Hello!

[squeekz1992]

My name is Courtney, and I have a baby beardie named Goliath, and we are new here!
Goliath is my first beardie, and he is aprox. 5-6 weeks old. I am not new to keeping reptiles, I had a Veiled Chameleon named Pascal who just recently passed. I heard that beardies were easier to take care of and hardier than any other reptile, but I have to say, the terrariums are simpler, but Goliath himself is a lot more difficult than Pascal was lol

He is about an 2 inches, from nose to vent.

I have him on a 12hour light cycle, with temps at 80ish on the cool side, 102 basking and 90 on the warm side. His bulb is a 75 watt incandescent, and his UVB is a 10.0 reptiGLO ( I plan to change to reptiSUN asap!!) For substrate, I have reptile carpet. He has a shallow water dish on the warm side of his tank right under his basking spot. I give him fresh Kale greens and spaghetti squash every day sprinkled with baby bites, and i have a dry food that I mash up with either water or juice every day. I offer him crickets everyday, alternating calcium with D3 on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, and a multivite on Tuesday/ Thursday. And I bath him in warm water every day for 5 minutes.

I have spoken to Mike (Goliath's breeder) and he said that everything seems in order, but I am very open to any suggestions to help make Goliath a big, healthy beardie

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

Welcome to the BEST Bearded Dragon forum on the net and look forward to both watching for.updates on your new baby dragon as well as helping you out with any guestions or concerns you may have! You will find a wealth of correct info on this forum as well as with both friendly and enthusiastic people anxious to help you and your dragon enjoy a happy and long experience together
When you have a moment it is always helpful if you can post pictures of your set up.
Two points I would suggest you modifying would be to raise you basking spot temp to 110 degrees which is the best temp for beardies of the age yours is. He will thrive better with that basking temp.
The other suggestion would be to remove the water dish from his enclosure. Beardies are desert dwellers and rarely will drink from a water bowl; getting mist of their moisture instead from their "salad" and crickets as well as hydrating when you bath them and from the daily misting you give them. Keeping a water dish in their enclosure also.raises the humidity which being desert creatures they require a warm dry climate
Again Welcome! We are thrilled to have you aboard!
Enjoy your day!

 

[squeekz1992]

Thank you! I will post a pic of my setup asap. Okay, I will raise that right away. I do have a question about the water dish and misting though, I find him bathing in it a lot, and I read at beardeddragons.org that misting them is bad, so the alternative was the dish?? How do I go about the misting without raising humidity in his terrarium? Also, I posted in the health forum about him, but i do have another question, he sits with both or one of his eyes closed almost all teh time, and idk if he is sleeping or if this is normal? He's very lazy compared to what I have heard babies are supposed to be. Idk how to post a link to the other thread, but it's titled "I'm worried about Goliath."

Again, I will make those changes immediately and post a pic of his terrarium asap thank you!!

 

[Germ]

Just a few suggestions on their care.

• You should bump it's basking temp to 110F
• There is nothing wrong with using Repti-Glo UVB bulbs when as with any other UVB bulb, it is setup properly, have been using Repti-Glo tubes the majority of the time in all my enclosures for over 10 years.
• Using a water dish is unnecessary, as very few BDs will recognize & use standing water. It will just raise the humidity in the enclosure, particularly having it below the heat lamp.
• Daily baths are overkill, weekly is lots with daily mistings until it takes to it's greens, if it has already, every other day misting is lots. This can be upped when they are in shed though. These are desert creatures, not too many puddles for them to romp in, there.
• All live prey should be dusted with straight calcium every feeding, D3 is not necessary if you have proper UVB & distances, one day a week with D3 is lots if you want to be on the safe side & one day a week dusting of all feeders with a multi-vitamin is also sufficient.

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?

Edit: Mist him while holding him in your hand & not while in the enclosure.

Good Luck

 

[squeekz1992]

Thank you so much! I will do all of this immediately! I apologize if it seems I have mistreated him, I am just going on what the other beardie forum said, and what the expo people said. I really appreciate all the help and I am going up to take a pic of his enclosure right now! Thank you!

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

@squeekz...you havent mistreated him...you simply had not been given the correct or total.info that you need to be able to care for him properly. That is not your fault and a very common thing with beardie keepers that are new to their world.
The main thing is that you are here now in a place that can help you get things right
Be sure to read thru the links that Germ posted for you as they hold most of the answers and info you will need to help give your beardie what he requires to thrive

 

[squeekz1992]

 

[Mungi's Buddha]

Saw pics...posted response in your other thread...let's move to that one for simplicity sake

 

[Noella]

Little guy really loves the heat from your computer, doesn't he? He's a cute little tyke.

 

[squeekz1992]

Thanks he does, it was funny he was trying to climb the screen, then hid behind it and when I folded it down to find him he gave me the stink eye lol

 

[Noella]

Lol! Mine gives her 'grandma' the stink eye all the time. I guess they understand more than we think.

 

[squeekz1992]

Lol definitely do I love him already

 

[Noella]

They're good about 'sneaking' in and taking your heart.

 

[squeekz1992]

Lol yeah He gets relaxed colors whenever I hold him and he doesn't let go

But I'm worried because he wont eat at all, I just found all the crickets I thought he ate

 

[Noella]

I take Allie out when I feed her crickets. Have you got another container available for feeding crickets? It takes time for them to get used to their new home. Give him some time to acclimate to his surroundings, and his tank.

 

[Chris Baez Jr.]

Welcome to BDF, where everyday is a holiday, and every meal is a feast.
The best of luck with your little guy there.
Stick with us, it's a heck of a ride. I'm new here myself, and have not found more friendly and helpful folks anywhere on God's green earth.

 

[Aleena]

Welcome to BDF!

 

[squeekz1992]

Welcome to BDF, where everyday is a holiday, and every meal is a feast.
The best of luck with your little guy there.
Stick with us, it's a heck of a ride. I'm new here myself, and have not found more friendly and helpful folks anywhere on God's green earth.

Thank you! Lol you sound like a greeter for an amusement park
I'm glad to be here

 

[squeekz1992]

Welcome to BDF!

Thank you!

 

[squeekz1992]

I take Allie out when I feed her crickets. Have you got another container available for feeding crickets? It takes time for them to get used to their new home. Give him some time to acclimate to his surroundings, and his tank.

I have a cricket keeper if that is what you mean