# new to beardies



## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

i just got my first bearded dragon about two weeks ago i give him about 5/6 crickets twice a day and also some curly cale and some dried flower mix he is very small but very lively am i feeding him enough or to little any helpfull advice would be grate ive also heard somewhere that i should have two is this true


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

i think beardies are best kept singly or in matched pairs to avoid in agression issues later on, as for feeding i would say that if he is eating what you are giving him then it is probably ok, beardies have different growth rates from animal to animal and so that affects how much they do or do not want to eat, how old is it?


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

as far as i know hes about 2months old


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

so he will be growing quite fast, it sounds like what you are feeding him is ok, as for the dried flower mix i have never used it before so not sure if that does more harm than good.


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

i just spot cleaned his tank and theres lots of crickets in there and i havent fed him yet i think they might be to big for him should i take them out and buy smaller ones


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

that is a possibility, maybe try smaller crix and see how he gets on


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

good choice of veg btw, kale is really good for them


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

sorry forgot to add, its best to monitor what he is actually eating by way of feeding a couple of crix at a time until he no longer seems interested, thats the way i did it when mine was a jouvenile and i hardly had any stray crix in the viv.


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## spudsgirl (Jan 29, 2009)

I would keep him off the dry pellet stuff as well hun those things are such a rip off. What I would do is pop ya crix in the fridge till they slow right down then pop them on his salad that way he will eat them when he sees them moving and he also eats his salad, that way you can see how many crix he is eating and none can escape.

Hope this helps


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

agree with that, forgot about the fridge trick, there you go theres a few things to try, keeping reps is all about learning your pets behaviour and adjusting things to suite.


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

i've givin him some diced apple but a mate of mine says he cant eat it is this true


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

you can give apple as a treat every now and then


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

vixen72 said:


> i just got my first bearded dragon about two weeks ago i give him about 5/6 crickets twice a day and also some curly cale and some dried flower mix he is very small but very lively am i feeding him enough or to little any helpfull advice would be grate ive also heard somewhere that i should have two is this true


no dont get another....
are you dusting with vits and calcium? it should be eating a lot more crickets than that a day
what temps do you have and what setup?


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

his viv is at a steady 30 if you look at my pics you,ll see the set up i think i should mention that he was in a tank with his bro and sis and they munched on his tail which fell off i have been told that it wont grow back he is much smaller than them also how often should i handle him and how long should he be out of the tank cos when i put my hand in there he runs round like a looney and hiss,s at me


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

ive also been told to keep his heat lamp on all night which on its own keeps a steady 30 on the thermo thingy i have a 15 wot exo terra light tube and a 40 wot exo terra heat lamp


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

vixen72 said:


> ive also been told to keep his heat lamp on all night which on its own keeps a steady 30 on the thermo thingy i have a 15 wot exo terra light tube and a 40 wot exo terra heat lamp


who told you to keep the heat lamp on all night????????? never ever do that, turn it off at 9pm, have it on from 8am....never ever on all ngiht.

its watt, not wot. you dont need to buy expensive exo tarra heat lamp, just use a normal spot bulb.

and what substrate do you use ?


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

also remove that substrate. dont use wooden chips either. also the crix are too large..

remove any hides....

also use normal white light only, dont use red light.


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

handle a bit each day, it will settle down...where did you get your advice from how to keep it?


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

the red light is the heat light wont the temp drop during the night i also use corn cob substrate as advised buy the pet shop yes i was told not to use bark chippings im currently using the hide to prop up his basking log so how long should i handle him for each day i usuall hold and stroke him for about 10 mins


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

vixen72 said:


> the red light is the heat light wont the temp drop during the night i also use corn cob substrate as advised buy the pet shop yes i was told not to use bark chippings im currently using the hide to prop up his basking log so how long should i handle him for each day i usuall hold and stroke him for about 10 mins


get rid of the corn..it can be digested and cause internal problems. also no heat is needed at night, cos trust me, in the wild its colder than you would imagine...and they need a differant temp grade to be healthly .

get some clean flat stones and place that under the white spot light, it will get warm/hot and be much better....

