new to beardeds!

well, hubby and i made it to the expo and he absolutly fell in love with the bearded dragons.. so after a trip home to set up we went back and he picked out this lovely baby (thankfully we had spare tank and lights) .. here are a couple pics as well. hes eating well very social and doesnt mind being held at all. we got him from the place "gold coast reptiles" i feel as though i recognise the name but could be mistaken...we have decided to name "him" spartan, seems like a good name. so what would you describe "his" color to be? on the bill of sale they labelled him "red" but upon looking online it doesnt seem that way to me, but then again im new to them...

intoducing spartan
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2131/...df0d69bafa.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2247/...400ce74543.jpg

are there any good websites i should refrence for caresheets? like which veggies are good? what about these crickets.. we got 1000 from them (got a whole box) i let about half of them go on accident upon moving them over to a more perminant home, goodness gracious glad i did that outside!

I suggest go to www.BeardedDragons.org for any questions you have and they have care sheets, and heres a goos food sheet for plants: http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtrem...nframeset.html what to eat and what not to eat. As for the crickets- I would say go to petsmart or somewhere and get a big cricket keeper, it makes it ALOT better, trust me!!
And to me he looks like a Sand Fire morph to me personaly, but people at BD.org would probably know more. Have fun with him- their all a tripp!! lol

thanks! thats very helpful. the people did tell us the "bin" we got him out of were not the "normals" so to speak.. the "normals" just werent as brillant looking very dull brown/beige looking, we paid a bit more but was totally worth it to get the more nicer looking critter, they were all super nice and good looking weight wise. I have one of those small animal/hermit crab/beta fish type containers right now and i just know its going to be a bear to get crickets in/out of.. grr looks like were going shopping again here soon lol. hes a trip, he just did this sort of spastic jump all over siezure thing off the log, whats up with that lol

ack that first website didnt work

Oh it will get more interesting- trust me!! lol. I just suggest, for obvious reasons, dont let any of your snakes (assuming you have at least one lol) by him- my BD FLIPS when Im even just soaking my snakes. And he has ALOT of personality. but yea, you might want to get used to shopping alot now that you have one, but its worth it :)

ok, it is www.beardeddragon.org not plural.. i tried posting an intro there and its not working :mad: actually we do not have snakes right now, we had two nice balls caution and savanna but my husband and i really got attached to our rats and we couldnt bear feeding the same thing to our snakes, so they got a great home at my moms house with my sister who doesnt mind feeding them. i still get to see them grow/exc without the pull of heartstrings watching them eat. our house went from two snakes to nine rats. lol... thus why we have smaller reptiles now. i couldnt bear giving up the hobby all together.

Oh oops, sorry- I never have to type it, its just on my favorites and I pull it up. lol. And yea I know what you mean- Ive always fed mice and had no problem with it, but my female just started on med. rats about two months ago- and I bonded with the first rat... I felt so guilty because I had no room to keep it, thanks to the rest of my animals (lol), so I had to feed it to her :( I called my friend first though because she used to have pet rats, but her the people shes living with said no. I still feel bad- thinking of switching to thawed because then I cant bond with them.

spartan is really a neat laid back little critter!! just watches everything haha, i did want to mentain spartan is 14g, considerably bigger than our crested we just got.

wellll, i still havnt seen this guy *eat* a cricket yet.. however i did put some romaine lettuce in with some cantelope (what we had on hand) in there and from what it looks like maybe some of the romaine was missing. i removed the wilted stuff and replaced with fresh this afternoon. i was able to give him a nice drink, i dripped some water on the front part of his head and he actually licked a good bit of it off. i contacted his "breeder" and he wants me to give him another day before calling him back on whether or not he starts to eat. ((kinda pi$$ed me off)) aside from the good long drink he still only weighs 14g. he is however moving around alot right now.. almost climbing the sides of the tank, like hes trying to get out. is it possible the 10 gal is too small for him already? (hes tiny!) i have been told on another site that no bearded should ever be housed in a 10 gal at any age but his breeder and a few other sites say its ok! opinions on this would be GREAT cause if its too small pay day will get hit with having to buy a new tank and lid tomorrow :mad: (any ideas where i can get one at a better price) he did just do a NIIIICE urate (lovely lol) in his tank so thats good, at least there is waste passing in that department. hes super docile and friendly.. even lets me pose him lol... i put him on the palm of my hand on his back (sitting position) and he stayed put, was pretty humorous to me. here are a couple new pics

nice colored baby (imo)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2324/...d85e608a56.jpg
at least you can reference how small he is with my hand... i know some pics are deceiving. also, there are two black circles on the back of his head, whats up with that? is it just normal coloring
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/...693bc43747.jpg
you can also see how thin he is and how big his head is compared to his body

Quote:

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From 6 weeks to 3 months old:
Your dragon will do best in a smaller enclosure. If you have the resources, then you should raise your hatchling dragon in a 10-30 gallon tank until he gets bigger. If you already have a big tank then you may want to partition off a smaller section for your dragon.

