New owner

[QueenNelly]

Hi all! Just set up my tank and put my little guy in there! Not sure on how old but I’d say 4-8 weeks! I was told I won’t know the sex for a few months. We got the 40 gallon thrive starter kit for bearded dragons at PetSmart. I will attach a picture to make sure everything is set up right! Was told to block one side off until it grows bigger. Also I’m not sure on how many times a day or week they should eat? Was told every other day but I’ve been researching and getting a lot of different answers! I would love any advice and/or thoughts! Thanks I’m so excited to start this journey with my new friend!

 

[Emilia Thuet]

From the picture it looks like he’s about 2-3 months. The set up looks good for him here are some pointers that I’ve learned with having a hatchling.
- Babies like him need a hot spot of around 105-110F
- Best way to check the temp is with a laser gun thermometer (you can get one for cheap on amazon I think I got mine for lik 25 with prime)
- For his uvb he should be no further than 8 inches but closer is better I say around 4-6 inche depending on how strong your uvb light is. For my beardies it’s usually around uvb 100-150. To me I feel like he should be a bit closer to it
- The closer he is to his uvb bulb matters especially when it comes to the tubular ones. While they are healthier for them they can cause mbd if they aren’t close enough to them one girl on this forum learned that the hard way when her beardie developed mbd over a couple of weeks because he was too far away from the tube uvb light.
- Young beardies have a tendency to act like toddlers when it comes to veggies and not eat them. It’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t touch his veggies. My beardie is 8 months and is just starting to eat veggies and is still a bit against them.
- Babies up time a year old can and should eat as much as their hearts want to. They have to grow to be 200x their size when they hatch which takes a lot of energy and therefor food. My beardie ate crickets usually 3 times a day as much as he wanted I think the most he ate was around 94 crickets in a day and let’s just say he’s 8 months 24 inches long and around 450 grams. With still basically another 8 months of growing and he isn’t over weight at all. So don’t worry about him getting fat I promise you he won’t. Also because he’s so small and they grow so much feeding him every other day is basically the equivalent of a human not eating for 3 days. Many hatchlings have been known to die after not eating for 2 days. He is past that stage but I’m just giving you an example of how important food if for them a this stage. When they are adults it’s different.
- I suggest a hammock, they love hammocks especially to bask in them. You can get one that is rectangular and triangular. So that the rectangular one creates a ramp to the triangular one so that he can bask in it and that it’ll make him closer to the lamp.
- They usually have a tendency to get dehydrated so I suggest daily bathes until he’s around 5-6 months old and make sure the water doesn’t go past his belly because baby dragons also have a tendency to drown. Aren’t they just precious
- Lastly, no sand I feel like you probably know this but not even the one that is calcium full or dissolved in their digestive track. Isn’t worth the hassle or fear because baby beardies can get impacted very easily which can lead to a very quick and not so fun death.
Hope this was helpful, if you have any questions don’t be shy and just ask I love helping out and this may have been a lot of info at once.

 

[Emilia Thuet]

I also suggest feeding him in a separate bowl. It creates bonding time with your beardie and allows you to keep track of how much he’s eating

 

[QueenNelly]

From the picture it looks like he’s about 2-3 months. The set up looks good for him here are some pointers that I’ve learned with having a hatchling.
- Babies like him need a hot spot of around 105-110F
- Best way to check the temp is with a laser gun thermometer (you can get one for cheap on amazon I think I got mine for lik 25 with prime)
- For his uvb he should be no further than 8 inches but closer is better I say around 4-6 inche depending on how strong your uvb light is. For my beardies it’s usually around uvb 100-150. To me I feel like he should be a bit closer to it
- The closer he is to his uvb bulb matters especially when it comes to the tubular ones. While they are healthier for them they can cause mbd if they aren’t close enough to them one girl on this forum learned that the hard way when her beardie developed mbd over a couple of weeks because he was too far away from the tube uvb light.
- Young beardies have a tendency to act like toddlers when it comes to veggies and not eat them. It’s not the end of the world if he doesn’t touch his veggies. My beardie is 8 months and is just starting to eat veggies and is still a bit against them.
- Babies up time a year old can and should eat as much as their hearts want to. They have to grow to be 200x their size when they hatch which takes a lot of energy and therefor food. My beardie ate crickets usually 3 times a day as much as he wanted I think the most he ate was around 94 crickets in a day and let’s just say he’s 8 months 24 inches long and around 450 grams. With still basically another 8 months of growing and he isn’t over weight at all. So don’t worry about him getting fat I promise you he won’t. Also because he’s so small and they grow so much feeding him every other day is basically the equivalent of a human not eating for 3 days. Many hatchlings have been known to die after not eating for 2 days. He is past that stage but I’m just giving you an example of how important food if for them a this stage. When they are adults it’s different.
- I suggest a hammock, they love hammocks especially to bask in them. You can get one that is rectangular and triangular. So that the rectangular one creates a ramp to the triangular one so that he can bask in it and that it’ll make him closer to the lamp.
- They usually have a tendency to get dehydrated so I suggest daily bathes until he’s around 5-6 months old and make sure the water doesn’t go past his belly because baby dragons also have a tendency to drown. Aren’t they just precious
- Lastly, no sand I feel like you probably know this but not even the one that is calcium full or dissolved in their digestive track. Isn’t worth the hassle or fear because baby beardies can get impacted very easily which can lead to a very quick and not so fun death.
Hope this was helpful, if you have any questions don’t be shy and just ask I love helping out and this may have been a lot of info at once.

Awesome thank you so much! That was very helpful! I’m ordering a hammock right now! I do think I will open up the other side because it seems the cardboard is holding in a lot of moisture! Without the lights it got past 50% humidity last night but with the lights being on for an hour now it’s down to 35%! Do you suggest a tube uvb instead of the dome? We bought a kit so it’s what it came with but now I’m reading all this stuff about not having a coiled uvb light bulb!

 

[Emilia Thuet]

Awesome thank you so much! That was very helpful! I’m ordering a hammock right now! I do think I will open up the other side because it seems the cardboard is holding in a lot of moisture! Without the lights it got past 50% humidity last night but with the lights being on for an hour now it’s down to 35%! Do you suggest a tube uvb instead of the dome? We bought a kit so it’s what it came with but now I’m reading all this stuff about not having a coiled uvb light bulb!

That humidity is a little dangerous for them they can get respiratory infections if it does get that high. If it’s still looking high at night a heat emitter can help keep his tank a bit warmer as well as keep the humidity low. For the uvb light, its one of those things that I find is a he said she said thing. Where many owner are entirely against the coils and others have never had a problem with them. I use coil and all my beardies are happy and healthy. One is looking to become the size of a German giant without having the genes to be one. But I won’t be the pot calling the kettle black considering I will be getting the tube ones when my beardies get their new tanks. What I do suggest though because I have used them before and I find that they don’t have the same distance as coils so just make sure that their basking spots are within 4-6 inches from the light instead of the usually 8 inches that most people recommend. There’s actually a beardie I’m helping that because he was so far away from his uvb tube lamp that he ended up getting mbd. So just make sure it’s set up properly because I won’t lie they are known to be healthier for them