Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok i just got my beardie yesterday n i bought a thermometer today n put it in n that was a few hours ago n its only goin up to 85 degrees on the basking side what should i do the pet shop guy gave me all my stuff n said it would be fine with what he gave me but it doesnt get past 85 is it gonna hurt my beardie what should i do????

>>ok i just got my beardie yesterday n i bought a thermometer today n put it in n that was a few hours ago n its only goin up to 85 degrees on the basking side what should i do the pet shop guy gave me all my stuff n said it would be fine with what he gave me but it doesnt get past 85 is it gonna hurt my beardie what should i do????

Either move the basking light closer or get a higher branch or rock, etc for your beardie to get closer to the heat source. If that doesn't help.... go UP in wattage. That basking site NEEDS to be around 105 degrees. If it isn't he won't be able to digest his food properly, etc and will quite possibly starve himself to death.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr Pet stores and their "know it all" employees make me want to puke! LOL

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www.BeginnersBasics.com

thanx for the advice i have my thermometer on the floor(duh)but idk how to place it up higher cuz i have a indoor outdoor thermometer from radioshack n idk how to bring the outdoor thermometer(a thermometer attached into the actual digital reader by a wire)to the top of the basking spot

Just get a piece of tape and tape it up on the basking spot and turn the thermometer to outside to get the reading.
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Mystical Dragons

take a tem right on the basking area. for instance if you are using a 6x6 inch peie of slate for a basking perch the 6x6 aera should be 105-110 it's ok for th rest of that side of the tank to be in the low 90's and the cool side 80-85

i like ot think of my tank in 1/3s if you have a 20 gal long the basking 1/3 105-110 ( i have a raised peice of slate that is about 8 x 10 and 6 inches off the floor for a basking plat form)

the middle 1/3 86-95

the cold 1/3 79-83

mat

hope this makes sense

ok i taped the thermometer up but it did go up but it is now 90(90.5 to be exact)is this ok or do i need to do something?

yes either raise the basking spot closer to light or get a strong wattage bulb

what size tank are you using and what size bulb

mat

30 gal n i have 2 60watts i think plus the blacklight n uvb light but i dont have the blacklight on

try 1 100 watt bulb on end of the tank with the basking site with in like 10 inches i am not sure how tall a 30 gal is but i have a 29 gal and i have 100 watt bulb over it and i had to put it on a dimmer cause the temps on the basking area (almost 15 inches away from the light) was like 123

mat

wow thats hot well ill get the light tomorrow when i get the crickets but thanx a lot for all your help tell ya how it is tomorrow lol

You can buy the bulb at any home hardware type store. Don't need to buy it at the petstore. Why pay $8 for a bulb when a $2 spot bulb does the job just as well if not better (I fine the basking lights from the petstore burn out faster than regular household type bulbs).

You can also get a hooled clamp fixture from Home Depot or similar stores for alot cheaper ( $12 as compared to $19 or more at petstore).

When I got my first bearded dragon I had him in a 35 gal tank (which I beleive is the same height as the 30 gal. I think the only difference is a few inches in either width or length). I used a 75 watt bulb in a hooded clamp fixture, I clamped it to a small section of wood I set up as a cross bar (one half of the top was covered by a 6"x 36" x1" peice of wood.) This allowed me to adjust the angle and height of the basking light to get the best basking temperature. I mounted a under cabinet flurescent fixture on the wooden top for the UVB light. I didn't bother covering the rest of the tank top for two reasons: dragons can't climb glass nor can they jump straight up very high. (a full grown one may be tall enough to do it but I knew I wouldn't have him in a 35 gal tank till then so it didn't matter). ALso I don't have any other pets that may try and get inside the tank (ie cats).

Yeah you need a little stronger bulb, or make the basking spot higher. The basking spot has to be over 100 more like 105-110 for babies to properly digest thier food. This is real important too. Babies will not eat if the temps are not high enough to digest, and will cause health problems.
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Mystical Dragons

well mine ate fine last night n he didnt even have the branch in there when he ate the crickets but i just dont want him to have any health problems from not getting warm enought n stuff cuz ive had him a little over 24 hours now

Sure he'll get them down until he can't get them out any more then he'll stop eating. Got to bring the temps up over 105 in the basking spot and have a gradient down to around 80 on the cool side.
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Mystical Dragons

o ok well tomorrow im gonna have to go to the pet store to get crickets newayz so im gonna get a 100 watt bulb n that should do the trick but then i may have to lower the basking are if it gets too hot right well thanx for ur help too n by the way i gave my beardie a dozen crickets last night which was the first meal is this how many i give him 2x a day?

I really suggest you look into ordering crickets off line from a farm. Beardies eat tons when young. I have babies that eat 80 a day between 3 feedings. If I was to buy all the crickets I feed from a pet store I would have put his kids through college already.
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Mystical Dragons

o really?where do u suggest?what do they come by 100s?

I use reptilefood.com. You can get 1000 for 9 bucks plus shipping or 500 for 8 plus shipping so the best deal is the 1000. You got to feed the dragon crickets no bigger then the space between the eyes.
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Mystical Dragons

so u order from them n u dont have ne problems?

If you order crickets in bulk make sure you have a large container to store them in. A large rubbermaid type container is ideal. Just cut some large openings in the lid and cover with screen (same type of screen you use for windows, just make sure to get the metal screen as crickets can chew through the fibreglass or vinyl screen). Or if you don't want to cut large sections out of the lid, you can instead drill a whole lot of small holes with a drill or rotery tool using a 1/16 of an inch drill bit.

That done, just use alot of egg cartons (you can probably buy teh large egg flats at any poultry farmer supply store, or alternatively check with your nearest restaurant or school cafetaria and ask if they will hold the egg cartons for you. You don't need a huge amount but should get about 2 large flats or 4 regular egg cartons. Take these and tear them up into sections and toss them losely into the rubbermaid container. Make sure they are not so high that the cricket can jump out easily when you open up the container. Don't worry about putting anything on the bottom of the container, don't really need it and it just makes it more work to clean the container.

To feed the crickets you can do one of two things. Buy cricket gutload from the petstore or make your own. One recipe I found on Bill Mears website (www.geocities.com/borderviewdragons) is very good. I would use that instead of buying gutload. It lasts alot longer and is cheaper by far. Just put this into a shadow dish (the lids off Hagan Daaz 1/2 litre icecream are great for this) and place it in the container. In addition, take another lid, fill it with chopped mixed grens (yep the same you give your dragon) with some carrto chunks, or potatos or slices of oranges for moisture. Change this dish every day but the dry stuff should be good for a few days, unless y ou notice alot of cricket poo in it.

That's it for caring for crickets.