The tank should be bare for a young dragon. Babies can get lost in a large or extremely elaborate tank with lots of beardie furiniture. They may not be able to find the basking spot easily, and if there are too many places to hide they may not get enough heat or UVB exposure.

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http://www.kakadudragons.com/caresheet/caresheet.php
example of where i got that from

He definately looks like he has red coloring. His back looks like it might be in shed. Beardies don't always shed evenly and sometimes comes of in parts. There are degrees of red some have more some less but it definately looks like less when in shed. Since he is pretty small you may want to try feeding him 5-6 crickets at a time so not to freak him out or overwelm him. Also you may want to remove hides and branches when feeding so the crickets don't hide and you can keep track of what he ate. He may need to settle in a little before he starts to eat. You want to make sure his temps get into the upper 90's lower 100's during the day, that will get his metabolism going and make him eat. Try not handling him for a few days so he settles in ( I know it's tough, they are so dam cute). he should have a good appetite at his age but as adults they slow down on eating since they are not growing so fast. Beardies make great pets and should be years of fun. If he is pooping then he is eating so check for that too. As far as black circles you show it in pics? You're not talking about his earholes I assume.

10 gal is fine for now but he will grow out of that eventually.

haha, no not ear holes, those would be holes not markings.. in the first group of pics i posted, i believe the last one in that group you can see them actually in the first one too you can see them they just look less vibrant there than now... its like black markings behind his head on the skin of his neck (better discription?) they are perfectly round and almost jet black in color now... i have been offering crickets in small quantities and the little boogers do like to hide within the drift wood.

as for his pacing the cage, is that just him being silly or wanting more room already? i knew he would need to move up within a month or so but we already had the 10gal laying around. i did find a nice poop today and he had great urates and poops the day we brought him home, so how fast is their digestive track lol.. he also had nice urates today too.. perhaps hes doing better than i thought? as for the romaine is it *okay* to give him, not a staple obviously but he did eat some earlier

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

haha, no not ear holes, those would be holes not markings.. in the first group of pics i posted, i believe the last one in that group you can see them actually in the first one too you can see them they just look less vibrant there than now... its like black markings behind his head on the skin of his neck (better discription?) they are perfectly round and almost jet black in color now... i have been offering crickets in small quantities and the little boogers do like to hide within the drift wood.

as for his pacing the cage, is that just him being silly or wanting more room already? i knew he would need to move up within a month or so but we already had the 10gal laying around. i did find a nice poop today and he had great urates and poops the day we brought him home, so how fast is their digestive track lol.. he also had nice urates today too.. perhaps hes doing better than i thought? as for the romaine is it *okay* to give him, not a staple obviously but he did eat some earlier

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Romaine is fine, mixing up greens with radaccio, escarole or endive is better. They do have fast digestive tracts so he seems to be eating something. As far as the scratching at glass that is common depending on the personality of the dragon. I's probably the best exersize he gets. They get energy from heat so if he is doing it during the hottest part of the day then he is probably just getting used to his new enclosure. make sure you mist him down everyday or offer fresh water. Some dragons don't drink on their own and need to be soaked or misted. Small dragons are more prone to dehydration since they need fairly high temps. You also want to make sure you have a good UV light system for him.

ok well hes not eating. he hasnt eaten anything since we brought him home besides that one poop that was taken out of the enclosure there is nothing in his cage (besides urate which he did again today good) and of course to no surprise craig from gold coast rep is not returning my calls. im going to replace his uv light today to be on the safe side... what should i get specifically? hes now down to 13g :( im really disapointed in how this is panning out

thank you!

edit: we did offer him water yesterday, we dripped it on the top of his head and he licked it off really well, seemed like he drank alot to me.

