Newbie, Need Help Pls!

[Lando1]

Hi everyone!


I am planning on getting a young BD soon and want to make sure I have everything I need.
This BD would be my first reptile, but I am not new to keeping sensitive creatures (I probably have over 1,000 gallons worth of fish tanks running).
That is why I am here, to avoid the mistakes I made when I first got into fish-keeping.
My plan is to setup a 20gal long until he is big enough to go into a 75 gal or a custom enclosure (5Lx3Wx3H). I have plenty of empty large tanks, but I would prefer building one.
The materials I have coming in the mail:
*2 t5ho 24" fixtures
*2 reptisun 10.0 UVB tubes/bulbs (I only plan on using 1 t5ho fixture and bulb for the 20 long and both fixtures for the 75gal/enclosure)
*2 ceramic domes (1 for the basking light, 1 for heat emitter for the night)
*Digital laser thermometer (gun temp)
*100 watt bulbs for heat (1490 lumen)
*Digital thermo controller
*Powdered calcium and multivitamin
*Dubia roaches and crickets
*Food bowl
*Screen lid
I plan to pick up decor at the pet shop cause it's very hard to judge the correct size I will need. I am going to use tile as substrate since it's probably easier to clean up.
I am planning to keep the young BD in the 20 long for about a month, would that be fine or would it stunt its growth?

All pointers are welcome!
Am I missing anything?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Sosemisa]

Hi everyone!


I am planning on getting a young BD soon and want to make sure I have everything I need.
This BD would be my first reptile, but I am not new to keeping sensitive creatures (I probably have over 1,000 gallons worth of fish tanks running).
That is why I am here, to avoid the mistakes I made when I first got into fish-keeping.
My plan is to setup a 20gal long until he is big enough to go into a 75 gal or a custom enclosure (5Lx3Wx3H). I have plenty of empty large tanks, but I would prefer building one.
The materials I have coming in the mail:
*2 t5ho 24" fixtures
*2 reptisun 10.0 UVB tubes/bulbs (I only plan on using 1 t5ho fixture and bulb for the 20 long and both fixtures for the 75gal/enclosure)
*2 ceramic domes (1 for the basking light, 1 for heat emitter for the night)
*Digital laser thermometer (gun temp)
*100 watt bulbs for heat (1490 lumen)
*Digital thermo controller
*Powdered calcium and multivitamin
*Dubia roaches and crickets
*Food bowl
*Screen lid
I plan to pick up decor at the pet shop cause it's very hard to judge the correct size I will need. I am going to use tile as substrate since it's probably easier to clean up.
I am planning to keep the young BD in the 20 long for about a month, would that be fine or would it stunt its growth?

All pointers are welcome!
Am I missing anything?

Thanks for reading!

Wow. Looks like you have done your research! Impressive! I think you will have a very happy bearded dragon! A 20 gallon tank is fine until he/she is 6 months or older. Then move to a 40 or just go straight to a 60-75!

 

[Lando1]

Hi again!

Thanks for all the help!
I received everything I need, except the UVB bulb (arrives tomorrow).
I am waiting on the grout to dry and am going to be making a basking and hideout out of rocks and tiles.
I think I am going to pickup the beardie on Tuesday! I am very excited!
I read somewhere on this forum that I can place the reptisun 10.0 18-24" away from the beardie, is this accurate?
Also, is there anything I can culture for them?
Has anyone fed a beardie daphnia before, would they have too much water content?

Thank you!

 

[Sosemisa]

Hi again!

Thanks for all the help!
I received everything I need, except the UVB bulb (arrives tomorrow).
I am waiting on the grout to dry and am going to be making a basking and hideout out of rocks and tiles.
I think I am going to pickup the beardie on Tuesday! I am very excited!
I read somewhere on this forum that I can place the reptisun 10.0 18-24" away from the beardie, is this accurate?
Also, is there anything I can culture for them?
Has anyone fed a beardie daphnia before, would they have too much water content?

Thank you!

