Hi everyone, my name is Will and I got a baby beardie a week ago. His name is Uluru, which is Aboriginal for the giant red rock in Australia. I got him from petsmart and I think he is not much more than a month old. I've been feeding him small gut loaded crickets and have been offering him salad, which he hasn't really been attracted to yet. I was wondering though, how many crickets a week a small baby like this should be eating. So far he has eaten every cricket that I've offered him. Thanks for the help, I've learned quite a bit already just by reading through the forums. Thanks!
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Brand new beardie owner
- Thread starter wtbullins
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Hi ya Will! Welcome to the Forum !
Picture didn't show up, but we'll get to that later...
Okay, first thing that occurs to me would be relocation stress.
This happens when a dragon has been relocated from one "home" to a new one, complete with new handler.
Second thing that occurs to me is the age of this baby.
So, Here are some suggestions.
If you have baby housed in a glass enclosure, place some sort of blind (paper, backing, aquarium scenery on 3 of the 4 sides of the enclosure..
This will reduce the amount of visual stress.
The second thing I would suggest is to reduce any handling to feeding, bathing, cleanup of enclosure. Also, when you go to handle baby, you want to come slowly towards the front of him... not from above.
Okay, now I would like if you would share some physical information about this fellow's enclosure.
What is the size of enclosure?
What uvb are you using, tube/coil, and what brand please.
How are you heating enclosure ? Day and night time if used.
Have you choosen a herp vet ? Is one located near you ?
If so, have you taken in a fecal sample to be tested ?
What kind of substrate do you use ?
What are the basking temps, warm side air temps, cool side air temps?
How do you measure those temps..
THe answers will help us, help you out bunches !
Thanks !
Janie
Picture didn't show up, but we'll get to that later...
Okay, first thing that occurs to me would be relocation stress.
This happens when a dragon has been relocated from one "home" to a new one, complete with new handler.
Second thing that occurs to me is the age of this baby.
So, Here are some suggestions.
If you have baby housed in a glass enclosure, place some sort of blind (paper, backing, aquarium scenery on 3 of the 4 sides of the enclosure..
This will reduce the amount of visual stress.
The second thing I would suggest is to reduce any handling to feeding, bathing, cleanup of enclosure. Also, when you go to handle baby, you want to come slowly towards the front of him... not from above.
Okay, now I would like if you would share some physical information about this fellow's enclosure.
What is the size of enclosure?
What uvb are you using, tube/coil, and what brand please.
How are you heating enclosure ? Day and night time if used.
Have you choosen a herp vet ? Is one located near you ?
If so, have you taken in a fecal sample to be tested ?
What kind of substrate do you use ?
What are the basking temps, warm side air temps, cool side air temps?
How do you measure those temps..
THe answers will help us, help you out bunches !
Thanks !
Janie
Hi, Will. Welcome to the forum! Congrats on your baby.
I would feed your baby as much as he will eat in the first 10-15 minutes of offering food. You can do this 2-3 times a day with the crickets. Just make sure you don't overwhelm him with too many crickets jumping around. If he gobbles them up, give him more. Babies can eat anywhere from 50-75 crickets a day.
As Janie points out, yours may not be up there yet because of his new home.
Here's a link to our basic caresheet. Give it a read and let us know if you have any questions -
Bearded Dragon Care
I would feed your baby as much as he will eat in the first 10-15 minutes of offering food. You can do this 2-3 times a day with the crickets. Just make sure you don't overwhelm him with too many crickets jumping around. If he gobbles them up, give him more. Babies can eat anywhere from 50-75 crickets a day.
As Janie points out, yours may not be up there yet because of his new home.
Here's a link to our basic caresheet. Give it a read and let us know if you have any questions -
Bearded Dragon Care
Thanks! still can't get the picture to come up for some reason, I press post and it just loads for forever. Anyways thanks for all of the information. Right now he is in just a 10 gallon tank, but for his current size he has plenty of room to maneuver. However I am in the works of getting a larger one. I am using a ECU Reptile Desert 7% UVB light on one end, and on the other end I have a heating lamp, "All Living Things" 60 Watt bulb. I keep the lights on 12-14 hours a day. I have not gotten a nighttime lamp yet because it is not very cold in here at night. I also have a spray bottle and I mist him and the heating area once in a while. I have temperature gauges at both ends of the cage, the heating side reads 105 and the normal side reads around 90. Sometimes it fluctuates a little though. Petsmart is only a couple miles down the road and there are herp vets there. For substrate I use a green cage carpet. 50-75 crickets seems like a lot each day, I can't imagine feeding him that many. However I will experiment and feed him a few times throughout the day.