Have you tried dicing the veggies very small and getting colorful things like red/yellow bell peppers, maybe putting a little fruit juice on the food, or soaking some BD pellets in the fruit juice. Maybe some meat babyfood just so he can get some protein and calories.

i plan to pick up the actual juvy baby food today.. i had tried peices of banana, we tried cantelope and romaine going shopping for him today would not be a problem. Do I just dab it on his mouth like with the crested? and let him lick it off?

Yeah, just dab it on his nose so he licks it off. You could easily give him a warm soak too for awhile so he stays hydrated. They like misting too.


How warm are his temps and what kind of UV bulb is it? Hopefully when you get a bigger tank you can buy one of those mercury vapor bulbs. www.reptileuv.com has awesome prices and they last much longer than those fluorescent tubes.

The next time he has a bowel movement, I would take it to the vet. He likely has internal parasites like coccidia and you won't want it taking over if he gets stressed. It can make him really sick.

Sorry you don't have Savanna and Caution anymore :( I have about 30 rats right now and none of my snakes know what rats are(except for the boa, but that's a rare ocassion and they are f/t rats). I just feed all of the snakes mice and they could care less if the room smells of rat. I like the mice sometimes(my frizzies, long hairs, and those adorable brindles), but after they bite me I have no problems feeding them off.

i know :( sadly it wasn't really my choice.. my husband was the one pushing the issue..sooo we will just leave that alone before i get :mad: again...


anyway, i dont remember what type of uv bulb it is to be honest with you.. we got it a bit ago when we had the snakes and found out we didnt need it so we put it away, what type is it so i can pick up a new one and insure we have it perfectly right (if you remember the hard work i went through to make sure things with caution and savanna were just as they were supposed to be :mad: uh that makes me so mad about those snakes) anyway, if you can outline exactly what light i should be getting i will pick it up on my way home from work. we do plan to move him over to a larger tank but not within a month or so. i really want this guy to get settled and eating well before we move him into a larger tank. i do plan to pick up some of that sheet rock (?) to put in the tank as well.

oh, his temps were 90.6 degrees ambient on the warm side and humidity is 38%.. i also need to get another temp thing with the sensor for the cool side, i tossed one of them awhile back.

if it is coccidia what do they do to treat them? when i get a nice poop ill be sure to buzz it over to my vet, thanks for the suggestion! i hope it doesnt cost me an arm and a leg lol

I'd get his temps up to about 110-115 on the warm side. 90 just usn't high enough for the babies. The cool side can be 80-85.

As far as bulbs, I'd get a mercury vapor bulb and just suspend it above the cage so it doesn't get too hot. The ZooMed ones are way overpriced though(generally $60-$70, whereas the ones from ReptileUV are only $45. I've heard the coil bulbs work ok and give off a fair amount of UVB. ReptileUV has a study on their website that was done on alot of the UVB bulbs and their outputs. It's pretty surprising(that alot of the bulbs available are crap). Might want to go read that and see what bulbs you have available in your area.

As far as fluorescents, the Zoomed ReptiSun 10.0(I think that's what it's called, don't quote me) are ok and give off a good amount of useable UVB. You could easily get one of those and use it in conjunction with a nice bright white bulb(the True Color bulbs are great and aren't yellow). You can get a white-light bulb at WalMart or Home Depot. You want something nice and bright, and not yellow, that will increase his mood and make him feel better. They like bright, bright light.

I'd try for the combo lighting until he's in a bigger tank, and then you can go MVB bulb. Hopefully increasing his temps and the overall brightness of the tank will stimulate him to eat and do beardie-like things. :)

As far as the coccidia, alot of Beardeds have it because crickets are a vector for it(why I like roaches as a feeder insect). They use Albon to treat it(tastes like vanilla pudding mixed with some caramel if you were wondering), and it's not too harsh on their system.

wow thats a bit pricey! ouch... i have a bright white light now but i know it was a reptile light.. they both were. he only sits still for a few minutes at a time.. otherwise hes up and moving at night he does seem to sleep well.. as far as making him feel better, aside from being stubborn to eat! :taz:

can i offer him mealworms or something other than crickets?

Mealworms are a no no for baby beardeds, too much shell and not enough meat. Crickets are ok if they are from a clean source. He'll likely be eating 100 per day or so, so be prepared ;)

I can justify the cost for the ReptileUV MVB bulb because it's only $45 and lasts a good 2 years or more. The fluorescents cost about half that but still need to be replaced every 6 months, plus the cost of a heat bulb(doesn't have to be made specifically for reptiles). The MVB's are heat and UVB in one unit, so they save you some money.

