fuzzy mice, play sand, hot-rocks, oh, my...(pix)

[Sita]

You can see the fat is mostly in her legs and tail; beardie legs aren't supposed to have rolls, and her tail is really thick!

Getting her on the right food and making sure she gets exercise should take care of the problem over time. And yes, make sure she is strictly supervised when outdoors, they are VERY fast! They make harnesses for beardies too, FYI.

[Anya]

You can see the fat is mostly in her legs and tail; beardie legs aren't supposed to have rolls, and her tail is really thick!

Getting her on the right food and making sure she gets exercise should take care of the problem over time. And yes, make sure she is strictly supervised when outdoors, they are VERY fast! They make harnesses for beardies too, FYI.

Ah, I see that. Her tail is really thick. I guess she probably needs to stay that weight, but convert some fat to lean muscle?

She hasn't moved for hours. She's just sitting and sitting under her lamp. I'm trying to get the rest of the tank warm enough...it's staying around 80. is this good enough?

edit: ulgh, now it's saying it's 76. Noooes! Flexxwatt, don't fail me now.

[Mephibosheth1]

Do Beardies need a temperature gradient as well?? I always thought they needed constant heat all around....

[Anya]

Do Beardies need a temperature gradient as well?? I always thought they needed constant heat all around....

Yup, nearly all reptiles need to thermoregulate. Beardies, as far as I can tell, need ambient 80-85 and a basking spot of 95-100. But at night you turn everything off, and let the temps fall to 65-75.

To my understanding.

[Herpenthusiast3]

First off congrats on your decision to get a Beardie. I have a little girl name Mushu and I love her to death. I have read hundreds of different articles and care sheets pertaining to Beardies but the most comprehensive care sheet I was able to find was here:

http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-care.php

Young Beardies will eat a lot of insects and they should be offered them dusted with calcium without d3 if you have powerful enough lighting and with d3 if you think that your Beardie is having troubles digesting. Another thing people don't realize is that Beardies don't naturally drink from a water dish so often this is somthing that you have to teach them to do. I like to use a water dropper or spray bottle and squirt it into the water dish. The Beardie will often get excited pertaining to the movement, explore, and once he realizes it is water will begin to drink. You sometimes have to do this several times to get them into the habit of using it themselves. Also I like to dust the insect with a vitamin supplement 2 days out of the week along with the calcium supplement. Heat and lighting (uvb and uva) are extremely important to the growth and digestive system if your Beardie. Without it your Beardie will become lethargic, can get sick (MBD metabolic bone disease) , may become malnourished and even die. Getting your mini dragon to eat insects typically won't be a problem. Growing beardies have a veracious appetite and seem to love chasing insects.... Not so much eating greens. Soooo if you do get a Beardie that will be the real challenge. To get he/she to eat greens throughout the entire growing process and into adult hood. Here is a video on a way that I decided was the easiest route to go when providing greens. It also provides some other info on bearded dragons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=GC5eruXzbKE

Hope this helps!
Best regards from
Mushu and myself!

[Anya]

Haha, thank you, but Allie is a full-grown big girl. I appreciate the links, though. ^_^ Mushu is adorable!

[Anya]

She ate her first bugs today, a dozen superworms. She's been so good about eating her salad, I decided it was time. She ate them all in about a minute, lol. She's also really into her salad today, too!

I know superworms are fattening, and they're more expensive, too, so I made sure I got a good supply of enormous crickets.

I swear, she teleports to and from her food dish and basking spot. I never know where she is.

[Pyrate81]

Nice work and good luck with her. Sounds like you are well on your way to giving her a great home and life.

[Herpenthusiast3]

Haha, thank you, but Allie is a full-grown big girl. I appreciate the links, though. ^_^ Mushu is adorable!

Yeah. Sorry about that. Canned message. I try to put it out for anyone who is posting under the Beardie section of the forum. Once again, congrats on the little dinosaur.

[regiusloki]

Oh geez I feel your pain! Just adopted my own little dragon, and he's causing an uproar in the house; I am sick with worry at work when I leave because I'm trying to get him all set up and settled in.

Kudos on the relentless research - I still find myself reading new material and then re-reading the tried and true care sheets to compare notes.

Good luck!