This was kind of thrust upon me...

[still_crimson]

Hi everyone. My name is Jen. I just got a baby beardie today. I guess I will give the background info.
My apartment complex manager who knows I'm an animal person called me earlier today freaking out because some people in another building moved out at the end of April. They just got around to clean up in the apartment and found that the people left behind three betta fish. One in one mason jar and two bettas sharing another mason jar. Along with them was a baby dragon. He was in a 20 long zilla reptile cage with sliding lid. The screen however was broken. He has a uvb strip light, a 50 watt night light, but had no day lights. Electricity had been turned off for a while so he was without any. His cage had repti sand in it and while he had a water and food dish, driftwood, and reptile cave the cage was filthy and there was no water until the maintenance man came in and found him. There were dehydrated pieces of veggie and fruit in the cage. Well I took him in and sterilized everything, took the lid to a great lumber supply/maintenance store and had them put a new screen in. I've replaced the sand with repti carpet. In the apartment was gut load gel and pellet food for crickets, but that is all. So I got a small critter keeper and about two dozen crickets today along with calcium powder with D3. I've given him a bit of romaine and carrots and he has eaten a little bit, but I am holding off on crickets til tomorrow to make sure they will be nice and gut loaded. I took him to the pet shop with me to get appropriate size crickets and the lady looked at him and said he will need a little tlc but doesn't look severely malnurished.
Anyhow with both the day heat lamp and night heat lamp on the hot spot in the cage is only reading at a little over 80 degrees. So I am assuming I will have to get a bigger day lamp, but am worried about putting it on top of the cage because the screen is already sagging a little bit under the weight of the 50 watt day and night heat lamps.
In any case I'm feeling very overwhelmed right now as I have a 29 gallon fish tank, a cat, and am getting ready to adopt a pair of guinea pigs that I will be picking up Saturday. I hope this little guy or girl is going to be ok. And sorry for the long rant! I've never had a beardie before but know a little about them as I researched when thinking of getting one a while back. I opted not to at the time because I heard the lamps are prone to causing fires and didn't want to deal with crickets. lol. Any advice will be much appreciated.

 

[still_crimson]

Also he looked clean when I looked at him earlier. I checked him over and didn't see any bugs crawling on him or any sore spots or anything, and his cage was cleaned a few hours ago, but upon just looking at him I saw a teeny white thin little bug crawling on the inside of the glass... Could this be a mite???? or just a random little bug? And he was very calm and I have held him earlier but now is moving around in his cage a bit more and sometimes it looks like he's trying to get out, as he claws at the glass. He is taking a poo atm and it isn't runny but looks soft and wet, is this normal?

 

[PatsyB]

Wow, what a crazy story! I don't understand how anyone could leave all that behind. It sounds like you did everything right so far. I would swap out the romaine for a darker green that has more nutrition like collards, mustard greens, dandelion etc. There is a website called beautiful dragons.com that has a nutritional guide that is real good to follow.

His temp in the basking spot (the highest point closest to the light) should be 110 -115 degrees and 75-80 in his cool side, so you will need something with more wattage. A night light is not recommended because it can wake him up and disturb his sleep cycle. At night the overall temp can be in the low 70's. If you need to you can get a CHE bulb for night time, it gives off heat with no light.

He might be a little scared right now with his new situation so give him some time to adjust. Also, they are VERY easy to fall in love with, so it looks like you might have yourself a new pet Welcome to the forum!

 

[PatsyB]

Not sure about the bug, could be a random bug that managed to evade the tank sterilization process. I would think it's a good thing it was on the glass and not on him. Keep an eye on him though. I don't have much experience with bugs.

When he claws the glass that is called "glass dancing" they all do that. We aren't sure why. Could be he sees his reflection in the glass or it could mean he wants out of his tank.

Water coming out with the poop is a good thing, it means he's hydrated. The poop should be soft formed pieces starting with a white urate. Runny poop could be a sign of parasites. When you saw the white bug was it before or after he pooped?

 

[still_crimson]

Well he pooped once earlier in his water bowl and that looked elongated and I changed the water out. And Then as I was typing this I saw the bug on the glass on the inside but it got away, then he pooped, the second time the poop is shorter and mroe round. I don't see any white stuff but there was a tiny drip of gel like stuff that came out with it. For the bulb you are talking about how many watts would I need? right now it's reading a little over 80 deg. I still have the lights on as it took so long to run around, get everything, sterilize his cage, etc. So I am trying to give him a chance to warm up before I turn them off for the night. Also to give you an idea of his size he is between 3 to 3 1/2 inches from tip of nose to hind legs. the space between his eyes is 1/2 inch max.
The domes for the lights say 60 watts maximum and I'm not sure what else I can fit on the lid without it caving in. let me plug my phone into my laptop and I will upload pics of him and his cage if I can.