I would just get his temps up, keep him hydrated, see what type of UVB you have and replace if necessary. See how he does in a day or so of having proper temps. They just like it hot! :)

How can i tell which is the uvb? is it likely the blue one is? i plan to at least try to get the temps up today.. and perhaps order one of those other bulbs since they do both, too bad i cant buy it locally!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AshleyB

How can i tell which is the uvb?

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The price tag.....UVB bulb generally go for $25+...If you buy anything cheaper, it is probably not a UVB bulb.

I use 100W Powersun Mercury Vapor bulbs for my chameleons. You can check around, but I get mine from http://www.reptilesupply.com/product.php?products_id=74 which has pretty decent prices on the bulbs.

It will usually say on the bulb itself, towards one of the ends.

i meant out of the two i have so i know which one to remove. i know the boxes label what the bulb is as i have purchased them before ;)


if my husband wasnt sleeping at home i (i have tried calling him) would have him just walk over to spartan and see what bulbs i have.. i didn't relise it was on the bulb itself.

Me and the bf were discussing getting a beardie, and the beardie forums are INCREDIBLE! they have so much knowledge, and a very friendly bunch. Have you tried over there? We had questions about husbandry, and these people are really cool. Good luck with the beardie. Sorry to hear you gave up the Ball pythons.

Hi!
Definitely check out www.beardeddragon.org. Admittedly, that's my main forum, but I just got my first corn snake, so I popped over here.

Real quick- good quality UVBs make A TON of difference in your beardie's eating. When I upgraded from a compact (big no-no) to a reptisun 10.0 his eating increased by 30+ crix a day. When I upgraded again to an MVB (uvreptile that keeps getting talked about is the megaray MVB), I noticed another increase of about 40+ crix. The best MVBs are the T-Rex UV Active heat and the Megaray @ uvreptile.com. The T-Rex you can find all over, the Megaray I think Bob only sells it online and on occassion you'll find one at a reptile show. When Sinclair was still growing insanely, he was averaging 85 crix a day. It's insanity. On the plus side, you don't really have to keep crix. Tube UVBs last around 6 months, MVBs last between 1 year and 18 months (raging debate right there!)

Just so you are aware beardies do the vast majority of their growth inside a year. Most jump from 5-6 inches at 2 months to 18-21 inches by 9 months. So that cage increase might come sooner than you are expecting.

Just keep your humidity low and your temps high (100-110 in the basking) and you'll be all good.

Coccidia isn't related to the crix. Coccidia is a naturally occurring bacteria in beardies. It's almost like a yeast infection. When the coccidia level gets too high (a count of 4 or over), they need to be medicated. It's generally treated with Albon. Your beardie doesn't sound like he has it at all!

I'm not sure how long you've had him, but some beardies take a week or so to relocate and be okay with eating. If you are still having issues, you could try ordering a couple silkworms or phoenix worms, both of which are soft bodied and therefore don't present the risk of impaction that other feeders do. Chicken baby food is also a decent source of protein. It sounds like you probably know this, but don't try offering anything bigger than the space between your beardie's eyes. If they are too large, he/she might be scared.

But in general, your baby sounds and looks perfectly healthy and normal. Yes, they are hyperactive. OH my gosh. It's like having a freakin' puppy!

Your baby looks like red phase to me. And you are going to get a lot more gorgeous color on him/her in the next 6 months- 1 year.
Here's a picture of my red phase when he was a baby. He was 2 months, I had just gotten him.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...sinclair-1.jpg

firstly the "white" coiled bulb is a reptiglo 2.0 so you can tell me if thats garbage or not...


i met with the breeder and he took spartan back with the understanding i do want him back when hes better. We got two "females" in return so we will eventually have like three large set ups when were done.. these two "girls" are much better looking, very alert and "feeding" we will see how well they are feeding later when we give them a last round of crickets a couple hours before bed. i also picked up some "spring mix" that has raddicio in with it. I will let you know how things pan out.. for the record, spartan IS coming back home, we DID NOT trade him for a new animal. he said he would treat him with some sort of calcuim (?) he did agree the animal looked pretty bad and very thin. its amazing how good these little girls look. sadly they are not as vibrant as our spartan. :(

ok, i just read that the 2.0 is pretty much garbage for desert animals.. looks like were going out tomorrow to get them a new uvb light! I did put the 75watt light in there right now, were waiting to see what it does for temps

