New beardie, and want to do this RIGHT!

[jessicap]

Hi,
I got a new bearded dragon - poor Izzy passed away about a month ago so want to make sure to keep my new guy happy and healthy for a VERY long time. He is VERY small right now, about 2 in from head to end of tail. He is 1 mo old. I didn't realize how little he was until I went to go pick him up, found him on craigslist. He was attached and almost eaten by a slightly older cage mate but is healed. He appears freindly, will step up onto my hand and does not run from me.

My set up:
I have a 40 gal breeder tank. I put 2- 12x12 tile under the branch and then lined the rest with paper towel. I have a very shallow water dish and another deeper dish that has steps in it for a food dish. I have a piece of wood proped up on an incline so that one end of the log is about 6 inch from the top of the cage so that there is a basking area with temps around 110. The cool end is about 73-75 deg. I have 2 100watt bulbs on him - one white and one black. I will keep the black light on at all times to keep temps in the 70s during the night. I also have a Zoo Med hood with a repti - glow 10 UVB/uva light for during the day.

I soaked him today and will plan to do so at LEAST 3 tmes per week if not more often during the winter.

Feed: I just got him so currently have very fine cut up romain lettuce, and green bean with some baby food (organic) squash. He has already had crickets today but I am looking at feeding him dubia roaches. I have a colony started and have some small ones available and as he grows - about 6 mo from now, plan to start superworms, which I have also started.

I would love feedback and any suggestions on how to keep this little guy happy and healthy.

 

[Jp]

Sorry 2 hear about Izzy, that sux! Having 2 100 watt bulbs sounds like 2 much heat. Colored bulbs provide extra heat & can be used at night if the room temp is below 65, not necessary otherwise. I use a portable heater when the temps get low, my dragons don't like the colored bulbs at all. Everything else is on point, diet, lighting, enclosure size. Congrats on your new dragon. When do we get 2 see the little one?

 

[jessicap]

I started with a white 75watt and the temp wouldn't reach 70 in the cool end so I added the 100watt black light since the temp at night was down to 65 in there and since he is so little thought it better to keep the temp up to at least 70 for awhile. The basking temp was only to 80 though upped the white bulb to a 100 watt and found that it reached 110 now with 75 in the cool end with both lights on. I use a temp gun to check each spot so it should be accurate. I will watch how he does with the black light. I will try to get a ceramic heat emmitter in the next couple days.

Roaches are okay for the little guy right? Shells not too hard etc. I know the superworms are not suppose to be good until they are at least 6 mo old. Pics coming soon. Just trying to remember how to post them :0)

 

[drgnfly2265]

I thought that the cool side was supposed to be around 80...

I would skip the color bulb too. Have you looked into the CHE? They give off the heat without the light.

As for feeders, I fed mine reptiworms. I like them because they have no shell at all and have a lot of calcium in them.

 

[jessicap]

drgnfly - I will check out the reptiworms and plan to get a CHE this week. Just had an extra black light and wanted to make sure he was warm.

Here are some pics of the little guy (Mushu).

Here is his enclosure;

 

[drgnfly2265]

Mushu is a cutie! And I love his name

 

[Spikeleebd]

make sure you feed him crickets in a small bin or something so he want have to chase them until he gets bigger or feed him with forceps

 

[Exile Skimmer]

i agree with Spikeleebd freeding him in a small bin bc i didnt and i learned real quick that the crickets will hide under the wood where ever they can like the holes in my case bc i didnt realize it. . . i started with a few then thought my beardie ate them all so i bought more and more and more and when i cleaned out the take found about 15 crickets that i got when they were pen heads and now full grown bc they were hiding the whole time in the wood. . . so if u do feed him in the cage just watch the wood bc the crickets will hide in it

 

[jessicap]

I had learned that with my prevoius dragon. I had only fed him in his enclosure a couple times but a couple crickets must have gotten away and hid and reproduced. I moved his rock and found over 50 little crickets and I think they had been biting him becuase he had a spot on his back. I felt extremely bad. I always feed Mushu his live food in a small container (small critter keeper) I feed him in there and also soak him in there. This way I KNOW what he is eating.

Thanks for all the help. I do appreciate it.