newbie questions

[suspiciouschunks]

hey, i just got my first bearded dragon (a juvenile) 2 days ago and i have some dumb questions :p
first of all, how many times a day should a beardie poop? mine poops once or twice a day and that doesn't seem like much to me. he gets about 6 crickets in the morning, greens and fruit, and a few mealworms at night (which i'm now reading aren't great for them because of their exoskeletons... are superworms that much better?)
is it unusual for a beardie to close one eye? i'm holding mine right now and he's totally relaxed... he looks like he's falling asleep but he's keeping one eye open. his eyes are completely clear and he doesn't look like he's in pain.
i know i'm supposed to let him settle in for a while before i handle him, but he seems totally adjusted (no stress marks etc) and he sometimes jumps like he wants to get out so i've been holding him until he calms down a bit. is that ok?
how much calcium should he be getting? i dust the crickets with rep-cal and i've been sprinkling a little on his veggies too. is that a good amount?
last question, and i know i'm probably gonna get yelled at for this, but i keep him on sand. i hand feed him crickets to minimize the chances of him getting a mouthful of sand. the sand is repti-sand. if he's not eating directly off the sand, how likely is impactation, and what are the signs if he is impacted?

[Beardedragon]

Hi there

First off...please get him off the sand, beardies like to lick things when your not looking. You can get away with normal sand when they are older but never reptisand, it turns into "cement" onces they eat some, collection more and more of it in their digestive track. Because of this even if they eat it in very very small amounts it can build up.

Secondly, he should be eating about 50 more crickets a day, its as many as he can eat in 15 minutes ( on his own) three times a day, and the crickets should be no longer than the width between eye to eye on your little guy. You are correct about meal worms, they have a much higher shell to meat ration, and you want a higher meat to shell.

Make sure your dusting five days a week with Repcal Calcium with D3 and rep cal vits two times a week.

What kind of UVB light are you using?

[suspiciouschunks]

hm ok, i thought reptisand was better because it's finer but that makes sense. it's a shame, it looks nice and it's easy to clean haha. but i'd hate to see him get sick.
wow ok, i was told to feed much less than that... i'll take out the sand and let him catch some crickets on his own.
i have an exo terra 10.0 uvb bulb.
thanks for your help.
i thought of another question too... i have a large rock under the basking lamp and i'm worried it could get a lot hotter than the surrounding air. could it get hot enough to burn him and if so, is there something better i could give him to bask on?

[Beardedragon]

hm ok, i thought reptisand was better because it's finer but that makes sense. it's a shame, it looks nice and it's easy to clean haha. but i'd hate to see him get sick.
wow ok, i was told to feed much less than that... i'll take out the sand and let him catch some crickets on his own.
i have an exo terra 10.0 uvb bulb.
thanks for your help.
i thought of another question too... i have a large rock under the basking lamp and i'm worried it could get a lot hotter than the surrounding air. could it get hot enough to burn him and if so, is there something better i could give him to bask on?

The bulb sounds good, only if its a Flourescent and not a compact bulb.

I wouldnt worry about the rock, if it gets hot enough to burn him id think the basking temp would be way to high as it is. It needs to be around 105.

[suspiciouschunks]

i'm not sure if the bulb is fluorescent... i think it is. it's one of those spiral shaped bulbs.
ok, i'll keep an eye on the rock. i figure as long as it's not too hot to put my hand on it's not too hot for him.
by the way, he's now on paper towels. it was fun cleaning out 20 lbs of sand haha.

[Beardedragon]

i'm not sure if the bulb is fluorescent... i think it is. it's one of those spiral shaped bulbs.
ok, i'll keep an eye on the rock. i figure as long as it's not too hot to put my hand on it's not too hot for him.
by the way, he's now on paper towels. it was fun cleaning out 20 lbs of sand haha.

The spiral is the bad kind Its known to hurt their eyes.

Heres a small article I wrote on it.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=83658

Congrats on getting the sand out, Reptisand is also very dusty, which will get into their eyes.

[Beardedragon]

BTW, id look for an online supplier for crickets, which normally run for about 25$ shipped for 1000, you ll need that many and its so much cheaper than a petstore.

[suspiciouschunks]

damn, would it be ok if i just used a 5.0 uvb bulb of the same type? i'm not sure what else will fit the fixture i have...

[Beardedragon]

damn, would it be ok if i just used a 5.0 uvb bulb of the same type? i'm not sure what else will fit the fixture i have...

No, you need the same kind of brand, just in the florescent tube form.

[suspiciouschunks]

ok.
sorry i have so many questions but here's another... will crickets hurt the bearded dragon if they're left in there? i've heard that they will but i was wondering if they would if they had another food source in there...
also do you have an online cricket supplier that you'd recommend?