Went shopping for a Boa, came home with a Beardie.

[enchantress62]

Went to petsmart today to see if they had a Boa I could handle since I've been doing the research to get one. Instead I wound up falling head over heals for this little guy.






Now of course I need to research how to take care of it. lol All advice is appreciated. This is the first time I've owned a pet without researching the basics first and I know nothing. lol

[The Serpent Merchant]

Here you go:

http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/caresheet/

[rperry03]

Quick list....

Uva and uvb lighting with heat 95-115 basking
Get a megaray lamp

Fresh water

Daily greens... mustard, turnip, Collard as staples and no lettuce
try which fruits he will eat, mine doesn't care for any.

Proteins, i order dubia roaches with the occasional crickets or Phoenix worms. Anything with a hardshell i.e. mealworm or superworms is not good door them

[rperry03]

I did the same, went to an expo and came back with a beardie!
This is the best info that i found on them

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/


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

[enchantress62]

Thanks guys I am going to read everything suggested. Right now though I have a question. At petsmart they were feeding him mealworms. When I got home and opened the container the live worms were in a sand type material. Should I pick the worms out to feed him or just scoop up some of the stuff?

[The Serpent Merchant]

He shouldn't be eating those at all... They have too hard of a shel and are hard for beardies, especially young beardies to digest. You should be feeding him crickets that are just big enough to fit between his eyes.

Pet stores usually have no clue how to take care of their reptiles, and often give out very poor information when they are asked.

I was in a petsmart the other day and they had ball pythons in a desert setup, and no heat source ( the temperature was 71 degrees and the humidity level was at 10%) I found the manager and told him that his reptiles were going to die if he didn't fix the problems. Luckily he saw reason , but it wasn't until I pulled up 3 care sheets on my iPhone

[enchantress62]

okay so I need to go shopping for food. baby crickets, mustard, collards, and fruit. What about dehydrated fruit like raisens or cranberries? Will they eat that? What about chives,sprouts, or peas?

[The Serpent Merchant]

I haven't tried dehydrated fruit, so I can't say. Young Beardies eat mainly crickets (I think it's like 80% crickets to 20% fruits/veggies) Just stay away from citrus and other highly acidic foods.

Get a few dozen crickets, my little girl eats 6 at a time 3 times a day... luckily at my local reptile shop it's $1.50 for 50 small crickets

[The Serpent Merchant]

also it is a good thing to mist the veggies before you put them in the cage. This will help keep them appetizing longer, and help keep your beardie hydrated.

another quick note, some beardies don't like to drink from stagnate water so you have a few options to help get them to drink

(this is all in the care sheet by the way but I figured I'd point it out)

make ripples in the water with your finger. if it moves they will try to eat it (very cute by the way)

lightly mist the walls and even directly on your beardie, they will drink the droplets (just don't go overboard they are a desert species after all)

[enchantress62]

yea I'm reading the care info as we speak. So far it looks to me like fresh is best and only certain green veggies, plus squash, and it sounds like apples are the best fruit. Crickets...hhmmm I'm going to run back over to petsmart (it's the closest pet store to me) and see if they have crickets small enough for him. The closest reptile store is halfway across town from my neighborhood so I want to avoid driving that far if possible. How do you keep the veggies fresh so you don't have to shop every day? Do you freeze them? Do you cook them before feeding? Still reading care sheet so sorry if some of this is in there.