Hey, I'm brand new to Beardies and to this site. I haven't introduced myself or posted pics, but I will! In the meantime, I have a few quick questions that I'm sure the experts can answer in a heartbeat...
We inherited a little male Beardie from my 13-yr-old son's friend. And by little, I mean LITTLE! He's about 2.5 years old, and only 8 inches long!! I bought a book on bearded dragons, but haven't had the chance to get through it yet. In a nutshell, he's in a 20-long tank, reptile carpet substrate, UTH stuck to one side (NO HEAT ROCKS), I alternate a UVB bulb, warm basking bulb, nighttime bulb at regular intervals. He has a cool side (75F) and a warm side (85F). We are feeding him crickets, mealworms and lettuce, all dusted with calcium and/or vitamins at regular intervals, and I'm going to try feeding him some of the frozen/thawed pinkie-mice that I feed my corn snakes. He has 24/7 access to lettuce and assorted veggies in a little dish in his tank. I feed him the good stuff in a separate little feeding tank every other day (I don't want the crickets and mealworms to escape and hide under his carpet or in his cave). If anything about my setup jumps out as totally wrong, please let me know. Now, here are my questions:
1. Some of his toes and the tip of his tail is missing - bad shed(s) in the past? I've got corn snakes, and missing tail tips indicate that.
2. Nobody was giving him any vitamins or calcium, and he was eating only crickets and lettuce. Could this be why he didn't grow?? I recently went to a reptile expo and had a heart attack when I saw the size of the bearded dragons there. I didn't even know they got that big! Will he ever get any bigger, considering that he hasn't gotten proper nutrients for his first couple of years? We'll love him regardless, but I'm just curious.
3. He eats his crickets/mealworms like a champ, but sometimes when he's done, he disappears for a day or two and just SLEEPS. Sometimes in his hide, sometimes out on his basking log. His color fades drastically during this time, and he won't eat. Then suddenly, BOING! He's up and around again. This doesn't happen EVERY time he eats, but many times. Is this normal?
4. He plays in his water sometimes. He has a pretty big water dish - he'll climb up his log, then JUMP into the water and sit for a few minutes (the log is only like 3 inches from the water). Then he crawls out and goes up his log and does the same thing again. I've seen him do this half a dozen times in a row! Like a kid doing cannonballs into a pool! It's certainly entertaining, but is it normal behavior?? Is he trying to cool off? His water is on the cool side of the tank.
5. Do Beardies like company? I've always thought that an animal is happier in captivity if it has a companion, but I know that's not the case with corn snakes. If you think he'd do better with a buddy, I'll get him one at the next reptile show.
He seems to be really healthy - very tame, happy to be held and carried around (or at least very tolerant of it!), eats just fine (except when he's in that "sleeping-stage"), uses all the climbing logs and basking areas he has. I'm still in the process of making sure we're doing everything right - so, it wouldn't surprise me (nor would it insult me!) if someone points out anything I might be doing wrong... Thanks all!
We inherited a little male Beardie from my 13-yr-old son's friend. And by little, I mean LITTLE! He's about 2.5 years old, and only 8 inches long!! I bought a book on bearded dragons, but haven't had the chance to get through it yet. In a nutshell, he's in a 20-long tank, reptile carpet substrate, UTH stuck to one side (NO HEAT ROCKS), I alternate a UVB bulb, warm basking bulb, nighttime bulb at regular intervals. He has a cool side (75F) and a warm side (85F). We are feeding him crickets, mealworms and lettuce, all dusted with calcium and/or vitamins at regular intervals, and I'm going to try feeding him some of the frozen/thawed pinkie-mice that I feed my corn snakes. He has 24/7 access to lettuce and assorted veggies in a little dish in his tank. I feed him the good stuff in a separate little feeding tank every other day (I don't want the crickets and mealworms to escape and hide under his carpet or in his cave). If anything about my setup jumps out as totally wrong, please let me know. Now, here are my questions:
1. Some of his toes and the tip of his tail is missing - bad shed(s) in the past? I've got corn snakes, and missing tail tips indicate that.
2. Nobody was giving him any vitamins or calcium, and he was eating only crickets and lettuce. Could this be why he didn't grow?? I recently went to a reptile expo and had a heart attack when I saw the size of the bearded dragons there. I didn't even know they got that big! Will he ever get any bigger, considering that he hasn't gotten proper nutrients for his first couple of years? We'll love him regardless, but I'm just curious.
3. He eats his crickets/mealworms like a champ, but sometimes when he's done, he disappears for a day or two and just SLEEPS. Sometimes in his hide, sometimes out on his basking log. His color fades drastically during this time, and he won't eat. Then suddenly, BOING! He's up and around again. This doesn't happen EVERY time he eats, but many times. Is this normal?
4. He plays in his water sometimes. He has a pretty big water dish - he'll climb up his log, then JUMP into the water and sit for a few minutes (the log is only like 3 inches from the water). Then he crawls out and goes up his log and does the same thing again. I've seen him do this half a dozen times in a row! Like a kid doing cannonballs into a pool! It's certainly entertaining, but is it normal behavior?? Is he trying to cool off? His water is on the cool side of the tank.
5. Do Beardies like company? I've always thought that an animal is happier in captivity if it has a companion, but I know that's not the case with corn snakes. If you think he'd do better with a buddy, I'll get him one at the next reptile show.
He seems to be really healthy - very tame, happy to be held and carried around (or at least very tolerant of it!), eats just fine (except when he's in that "sleeping-stage"), uses all the climbing logs and basking areas he has. I'm still in the process of making sure we're doing everything right - so, it wouldn't surprise me (nor would it insult me!) if someone points out anything I might be doing wrong... Thanks all!