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- 3,558
Got a few more suggestions for you.
First, that uvb is just not the right uvb.
You'll want a reptisun 10.0 tube, and as for basking... use what you have currently until it burns out, then find a flood light and use that.
You'll find that appetite should increase with the change of uvb.
Just make sure that the basking spot is 6-8" away from the uvb, and try to place the "basking light" so the rays of both shine down on that basking spot.
As for a larger tank, a 40 Breeder is large enough for life with him.
Now, those thermometers... Are they by chance round ? If so, they most likely are not accurate.. They can be off by as much as 20*F+/-, you'll want either a digital thermometer with probe, or a temp gun used in automotive repair shops.
The digi, you just make sure the probe is touching the basking area, and allow to "warm up" for around 45 minutes.
The temp gun, you aim 2" away from your target, and pull the trigger for an accurate reading.
I feel that most likely the shop gave you wrong information, and I must admit, I haven't heard of Petsmart having a Herp dedicated vet. Perhaps if you were to share your general location, we could assist you in finding one ?
Hope that helps out !
Janie
First, that uvb is just not the right uvb.
You'll want a reptisun 10.0 tube, and as for basking... use what you have currently until it burns out, then find a flood light and use that.
You'll find that appetite should increase with the change of uvb.
Just make sure that the basking spot is 6-8" away from the uvb, and try to place the "basking light" so the rays of both shine down on that basking spot.
As for a larger tank, a 40 Breeder is large enough for life with him.
Now, those thermometers... Are they by chance round ? If so, they most likely are not accurate.. They can be off by as much as 20*F+/-, you'll want either a digital thermometer with probe, or a temp gun used in automotive repair shops.
The digi, you just make sure the probe is touching the basking area, and allow to "warm up" for around 45 minutes.
The temp gun, you aim 2" away from your target, and pull the trigger for an accurate reading.
I feel that most likely the shop gave you wrong information, and I must admit, I haven't heard of Petsmart having a Herp dedicated vet. Perhaps if you were to share your general location, we could assist you in finding one ?
Hope that helps out !
Janie
wtbullins said:
Depends on the size of the cricket....which should be no larger than the space between his eyes.
When Sam was small, I fed her strictly small Dubia roaches. No crickets. And she was eating over 100 a day (two separate feedings). So, to me, 50 to 75 crickets a day doesn't seem like all that much.
welcome to the forum, if you follow the caresheet and above info you will end up with a real happy beardie,
be careful with info from pet stores as all they want is the sale and will fob alot of people off with dud info if you are a little unsure of any info you recive or find on the net please do ask as no question is deemed stupid or un-improtant, we are a freindly bunch on here and we all have different levels of experiance but still we are all here to help, as for pics upload through a photobucket account is what most of us use, lookin forward to seeing the pics.
and hope you enjoy your new family member,
paul
be careful with info from pet stores as all they want is the sale and will fob alot of people off with dud info if you are a little unsure of any info you recive or find on the net please do ask as no question is deemed stupid or un-improtant, we are a freindly bunch on here and we all have different levels of experiance but still we are all here to help, as for pics upload through a photobucket account is what most of us use, lookin forward to seeing the pics.
and hope you enjoy your new family member,
paul
Welcome to the forum, you will learn so much from everyone here and this is a very friendly group.
As far as feeding goes, one of mine is about 3-4 months old and he eats about 50/day. I order my crickets twice a month online. I order twice a month so the crix do not grow too big before he can eat them all. I like Ghann's Cricket Farm. The crickets are health, are not cannibals and they have good prices, I get 250 for $9+ shipping, much cheaper then the pet store. I get my adults from the local pet store because he does not eat enough to justify buying bulk. I also like telling new people about this website because they have a great sizing chart to help you decide what size you need. http://www.ghann.com/store/store_sub.cfm?Category_ID=1. Like Craig said be sure to only feed food no bigger than the space between his eyes. Anything larger can cause the Beardie to become impacted and can cause death. Most people here feed roaches but I feed crix and worms only. Let me know if you need any help setting up to keep a large amount of crix. I was going to feed roaches until I ran into problems do to FL laws on roaches. But from what I hear from everyone roaches are much better and do not stink unlike crix do. I also feed Phoenix worms. They are very health for babies. Little ones don't really eat their salad much but do pick at it. And this reminds me do not feed lettuce. The proper foods are on the care sheet Renee gave you the link to.
