first time owner of beaded dragon

[love bob]

Hi all. We purchased a beared dragon we named him Bob. Hes super sweet. He loves his crickets, romain lettuce and his fresh fruit. Not too intrested in meal worms.
Im conserned about salmonella. We contantly wash our hands before and after handling him. Any suggestions on how I can be a bit more careful

 

[PatsyB]

2 words....Hand Sanitizer! We keep a bottle of it next to the tanks so that we can use it before and after we take them out. Most importantly just keep your dragons tank clean so that they aren't walking through their own poop all the time. Don't handle their poop with your bare hands, use a glove. Salmonella is mostly a problem with aquatic type reptiles that hang out in stagnant water for long periods of time. I have read of a few cases of bearded dragons having it but it's not common and it's usually because of poor husbandry.

 

[love bob]

Thank u patsy
We got the sanitizer ready and we use it alot.

regarding crikets.....we have noticed that if they arnt moving he dosent care for them. Is that normal? He only sees them if they r moving.

 

[NickG1987]

I'm still new to having bearded dragons, but I can offer some insight. Lettuce is generally a poor choice for their veggies, use a dark leafy green, such as Collard or Mustard greens, occasionally some kale or bok choy (leaves only). They also like squash (yellow, spaghetti, acorn). The fruits you do give, make sure they aren't highly acidic like limes, lemons, or oranges. They can have a grape or two occasionally as a treat. Bearded dragons are hunters by nature, and he may not care for anything he might see as dead, so you can sometimes tap the crickets to make them move, or pick them up and move them around him to catch his attention. If you don't live in Florida, I would recommend Dubia roaches, they are much more nutritious for your beardie, they live through darn near anything, and they have NO SMELL. They also don't jump, which is a big plus as I hate crickets. Meal worms aren't great for beardies, they have a lot of chitin in them, which is hard to digest and offers no nutritional value. If he is still a baby, you could feed him Phoenix worms, which are packed full of calcium. You could also consider horn worms, which also have a lot of moisture and calcium in them, but they can be pricey. About the Salmonella, just continue washing your hands, or sanitizing, whichever you prefer. I read somewhere (don't know how accurate it is) that you are 20x more likely to get salmonella from the food you touch and eat regularly than from your beardie. I know when Gojira and Steve were little, I would feed them phoenix worms in the morning for the calcium, and Dubia's in the evening for the protein and low chitin levels. Just remember to give them their multivitamin 3-4x a week, and if you do decide to feed the Phoenix worms, you can scale back some on the calcium dust, as they are very high in calcium.

 

[PatsyB]

Well said Nick

 

[Elemental Dragon Lord]

Welcome to your new addiction