I’m sorry I can’t help you with that... I haven’t had experience with that

 

[Lando1]

Sorry for so many questions!
But I am trying to dial the temperature on both sides.
In order for me to keep the cool side of tank at 80-85F, I had to put a heat lamp with thermo controller set to 80F (it was at 75F without it).
There is a cave on the cool side, inside the cave it's 80ish but on top of the cave it's 105F.
Will my BD prefer the "cool side" over the basking area? If they do, is that bad since he isn't receiving the light from the basking bulb?
Thank you!

 

[HoomanSlave]

Sorry for so many questions!
But I am trying to dial the temperature on both sides.
In order for me to keep the cool side of tank at 80-85F, I had to put a heat lamp with thermo controller set to 80F (it was at 75F without it).
There is a cave on the cool side, inside the cave it's 80ish but on top of the cave it's 105F.
Will my BD prefer the "cool side" over the basking area? If they do, is that bad since he isn't receiving the light from the basking bulb?
Thank you!

There should be a hide on both ends so that he can thermoregulate and hide at the same time. As long as he has a hide in both, it seems like he should alter between the two as needed.

 

[Lando1]

I finally got him/her today! It completely ignored the wax and meal worms, but couldn't resist the dubia roaches!
On a side note, when I first put him in, he tried to jump on the rock wallpaper.
What is the earliest I can transfer him into his forever home?

 

[thujone]

I've heard from a few different folks that you're not supposed to feed waxworms to young dragons. When mine was very young, he liked the dubias and the mealworms, but the superworms were too large for him. He often had trouble catching the crickets and dubias, so I would try to paralyze them with the tongs so they couldn't escape so easily. Generally, I found feeding a juvenile dragon to be pretty frustrating. He didn't eat regularly. Would skip meals and then make up for it the next day. And to this day, he only eats a couple of different greens: mustard greens, arugula, and now basil. He has never eaten any other green or veggie. I heard this isn't uncommon for bearded dragons. They often stick with one thing or even one type of bug that they like. I think the key is don't stress too much about it.

Another thing is, you don't have to go overboard with the calcium dusting. Sometimes it's super inconvenient to dust bugs. I might sprinkle a little on the greens, but I don't even dust bugs anymore -- honestly, i think it's a wee bit of a scam.

 

[CaHarding]

I finally got him/her today! It completely ignored the wax and meal worms, but couldn't resist the dubia roaches!
On a side note, when I first put him in, he tried to jump on the rock wallpaper.
What is the earliest I can transfer him into his forever home?

I think as long as everything is good with your basking and uvb you could move whenever. We recently moved our 4 month old into her 120gal. She was previously in a 20 gallon and had the uvb coil that was recommended from the pet store. Then it took us awhile to get the correct uvb tube. 10-12 inches away is optimal I believe. Anyways, she stresses easy but once we moved her into the 120 with the correct lighting and correct uvb she was thriving and did not stress at all.

 

[Sosemisa]

Sorry for so many questions!
But I am trying to dial the temperature on both sides.
In order for me to keep the cool side of tank at 80-85F, I had to put a heat lamp with thermo controller set to 80F (it was at 75F without it).
There is a cave on the cool side, inside the cave it's 80ish but on top of the cave it's 105F.
Will my BD prefer the "cool side" over the basking area? If they do, is that bad since he isn't receiving the light from the basking bulb?
Thank you!

I think if he is on the basking side for most of the time he will be ok. If he likes the cool side that’s ok too. But if it’s below 75 and he is always on the cool side that’s not good.

 

[Lando1]

Hi everyone!

Sorry for resurrecting a thread but didn't want to create a new one as this situation is about the same BD.
My BD has been brumating for around 1.5 months. I read early on that a juvenile BD should not brumate for their health, so this scared me a bit.
I took my BD to the vet after a few days of her sleeping and everything came back fine, this was at the beginning of winter here in Chicago.

So, I just let her brumate but I kept waking her up every other day to feed her and she would eat a lot, bask for an hour or two, poop and go right back inside her hide to sleep.
I currently have her in a 75 gal tank, with a reptisun 10 in the middle of the tank, basking spot sits at around 107F and I have a heat lamp on the other side (cool side) of tank set with a thermometer to 80F.
Her food consist of mostly dubia, discoid and mealworms. Dubia and discoids are her main diet because I have cultures of those guys going and read that they are great for a staple BD diet.

