New Beardie Parent Anxiety

[SarahW0506]

Greetings! I am a new Beardie mama and I am having some anxieties. Here is my current set up before I ask my questions:
•55 gal tank w/ ceramic tile substrate
•75 watt basking light/UVB tube (not sure of brand but getting ready to purchase the reptisun 10 anyways)/regular incandescent house bulb on cool side.
• warm side temp 95*/basking spot temp ~105*/cool side temp ~80*/night temp ~73*

My Beardie's name is Opie (for those SoA fans out there!). I purchased him from a local aquarium shop, pretty reputable place (at least when it comes to marine life)- not a chain store. He is roughly 5" from tip of tail to tip of nose. Not sure of his age, I'm estimating about 6 weeks. The guys at the shop said to feed him 5-10 crickets a day. As well as a constant supply of vegetation. I currently have a dish with kale and carrots minced and sprayed with water always available and feed him crickets 1x daily, about 8 or so, coated in calcium supplement.

My concerns:
•he does not eat the veggies. By the end of the day they are untouched and dried up
•I've read that he should be eating way more than 10 crickets/ day. True?
•I have had him about a week and have seen only 1 poop, the 2nd day.
•he does not seem to be as active as others' describe their Beardies. He likes to bask most of the time and sleeps in the same spot he basks. I've seen him move around the tank some but not much. Caught him once on the cool side.
•he seems skinny. Is he supposed to be? How should I expect his growth to progress?
• to mist or not to mist? To soak or not to soak?


Thanks I'm advance for your help!!!!!

 

[river-7]

WELCOME : SARAH. I am new as well, and you are headed in the right direction;Most importanant his heating.He will eat his veggies when hes comfortable try adding a little fruit and mixing it up well. I have had my young baby about the same time, he's eating his greens and just loves, I wake him up at 8-am and give veggies in 1-1/2 hours after he is awake and warmed up from his sleep. Then i give crickets after he's had time to wake ect;He is still new and adjusting; If he don't poop-you can mist him out of his home as it will make humidtiy go up.Mist from tip of nose to bottom.Yes, you can put him in a soak-must be warm water and he will poop right away-but he will anyway once he becomes at home.He is still adjusting and i don't think you have to worry He WILL poop but please don't make him poop on demand type thing. There is a great section @ the start of the forum on diet, housing ect; Read that and i'm sure your mind will be easied. And other members will be responding to you very soon; And any questions you have anyone will help you= mods; are the best and the peeps too. Just relax and let baby settle and watch him and enjoy the gentle little giant.Bella aka-river

 

[Scottio]

Welcome to the forum, you picked a good one!

Your temperature setup seems to be okay for now, but we'll touch on that soon.

Glad to hear you didn't get him from a chain store. Personally I don't find that they know the knowledge as much as a reptile/specialist store. As Opie is about 5 inches, I'd expect about 7 weeks, but this could depend on the breeder, the size of the rest of the clutch he came from so there's no deffinite age you could put on him, find a nice date on the calender about 6 weeks ago and slot his birthday on there.

The veggies. The burden of the baby dragon. He probably will go weeks without touching them! It wasnt until my dragon hit around 8 weeks that he even considered going near them and now at 10 weeks, he has one or two but still prefers crickets. The baby/juvenile diet is mainly based on live food. They won't depend on veggies until they are coming into the adult stage. Although inconvenient it is a must that you still provide them every day!

I'm not entirely sure what you've been told to feed is correct. As far as my research and experience goes, I've always been told and follow the 10 minute rule. At first you may find he doesn't eat as much as you expect. A few days in he may not even eat at all. He's just getting used to his surroundings and feeding times. Try to feed him 3 times a day, morning, afternoon and early evening. Work these around your own lifestyle so that he can get used to it. Make sure you don't feed him just before his lights go off as I don't find this gives them enough light time to digest properly. Again, not too early from his lights coming on! Place a numerous amount of crickets (10-15) in a container for him to eat. He may not like eating from a container at first so a method could be to shake them up a little (In a seperate container), this will slow them down a bit and stop him from running all over the place then forgetting about the rest of the crickets, also a good method for calcium/multivitamin coating.

Pooping can be strange. It should be daily but I've seen mine go a few days without, or sometimes twice a day. It should preferably be once a day but remember, you've just moved him from his home and his other companions to a completely different environment. He could still be a little stressed, check his underside belly for slight dark lines, this is an indication of stress. Give it a few weeks and if they are still very irregular, pop back to the diet section and post a question, the guys on here are more than helpful with anything you need to ask!

