New Beardie owner

[Bo]

Hi,
We have had Bo now for about a month. He is 22cm long and very cute. We have got mixed advice about how much we should feed him. At the moment we are giving him a salad, 4-6 crickets a day plus 4 medium mealworms. We have just changed to sand which he really seems to like, he buries himself at night time and comes out during the day. He doesn't seem to like being handled anymore, tries to get away. I am too scared to let him go out of the terrerium thinking he will run away, he moves so fast I wouldn't catch him.

 

[zebraflavencs]

First, Welcome !
Now, Bo is around 9-10" (if I've done my math right), so that could mean he is still a baby.
Babies need lots of protein, but healthy proteins. Meal worms are mostly fat, little in the way of nutritious. Crickets are good, but I wonder with the sand, are you using a container to feed him from or is he hunting them freely ?
Babies don't tend to aim really well, and can ingest sand grains which can cause problems.

Now, out of curiosity, what kind of sand ? Some sand sold by pet shops just isn't all they say it is. One in particular can cause some really nasty issues, Calcium sand. If you are using play sand, that's fine.

Would you be kind enough to give us the run down on what equipment you have (Uvb, heat lamp, thermometer, size of enclosure Bo is housed in.)
Also, could you share what temps you record in his enclosure ? Basking, warm side, cool side.

As for the hostility, basically you want to moooove slowly, not from above ( predator action) but from in front, or to the side of him, when you want to pick him up. If you keep backing off, he wins. Just go slow, and consistently. In the end, you should be able to have a dragon that enjoys being with you.

I wouldn't allow free roam without a harness and loooooong lead. Certainly until he settles down, I wouldn't offer free range either.

Hope this helps.

 

[renich]

Hi and welcome! Janie pretty much summed it up. I want to add that bearded dragons will eat their fill in the first 10 minutes after food has been offered. So, drop you bugs in, let your dragon go crazy, add more bugs. Your dragon will stop eating after a 10 minute period. Remove uneaten bugs (unless feeding in separate container).

Dragons under 1 year will eat bugs 2-3 times per day.

 

[Bo]

Thanks for all your information, that was great. We probably are feeding him not quite enough by the sound of it but I think he certainly doesn't look skinny.

He is in a 80cm by 40cm tank. He has a UVb lamp on one side plus a ceramic heat lamp on the other. He has a big stick that he can elevate himself to whatever level he likes really so he chooses how warm he wants to be. We have a thermometer on the side where the heat lamp is and that records about 30 degrees celsius when it is on (although now it is getting warmer it is going up to 35 degrees, at that point we are turning it off). During the night it doesn't go below 20 degrees.

As you may have worked out we live in Australia so I hope you can convert the degrees to farenheit..
The sand is red play sand I believe. He hunts his crickets and does really well, there is never any sand on his face after he gets them. He gets them first try too, he is very fast.

Thanks for tips on handling too, it seems to be working.

I will get some photos and post them soon.