Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I am not new to reptiles as I have been keeping crocodilians, pythons, monitors and so forth for around 22 years (mostly crocodilians) ... but I am new to Bearded Dragons so I would apreciate any helpful tips, I have researched this forum and many care sheets so I have the basic idea.

My son has really been wanting some Bearded Dragons now for a while and we have been looking at them for a while yesterday we finally made our purchase. We purchased 1.1 adults locally along with a 70ish gallon aquariam (48x18x18), some cage furnature, basking lamp, screen tops, calcium supp, some type of expensive food supp's, cricket container and even a sand pooper scooper ... all for $180 which I didnt think was a bad deal! Plus I felt we would be able to give these Beardies a good home as there owner went off to college and his parents were trying to take care of them but it was just to much for them.

The people who were caring for the beardies said they had been giving them crickets about once a week and greens (when they remembered) ... I saw that they were giving the Beardies ripped up Roman lettece (rather large pieces) with the food supp pieces on top (some type of ham looking pieces).

I got them home yesterday evening, got there enclosure all cleaned out and reset up and got them back in the enclosure last night maybe a hour before lights out (they seemed ok), I figured it would probably be best to NOT let my son handle them for a day or so to let them get settled in, correct?

I also figured it might take a day or two for them to start eating but I was also thinking that they probably are hungry and just maybe I would get lucky and they would eat, so this morning I made them a salad of roman lettece, kale, tomatto, apple and a few pieces of that "ham" looking beardie food supp ... the salad has been in there enclosure now for around 4 hours and it hasnt been touched, should I be worried?

About enclosure sand ... I was planning to use white play sand, do I need to use white play sand that does not have the contains small traces of silaca warning label on the bag? Every bag of play sand and fine sand in general that I could find said it contained small traces of silaca

About drinking water ... I understand I need to give them water once or twice a day from a spray bottle. I did this last night and this morning as I had a feeling that the beardies might have been a little dehydrated, they didnt appear to drink any though ... when I give them water I should lightly spray or mist it on the heads correct? I am a litle unsure of how much water to spray on there heads though. (with my tokay geckos its easy, I spray a little water in the enclosure so they know its drinking time, they open there mouths and I gently spay in some water and they close there mouths when they have had enough).

Oh, on the beardies I noticed a couple small patches of schedding that looked like has been there for a while, I was thinking a warm bath/soaking is probably needed ... I should give them at least a few days to get settled in and start eating good before I do this correct?

Thanks for reading, sorry it was so long! Any info, tips, suggestions and so forth would be appreciated!!

Crappy pictures, sorry! She is actually not a bad color of red orange and he is very light with quit a bit of yellow ... I need to get a UBV ... whats the better choice for UVB, Mystic or a 10.0 ?? I heard Mystic should only run around 2 hours a day and a 10.0 can run all day along with the heat lamp.

I've never heard of Mystic. I use the Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0, you will need to also as a lesser bulb will not penetrate the 18" of your enclosure. Don't get the compact fluorescents, they cause eye problems. Get one that will run the length of the enclosure.

The Mystic is good for 30 inches, its suppose to be the most power full ... I was told that is so powerful that it should only be run around 2 hours a day, I was also told that while the mystic is running that the Dragons wont even bask under the heat lamp as they prefer laying under the mystic.

http://www.bigappleherp.com/UVB-Mystic-Light-Fluorescent-Bulbs#

Interesting. I have never seen or heard of it on any of the BD forums I am on. I am alweays sceptical of new things until someone besides the manufacturer reports positive results. The fluorescent lights also provide background lighting which is important for appetite and overall good health. That would be a disadvantage with a light that you only use a few hours a day.

You said..."We purchased 1.1 adults locally along with a 70ish gallon aquariam (48x18x18), some cage furnature, basking lamp, screen tops, calcium supp, some type of expensive food supp's, cricket container and even a sand pooper scooper" ... did you get a UVB tube light too? Is the calcium supplement phosphorous-free? Does it include D3? Did you buy vitamins/minerals too?

You said..."The people who were caring for the beardies said they had been giving them crickets about once a week and greens (when they remembered) ... I saw that they were giving the Beardies ripped up Roman lettece (rather large pieces) with the food supp pieces on top (some type of ham looking pieces)"....I have always fed my adults insects two or three times a week and "salad" two or three times a week. The insects are fed a nutritious diet, gutloaded and supplemented/dusted before giving them to my dragons. The salads consist of greens (dandelion, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc,) and veggies (carrots, sweet red pepper, sweet potato, squash, zucchini, etc.) and a small amount of fruit (apples, pear, melon, berries, etc.)

I use a phosphorous-free calcium powder on most (insect) feedings since most feeder insects have a poor ratio of calcium to phos.

I dust twice a month with a vitamin powder that has a beta carotene source of vitamin A. Preformed vitamin A can build up in the system but beta carotene won't. Excess vitamin A can cause problems with the D3 and lead to MBD.

I dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder. D3 from supplements can build up in the system too...so don't overdo it.

You said..."I figured it would probably be best to NOT let my son handle them for a day or so to let them get settled in, correct?"...I would agree with that!

You said..."the salad has been in there enclosure now for around 4 hours and it hasnt been touched, should I be worried?"...it might take them a couple of days to settle in. Is the basking area warm enough?

You said..."I was planning to use white play sand, do I need to use white play sand that does not have the contains small traces of silaca warning label on the bag? Every bag of play sand and fine sand in general that I could find said it contained small traces of silaca"...I don't think I would trust silica...but then I have never used a sand with it in that I know of. I use a coarser sand that has very tiny little pebbles in it and have had no problem with it. (My last dragon to die was over 10.)