I am concerned she isn't growing as she should be. Before winter hit, she was shedding every other week, and growing a lot. It feels like her growth has halted. I received my BD mid/late September 2020.
I have raised the temperature in the enclosure to see if that can trigger her out of it, but nothing has worked.
Am I prolonging this brumation by waking her up and feeding her? I also have to force feed repashy veggies because she won't eat any veggies.
I am stressing out about her growth and do not want to stunt it, any help is appreciated!

Thank you!

 

[Sadie]

Sorry for so many questions!
But I am trying to dial the temperature on both sides.
In order for me to keep the cool side of tank at 80-85F, I had to put a heat lamp with thermo controller set to 80F (it was at 75F without it).
There is a cave on the cool side, inside the cave it's 80ish but on top of the cave it's 105F.
Will my BD prefer the "cool side" over the basking area? If they do, is that bad since he isn't receiving the light from the basking bulb?
Thank you!

Are you using the two UVB's you posted at the beginning of the thread? You only need one- -- if you are using two please get rid of one- she is probably hiding from them --- you only want one in the tank so she has a place or places to go w/ out hiding from them -- distance should be 12-15 inches directly above the basking decor -- no back wall -- how old is the dragon? If she is under a year old she is too young to be brumating -you need one UVB and one good bright white basking bulb that keeps temps 105-110 for a baby - 95-110 for a juvenile / adult dragon --- NO colored bulbs for heat --- yes it is bad for basking area to be on the cool side --- you want 3 temps in the tank basking temps to what I posted above middle of the tank 90's and the cool side 80's --- nite time temps 65-75 they like it cool and dark ---are you getting these temps w/ a digital probe thermometer? You can use a regular house hold bulb the old style no LEDS to get the cool side to 80 - try a 40 or 60 watt bulb --- but you need a digital probe to get that temp--- your UVB and basking temps are the two MOST IMPORTANT things in that tank -- get them corrected and you should see a difference in her behavior right away

 

[Skybug]

Lightning is usually the issue when/if they brumate to long, ive read conflicting information about taking out a beardie and feeding them and putting them under a light, some say vehemently yes it prolongs it while the other side says no it doesn’t, I personally dont make my beardie bask or eat but i do wiggle a bug infront of her big hide if she goes longer than 3 days no food, sometimes shell take it other times she wont , i go with the reasoning of if a bug walked down into a beardies den in the wild they’d most definitely take the chance to chow down on it, unless the beardie is dropping weight fast they’re usually fine with just being left alone, in theory they can go months with no food or water (doesn’t mean there wont be repercussions) but they are lizards after all.

 

[Meama123]

Sorry for so many questions!
But I am trying to dial the temperature on both sides.
In order for me to keep the cool side of tank at 80-85F, I had to put a heat lamp with thermo controller set to 80F (it was at 75F without it).
There is a cave on the cool side, inside the cave it's 80ish but on top of the cave it's 105F.
Will my BD prefer the "cool side" over the basking area? If they do, is that bad since he isn't receiving the light from the basking bulb?
Thank you!

Your lil guy or gal will love the hot spot my basking area is about 107 and Blackbeard my bearded loves it he also has a branch that gethim even closer to the light it doesn't temp as warm because its wood instead of rock but I'm sure its warmer as it is 3 inches closer to the bulb he also loves that area.but there are also times when he curls up in his 75° corner. It just depends on what they need at the moment

 

[Lando1]

Sorry for the late reply! It's been a crazy week!
I did not explain it well enough. I only use 1 UVB bulb in the tank. It's the long reptisun kind.
The basking spot is at one side of the tank, with a temp of ~107F.
The other side of the tank I keep at 75-80F, I use a ceramic bulb with a thermometer probe to maintain temps at that range.
My dragon was young, maybe 2-3 months old when purchased. So I think it probably started brumation around
6-8 months old. We had a horrible winter here in Chicago, my guess is that triggered it.
I increased temperatures in the tank during this time but my beardie did not snap out of brumation. I force fed her omnivore repashy gel the entire time, and she would go on a dubia rampage when I fed her with tongs. After feeding, she would bask for a few hours then go right back to her hide and sleep until woken up again.
She woke up for a couple of days this week, pooped a lot then went right back to sleep.
Not sure how to get her to snap out of brumation, she needs to be gorging herself at this age, no?