10 min is fine...as it gets bigger you can let it run around and have fun and it will settle down


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

what substrate should i use instead the pet shop said that the corn was fine


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

vixen72 said:


> what substrate should i use instead the pet shop said that the corn was fine


for 15 years i used playsand/chinchilla sand, and never had a problem ever....but never use calci sand. some say newspaper...but i have never, and i have bred, many babies and never once a problem but you can use lots of rocky stones etc and bits of sand. or hard baked sand is good, realistic


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## vixen72 (Sep 18, 2009)

i have a skull in there can i leave that in there


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

vixen72 said:


> i have a skull in there can i leave that in there


yes..


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## troysdad1 (Nov 23, 2008)

sounds to me like your shop does not have a clue lol, its totally not your fault if you have been given the wrong information, its not too late to sort it out.


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## kellymca2001 (Sep 8, 2008)

isnt 30 too low for a baby?


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

kellymca2001 said:


> isnt 30 too low for a baby?


i dont know what it is 30 deg, it needs a basking spot of at least 105 deg...i have kept babies at 120deg basking fine....as long as good thermal gradiant


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## marston87 (May 14, 2009)

i hope u mean farenheight


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

marston87 said:


> i hope u mean farenheight


me? as i stated i work on the other scale of measurments


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## wachywoo (Sep 12, 2009)

totally agree with all ure advice on it jules... reptiles shud reallybelooked into forafew months before bought not ure fault tho.. its just bad advice given! pet shops shouldknowall information properly on ll of their animals... and reptles ..


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## kellymca2001 (Sep 8, 2008)

vixen72 said:


> his viv is at a steady 30 if you look at my pics you,ll see the set up i think i should mention that he was in a tank with his bro and sis and they munched on his tail which fell off i have been told that it wont grow back he is much smaller than them also how often should i handle him and how long should he be out of the tank cos when i put my hand in there he runs round like a looney and hiss,s at me


if its 30 c..thats only 86f..too low ..am i right lol?


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## marston87 (May 14, 2009)

temp should be 110f to 115f
which is 
43.3c to 46.111c

what u using to take temps ??????????


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## Paul B (Apr 16, 2008)

Ok lets put it all together for you

Temps 110 hot end 75-80 cool end
lights. 10% UV and a heat/spot lamp bi enough to get the temps up
2 thermometers one each end
substrate ..reptile carpet / tiles / paper towel / lining paper.
Once bigger play sand from Argos.

Feed cricks and greens and use a D3 vitamin powder twice a week
calcium every day dusted on cricks.

Time switch all on for 13-14 hours per day. Night time all off.

Bath in luke warm water up to its shoulders twice a week.

If you are goin to use a water bowl use a small one in the cooler end of the viv.

Spring Greens are the best staple for beardies and there are loads of dragon nutrition charts on the web.

Why do pet shops not do their research before stocking reptiles.


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

kellymca2001 said:


> if its 30 c..thats only 86f..too low ..am i right lol?


yes way too cool, but you need a digital gauge, not a dial, there always way out


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## Paul B (Apr 16, 2008)

Now thats a debate we could start.

I have digital , infra red and dial guages.
I agree that some dial guages are a bit off but in general unless you want to keep your temps "perfect" they do a job.
When buying them compare the temp on the one you buy to the others on the shelf. That way you should be ok.


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## sazzle (Jun 3, 2008)

is the lil one being kept on his/her own? x


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

sazzle said:


> is the lil one being kept on his/her own? x


hey sazzle ;-) x


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## sazzle (Jun 3, 2008)

didn't think i'd see you on here again  x


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## cooljules (May 20, 2008)

sazzle said:


> didn't think i'd see you on here again  x


yeah, first advice i was given, but not sure im gonna stick around, was a big problem b4, too much time spend, advice etc....need to work on having free time and no stress


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