You said...."About drinking water ... I understand I need to give them water once or twice a day from a spray bottle. I did this last night and this morning as I had a feeling that the beardies might have been a little dehydrated, they didnt appear to drink any though ... when I give them water I should lightly spray or mist it on the heads correct? I am a litle unsure of how much water to spray on there heads though. (with my tokay geckos its easy, I spray a little water in the enclosure so they know its drinking time, they open there mouths and I gently spay in some water and they close there mouths when they have had enough)."...I have watered them by dripping water on the tip of their noses...but other people say that giving them a bath is a good way to water them. I have never done that...so I don't know what to say.

You said.."on the beardies I noticed a couple small patches of schedding that looked like has been there for a while, I was thinking a warm bath/soaking is probably needed ... I should give them at least a few days to get settled in and start eating good before I do this correct?"...unless the shed is causing a constriction (like on the toes for instance), it won't hurt to leave it for a couple of days.

Hope you enjoy your beardies! They are awesome critters!

Here is a site that explains foods for dragons, http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html. Hope this helps

.

Hi, thanks for all of the information!

No they didnt come with the UBV but I am going to get one, I checked 2 stores yesterday and 1 store today but they only had the 10.0 in the odd super small size bulbs and all the rest of the longer tubes were 5.0

I have Herpcare Cricket dust, it is phosphorous free. It seems to be a all purpose supplement supplying Calcium and many other vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin D3

They did end up eating most of the "salad" ... they also ate some crickets and went crazy over some super worms

Yes the temps are good, low to mid 80's on cool side and basking area varies in degree (highest point on there climb is about 102

I went to Toys-r-us and got the correct sand today, they are the only place that had dry non toxic non silaca sand

Thanks again for the info!

The minimum recommended enclosure size for a single adult bearded dragon is 4' x 2' floor area or 8 square feet. You have 2 in 6 square feet.

Did they always live together? A small cage and unfamiliar dragons could be a real problem.

The beautifuldragons site mentioned earlier is a good site for greens and vegs. Skip the Romaine lettace, kale and tomato. It looks like your salad is in too small pieces to me but of course I don't know how big the bowl is. The pieces should be a little smaller that their heads for greens, smaller for vegs. I give my adults salads everyday. I don't do any processed food and don't supplement my salads.

Live food I dust with Calcium w/D3 whenever fed except for one meal a week I dust with a multivitamin. RepCal is the best brand for these products in my opinion for beardies.

I use children's Play Sand from Toys R Us it has no silica warning.

Skip the spray bottle and just drip water on their noses with an eyedropper. As adults I don't even do that except before and after they lay eggs or if they have been brumating. I only bath mine if they are dirty and I have never seen any drink in it.

You can mist the retained shed.

Hi, Yes I was told that these 2 dragons have been raised together and have lived together since they were very young.

I have another empty enclosure that was used for GTP's, its 8'x2'x2' but divides into either four 2'x2'x2' or two 4'x2'x2' sections. I think I will convert this into a Bearded Dragon enclouse or 2 ... the 2 Dragons I have now are adults but they really are not that big compared to other Dragons I have seen. I will have to measure and weigh mine but for length I would guess the female at about 13 maybe 14 inches and the male at 15 maybe 16 inches. I was told 1 of my Dragons is 2 years old and the other they wernt sure of its age ... either way they seem very small to me comparing them to other Dragons I have seen at 1 and 2 years old.

The 48' x 18" x 18" enclosure is there home, it was given to me along with the dragons ... I figured it would be a little easier on the Dragons to keep them set up in there same enclosure. I just gave it a good cleaning and changed the sand.

I did get the correct sand from Toy-R-Us, thanks!

I will try dripping water on their noses with an eyedropper, im thinking they will get there water from there greens as there damp still from washing, and im sure they also get some moisture rom insects .... I just feel better visually seeing them ingest a little water, exspecially since im new to this species.

Thanks for your information!!

You've gotten some good replies and should be good to go from here on out. Just a couple things I wanted to touch base on.

I see the newspaper substrate was wet near the food bowl, probably from misting. Beardie's substrate should be kept dry at all times because too much humidity can cause repsiratory infections. Some people keep water bowls in their cages, some don't. I do. However, I've only seen one out of four beardies actually drink from one. I have seen a few others get in them and some even splash around in them, I assume to absorb moisture, but also sometimes just to defecate. An eye dropper works good, no worries about getting substrate too wet. Plus, it's fun to watch them once they learn to drink from one.

Once your beardies get a 'lil bigger you'll need to give them a bigger basking spot, one that they both can fit their whole bodies in. This usually requires an additional bulb and different basking setup than you have now.

Silica:
I don't blame anyone for wanting to stay away from any silica-based sand, however, there's a lot of confusion & misinformation regarding it. The problem with silica came up years ago and has to do with the dust particles of silica. It mostly involved children on playgrounds that used silica-based sand that had not been prewashed. Breathing in the dust particles caused repiratory problems in some children. The problem is elimnated by washing the sand to remove any dust particles prior to use. That's why you'll see the bags with the silica warnings also say that the bag of sand is "prewashed." No need to wash it again before using.

That's just a little FYI on the silica. If there was a Toys R Us near me and it had sand that I knew wasn't silica-based & it wasn't overly priced, I'd get it instead of the Lowe's or Home Depot stuff I use. But there's no known health issues, for beardies or humans, with the prewashed silica-based playsand, as far as "silica" is concerned.

Sounds like you got a decent deal on the beardies & all. It's always nice to get a package deal instead of having to run your fool head off trying to get everything. Hope ya'll enjoy 'em!

Take care!
HH
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Due to political correctness run amuck,
this ol' hillbilly is now referred to as an:
Appalachian American