Bearded dragon (noty idea)
- Thread starter jaws7777
- Start date
I asked my buddy what he does with his beardie that's 8-10yrs old.
Basking area on one side temps between 95-110F. The other side is roughly 85F. Night time drop down to low 70s.
Diet: High insectivores' when young and then switches to more veggies when older.
Bathing: He soaks his once a week and mists just the dragon once a day. Water dish is provided for drinking.
Thing was a killer when young attacking anything small enough to eat.
Do yourself a favor and start breeding dubia roaches. Best gutload feeder out there and your fish will go nuts to. You do not want to deal with crickets man.
Basking area on one side temps between 95-110F. The other side is roughly 85F. Night time drop down to low 70s.
Diet: High insectivores' when young and then switches to more veggies when older.
Bathing: He soaks his once a week and mists just the dragon once a day. Water dish is provided for drinking.
Thing was a killer when young attacking anything small enough to eat.
Do yourself a favor and start breeding dubia roaches. Best gutload feeder out there and your fish will go nuts to. You do not want to deal with crickets man.
Right now just some breeding pairs of tincs and phyllo's. I use to have a good bit of tanks back when I had time to take care of them. I'm not a thumb guy, but I had most everything else.
Ugh roaches. This is going to be fun thanks for reaching out to your buddy appreciate it right now we have them on the old worms we bought some of those pallets they sell but I don't think he'll eat them
Meal worms are good, what I used as a staple and gets you better growth than crickets.
If you want some real fun breed some big grasshoppers, then feed them to your beards outside the tank,somewhere he can hunt them down
You'll be begging for roaches after crickets lol
Dubias aren't bad they can't really climb smooth sides and don't smell. That's why I stick to fish and darts. I'll leave the fun creepy crawly stuff to you reptile guys
There's a LOT of misinformation out there on care, and Petsmart doesn't know jack. I really like the FB group "bearded dragons network" and it has a lot of info in the "Files" section if you don't want to post on the forum.
Here's a super informative resource with information on all of the things.
https://captiveandfieldherpetology....ded-Dragon-Care-2017-Frances-Baines-MRCVS.pdf
Too bad you already got everything, as some of the Petsmart stuff is crap. :/
They should really have a tube UVB light, not a combo. Most people get a tube T5HO like Reptisun 10.0. It should cover 2/3 of the tank and overlap the basking light.
Basking light can be one from a home improvement store for future reference (par 38 Halogen flood), and you can use a fixture from there too. Way cheaper and you can modify wattage to get the correct basking temps.
I have my UVB and heat lamp on a 13.5 hours on schedule. Some do 12.
Why T5
https://www.reptilecentre.com/blog/2016/09/difference-t8-t5-reptile-uvb-tubes/
Temps - ideal basking temp is 105. Cool side can be 80-85. They don't need night heat unless your house drops to below 60. Measure temps with a probe, not the stick-on-the-side-of-the-tank deal.
NO RED LIGHT. if Petsmart sold you one- return it.
BUGS/FOOD
I've only had the adult - they are easier as they eat more veggies. Agreed that the dubia roaches are way better than crickets! Not only do they not really climb or smell, but they don't jump, fly, bite, or make noise. And they're more nutritious and easier to gut load (which is important.)
Other good bug staples are black soldier fly larvae(BSFL)/calciworms/phoenix worms (all the same thing). They have a better calcium ratio and you don't actually have to dust them.
Silkworms are also a good staple.
For more of an occasional use: hornworms, butterworms, waxworms (fatty), superworms (fatty).
Not really recommended: mealworms. They have a hard shell that can cause impaction, and are fatty.
I get my roaches from a local reptile store and my worms occasionally there if they have them, but mostly online.
Repashy Calcium Plus is a good overall vitamin to dust with.
