Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am new to Beardies and have been sifting though pages of info about feeding patterns etc. I am a little confused as to how often I should be feeding my new Beardie. Currently I feed 2-3 month old Ozlo 6-8 brown crickets every 48hours.. is this enough? there is also fresh veg etc in the tank 24/7.

Secondly, I have a 4ft Tank, maybe a little large for a young beardie but hopefully the extra size will be well enjoyed in later life. I am slightly worried about the temperature, the heat mat is aprox half the length of the tank and is constantly on when the thermostate is set to 90F. The Heat Lamp is a 60W clear Bulb and keeps one end of the tank at around 90-95F is this Hot enough? and finally... at night the 'warm' end of the tank, end with heat mat, only stays at around 72F even though the heat mat is constantly on. if this temp is too cool for night time how can i heat the tank without a heat lamp etc? Any Answers would be greatly recieved. Many thanks.

Your dragon shoud be eating a total of 30 to 60 crickets a day divided into two or three feedings. The crickets should be no longer then the space between your beardies eyes. This size restriction is not to allow the bearie to be able to swallow but to prevent your dragons from becomeing impacted and die by not being able to digest the chiton, exoskeleton of the insect. You should alos be dusting one of those meals daily with a good calcium powder that contains vitamin D-3.
Beardies feel the heat from a heat sensor on top of their heads. It is very easy for them to burn their stomachs while laying on a heat source. Increase your bulb wattage till you can get his basking "spot" (not cage) to 110 to 115 degrees. He still needs a cool side of 70 to 80 degrees too.
It is also VERY important to expose your dragon to UVB rays so they do not get MBD. A regular or full spectrum heat bulb cannot do this.
The two best ways I've found is either using the PowerSun mercury vapor bulb available in 100 watt or 160 watt sizes. They can double as a heat source and provide enough UVB to healp your dragons bones to grow. If that isn't an option then I reccomend still using a heat lamp to keep the temps up but also buying a UVB Mystic flouecent bulb thru Big Apple Herps. I've tested a lot of bulbs and this one really cranks out high amounts of UVB rays. Just having it on for a few short hours a day is more then enough. You will need a METAL fixture to handle the high current these seem to draw...melted the plastic one I tried it with the first time.
Night temps can get down into the 60s and you dragon would still be fine. For baby or very young dragons I like to try and keep the temps closer to 70 at night.

A book I would highly reccomend you read is "The Bearded DRagon Manual". It is a great source of information for new and experienced dragon owners.
I hope this helps information helps!

Many Thanks for the info, only had dragon for a day so will up the food and hopefully no harm done... I have a UV light runs the length of the tank and was assured that it was fine for my dragon. Thanks for your reply.