd use paper towels but is that risk lessened as they get older?

Finally, could anyone be kind enough to give me a list of all the things I'd need to prepare ready for his arrival?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks!

David

 

[strawberry_bunny]

my adult males are in a 4x2x2 viv you can go straight for a big viv just put in branches hides leafs etc to allow him to hide, i feed them every other day with as many bugs as the can eat in say 20mins and veg, only mine will only eat veg if its hand fed. My mum spoilt them. I dont use sand as i personally hate it, it gets the runners and makes the glass squeek. But if you do go for sand chinchilla sand is fine and so lowers the risk of impaction yep only use sand for adults. Babies calcium every day, adults every other day to once a week. oh also even if a baby does eat greens alway offer it they will become acustom to it.

You are going to need:
decor (if you do get leaves and stuff keep an eye on it my boy friends beardie ate it)
UV tube i have a 10.0 tube thats replaced every 6 months
ceramic holder and lamp
a lamp guard
thermastat

my brain just gave up ill post more when i think of it

 

[Snake Dave]

Okay thanks, I'm not going to be getting any fake plants apart from cacti, because I want to go for the desert look. So I'll be getting sand-blasted grape vines, rocks, cacti, a raised cliff area perhaps?

Just out of interest where did you get your tank from?

 

[snakewispera snr]

Have a word with Kev he's pretty good with vivs
where are you getting him from WS or JF
MIKE

 

[djfreebase]

Matthew was a great help, advising me on what i needed for my water dragon. Perhaps you could send im a PM. Im sure he wont mind.

 

[darkmorning1]

hey Snake Dave i just saved a beardie. and what i do is offer him his veggies in the morning. (since mine is picky he will only eat his veggies if his really hungry in the morning) then in the afternoon i give him around 7 silk worms dusted. then can eat more then that but mines sick from now. if you do use crickets take them out at night. they can bite and hurt your bearded dragon. if you can i really get silkworms. i got some on line really good deal and my dragon loves them. i used to love the sand look in there cages. but since my beardie is sick i got to clean his cage out once a day. i go with reptile carpet. and i didn't think i like it at first but i do. it looks good to and easy too clean. so if you ever wanna switch i go with reptile carpet i got two on line. (one to change out as you wash the other one) for about 6 bucks each for a 55 gallon tank. and a hood i got for 15 bucks.


your going to want a basking spot so he can climb up to the heat lamp. it should be around 90-to even 100 only in that one spot up top. then around 80 on the warm side and cooler where the uvb is. i wouldn't let the temp go under 60 though. i would get a reptile hammock! beaded dragons tend to Love them. get a large for about 5 bucks and you cant go wrong.

along with some climbing sticks. you don't really need a water dish as long as you put your bearded dragon in water every so often out of the week. then your uvb bulb needs to be changed every 6 months a uvb reptile sun 5.0 is the best. remember bigger isn't always better. but if you already have a 10.0 then just make sure you change it in 6 months.

if you want any brand names or more details just pm me, Good luck oh yeah and one word when you get him "Photos!"

 

[Nanci]

Slate tile is a really nice substrate. Sand is controversial even for adults- if you use it at all, for an adult, you should have it in a contained area well away from the food. I have about a third of the viv fenced off and filled with play sand, but Isabel is an adult, her food is in a bowl on the slate section, and she doesn't eat free-roaming insects that would go over to the sand area. Still- they lick everything, a lot.

Darkmorning- how'd yours get sick? What is wrong??

 

[Snake Dave]

That's what I was worried about Nanci, yeah, I think I might go with something like that, I have slate tiles in my garage! Hopefully after a few visits to the reptile store with my Mum she will come 'round to my way of thinking lol. But I'm not holding my breath, she's so stubborn, even though I'm paying for it all and I take great care of my reptiles already. She has nothing to do with them.

Thanks for the great advice everyone, especially you darkmorning1.

 

[snakewispera snr]

Shall we Lean on her
Da Management.....LOL

 

[Snake Dave]

Shall we Lean on her
Da Management.....LOL

Well she has MS so her balance might be just a 'tad' off. :laugh01:

But yeah, some help in that department would be appreciated. When are you next at JF? Oh and I'll be getting him from JF, Kev has a lovely sub-adult male there, with a bright orange stripe running down both sides.