Beardies are lazy, very lazy! The reason he may be basking a lot more than you think normal could be to do with his temperatures. Try getting his basking spot a little closer to the heat. They should be basking for around 5 minutes at a time then moving. This isn't always the case though. Don't crank up the heat too high. Just keep adjusting it a little and see how he gets on!

Baby beardies seem very skinny! They will take on weight faster than you expect. I'll pop a few pictures of Charizard at 6 weeks compared to 10 weeks, you can see the difference! He should start putting the weight on pretty quickly, the base of his tail will also bulk up.

Misting is always good during a shed, as is bathing! You should notice Opie getting a little darker then finally shedding. It's a strange process to witness at first but once you see it and know how they handle it it's a lot easier than you think. If you notice him shedding, maybe around the legs or back, mist the sides of the viv. I tend not to do it when he's not shedding as this would increase the humidity.

Bathing should be done either in a sink or small dish. Keep the water around his leg height, try not to allow it to go over his head! Just remember to get the water nice and warm, but still warm water will cool rather quickly. You don't want him in there once it gets a bit cold! Sometimes they panic a little when you first put them in, throw a rock in there or something he can hold onto (or your hand) and he should feel a little safer!

I hope I've helped with your fears! I know it can be quite hard and stressful for first time owners!

If you need anything please feel free to reply to this comment or contact me directly.

Thanks

Scott

 

[Pat B]

Very good advice Scott....agree with everything you said. My beardie is about 10 months and rarely eats his greens. Have no idea why but he is a very picky eater....drives me nuts. All beardies are different, eating, pooping, basking, etc etc. As you learn about your beardie you will learn his habits. Good luck, welcome to BDF and come back often....

 

[river-7]

SARHA; I think your baby is still adjusting to his new home. And at first i put in 5-6-crix; and he ate those so i put in another couple and i feed 3-times a day 10-2-6 pm as he goes to bed at 8-pm and up at 8-pm. They like routine. And he will soon learn that you feed him at certain times. He will recognize the container for crixs and get excited. But he's going threw some big changes lol and can't quite figure it all out.When coming from shops they all look skinny[don't get fed enough] no wonder their skinny. And he was probably in with others that got more food then him=FEED HIM!!! he won't break lol-and let him settle in. The shops all tell you=YES HE WAS FED 10-crix a day but how many dragons in that house ??chances are he only got 1-2 crix to himself if he was fast enough, maybe that is why he's resting so he can reserve his strength to chase them crix; Misitng about 4-times a month is good from his nose to his tail and outside of his tank-not in it as the humidity will rise and you don't want that. Temps make all the difference; 110-for babies[hot side] 80-85-[cool side] Veggies he will eat in time; Mine ate them by mistake lol-cricket hopped in and he ate the crix and thus he started his veggies; But all the gentle giants are different. Their is a great post on diet on the first page of the forum-sorry i can't post a link or i would for you. But i put in enough crix; that he eats right away and if he eats them all i give more;His growth rate will shock you once he gets going and don't worry about him pooping he will on his own terms-ps you don't need to keep water in his tank-just water his veggies and his misting should take care of that-after all no water in the desert lol-and crix; have water, and worms, veggies so he does get it.Try a little fruit mixed in his veggies and keep offering greens-no spinch,-gives the poops garlic, toxic oinions toxic or any citrus fruit Check out that page and you will get a link to good foods- bad foods. I am in the proccess of coping it as i have a journal=what fed, likes, dislikes, cal with out d-3-when used with d-3 vitamins when given ect; as it's so easy to forget. And it gives you a good idea as his off days and good days a lot of good stuff.hope this will get you started and others have some great advice as well-if i can be of any more help Please let me know Have to feed my baby now coming up to 2-pm and he will be waiting. Bella-aka-river-7

 

[Germ]

You need to get your basking spot closer to the 110F range in order for it digest it's food properly, which of course will affect many other things down the line.

Beardies are lazy, very lazy! The reason he may be basking a lot more than you think normal could be to do with his temperatures. Try getting his basking spot a little closer to the heat. They should be basking for around 5 minutes at a time then moving.
Scott

I disagree vehemently about the fact that they should be basking for 5 minutes at a time then moving. If your temps are setup properly with the proper heat gradients, they should be basking the majority of the time.

