Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a baby bearded dragon Saturday. Tiny was the smallest of the babies that were up for sale. Please check my setup and see if I am making any errors...

Tiny is in a ten gallon tank with the following:

A small driftwood perch under the 50 watt basking spotlight. Temp on the driftwood is 105 F, temp in the floor of the tank is 95 F.

Reptile carpet on the floor. I plan to change it twice a week. What should I use to disinfect the first piece of carpet while the second piece is in the tank - will bleach solution work?

I have not yet installed a UVB light, because I had trouble getting a bulb. I have an old UVB light that is over six months old... reptisun 5.0 but I figure it is too old to be good. What bulb does everyone use for Beardies?

Feeding 1/4 inch crickets, the kibble that was sold to me with the dragon, and diced fruits/veggies (strawberries, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, summer squash, fresh peach, leaf lettuce). So far, the only thing I have seen Tiny eat is the crickets. Tiny eats 6 - 10 crickets daily and catches them pretty well... should I be teaching Tiny to eat from forceps?

I am not sure whether the fruit/veggies are being eaten by Tiny or whether they are wilting and being eaten by the crickets (I leave them in the tank for about a half hour, twice a day)

I have a water dish that is less than 1/2 inch deep. Tiny does soak in it once in awhile. I notice that Tiny eats better when I remove the driftwood during feeding times... is that normal?

I am bathing Tiny every other day.

See any mistakes or have any good suggestions?
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KITKAT

1.2 Collared Lizards
1.0 African House Snake
1.0 Red Sided Garter Snake
1.5 Turkish Angora (show) cats

Antioch Turkish Angoras
Kitnhevn Rescue

By the way... I am leaving the basking bulb on for 12 hours a day. The rest of the time, Tiny is living at room temps... is this correct?

Basking spot should be 115 for babies.

And u MUST get a uv light. After reading a few posts it looks like a lot of these guys use the reptisun bulbs. Really important u get one though, otherwise u run the risk of having a deformed dragon, as the uv helps synthesise vits which keep bones strong.

should supplement crickets with calcium too.they should be no bigger than the space between ur beardies eyes, any bigger can cause impaction. I'd let him hunt for himself, otherwise he might get lazy. With a view to eating better when u remove the wood, it's probably because the crickets have nowhere to hide, making it easier for Tiny to catch them. Suppose its up to u whether u remove it or not.

apparently babies don't eat much veg, but keep putting it in, maybe putting the crickets on top, so when baby goes to eat the crickets, he gets a taste of the veg and will start to like it. as they get older, insects only make up 10% of diet. Feed high calcium greens, like collard, mustard greens, dandelion greens etc. DO NOT FEED ICEBERG LETTUCE. has no nutritional value for beardies and gives them the runs!!!

great chart on beautifuldragons.com which gives loads of info on what to feed.

With a view to cleaning carpet(which u need to be careful when using with babies as they can get their toes stuck - paper maybe better until he is bigger) use bleach solution 10% bleach to water, then thoroughly rinse and dry before putting it back in. don't think u'll need to change it twice a week as long as u remove any faeces, like i say it'd probs be easier using paper if ur changing it that often.

I'm not as experienced as some of the guys on here, the info above is simply the advice i have read on this forum. if u have any questions, definitely put them on here.

A favourite keeper of mine is PHLDYPAYNE. Really experienced who knows a lot about keeping beardies. Sorted tons of probs out for me.

I give my beardie 'Khan' 14 hours of light a day (uv and basking spot) but i also have a heat mat which i leave on so he can choose if he wants to be a bit warmer on a night time.

I'm in the process of building a new viv for him, so I can create more of a temp gradient.

I was given the following temps by PHLdyPayne:

Basking spot temp: 95-115F (35-46C) (higher range better for younger dragons, 95-105F is good for adults).

Ambient temp, daytime: Around 80F (27C) for the warmend is good. The cool end can go down as low as room temp (72F or 22C)

Ambient temp, nightime: The overall cage can be room temperature, about 72F (22C). It is fine if the temp is cooler, but no cooler than 65F (18C)

Well, there's a bit of light reading for you!!! :OD

Hope that helps.

Let me know how u get on.
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Kat

1 male beardie 'Khan'

Thanks for the good info... yes, the UVB will be here this coming weekend.

I guess for now the crickets are gut loading on the veggies, so Tiny is getting them... LOL

And Tiny is now hunting the crickets without it being necessary to remove the driftwood.
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KITKAT

1.0.0 Bearded Dragon
1.0 African House Snake
0.1 Albino Corn Snake
1.0 Red Sided Garter Snake
0.1 Peromyscus leucopus (White-footed mouse)
2.5 Turkish Angora (show) cats

Antioch Turkish Angoras
PuRRS Rescue

sounds like my setup except my basking area is 100, i havnt heard of babies being 115, mine is growing and shedding fine with 100. Also, mine wont eat any veggies except for romaine lettuce and cucumbers. The vegetable probably has something to do with where u got it, and romaine is a very common vegetable. Try putting like 10 small pieces of ripped up romaine in his cage and spray them to keep them from drying. If its all gone keep feeding him that and mix in small pieces of other fruit with it. like a 5:1 mixture.
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0.1 Amel Cornsnake "Sunny"
1.0 Snow Cornsnake "Heaton" (any cs players?)
1.0 Spider Ball Python "Ceasar"
0.1 Colombian Red-tailed Boa "Sammy"
1.1 Albino Striped California Kings "mean" and "meaner"
1.0 Pastel Bearded Dragon "Norbert"

Found out that Tiny will eat AVOCADO, diced up in little cubes!

Also, I now have a Reptisun 8.0 light, so I think we're good to go!

Thanks for the helpful comments.
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KITKAT

0.0.1 Bearded Dragon
1.0 African House Snake
0.1 Albino Corn Snake
1.0 Red Sided Garter Snake
0.1 Peromyscus leucopus (White-footed mouse)
2.5 Turkish Angora (show) cats

Antioch Turkish Angoras
PuRRS Rescue