Reptile & Amphibian Forums

just got my first dragon and its a baby. It is abuot 5-6 inches long. Is a 10 gallon tank good? He really wont eat much and sometimes he wont eat at all. When he does he'll eat 2-3 crickets. Is that normal? he is really active and drinks water. He wont touch the veggies. He seems pretty healthy to me. There is one concern i have, like once or twice when he poops its kinda been red. Is that normal??

A 10 gallon tank is too small for any size Beardie to thermoregulate. You need to start with a 20 long (12' x 30" x 12" tall) at least. He should be eating more than 2-3 crickets. I'd recheck your temps. The hot side should have an ambient (air) temp. or 85-90 with a basking spot surface temp. of 105-110 and a cool side ambient of about 75. You won't be able to get the temps right until you replace you enclosure though. 10 gallons tend to be just about all one temp. which is dangerous.

I would bring a fecal sample to a vet. The red you describe is not normal unless you are feeding him a prepared food with red die in it. Either way it's a good idea to have a fecal done regularly.

Also, make sure you are dusting every live meal with calcium w/D3 with no phosphorus. One meal a week you should dust with a multivitamin. RepCal makes good products for this. He also needs accesss to UVB. In a 20 long you should use a Zoo Med Reptisun 10.0 if you are using the screen top.

10 gal is to small for a hatchling. he wont be able to thermo regulate his body temp. I had my hatchling on a 20 gal long tank and he used every inch of it. they are very curious animals are extremely active especially at the stage he/she is on. remember when the crickets should be no bigger than the space between his eyes. hatchlings are hard to feed veggies, try cutting small bite size of bananas and apples and sprinkle it on top of his veggies, that work for mine, but mine is still a picky eater and hes 8 years old. best of luck

The red color of the feces seems odd. Light /Temperature in the right cage is important. When I first put mine in a 20 gal. long with only a 60 watt ceramic emitter. He was sluggish. A switch to a small under tank heater with a 75 watt emitter and he perked right up.

thank you guys for the help tons

Dragons need bright cages to stimulate activity and eating. In the wild heat comes from the sun above. Ceramic Heat Emitters and under tank heaters are not correct for Bearded Dragons. An appropiate wattage spot or flood light bulb should be used to provide both heat and light. Temps. should be measured with a digital thermometer or temp. gun.

Don't be silly of course there is full spectrum lighting in the cage setup I described above!

I didn't say or mean to imply that you didn't. I would just change out the CHE and heating pad with incandescent bulbs. In the wild beardies dig down to cool off so an undertank heater is not normal for them.