My recent pickup...

[LittleTreeGuy]

So, I went to the Steel City Reptile expo on Saturday hoping to find a medium to high-white pied (or a spied) female for sale for a good price. Unfortunately, there was only one pied at the whole expo and it was a super-low white male. I didn't come home empty handed though... My son has been asking for a lizard, so like any good dad would do, I bought him two. I've read a little bit about them in the past, but honestly, I didn't know that much about them. I talked to a few vendors at the expo and thought I had a decent understanding of what I needed. I had an old plastic enclosure that has about the same floor space as a 29 gallon tank, so my plan was to put them in there (one male and one female).

Now, I'm sure you experienced beardie folks are cringing... I was told by two vendors that I could keep my male and female together without any problems and they wouldn't be able to breed for sometime. So, I get home, put them both in my tank with a good uvb bulb and a basking light. Now, I did know enough to have my heat sources controlled and have been watching temps and humidity levels closely with digital thermometers/hygrometers and a heat gun. I have learned since having my bp how to control temps pretty well, so I feel comfortable with that.

I start doing some more research, and find that pretty much everything the vendors told me was inaccurate. I shouldn't be surprised, but I was. So, I got lucky... a quick search on Craigslist found me another 30 gallon aquarium setup previously used for a reptile. A good cleaning, some new bulbs, and new furniture... and now I have two setups running and maintaining good heat and humidity.

Here are our new beardies... Thunder (M) and Lightning (F)

Thunder


Lightning


I bought some crickets at the expo... but after a day of thinking and reading, I may order some dubia roaches and try to start a little colony. I have everything I need, and think it may just make sense financially. Any thoughts?