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[mxw0rld]

This is Norbert, he is my first bearded dragon. I've only had him 3 days. I'm sure I'll have lots of questions. I did make a vet appointment for Norbert on Tuesday and I want to take a fecal sample but I've only seen him poop once so far. Is that normal? He's eating crickets dusted with the vitamin and calcium powder, very small amount of banana and kale. Also how much is too much handling?? Thanks for your help…

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[PatsyB]

Try not to handle too much and just let him settle in. Here are some good links to read up on to help tweak some thing around your tank. Banana's are an occasional treat and kale is okay to use in combination with other healthy greens.

http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/threads/general-info-set-up-1st-timers.13863/
http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/threads/diseases.13956/
http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf

 

[mxw0rld]

Try not to handle too much and just let him settle in. Here are some good links to read up on to help tweak some thing around your tank. Banana's are an occasional treat and kale is okay to use in combination with other healthy greens.

http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/threads/general-info-set-up-1st-timers.13863/
http://www.beardeddragonforum.com/threads/diseases.13956/
http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf

Hi Patsy,

Thank You so very much for all the information. I have read through them and will read through them again and again. I just wanted to let you know that his diet consists of 80% crickets and 19.99% kale with just 1 tiny piece of banana the size of a pea, only fed him the 1 piece. I will hold off on anymore bananas until he gets a bit older. Hubby is going to get dubia roaches today. As far as his bulbs I've got the uvb and uva bulbs. I need to get a CHE and thermometer. I do mist him once a day but I also have a repti fogger that has humidity at 10%. He's in a 20 gallon right now, I will be upgrading to a 40 or bigger but that will be after I get the CHE & thermometer. Thanks again Patsy…


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[mxw0rld]

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[Kathryn Kinney]

Welcome. As far as handling you do need him to adjust to his new home. Is he skittish at all when you take him out and if he is aggressively eating? I would say short handling for the first week just 5-10 minutes, but he is so cute probably hard to resist. Good luck!!

 

[Hdrydr31]

Welcome to the forum and to beardies,,, The links on food items will help alot as there are soo many different things that they can eat... Good basic greens for them are things like collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens then you can throw in the kale, and other veggies and min amount of fruit... offer the salads everyday even though he/she may not eat them it just makes it easier down the line when they typically transfer to more salads than bugs. Dubia's are wonderful as feeders as they are nice meaty bugs with a long gi tract making them great to gut load with lets say some of the salad...that way if he/she doesn't eat it the bugs do and they eat the bugs.....

He/she as a baby should be eating and pooping alot, that is after an adjustment period that some go thru... Both of mine ate like pigs right away....make sure your feeding 3 times a day with babies with the last time a min of 2 hours before lights out so they can bask to digest.

You may not need a CHE, as long as your night temps don't go below 65f they will be fine and they actually need the cool down at night.
Take a look at the lighting and think about getting a tube style UVB like reptisun T5 HO 10.0 it goes thru mesh and overlap it slightly with the basking so they can digest and convert calcium. the coil bulbs can damage their eyes.

I suggest a hand held temp gun or a probe that you place where he basks to get accurate readings, the stick on the wall ones only measure the glass and are not very reliable..

If your feeding what he/she can eat in 10-15 min 3 times a day and you can give him/her baths (warm like you would a baby) that will give them the opportunity to drink and it will also aide in shedding....Both of mine only do their business in the tub works for me easy clean up

anyways hope that helps and feel free to ask whatever..

 

[mxw0rld]

Welcome. As far as handling you do need him to adjust to his new home. Is he skittish at all when you take him out and if he is aggressively eating? I would say short handling for the first week just 5-10 minutes, but he is so cute probably hard to resist. Good luck!!

He is not skittish at all when I hold him. I've only gotten him out for 5 mins or less at a time, maybe 2 times a day. When I hold him I rub his back close to his head and he goes to sleep in my hand. The first time he did it I thought something was wrong with him cuz he was so still and relaxed but hubby said he was sleeping and when I stopped rubbing him he woke up. When I'm near he vivarium he follows me with his eyes. He's eating about 5 dubia roaches at a time with just a small amount of turnip greens. He's drinking water when I mist him and his poop looks good, meaning there's no undigested bugs. When I take him to vet Tuesday I will have had him a week at that point should I wait to get his feces checked??


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[mxw0rld]

Welcome to the forum and to beardies,,, The links on food items will help alot as there are soo many different things that they can eat... Good basic greens for them are things like collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, turnip greens then you can throw in the kale, and other veggies and min amount of fruit... offer the salads everyday even though he/she may not eat them it just makes it easier down the line when they typically transfer to more salads than bugs. Dubia's are wonderful as feeders as they are nice meaty bugs with a long gi tract making them great to gut load with lets say some of the salad...that way if he/she doesn't eat it the bugs do and they eat the bugs.....

He/she as a baby should be eating and pooping alot, that is after an adjustment period that some go thru... Both of mine ate like pigs right away....make sure your feeding 3 times a day with babies with the last time a min of 2 hours before lights out so they can bask to digest.

You may not need a CHE, as long as your night temps don't go below 65f they will be fine and they actually need the cool down at night.
Take a look at the lighting and think about getting a tube style UVB like reptisun T5 HO 10.0 it goes thru mesh and overlap it slightly with the basking so they can digest and convert calcium. the coil bulbs can damage their eyes.

I suggest a hand held temp gun or a probe that you place where he basks to get accurate readings, the stick on the wall ones only measure the glass and are not very reliable..

If your feeding what he/she can eat in 10-15 min 3 times a day and you can give him/her baths (warm like you would a baby) that will give them the opportunity to drink and it will also aide in shedding....Both of mine only do their business in the tub works for me easy clean up

anyways hope that helps and feel free to ask whatever..

Thank you for the information. I will be getting the proper lighting and temp gun / probe Tuesday before his vet appointment. I am extremely attached to Norbert already so I want to do everything I can for him. He seems to love the dubia roaches better than the crickets. We had a few leftover crickets and he goes after the dubia's before the crickets! He has stolen my heart!


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[Hdrydr31]

Thank you for the information. I will be getting the proper lighting and temp gun / probe Tuesday before his vet appointment. I am extremely attached to Norbert already so I want to do everything I can for him. He seems to love the dubia roaches better than the crickets. We had a few leftover crickets and he goes after the dubia's before the crickets! He has stolen my heart!


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Yea they get in your heart pretty fast the little buggers
I would get his poop tested when you go tues so the freshest is the best to take with you...
Dubia are WONDERFUL feeders!! very meaty, easy to gut load so you may look into having a colony as they can be expensive
Glad to hear that he/she is settling in well and your able to put him to sleep that's always the best feeling to see them nice and relaxed.. as once you have their trust your "in" with them I held both of mine as much as I could without interrupting their digesting time