RickyTan
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 15
- Location
- Bellevue, WA
-
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Just getting going have some questions
- Thread starter RickyTan
- Start date
- Messages
- 67
- Location
- Northern Alabama
I haven't looked closely at the kits they sell at Petsmart but every Bearded Dragon discussion forum and FB group I've been in all say they aren't worth it, that you can't even use a lot of the stuff in it, that it's definitely a waste of $$.
Can't really help ya on the plants stuff, that's too much work for me, LOL. I've got so many plants around my house I'm not interested in taking care of a plant in my dragon's tank, LOL, so I've got no experience there. The one thing that comes to mind though is I remember reading that if you want to keep a plant in with your dragon, plant it in a separate pot and watch your humidity. You don't want the humidity going above 40% in a Bearded Dragon's tank.
That's correct about the heating rock... Everyone I've talked to has said that BD's stomach's aren't sensitive enough so the risk of them getting burnt is high and that they can't regulate their body temp that way. I think I may have read that online somewhere too. So nope, all the heating for BD's needs to come from above from the basking/heating lights.
Personally I wouldn't like to use carpet cause I'm thinking it would be hard to keep clean. I mean how easy is it to scrub poop off of it? My personal choices for flooring are paper towels (which my daughter and I started out with, so easy to clean, just roll up the dirty towels and throw them away, put new in), and tiles. We now have ceramic tiles in our tanks. Some people use laminate or that stuff you line drawers and cupboards with, I think... We like the tiles cause it also helps keep our dragons' nails filed down some. I have little 4x4 tiles in my tank, got them at Home Depot then hubby had to cut them to fit properly. But I love them cause I can just use a wipe and wipe off the poop or if it's really dirty and dried on I can just take that one tile out and go clean it under the sink. My daughter has bigger tiles in her tank cause we couldn't find the same tiles I had gotten when we went to Home Depot later to get her some. Most don't recommend dirt or sand because of several things... one, you will always have a risk of your dragon getting impacted, as in, if the dragon takes in too much of the sand/dirt in his mouth when he eats it could cause an impaction to where he's unable to poop and it can be life threatening. Secondly, difficulty in cleaning again... especially since dragons will often poop and then go running around in their tanks (like my Jasper does). He's gonna spread that poop and urate all over the place all thru the sand so the chances of bad bacteria breeding increases in that situation. Sand/dirt would just be harder to keep clean and free from bad bacteria.
Just make sure he has a comfy place to bask under UVB and at the proper temp 95-110 and a cool side to go to that's around 80. Most people recommend that your UVB covers 1/2 to 2/3 of the tank (most will say 2/3). I have half of my tank covered... my dragon spends 90% of his time on the side with the UVB covering. Also provide a place for him to hide, sometimes they just like to go rest in a dark area. They also like to climb and most often are up on something, so I have a hammock for our dragons as well as a comfy decor item for each to bask on. I keep a small dish of water and his salad on the cool side. I could probably get rid of the water dish though cause he never drinks out of it and he hates baths so I know he doesn't want to get in it, LOL. Most dragons will get enough water from their salads (and a little from insects) but we've had to give my daughter's dragon drops of water thru a dropper... we think it may be because she was making and laying so many eggs, might increase her need for water.
Can't really help ya on the plants stuff, that's too much work for me, LOL. I've got so many plants around my house I'm not interested in taking care of a plant in my dragon's tank, LOL, so I've got no experience there. The one thing that comes to mind though is I remember reading that if you want to keep a plant in with your dragon, plant it in a separate pot and watch your humidity. You don't want the humidity going above 40% in a Bearded Dragon's tank.
That's correct about the heating rock... Everyone I've talked to has said that BD's stomach's aren't sensitive enough so the risk of them getting burnt is high and that they can't regulate their body temp that way. I think I may have read that online somewhere too. So nope, all the heating for BD's needs to come from above from the basking/heating lights.
Personally I wouldn't like to use carpet cause I'm thinking it would be hard to keep clean. I mean how easy is it to scrub poop off of it? My personal choices for flooring are paper towels (which my daughter and I started out with, so easy to clean, just roll up the dirty towels and throw them away, put new in), and tiles. We now have ceramic tiles in our tanks. Some people use laminate or that stuff you line drawers and cupboards with, I think... We like the tiles cause it also helps keep our dragons' nails filed down some. I have little 4x4 tiles in my tank, got them at Home Depot then hubby had to cut them to fit properly. But I love them cause I can just use a wipe and wipe off the poop or if it's really dirty and dried on I can just take that one tile out and go clean it under the sink. My daughter has bigger tiles in her tank cause we couldn't find the same tiles I had gotten when we went to Home Depot later to get her some. Most don't recommend dirt or sand because of several things... one, you will always have a risk of your dragon getting impacted, as in, if the dragon takes in too much of the sand/dirt in his mouth when he eats it could cause an impaction to where he's unable to poop and it can be life threatening. Secondly, difficulty in cleaning again... especially since dragons will often poop and then go running around in their tanks (like my Jasper does). He's gonna spread that poop and urate all over the place all thru the sand so the chances of bad bacteria breeding increases in that situation. Sand/dirt would just be harder to keep clean and free from bad bacteria.
Just make sure he has a comfy place to bask under UVB and at the proper temp 95-110 and a cool side to go to that's around 80. Most people recommend that your UVB covers 1/2 to 2/3 of the tank (most will say 2/3). I have half of my tank covered... my dragon spends 90% of his time on the side with the UVB covering. Also provide a place for him to hide, sometimes they just like to go rest in a dark area. They also like to climb and most often are up on something, so I have a hammock for our dragons as well as a comfy decor item for each to bask on. I keep a small dish of water and his salad on the cool side. I could probably get rid of the water dish though cause he never drinks out of it and he hates baths so I know he doesn't want to get in it, LOL. Most dragons will get enough water from their salads (and a little from insects) but we've had to give my daughter's dragon drops of water thru a dropper... we think it may be because she was making and laying so many eggs, might increase her need for water.