Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am just curious, can you feed a Beardie darkling beetles? Also, I was going to buy the Calcium and Vitamins at the reptile expo that I went to , but I discovered that they are cheeper online. We ordered them yesterday and the company said about 5 days shipping. Will my beardie be ok for 5 days with no calcium?

Thanks!
Emily

It's certainly not great. But I don't see paying more at a pet store if you are going to have it in 5 days.

UVB source is very important. Do you have one?

yes, he has a Mercury Vapor bulb and a CHE for day and just the CHE for night. The MVB is 100 watt and the CHE is 60. I only got him yesterday, but with both lights on for about six hours, I got him home at about 3 and turned them off at about 9, the temp got to around 96, but it was still going up. I'll see how hot I can get it today, I may not need the CHE during the day, I don't know, yet.

Emily

What size tank is he in? I assume he is a baby. Right?

If the store sold you a 10 gallon tank it is too small. You should take it back and exchange for a 20 Long (30 x 12 x 12 High) or larger. You need to have temperature separation to allow him to thermoregulate.

The basking spot (a log or something her can climb up on) needs to be about 110 for a baby and should be on one side of the tank. It should be able to reach that temp in an hour or so (2 at the most) after the lights come on. So you may need a higher wattage CHE. You will also need some way of adjusting the temp. as we are headed into spring and probably the room temp. is increasing. Zoo Med sells a rheostat (dimmer) that you can use with the CHE. Night time temp should be around 70. A little lower is fine. Lights should be on 14 hours and off 10. Use a timer for consistancy.

Feed small crickets twice a day and have water and salad available the rest of the time. Here's a good nutrition link.

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

He is about 6 inches, snout to vent, and is in a 2 by 4 by 2 cage. I am having some trouble with the tamperature, though. It takes it a long time, about 4-5 hours, to get to 100 and it's never been over 100. His "Cool" side gets to above 80, which I know is too hot. Also, at night I leave the CHE on and it gets to the high 70s, should I try leaving the CHE off at night? The closest he can get to the lights is about a foot away, can I move him closer to get higher temps? Oh, his food is what you said, crickets and salad, right now the salad is simply kale and shredded carrots, we'll be adding more stuff soon.
Thanks!!

Emily

With a mercury vapor bulb a 100w spot should be a min of 18 inches away and a flood 12in. I used a 100w spot and got the same results as you (low temps) since then I went to a 45w outdoor flood and he can be 8 inches away and temps can get around 120 if he desires, he has many gradients to chose from utilizing different height branches. In conjunction with the flood I use a 8.0 flourecent

Also be careful with carrots. I've come to the understanding that they arent that great for the beardie because they have too much vitamin A? (somebody correct me if I'm wrong!). Same with Kale, too high in vitamins.

I feed Mustard greens,Collard greens, blackberries, zuccini, and of course worms and crickets. I hear dandelion greens work too, but you have to be really really careful about just picking them out of the yard because they may have pesticides and weed killer on them.

Your's may like strawberries, raspberries or bananas. But thats something you will have to see. They can be picky about what they will eat.

Kale is bad because it contains calcium binding oxylates. I would never feed it or spinach. Carrots are High in Vitamin A which is bad for beardies so I would only feed it once in a while at most. The link I provided in the last post explains both of these.

MVB. I am not a believer in these at all. I own the Zoo Med Powersun 160 and 100 watt flood. They just don't put out much heat. The bulbs get real hot but really provide very little heat.

It's important that a MVB be one that is designed for reptiles not just a MVB standard bulb. Since the only plus of MVB's is the UVB output is greater than the flourescents. The downsides are they should be 2' away, and they must hang facing straight down.

It's hard for me to tell you how to solve your temperature problem without a little more information. What kind of enclosure is it? It's not a screened open air is it? Or is it a glass aquarium with a screen top? Or maybe a vision cage or something home made? How are the lights mounted? If I can visualise why you are not getting the right temps, I or others may have a suggestion.

I don't know where you live so it's hard to give an answer on night time temps. too. But if your house stays above 65 then you don't need to do any night time heat.

I will try to post a picture of my set up, it is home made(by my Dad!!) I'll have to get my mom to help me though. I live in Oregon, I'm going to try leaving the CHE off tonight and see how it goes. The MVB is 100 watt for reptiles, I don't know if it is a flood or spot though, I'll have to look. I'll stop with the kale thanks for telling me, I read in a book that it was ok for them. Is there anything that I can feed him that will supplement calcium until I get the calcium in the mail? THanks so much for all the help guys!!

Emily

Please read the beautiful dragons nutrition information it will answer all your questions. But the short of it is that you should feed Collard, Turnip or Mustard Greens, Dandelion, escarole and endive. Collard has the best Calcium to Phosphorus Ratio. I have pasted the link below.

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

The bottom line on your heating problem is that you just don't have enough watts. So if your married to the CHE change it from 60 to maybe 150. This will put out substantially more heat. All the heat should be directed at the warm end. The overflow heat should keep the cool end warm enough but not too warm.

As far as keeping the CHE off tonight, as long as you keep your home thermostat at 65 or above.

A picture would be great!

My Mom has been super busy lately and I can't post a picture without her help, but if you want I could email some to you? I did get to read the web page you sent me, I couldn't read it befoore because it was blocked from me so I had to get on my Dad's internet and look at it. Thanks, it was very helpful, we will be geting some of the things on that list tommarrow. I'm sorry if I'm being bothersome but is it okay to feed them dandilion greens from outside as long as they're pesticide free and washed? Thanks for being patient with me!

Emily

I back channeled with my email and reply. Glad to help.