Few questions, new owner

[Ajlista]

Hi everyone, ive already introduced myself in the introduction forum and I don't want to tangent off in the wrong section so this is my lil guy/girl sam

Hope thats properly sized! but, I didnt want to stress him out too much so ill take some more pictures when he gets a little more used to us.
Anywho as for some questions just to make sure im doing everything right so far.
Yesterday and today he ate mini mealworms, I'm now aware those are no good for them due to the shells so I picked up 100 small crickets today that I plan to start tomorrow.
As for his vivarium he's in a 20 long, reptile carpet for substrate two small hides(Which as far as ive seen he doesnt need two but I put them in), and some branches, one longer flat one under the heat for basking.
As for heat/light i've purchased a uvb bulb today I believe its the zoo med 10.0? Or something of the nature I don't quite remember, and ive also got a heat lamp that stays on 24/7 the uvb i plan to keep on from about morning to 9 p.m.
As for salad, today I made a small amount of collard greens, with orange bell pepper, and just a tiny tiny bit of apple, as far as i've read keep the fruits to a minimum maybe once a week.
Well, I hope to have some more pictures up tomorrow so I don't bother the little guy tomorrow but im posting this for as much criticism as you can give me and any further advice! I want him to live a long happy healthy life, as a brief reptilian background on myself ive owned 4 leopard geckos in the past, so I'm new to beardies!
Thanks!
Anthony.

 

[PatsyB]

20 gallon is good for a little one but he is going to grow fast and you are going to need a bigger tank. 40 gallon is the minimum for an adult dragon. As far as the lighting goes you want to mimic what they would get in the natural world. So a UVB light that covers 2/3rds of the tank and a basking spot light during the day that gets to the basking spot to 107 degrees. You want all your lights to be on a cycle either 10 hours off and 14 on or 12 hours on 12 hours off. You don't need nighttime heat in the tank unless the temp in the tank drops below 65 degrees. It's actually best if they have a period of cooling off.

Mealworms are a bad choice. Crickets, dubia, small super worms, silkworms, butterworms, phoenix worms are all good choices. Here is a link to some salad ideas http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf Make sure you gut load your crickets before you feed them to your beardie so they are more nutritious. You can use a commercial prepared gut load mix or you can just feed them the same salad items you would feed your beardie.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Welcome to the forum and I ditto what PatsyB said

 

[Ajlista]

20 gallon is good for a little one but he is going to grow fast and you are going to need a bigger tank. 40 gallon is the minimum for an adult dragon. As far as the lighting goes you want to mimic what they would get in the natural world. So a UVB light that covers 2/3rds of the tank and a basking spot light during the day that gets to the basking spot to 107 degrees. You want all your lights to be on a cycle either 10 hours off and 14 on or 12 hours on 12 hours off. You don't need nighttime heat in the tank unless the temp in the tank drops below 65 degrees. It's actually best if they have a period of cooling off.

Mealworms are a bad choice. Crickets, dubia, small super worms, silkworms, butterworms, phoenix worms are all good choices. Here is a link to some salad ideas http://greathousefarm.com/Greathouse-Reptile-Nutrition-List.pdf Make sure you gut load your crickets before you feed them to your beardie so they are more nutritious. You can use a commercial prepared gut load mix or you can just feed them the same salad items you would feed your beardie.

Thank you for the reply, as for now, we have a 40 breeder that hes probably going to be put in in a few months time, and when he is an adult theres a 75 we have a ball python in, but we might be putting her in a 125 and eventually him in the 75. Just read through that link, awesome link, thank you for that, gonna save it.
As of this morning hes officially eating crickets! Which im excited about because ive heard of bearded dragons not wanting anything but mealworms, but I pulled the back legs off the crickets, put them in the bowl and he lept off of his basking spot when I put it in (kind of high up had me worried, is this normal for them to leap and get overly excited about eating?)As for his salad im going to wait a little bit and try to move in around some so he starts to eat it, also is it appropriate to hand feed him the collard green (small) leaves? He seems to eat them very responsively if i'm holding it and I suppose it appears to be alive.
As for the heat at night, the only thing is the temperature drops quite a bit outside and sometimes if I go to sleep I don't touch the thermostat and ill wake up to it being maybe like 62 or 60.
Lastly, I used the bottom stalk of the collard greens and the middle stalk?(not sure what to call it, the part in between the leaves I figured it was a little tough for him to eat) to cut up and gut load the crickets, is that suitable for now? Or should I vary their diet as well.
And one last thing, i'm seeing in places it saying to give calcium with d3 every day. I remember for leos too much d3 wasnt a good thing and calcium d3 was supposed to be like a once a week kind thing, I know beardies are totally different, but I just wanted to be sure.
Thank you so much for the help!
Anthony.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Sounds like you've got your hands full Glad to hear that he loves his crickets! I'm not surprised that he jumped to get to them as they have huge appetites as they are growing!! I also took the back legs off to keep them in the bowl when i fed them...I would put some greens in with his bug bowl they will eat it as well and it gets moved around by them so it becomes more interesting By all means hand feed I do as well I like the bond it gives between Izzy and I.
That's a bit too cold so I would get a CHE (ceramic heating element) for night time use to keep the temp up without giving off any light. just make sure you use the appropriate fixture as they get hot..
Yes you can use any of the greens and stalks in with your crickets it is good gut loading, just make sure you take them out before they mold if they last that long
Calcium with D3: It depends on your lighting and greens, if you've got good UVB they should be getting a good amount of d3 from that.. I use Calcium without D3 once a day, I use a multivit 1-2 times a week....When the sun is coming thru the window really good I put her in the sunbeams and this past summer I took her outside to get all natural Vit D
Hope that helps!

 

[PatsyB]

Yes, they jump and get excited. They have poor depth perception so they will walk right off a table if you let them because they don't know it's too high. My rescue flipped over backward the other day getting off her ledge trying to get to her crickets!

I feed all my stalks and ends of stuff to my feeder bugs. My older girl doesn't eat her salad so I hope that by feeding her feeders she's still getting the benefits.

I have always dusted with calcium without D3 daily and then a multivitamin a few times a week. Lately I've been hearing otherwise that you should actually alternate calcium w D3 and without D3 every other day and do a multivitamin once a week. I feel too that if you have good UVB you don't need to suppliment the D3 but if you aren't sure of your bulb then I would may dust a few times with the calcium w/D3.

 

[Ajlista]

Thank you for the replies!
Today sam is doing well finally went to the bathroom(Weirdly happy about that), he/her is just hanging out on the basking branch most of the day, didnt seem to eat much yet, looks like a little but of the greens are missing, as for the ceramic bulb thats what ive been keeping on, and the uvb bulb I had done some research and evidently its one of the best you can get, i'm not 100% on the truth value of that, might just be someones opinion so I am going to dust every here and there with some d3. I'm wondering if perhaps the best way to feed him would be to put him in the critter keep with the crickets? There are about 100 crickets in there so I dont want to overwhelm him yah know. Also, when do you think an appropriate time to start giving him a weekly bath would be? I got him 3 days ago now, and I don't want to stress him out with unneeded handling.
Thanks again for the help!
Anthony.

 

[Ajlista]

Woops forgot to add a few more pictures in, sorry for the lesser quality just took em quick with my phone, when he gets settled in im gonna snap a few pictures with my dslr.