Go join that group and look at this file for what to dust and when.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/bearded-dragons-network/dusting-schedule/1919222504978718/
Beardies should get a "salad" EVERY DAY even as juveniles. Avoid crap like iceburg letttuce that have minimal nutrition. Great greens are: collard, mustard, dandelion, endive, escarole. Squash of any kind is a good staple too. There are links for nutrition contents of veggies/fruits and which are best to feed regularly, which to avoid. I actually made a spreadsheet of what I've found and if you PM me I can email that to you. (Yeah, I'm a nerd.) I don't soak veggies, but I'll sprinkle a little water on top for extra hydration sometimes.
From the files in the BDN, via guru Pete Hawkins - about how much to live feed.
Here's a super informative resource with information on all of the things.
https://captiveandfieldherpetology....ded-Dragon-Care-2017-Frances-Baines-MRCVS.pdf
Too bad you already got everything, as some of the Petsmart stuff is crap. :/
They should really have a tube UVB light, not a combo. Most people get a tube T5HO like Reptisun 10.0. It should cover 2/3 of the tank and overlap the basking light.
Basking light can be one from a home improvement store for future reference (par 38 Halogen flood), and you can use a fixture from there too. Way cheaper and you can modify wattage to get the correct basking temps.
I have my UVB and heat lamp on a 13.5 hours on schedule. Some do 12.
Why T5
https://www.reptilecentre.com/blog/2016/09/difference-t8-t5-reptile-uvb-tubes/
Temps - ideal basking temp is 105. Cool side can be 80-85. They don't need night heat unless your house drops to below 60. Measure temps with a probe, not the stick-on-the-side-of-the-tank deal.
NO RED LIGHT. if Petsmart sold you one- return it.
BUGS/FOOD
I've only had the adult - they are easier as they eat more veggies. Agreed that the dubia roaches are way better than crickets! Not only do they not really climb or smell, but they don't jump, fly, bite, or make noise. And they're more nutritious and easier to gut load (which is important.)
Other good bug staples are black soldier fly larvae(BSFL)/calciworms/phoenix worms (all the same thing). They have a better calcium ratio and you don't actually have to dust them.
Silkworms are also a good staple.
For more of an occasional use: hornworms, butterworms, waxworms (fatty), superworms (fatty).
Not really recommended: mealworms. They have a hard shell that can cause impaction, and are fatty.
I get my roaches from a local reptile store and my worms occasionally there if they have them, but mostly online.
Repashy Calcium Plus is a good overall vitamin to dust with.
Go join that group and look at this file for what to dust and when.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/bearded-dragons-network/dusting-schedule/1919222504978718/
Beardies should get a "salad" EVERY DAY even as juveniles. Avoid crap like iceburg letttuce that have minimal nutrition. Great greens are: collard, mustard, dandelion, endive, escarole. Squash of any kind is a good staple too. There are links for nutrition contents of veggies/fruits and which are best to feed regularly, which to avoid. I actually made a spreadsheet of what I've found and if you PM me I can email that to you. (Yeah, I'm a nerd.) I don't soak veggies, but I'll sprinkle a little water on top for extra hydration sometimes.
From the files in the BDN, via guru Pete Hawkins - about how much to live feed.
- 0-6 months old - Feed 2/3x Daily. For 5-mins
- 6-12 months old - Feed 1x Daily. For 5-mins.
- 12 months onwards - Feed 3x a week. With a treat item day in-between if you please.
Also, they do not need baths unless they're physically dirty - aka poop stomping. They don't absorb water through baths (as previously thought) - so it only helps if they physically drink when in the bath. Sometimes baths will encourage them to poop, and you want them to poop when they're ready, not prematurely when they bathe, or they won't get the full benefits and hydration from their foods. Some beardies drink water in their cages, mine doesn't. Some people will put a little drop of water on the tip of their nose and they might lick it off. Mine has never done that - he totally ignores it. So mine gets all of his hydration through his food - remember, they are DESERT animals. If poop urates are really white, and the fat pads on top of their heads are plump, they're nicely hydrated. If yellowish urates and flat head, not getting enough.