 

[PatsyB]

I would put the max wattage bulb in so put in a 60. Maybe somehow you can get his basking spot up a little closer to the light. The second poop was probably smaller because he didn't have much in his belly. As long as they are not runny diarrhea then it's good.

You'll want to get him on a wake/sleep cycle. I do 14 hours of lights on and they sleep for 10 hours. Oh, just a little beardie tip...usually when lights go out the eyes close and they are instantly asleep! It's the cutest thing.

And the UVB light strip is working?

 

[still_crimson]

The first pic is of the cage right after I brought it back to my apartment. The second is after cleaning the tanking with bleach water solution and soaking accessories in bleach water, fixed lid, etc. and the third is a close up of the dragon. Sorry if the pix suck, I took

 

[still_crimson]

Sorry, it somehow did the first one twice. That's awesome about the sleep thing I didn't know that! and yea it's working. I wasn't sure what kind of lights they were so I took the uvb strip light and purple light in with me and the lady at the pet store told me what was what.

 

[still_crimson]

Temp is rising slowly but surely, at about 85. I turned everything off when I picked up my daughter because I wanted to be home for the lights the first day or so to make sure everything is safe, but at least it's a bit warmer for now. So they have only been back on for about an hour and a half.

 

[PatsyB]

Awe, for what he's been through he looks pretty good! The dome light on the far right...that doesn't go above 60 watts? He needs to get a little closer to the UVB too try moving the dome closer to the front of the tank and the uvb strip behind it then make sure his basking is under the dome. What are you using to measure the temp? Analog gauges are not the best because they measure the temp on the glass not the temp at the basking spot. A digital prob thermometer is the best because it you can put it right on the basking spot and get an accurate reading.

 

[still_crimson]

Thanks. oh wait, the one on the right with the purple bulb goes to 75. Right now it's an analog hygro/temp therm. It came with the cage and I'll probably be strapped for a while until I can get a digital one, but it's kind of a little more than half way up to the top and in between the purple light and daylight. But I will pick up a digital as soon as I can.

 

[still_crimson]

Also the strip light is kind of sitting on the edge left of the tank as well, I'm trying to use the plastic ledges of the tank to support it. I'm scared to put it all right on top of the screen. I'm worried it will break again, But I will move it over as far as I can.
For tonight should I leave the purple one on to help keep it at least in the 70's or should I turn it off because like you said it could disrupt the sleep? Also I will try to move the wood up higher as suggested. he is sitting with his mouth open, is that normal too?

 

[PatsyB]

I would take the purple bulb out and put a 75 watt basking bulb in that or you can use a 75 watt household bulb something that will get the temps up during the day. If your house is warm, you don't need a heat lamp at night. Low 70's is just fine at night, I think 68 degrees is the lowest you can go at night.

 

[PatsyB]

When they sit with their mouth open they are just regulating their body temperature, that's perfectly normal. If your nighttime temps aret n't low, you can probably just take one of those domes off of the screen to get rid of some of the weight.

 

[still_crimson]

Right now it's about 68 -69 in here. My daughter sweats like a pig at night so I turn the ac up. should I take the daytime dome off every night to help prolong the screen top? also is it common for those things to break the screen? Sorry just want to avoid possible fires and make sure he's warm enough. Can you tell I'm still really nervous about it all? LOL.

 

[still_crimson]

I just saw your second to last post. So if I put a 75 watt daytime bulb where the purple one is should it be warm enough that I won't need the extra bulb you were talking about? Not sure how it all works cuz right now I'm running two 50 watts but might not be warm enough in there, so I guess I'm asking if one 75 watt will emit more heat than 2 50 watts. And by basking bulb is that the same thing as a daylight bulb?

 

[still_crimson]

also, wondering if the cage with still warmer than the actual temp of the house since it's a glass enclosure. like if I turn it all off at night

 

[PatsyB]

2 50 watt bulbs would probably be better than one 75 watt. I just looked it up and the lowest possible temp at night could be 65 degrees. So if you set the house to 68-69 you should be okay. I find that my tanks are true to what the temp in the house is. We tend to keep things on the warm side so it's usually around 70-71 at night in the tanks. As far as the screen on top of the tank, I have a bad habit of putting EVERYTHING on top of mine and so far I haven't had any accidents with the screen ripping.

 

[still_crimson]

OK. Thanks so much. I really appreciate all your answers and patience. I'll turn the ac to 70 to be safe and turn off the lights so I don't have to worry about it for tonight. I will prob look for a replacement bulb tomorrow, I'll be back on and post an update, and I guess for now will try to go not worry and sleep, as I have to get my munchkin up for school in the morning.

 

[timbalan]

I used to use a 65w halogen flood light in my glass enclosure. They put out alot more heat than a house bulb. Maybe try one of those. Although you may have to play with watts to find the right light. Thats the hardest part of setting everything up. But once you have the correct lights everything else is a breeze. Enjoy your little guy