adopted a beardie

[gomezladdams]

Seems to be in decent health other than being smaller than I expected for his age.The previous owner thinks its between 6-8 years old.the body not including tail is about 10".Looks a little thin but alert and active.
The tank has red calcium sand substrate.a log for climbing and a large water bowl.Drop light with an incandecent bulb for heat.The hood has a ge aquarays salt and fresh flourecent bulb.He said he didnt have a heat pad under the tank so never turns the lights off.
Diet has been 100 crickets once a week then lettuce,carrots and fruit the rest of the week.He said he often feeds iceberg lettuce which I know is usually not reccomended for reptiles.

Ive kept some reptiles before but no beardies and am open to suggestions comments or advice.Ill see if I can get a photo up tommorow night.

 

[BreellaBlue87]

Loose the sand, you want something along the lines of tile or slate for the bottom.
Adult Beardies should be fed a good mix of veggies and fruits as about 80% of their diet.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

that is a good site with some information on diet. Iceburge lettuce is high in water and not much else, can give them diarrhea pretty bad. A good diet high in awesome food will help put the muscle back on him.
What kind of bulbs is in the flourescent? Reptisun 10 is often recomended, hard to find the reptisun 8 is good too.
Also you NEED to turn out the lights at night. Some Bearded Dragons can't get into REM sleep with lights on, it is also believed they can also see in the red spectrum.

The waterbowl shouldn't be too deep, and will need to be taken out, emptied and scrubbed every day. I forgo one in exchange for weekly baths.

I'd love to see some photos!

Edit note: Take a fresh poop sample (no older than 4 hours) to the vet for parasite testing. It's about $21-$25 here in NY so it may be cheaper in other states.

 

[gomezladdams]

I dont think the aquarays bulb is right,ill see what I can get tommorow.
I think I have some zoo-med heatpads for under the tank,Ill look in the garage when I get home from work.Ill stop and get him some fresh veggies as well.
Thanks for the link!

 

[BreellaBlue87]

No Heatpads! They have been known to cause severe burns on bearded dragons! Beardies are insensitive to heat on their bellys. Heating pads are a bad idea. If your room doesn't go below 65* at night you don't need any extra heat at night, it gets COLD in aussie at night. If your room does go below 65* you want to invest in a Ceramic Heat emmiter, it's like-- well its a lightless lightbulb. Beardies sense heat better from their organ on their head, which I can't remember the name for but you can see it on their head, its a small opaque scale. And thus they can regulate internal body temperature better.

<3 I still want photos!

 

[andyjs]

No Heatpads! They have been known to cause severe burns on bearded dragons! Beardies are insensitive to heat on their bellys. Heating pads are a bad idea. If your room doesn't go below 65* at night you don't need any extra heat at night, it gets COLD in aussie at night. If your room does go below 65* you want to invest in a Ceramic Heat emmiter, it's like-- well its a lightless lightbulb. Beardies sense heat better from their organ on their head, which I can't remember the name for but you can see it on their head, its a small opaque scale. And thus they can regulate internal body temperature better.

<3 I still want photos!

I believe you meant the parietal eye, which is present in herps and some fish. It detects light, but I'm not sure if it detects just heat.

Heat pads are not bad for beardies. Heat ROCKS are very dangerous and shouldn't be used with ANY animal, but the heat of a heat pad should spread out better through the bottom of the tank and not cause hot spots or burns.

 

[Red Devil]

hope he does well for you... looking to see his picture.. they are so cute.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

You can use heat pads as long as you have a thermostat for it. It also helps when you place a ceramic tile over the spot in the tank that the heating pad is located. This helps to distribute the eat evenly over a surface. But seeing how they are diurnal basking lizards, most of the heat they get should be from overhead lighting.

 

[BreellaBlue87]

Pads, Rocks-- I hadn't had my coffee yet, sorry. Personally I don't like either of them; I'd still go with a Ceramic Heat Emmiter over a nice slab of slate or a pretty smooth rock, but if you want one a thermostat and timer would be good investments in the prevention of any issues.

You don't want the tank to get over 100*-110* at the basking spot, and a temp of 85* in the rest of the tank is good.

Also it was the Parietal Eye I was thinking of. It does help in thermoregulation as well.

 

[gomezladdams]

Just got home and fed him some crickets dusted with rep-cal with vit.d3

He ate about 5 then came over to watch me.I think he was confused by the calcium dust,I dont believe the previous owner ever gave him any supplements.
Also picked up a exo-terra repti-glo 10uvb bulb to replace the bulb that came with him.Ill see what I can do about nighttime temp control,it does go below 60 in my house sometimes.If I did use the heatpad it would be below the substrate so he couldnt lay directly against it.I want to get him on a day night cycle,so I will try to get the temp issue sorted out asap.

Just reminded me of selling a heatrock at my garage sale.I put a sign on it."electric rock,70% more effective than cordless rocks."

 

[BreellaBlue87]

LOL, cordless rock... maybe more prone to hotspots and random breakdown...

You want to loose the colored sand, please don't forget. If you do decided to keep it, remember that it requires daily scooping of fecees and the sand around it, and should be totally changed regularly to prevent parasite/bacteria infection. IME sand is far too much work for what it's worth, which is why I use tiles, just pick up the poop, wipe with a baby wipe and I sanatize the tank every month. Some people use repticarpet and wash it, some others use vinal shelf liner (the non sticky kind) and use the same pick and wipe method I use.