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Wow..Hey guys..It's been a while...

keith_ecko May 04, 2007 03:09 PM

Not sure of any of you are still members from when I used to come here..For any of you that were here a few years ago I had a great dragon named POGO that died way earlier than he should of from a basking rock in my cage that collapesed on him..Boy do I regret having that happen. He was a great dragon and quite big also...about 22" and over 500 grams...So I'm thinking about getting a new dragon and want to know of any husbandry changes that have changed over the last few years or has everything still stayed about the same??? Any new and improved diet methods or products? Lighting? Enclosures? Any of this that has changed over the last few years (since 2003-04)I'd love to know. Thanks guys...Here's a pic of ol' POGO! RIP BUDDY!

-Keith

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kill 'em with kindness

Replies (4)

keith_ecko May 04, 2007 03:10 PM

that's my son in the pic also..Wow...he's 3 almost 4 now!

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kill 'em with kindness

PHLdyPayne May 04, 2007 05:34 PM

Welcome back to the forum! I remember you and Pogo, sad that he had to die but accidents happen.

There hasn't been a huge amount of change in basic husbandry for bearded dragons. Some better florescent lighting (UVB 10's are available from both Zoo Med and Exo Terra if I recall correctly), petstore sand is still dangerous to buy and over priced, a few new insect types available, roaches are more easy to get now then 3 years ago and now we have phoenix worms (larvae of the black soldier fly) that so far, seems to be good for young dragons (they are not all that big so not as practical to give to adult dragons).

Other than that, nothing really has changed.
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PHLdyPayne

keith_ecko May 05, 2007 07:23 AM

Can you tell me about these new bulbs, the 10.0??? I used to use the POWERSUN by Zoomed so are these better and do they put off heat or just UVB? Those worms you were talking about also..Nutritionally how good are they or they just like a snack like the wax worms? Whereabouts can you find them..Well Yea hopefully soon I'll be getting another dragon...I'll keep ya posted..Oh yea you have any links to any reputable dragon dealers??? I was looking at SUNDIAL dragon ranch for there availability but nothing caught my eye there..least not yet...Allot of beautiful holdbacks though!

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kill 'em with kindness

PHLdyPayne May 05, 2007 03:28 PM

If I remember correctly the Power sun bulbs are mercury vapor bulbs which put out alot of UVB rays. The florescent 10.0 tubes don't put as much UVB as MVB, but are better than the other grades of florescent UVB tubes (ie the 5.0 and 8.0) They put out rays up to 20" away so their range is great and the percent UVB they put out is of course, 10%. SO they are better, more cost effective than mercury vapor bulbs, unless you have a tall tank or just like the higher outage of MVBs. I haven't used the 10's yet, mostly because when I went to buy my 4' long UVB bulbs for my dragon's new cage, they didn't have any of the 10's in stock, so I bought the 8.0's instead.

Phoenix worms can be mail ordered directly from them and most pet stores and online feeder stores have them now. These are very nutritious, high in calcium, low in phosphorous, high protein etc but not all that high in fat. Below is the link to the main manufacturer/distributer of phoenix worms. They are not very expensive and can be refrigerated. I also included a link showing their nutritional content compared to other common insect feeders. The site says calciworms but they are the same thing as phoenix worms (both are black soldier fly larvae, I wrote to calciworm and asked them and they confirmed what I suspected).

www.phoenixworm.com/servlet/StoreFront

www.calciworms.com/nutrition.htm

As for reputable breeders of bearded dragons, there are plenty of them around. Checked the classifieds. Any names you recognized from three years ago, are most likely very reputable. Those that are fraudulent or scammers, don't last long. Sandfire dragon ranch, Diachiu (or however you spell it), are still very good breeders etc. I haven't really kept track of who the big breeders are in the US since I am not living in the US. Half the regular posters here are breeders themselves such as pgdragons or something like, the one with the odd but curious looking translucent range of dragons, he typically posts weekly with new pictures.
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PHLdyPayne

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