He'll eventually outgrow the 40 btw.
It's good that he has a hides - they may not use them until they "brumate" but if/when they do, they use them, so keep it even if you don't see him use it for a while.
If poop urates are really white, and the fat pads on top of their heads are plump, they're nicely hydrated. If yellowish urates and flat head, not getting enough.He'll eventually outgrow the 40 btw.
It's good that he has a hides - they may not use them until they "brumate" but if/when they do, they use them, so keep it even if you don't see him use it for a while.
Josh's frogs has some good prices and great customer service. I got my tube UVB fixture/bulb from them and it was being weird - would flick off if I bumped it. I sent them a video of what it was doing and they sent me a replacement for free. I didn't even have to send back the faulty one.
Agree except for the thing on mealworms, bearded dragons do a good job digesting them, and let's face it many of the wild bugs they eat are rather hard shelled, soft shelled arthopods don't spend a lot of time out and about during the day in the desertThere's a LOT of misinformation out there on care, and Petsmart doesn't know jack. I really like the FB group "bearded dragons network" and it has a lot of info in the "Files" section if you don't want to post on the forum.
Here's a super informative resource with information on all of the things.
https://captiveandfieldherpetology....ded-Dragon-Care-2017-Frances-Baines-MRCVS.pdf
Too bad you already got everything, as some of the Petsmart stuff is crap. :/
They should really have a tube UVB light, not a combo. Most people get a tube T5HO like Reptisun 10.0. It should cover 2/3 of the tank and overlap the basking light.
Basking light can be one from a home improvement store for future reference (par 38 Halogen flood), and you can use a fixture from there too. Way cheaper and you can modify wattage to get the correct basking temps.
I have my UVB and heat lamp on a 13.5 hours on schedule. Some do 12.
Why T5
https://www.reptilecentre.com/blog/2016/09/difference-t8-t5-reptile-uvb-tubes/
Temps - ideal basking temp is 105. Cool side can be 80-85. They don't need night heat unless your house drops to below 60. Measure temps with a probe, not the stick-on-the-side-of-the-tank deal.
NO RED LIGHT. if Petsmart sold you one- return it.
BUGS/FOOD
I've only had the adult - they are easier as they eat more veggies. Agreed that the dubia roaches are way better than crickets! Not only do they not really climb or smell, but they don't jump, fly, bite, or make noise. And they're more nutritious and easier to gut load (which is important.)
Other good bug staples are black soldier fly larvae(BSFL)/calciworms/phoenix worms (all the same thing). They have a better calcium ratio and you don't actually have to dust them.
Silkworms are also a good staple.
For more of an occasional use: hornworms, butterworms, waxworms (fatty), superworms (fatty).
Not really recommended: mealworms. They have a hard shell that can cause impaction, and are fatty.
I get my roaches from a local reptile store and my worms occasionally there if they have them, but mostly online.
Repashy Calcium Plus is a good overall vitamin to dust with.
Go join that group and look at this file for what to dust and when.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/bearded-dragons-network/dusting-schedule/1919222504978718/
Beardies should get a "salad" EVERY DAY even as juveniles. Avoid crap like iceburg letttuce that have minimal nutrition. Great greens are: collard, mustard, dandelion, endive, escarole. Squash of any kind is a good staple too. There are links for nutrition contents of veggies/fruits and which are best to feed regularly, which to avoid. I actually made a spreadsheet of what I've found and if you PM me I can email that to you. (Yeah, I'm a nerd.) I don't soak veggies, but I'll sprinkle a little water on top for extra hydration sometimes.
From the files in the BDN, via guru Pete Hawkins - about how much to live feed.
- 0-6 months old - Feed 2/3x Daily. For 5-mins
- 6-12 months old - Feed 1x Daily. For 5-mins.
- 12 months onwards - Feed 3x a week. With a treat item day in-between if you please.