I agree that right now the 10 gallon is large enough for the tiny one for a VERY short time. They need room to move and the 10 gallon will become to small very quick as beardies grow fast. Keep an eye out on Craigslist. I found mine there for $40. It took about a month of checking everyday. I like to use Craiglook.com because you can set your search to go out up to 250 miles so it allows you to check other cities near you as well as the one you live in at the same time.
As far as feeding goes, one of mine is about 3-4 months old and he eats about 50/day. I order my crickets twice a month online. I order twice a month so the crix do not grow too big before he can eat them all. I like Ghann's Cricket Farm. The crickets are health, are not cannibals and they have good prices, I get 250 for $9+ shipping, much cheaper then the pet store. I get my adults from the local pet store because he does not eat enough to justify buying bulk. I also like telling new people about this website because they have a great sizing chart to help you decide what size you need. http://www.ghann.com/store/store_sub.cfm?Category_ID=1. Like Craig said be sure to only feed food no bigger than the space between his eyes. Anything larger can cause the Beardie to become impacted and can cause death. Most people here feed roaches but I feed crix and worms only. Let me know if you need any help setting up to keep a large amount of crix. I was going to feed roaches until I ran into problems do to FL laws on roaches. But from what I hear from everyone roaches are much better and do not stink unlike crix do. I also feed Phoenix worms. They are very health for babies. Little ones don't really eat their salad much but do pick at it. And this reminds me do not feed lettuce. The proper foods are on the care sheet Renee gave you the link to.
I agree that right now the 10 gallon is large enough for the tiny one for a VERY short time. They need room to move and the 10 gallon will become to small very quick as beardies grow fast. Keep an eye out on Craigslist. I found mine there for $40. It took about a month of checking everyday. I like to use Craiglook.com because you can set your search to go out up to 250 miles so it allows you to check other cities near you as well as the one you live in at the same time.
Also want to add that you can buy those UVB bulbs online at less than have the price you can at your petstore. Also crickets as well so it's not such a bite out of your pocket.(We just bought 1000 online at Petco for $32.00. Nice and healthy too.) You will save MANY trips to the Pet Store by buying them in bulk as well!!
I know the information you were just given is probably completely different from what you were told at the pet store. Please believe every word that you have read. Having the right UVB is a must as are having your temps just right for your Beardie Babe. Look for phosphorous free calcim. It should be white in color and not grey.(impurities in the calcium supplement are what give it it's grey color.) Thermometers with the probe can be found at Walmart for a little over $11.00. Might seem like alot of info to absorb at one sitting but in the long run you will have a much happy and healthier Beardie.
And finally enjoy your little one!!! They are so much more fun and rewarding than you may ever have imagined!!
I know the information you were just given is probably completely different from what you were told at the pet store. Please believe every word that you have read. Having the right UVB is a must as are having your temps just right for your Beardie Babe. Look for phosphorous free calcim. It should be white in color and not grey.(impurities in the calcium supplement are what give it it's grey color.) Thermometers with the probe can be found at Walmart for a little over $11.00. Might seem like alot of info to absorb at one sitting but in the long run you will have a much happy and healthier Beardie.
And finally enjoy your little one!!! They are so much more fun and rewarding than you may ever have imagined!!
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- 3,558
It is a whole lot of information... But not to worry... we'll be happy to continue answering your questions, and correcting any information that might not be accurate.
Plus... you have a whole new set of critter buddies.. who totally UNDERSTAND !
Janie
Plus... you have a whole new set of critter buddies.. who totally UNDERSTAND !
Janie
We were all new at one point. I am still fairly new to these guys and leaning more and ask questions all the time. It is a lot to take in even with researching before getting one, actually having one is a whole new world. You are going to be fine and you are here asking questions so you are off to a great start. Ask any question even if you think it is a dumb one, everyone here will answer you and will not make you feel stupid for asking. We really stick to the saying, no question is a dumb question.
I did not get to check yet but if you did not post pics yet its a must, we love pics here and if you need help just let us know and we can help. There is also a step by step in the how to section
I did not get to check yet but if you did not post pics yet its a must, we love pics here and if you need help just let us know and we can help. There is also a step by step in the how to section
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Welcome!
My beardie never ate that many crickets a day. She is 2 and barely eats 30 large in a day.
Have fun and enjoy the site, I know I am!
My beardie never ate that many crickets a day. She is 2 and barely eats 30 large in a day.
Have fun and enjoy the site, I know I am!
- Messages
- 968
Welcome here. 