 

[Skybug]

Sorry for the late reply! It's been a crazy week!
I did not explain it well enough. I only use 1 UVB bulb in the tank. It's the long reptisun kind.
The basking spot is at one side of the tank, with a temp of ~107F.
The other side of the tank I keep at 75-80F, I use a ceramic bulb with a thermometer probe to maintain temps at that range.
My dragon was young, maybe 2-3 months old when purchased. So I think it probably started brumation around
6-8 months old. We had a horrible winter here in Chicago, my guess is that triggered it.
I increased temperatures in the tank during this time but my beardie did not snap out of brumation. I force fed her omnivore repashy gel the entire time, and she would go on a dubia rampage when I fed her with tongs. After feeding, she would bask for a few hours then go right back to her hide and sleep until woken up again.
She woke up for a couple of days this week, pooped a lot then went right back to sleep.
Not sure how to get her to snap out of brumation, she needs to be gorging herself at this age, no?

Can you take a picture of the information on your uvb bulb? Yes your baby should be running, jumping, and craping all over the place, the winter cold could have added to it but id think with proper warm temps that would snap him out of it too , how has his stools looked? Undigested bits?

 

[Sadie]

Sorry for the late reply! It's been a crazy week!
I did not explain it well enough. I only use 1 UVB bulb in the tank. It's the long reptisun kind.
The basking spot is at one side of the tank, with a temp of ~107F.
The other side of the tank I keep at 75-80F, I use a ceramic bulb with a thermometer probe to maintain temps at that range.
My dragon was young, maybe 2-3 months old when purchased. So I think it probably started brumation around
6-8 months old. We had a horrible winter here in Chicago, my guess is that triggered it.
I increased temperatures in the tank during this time but my beardie did not snap out of brumation. I force fed her omnivore repashy gel the entire time, and she would go on a dubia rampage when I fed her with tongs. After feeding, she would bask for a few hours then go right back to her hide and sleep until woken up again.
She woke up for a couple of days this week, pooped a lot then went right back to sleep.
Not sure how to get her to snap out of brumation, she needs to be gorging herself at this age, no?

You need a bright white basking bulb the CHE will only keep temps to what you need for air temps- the bright white is what starts off the digestion --- dragons do not brumate at 6-8 months old --- that is telling me something is off in the tank and dragons will mimic brumation w/ improper UVB and improper basking temps -- his temps as a baby should of been 105-110--- this is not brumation --- please tell me the bulb of the Reptisun T 5 or T 8

 

[Nero]

I finally got him/her today! It completely ignored the wax and meal worms, but couldn't resist the dubia roaches!
On a side note, when I first put him in, he tried to jump on the rock wallpaper.
What is the earliest I can transfer him into his forever home?

I would say never too early. Yes you can keep using the 20 gallon with no problems until they get too big for it. If you don't have the big terrarium here's a reccomendation: https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/ha...ralistic-front-opening-terrarium-5300502.html

Anyways there are different sizes, I have the 50 gallon version and my beardie loves it. It makes feeding easier because it had doors, The doors to click and lock in so you won't have to worry about escape.

 

[Frank the baby beardry]

Wow. Looks like you have done your research! Impressive! I think you will have a very happy bearded dragon! A 20 gallon tank is fine until he/she is 6 months or older. Then move to a 40 or just go straight to a 60-75!

Not a 60 a 60 is to small she will need a 75 to 120 gallon at 12 months

 

[Frank the baby beardry]

I would say never too early. Yes you can keep using the 20 gallon with no problems until they get too big for it. If you don't have the big terrarium here's a reccomendation: https://www.petsmart.com/reptile/ha...ralistic-front-opening-terrarium-5300502.html

Anyways there are different sizes, I have the 50 gallon version and my beardie loves it. It makes feeding easier because it had doors, The doors to click and lock in so you won't have to worry about escape.

Maybe but be a little careful they might get stressed I’m a large space. Mine is in a 40 and I plan to upgrade to 120