Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So . . . I am the proud owner of a new beardie . . . I am new to this, and have researched as many care sheets, info pages as I can find . . . Eragon is about 10 inches, and I was told by his previous owner that he was about 7-8 months . . . should I be feeding him according to Juvie standards, or adult? I've been just dropping in crickets (small ones)until he stops eating them, and he gets a salad everyday, which he mostly eats . . . right now I'm using newspaper on the bottom of his tank (he gets his new 55 gallon today! Yay!) Can I use aquarium rocks, or are those too dangerous for impaction? Thanks all!!

First welcome to the wonderful world of beared dragon's
indeed there a nice reptile to have

i wouls suggest never to use heating rock's ... use a basking lamp normal bulb about 100-120 degrees ..

do you have a UVB ? ...i use a 7. one . but 5. are fine too

for substrat we use paper towels ..

i would suggest to still feed him cricket's and his salads .. till about a year ? then change it over too more salad every day and crickets at lease 3 times a week

just remember to supplement them with there calcuim and vitamins to keep them healthy -

and good luck to you and your first dragon ..

christina

100-110 correction lol .... for basking lamp

I agree heat rocks are very bad and they will buen themselves on them. Use a basking lamp, and like said before temps should be about 110-115 hot side about 95-100 cool side. Nite time temps will drop a little bit lower about 75-80. Good luck and congrats on the new kid. Papertowels are excellent!!

Thanks for the info everyone! I love the little guy . . . my husband makes fun of me because I can just sit and watch him for hours! He so active compared to the iguana that my dad had growing up . . . I find him fascinating!!

thats good to hear... my mom does the same ... i have a leopard gecko .. and i saw her shedding the other day it was awesome ..
but i also have 7 beared dragons and a iguana myself

im happy its working out for you

Thanks! Yup, I do have a UV light, as well as a heating one, thanks for the info on feeding! By rocks I meant like the pebbles you get for the bottom of a fishtank, not a heating rock . . . I read that beardies can burn themselves on heating rocks? He's pretty active . . . do I need to prepare anything for brumation, or if he's active, will he skip it this winter? Any info is great! Thanks!

i would stay away from aquarium gravel its heavy and hard to clean and will not absorb much
if thats what you meant larger rocks for decoration and basking arefind butclean them well before using them
Tony

Thanks! Good to know!

LeoLady is wrong about the temps. 105 is a good basking spot temp. to shoot for, but, the cool end should be more like 75. At night down to 65 is fine.

Here is a good link for food.

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

Crickets should be fed twice a day in a size that is no bigger then the space between his eyes. The way you are doing the crickets is fine, feed him all he wants to eat. You should dust each meal but one with Calcium (No Phosphorus and No Vitamin A - Rep-Cal is good) and one meal a week with a multivitamin. Water should be always available but he may or may not drink it. You should mist or drop water on his nose at least once daily to make sure he stays hydrated. A weekly bath would be good too.

If he's active this late in the season it is very unlikely that he will brumate this year.

For UVB a Reptisun 5 is good if he is within 12" of the bulb. Otherwise a Reptisun 10 should be used if you have a fine screen top or he is further than 12" away. A 55 gal tank is 22" tall. A Reptisun 10 is good to 20".

The newspaper is fine and I would stick with that or paper towels, non-stick shelf liner, tile, or reptile carpet for a while. When is is bigger than 12" you could choose to change him to childrens play sand if you want. I would never recommend the gravel.

Thanks again! I'll try the photobucket too!