LOL, thats some mighty big cages you'll be needing. I believe the recommendations for a large beardie are 50 gallons approx. But there are some very cool setups you can do with a large enclosure, I loved the one in reptiles magazine recently. VERY COOL :)

Anyways, what did the breeder decide was wrong with him? And why would you take on 2 more beardies when you still aren't sure this is the guy to buy from? I would be cautious in the first place if he sold you a visibly sick animal.

well, i had to get at least one from him in place of the one i bought origionally, and the man sold us the second for only $35 when my husband and i couldnt decide on the same *one* thus two. im actually in the process of posting another thread asking what the alternatives are to an actual tank seeing how heavy they can get... off to start new thread. I am weary from buying from him but he is trying to make good on the one we got that was not doing well, hes not sure what is wrong with him but we are going to keep in contact, and if he thinks he can make more money off us im sure he will answer my calls (earlier when we were just complaining about our already sick animal he wasnt so quick to answer) if the animals are fine, and i can get our spartan back ill be thrilled, con man/poor breeder/exc. i just want my animal to be better.

Why did you have to buy another one from him? Is that the only way he would take back the sick male? I'm not accusing you of anything, but this breeder is setting up to be pretty shady IMO.

oh i understand. no, he asked if we wanted him to "take care of" spartan until we could get him back and i said no, we want a replacement when spartan gets better we will buy him from you again at the same price if need be but no your not going to take our dragon and our money, how do we know we will ever get him back. as for getting the second, i couldnt turn down $35 for an adorable baby, from what i found out after purchasing spartan, the man was under fire awhile back for paperwork on something (see the thread reg gold coast reptiles) in the inquiry forum at the bottom of the home page..

Are you talking about boi? This is what I found on BOI if you havent already. I think it's about the legal documents that your referring to. I've just snatched a few glances myself, so I wont lead you either way. But I would continue to be cautious with him, and maybe ask to see his other animals to see how they are housed and how well fed they are. He may have gotten better since this BOI thread.
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...coast+reptiles

yes, i did see that. his name is craig tillman (Something like that) he was very friendly and we did see some of his stock on sunday at the expo. he did get into trouble, i knew that he no long has his shop he once had either. he and i met at a central location, that was shadey to me but i know he runs this out of his home (not sure its legal in the state of fla) i respect that, he asked me what kind of animals i wanted to see today and i asked him to only bring the dragons, he let me know he would bring a bin of them (i expected) so i could choose between a group. he brought me well over a dozen, all looked great, clean and well fed (much more alert and fat then spartan) so in that sense, did he clean up his act. maybe, maybe not im sure there is no way to know for sure as he didnt invite us to go to his home (im glad too i wouldnt have gone in anyway.. i just dont do that with people i dont *know*)

sometimes you just dont know, i feel if hes good on his word with taking care of spartan then hopefully i can have a good experience with him. the other animals (im sure he picked the best i dont doubt that and dont blame him either) we saw at the expo were for sale and very healthy and vibrant.. and thats even by comparasin to the other animals at the expo, not just what we expect of different species.

(wow totally got off topic there))

Well I really do hope these girls work out for you. At least you know that you will be providing VAST amounts of better care and love. ;)

i sure hope so.. if nothing else i do have a reputation for giving proper care to my animals, often going above and beyond the call of "nessesary"!

my rats reside in a 5'+ x 3.5' cage with handmade hammocks and resting cubes, my male was neutered so he didnt have to live alone lol if that tells you anything..im looking forward to many years with these girls (at least..hopefully spartan can come home eventually too :( )

I breed beardies and do not sell them until they are well established as you would any hatchling animal. Someone wanted to buy a whole bunch from me to take to NARBC in Ilinois but I won't sell them for weeks more. I do go into pet stores all the time and see newborns for sale which is not good for survival odds.

It sounds like the second batch of beardies he showed you were larger and more established which means you should be in better shape. Not having proper lighting on a baby and moving him around alot before he is established is a good recipe for a problem. Lighting and proper heat are very important for babies. I have 20 hatchlings now and they are all eating 3 times a day at least and misted or soaked twice a day. They are alot more work than snakes (for example)so some people just move them out before they should. I have bred and kept beardies for over 12 years and see it all the time.