hi new beardie here. still

[Ouida Hepburn]

Hi we got Beardie right before Christmas. Hes growing fast, despite our failed setup. Like all the other newbies, I thought we did our research, but once we had him, we saw how much we did wrong. We built the cage and sure wish we didnt have a full screen top. We wish we went with a sliding front, poor guy gets scared everytime we open the top, oh and the lights are on the top too.
The biggest problem is our lights are wrong. We are using a 100watt che as the basking light, a zoo med reptisun 5uvb.
So now I brought a 100watt basking light, bright white. And a t5 fixture for a reptisun t5 10uvb HO. 22inch. However we are still trying to figure a way to mount them so hes 12+ inches from the uvb, but much closer to the basking light to keep that 105ish spot. And do all this without upsetting him.
Otherwise, hes still very skittish, but eats, and eats. And poops. Hes much bigger. Shedded a few times, once a full shed. I do wonder if we are over feeding too?

 

[Janelle]

Oh my goodness, that baby is so cute!!!
With your UVB going through a screen, it’s ok if the beardie is a little closer to it.
When they’re that little, I wouldn’t worry about overfeeding, either. They do most of their growing the first year. It takes a lot of protein to support that growth.

 

[KrissyLeigh]

Unfortunately that seems the case for most new owners, including myself once upon a time. But great job on fixing him up! I wish more people were as conscientious! I also agree not to worry about overfeeding the wee ones. They can consume a shocking amount. For a while when mine was a juvenile he was eating 60+ roaches every day. I started a colony because it was killing my bank account!