 

[snakewispera snr]

You are not allowed to buy that Dragon...
We been telling him to keep hold of that one....
I won't be able to get to JF for a few weekends, not until about March I think...
Anyway I'm gonna tell kev You can't have him...LOL
MIKE

 

[Nanci]

Go for 105F for the basking spot. If they can't get hot, they won't eat. If you search on beardeddragon.org, you'll find of the tube-type fluorescent bulbs, the Reptisun UVB 10 is the most-recommended and does the best in UVB studies. There is also a mercury vapor bulb which supplies UVB, which is about twice as expensive, but lasts I believe a year. The compact fluorescent bulbs are garbage, as far as UVB output. Besides a UVB bulb, you need a second basking bulb, if you go with fluorescent tube UVB.

Silkworms are lovely. I think in the UK you can get locusts- we can't get them here. If you go with crickets, if you keep them in a big open bin like a 66 qt sterilite, they don't smell so bad. Then you feed them a good food, give them the greens your dragon doesn't eat, give them those water cube things- that's the least messy. You can actually put their food in a dish and they will go in there and eat it, which makes cleaning them out simpler since the food isn't all over the floor. You can feed superworms after the dragon is a certain size. They have less exoskeleton than meal worms. Mealworms can cause impaction and are a no no for babies. Wax worms are fatty, they say- should just be a treat. Phoenix worms are like crack for dragons, but small- so would be hard to use as a staple for babies, although they are high in calcium. Hornworms, if you can get them there, are super-fast growing monsters. They get up to 12 grams!! I'd only feed them to an adult because they grow up so fast they'd get too big for a baby too quickly. If you do a search on bd.org, you can find a really good food list that rates everything as daily, rarely, never. It's a great list.

 

[debb]

My adult Dragons are in 40 gal. breeders. They have a locking lid. My guys like to bask in their hammocks. Their temps are 90-95. They eat crix three times a week. Greens everyday, wax worms for a treat. Also raspberries, and blueberries as a treat. My guys are coming up on 2 yrs. So they prefer greens and berries over anything. But they will always eat their live food. They also have driftwood in their tanks and a hide. The floor is tile which is great. Just wanted to help. Good Luck.:spinner:

 

[Snake Dave]

Thanks Debb.

Okay, I've been looking at various sources and I've compiled a list of things I will need before I get my dragon:

- 48" * 18" * 18" wooden display viv (melamine coated so practically water-proof, the next size up from my Corn's tank). It's available at a local store.
- Zoo Med Repti-Sun 10.0 tube (24 inches)
- Ceramic heat emitter (100W?) keep at 105F
- HabiStat temperature thermostat
- Substrate (slate tiles/paper towels)
- Feeding dish
- Water dish
- Basking area (cork bark, rocks, large pieces of sandblasted grapevine)
- Hide (half log)
- Cacti

Right, is that okay? Would the basking lamp at 105F be sufficient to heat the entire viv if it was on 24/7? Because it needs to be around 85F on the cool side yeah? I'd make sure it was either a ceramic heat emitter or red light. I think I'll go with a ceramic heat emitter, because Beardies are diurnal anyway, so I'm not gonna see him much at night. Also, I can use a cheaper thermostat with a ceramic because it doesn't emit light, so I can go with a non-dimming thermostat. If it's not sufficient to heat the whole viv, it means I have to get another heat source and another thermostat *sigh*.

Any pictures of your Beardie's set-ups would be fantastic, just to give me an idea.

Thanks everyone for your continued support

David

 

[Nanci]

Actually, can you find a Zoo Med Repti Sun bulb, not the Repti Glo? There's a big difference in the quality of UVB between the two, even though they sound the same. And UVB is of prime importance to dragons.

 

[Snake Dave]

Is that also a 10.0? Edit: Yeah, I've found it, they sell it on the site I usually go on. Does the rest of it look okay?

Oh and Nanci, could you post a pic of Isabel's viv for me please?

 

[Snake Dave]

I think I'm going to go with a normal red basking light instead, they look nicer, and I've read a few nasty reviews on ceramic heaters.

 

[Nanci]

Oooh, I love my ceramic heater!! It's 75 watts, and raises the temp about 10F. She sleeps under it at night, when it's cold and my house is getting down to 66F.

Oh, don't feed less than two hours before the basking light goes off- they can regurge!

 

[Nanci]

This is a 40 breeder. I'd like a 48x24. She's not very active, though. She's a basker. She wakes up on her brick, moves onto the branch for some UVB, then finally onto the hide at the end of the day. She rarely goes into the hide, but she did brumate in there for a week till I woke her up to soak her. She hasn't relaly gone back down.

 

[Nanci]

The ceramic heater is mounted right next to the basking bulb, which is 100 watts. I have a temp probe on her brick and buried in her hide. The fluorescent fixture moves over the branch when I have the lid on, when I leave for work. I leave the screen top off when I'm home- I pet her a lot. She can get out if she wants to, but rarely makes an attempt. Still- I wouldn't leave her home alone like that.