The nutrition chart below will help you to pick out more suitable veggies, fruit shout only be a treat.

A few good links to help get you started ...

Basic BD Care Sheet - A Place To Start

Bearded Dragon --- Exclusive Care Info Library

Beautiful Dragons Nutrition Chart

Is Bearded Dragon Co-habitation a good plan?

How To Sex A Bearded Dragon

 

[river-7]

GERM; I find that my baby basks a lot NOT 5-min; at a time so i'm thinking temps are good.He basks most of the day except when feeding or window surfing lol I most certainly agree with you. Bella -aka-river

 

[ThDude]

as its been said by a few feed him as much as he will eat(live food) withen a 10-15 min time span at least twice a day. so much more then 10 crickets a day.

 

[Germ]

GERM; I find that my baby basks a lot NOT 5-min; at a time so i'm thinking temps are good.He basks most of the day except when feeding or window surfing lol I most certainly agree with you. Bella -aka-river

The only way to know if your temps are good is with an accurate digital thermometer with a probe\sensor, set directly at the basking spot. 110F is what is needed for a juvenile.

 

[SouthernDissolution]

Welcome to the forum, and hello from another SoA fan good choice in names.

 

[river-7]

Southern; thank you and that's not his name just one i've given him up until i figure one out for him & thanks soo much for the welcome-I appreciate it.-river-7

 

[Meganimoo]

My beardie didn't eat his greens for the first few weeks of me owning him. He's now 12 weeks and he's only just started eating them. Its annoying having to give them everyday and then throw them away after they've dried up. But eventually he'll eat them. I tend to put them in the viv in the morning with no crickets, so he gets a bit peckish and eats them. Then I give him his crickets. I thought my boy was too skinny when I got him a month ago and now he's got really fat!
Welcome to the forum

Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk

 

[river-7]

Megan; My boy ate the veggies by accident; Just spray veggies with a little water outside the tank and that way he will get a little water too. A cricket crawled in his veggie dish and then he went after the cricket and thus he eats his veggies now. I leave them in for 1-1/2 hours before he gets his crickets.And i spray with water to keep them fresh-Hope that helps you and welcome to the forum as well-Bella-aka-river

 

[Jesse omg it's me]

You need to get your basking spot closer to the 110F range in order for it digest it's food properly, which of course will affect many other things down the line.
I disagree vehemently about the fact that they should be basking for 5 minutes at a time then moving. If your temps are setup properly with the proper heat gradients, they should be basking the majority of the time.

The nutrition chart below will help you to pick out more suitable veggies, fruit shout only be a treat.

A few good links to help get you started ...

Basic BD Care Sheet - A Place To Start

Bearded Dragon --- Exclusive Care Info Library

Beautiful Dragons Nutrition Chart

Is Bearded Dragon Co-habitation a good plan?

How To Sex A Bearded Dragon

Agree with germ on this one and this nutrition chart will help a lot!!

 

[Jesse omg it's me]

just want to say for this green thing try bright colors in veggies that they can eat by bright i dont mean like colorful like the rainbow i mean things that will catch your beardies eye like fruits!!! remeber though dont over feed them on fruits they are high in sugar and if they eat to much fruits means to much sugar means unhealthy habits!!haha but before you feed them any veggies that you question if they can have it or not double check do research because a lot the time when i ask my self that question they cant eat what i want to give them!! good luck

 

[LunaLupus]

To get my two to eat their veggies, I have used baby food with great results. I'll chop up a bunch of greens and top it with a small dollop of squash baby food. They love it, and the color and smell gets their attention. Usually once they start eating the greens they'll keep munching until they're full or there are no more greens left. lol

 

[Noella]

I agree with Germ about basking times. My beardie basks all day long and she moves to different places under her lights to catch the hottest area. I noticed she doesn't use her logs to bask on, so I use a nice cuddly blanket. She rarely basks on her hammock, but she'll sit on it and look around. Her Highness loves her greens.

 

[Jesse omg it's me]

i have also used baby food thats how i got my girl to try her veggies and turned out she loved her greens and kept chopping down...but its very important to see what they like and dont like so you know what she will eat or not and if you are not sure if she can eat something look into it or ask someone on here!

 

[Noella]

I know she dislikes endive....and her favorite greens are turnip greens. Collards second, mustard greens third. I use baby food squash as a treat or a hydration tool.