New Dragon!!

[jtman]

I went to the Taylor, MI show today to pick up some feeders and look at stuff. While I was there I saw a little lemon pastel beardie. Before I know it im walking away with the $100 little angel! Ive wanted a beardie sooo long! I bought "The Bearded Dragon Manual" with her so I have that to read. I also bought 1000 crix which i need to house as well. If anyone has any advice for me Id be greatful. She was hatched on 11-19 so shes still quite small. THanks everyone, I'll post some pics soon.

JT

[lars5277]

JT, here is a pic of my crick keeper. Use two long Christmas wrapping paper rolls wrapped in electrical tape. Cricks climb up into them and you just lightly tap them out into your beardies enclosure. Work like a charm I think I spent about $15 to build it. If you got questions I will help you out with it.

1 Tub $10
1 Roll paper $1
2 Rolls Electrical Tape $2

[jtman]

Thats awesome for the crix. Now I need a little help with her enclosure. I got a 66qt Sterelite tub for her. It is 13.5" X 20". I figure that is big enough for her right now. I plan on using paper towels as a substrate. I know i need a UVB bulb and a basking light. What kind of UBV should i use? What kind of basking light should I use? Thanks for the help

JT

[lars5277]

JT, I would look for a used 40-55 gallon tank for her. I believe Sassy told me that would be the minimum for an adult.

Now I have a question. I only have UVB lights in my tank viv. The temps stay around 105. I also use this as a baking light. I only have one light in each viv. Am I doing it wrong?

[CTReptileRescue]

JT, I would look for a used 40-55 gallon tank for her. I believe Sassy told me that would be the minimum for an adult.

Now I have a question. I only have UVB lights in my tank viv. The temps stay around 105. I also use this as a baking light. I only have one light in each viv. Am I doing it wrong?

What type of bulb is it (brand?). Just curios as not many screw in bulbs will actually release enough uv for the animal to absorb. Let me know what type of bulb you have if you could, I may be able to direct you to the proper light. (Even thou I can be a bit slow so you other dragon people better hop on board too..lol)
Thanks and congrats on you new baby, can't wait to see pictures!
Rusty

[CTReptileRescue]

I have found that the most efficient output in bulbs has been the following brand:

We use repti suns for enclosed spaces (IE dragons, smaller lizards etc)
http://www.zoomed.com/html/fluorescent_lamps.php

For animals that freeroam or have room sized enclosures and cannot come into contact with the bulb we use powersuns:
http://www.zoomed.com/html/powersun_uv.php

My good friend has a uv meter and knows much more about it then I do, but I also met a great gentle man (For the life of me I can't remember his last name,,,BOB...Lighting guy, someone here must know...)Anyhow
I have learned that you cannot keep a bulb to far away from an animal as it makes the uv pointless as it will not reachj the animal properly (needs to normally be wiothin twelve inches, UNLESS it is the power sun, the a safe basking distance is appropriate (those bulbs are large and hot use caution)
And never put the light on a glass top. Glass filters uv, in fact did you know that screening (like a reptile top for an average aquarium) will cut the lightings efficiency down by at least half!
Hope this helped some
Rusty

[jtman]

Ok, I think im starting to get somewhere with the UVB lights. It seems that the Mercury Vapor bulbs are better than flouro and that boils it down to Capture the Sun and Zoo-med's Powersun. I dont know which is better, but I do know the Powersun is more expensive. I found a report at http://russiantortoise.org/uvb.htm which shows the Capture the Sun bulb to produce more microwatts/cm^2 of UVB at 12". Does anyone recomend one over the other, or something completely different all together?

I am also finding that I will need some dietary suppliments for dusting crix, or veggies or both. What is best in this department? Thanks everyone for your input, I want to get my baby the best.

JT

[lars5277]

JT, for supplements I just went to the store and bought a calcium supplement off the shelf for $5-$8. I think the wife also keeps a multi-vitamin of some sorts for them too.

[CTReptileRescue]

Hey JT
There are alott of supplements out there.
The ones that We use and recommend (belive me we go through alot)
is the repcal stuff:
http://repcal.com/supp.htm

As for lights the powersun is what we try and use here. Never any problems with it, but yes it is expensive.
Rusty

[jtman]

Ok, I ordered the Reptical with vit D3 and the multi from the same make. I also got a Capture the Sun MV UVB all from bigappleherp.com. Of course, after I ordered that light I was given advice to get a better MV bulb from reptileuv.com, but my order had already gone through. So I guess I'll use the Capture the Sun bulb for a while. I also picked up a 20L tank for her to use for the next couple months. I read that she'll be good in that for 4-6 months which gives me a few months to build a nice enclosure for her. Thanks for the help everyone, Ill try to post some pix tonight.

JT