Reptile & Amphibian Forums

just got a baby beardie on saturday night.The girl said it had already eaten .He has eaten only 3 cickets since then and I was wondering if this could be shock from the move.He also does not seem to be overly active. Could this also be a basking temp prob?

yes hes on a new enviroment so the beardie is stressed out, also the his temp on the hot side should be in the mid to low 100s.- i believe you said in a previous post hes on a 10 gal, probably thats why hes no eating, the smallest i recommend for a baby beardie is a 20 gallon long and that is temporary.

thanx,I want to get a 40 gal in one week.!Any suggstions on the size of basking light for a 40?

I 2nd the 10 gal. is too small. There is a real risk of overheating a dragon in a tank that small. I would also make sure the crickets you are feeding are the right size. A 5" dragon should be eating crickets no larger than 1/4". You need to have a digital thermometer with a remote probe to measure temps. with. Stick-ons are extremely inaccurate. I am also concerned with the compact UVB you are using. There have been a lot of problems with these recently. Make sure it is no closer than 12" to the dragon and that if he begins to shut his eyes you remove it right away.

Light wattage varies widely dependant on application and ambient temp. in the room. The only real way to decide is trial and error.

I 3rd the motion in that a 10 gal is way too small. you'll want to start with a 20G long and in a few months you'll have to upgrade to at least a 55G new home. I will also tell you based on personal experience that you'll want to mix the diet WHILE HE'S A JUVENILE!!! Crickets are great beginning live feed but I would also suggest adding greens to the diet. A lot of breeders and pet shops feed their beardies greens and then when they get a new home they're switched to crickets, the problem with this practice is that beardies are very leary of new foods and typically must be offered several times before they'll try it. I thought i was doing the right thing with my beardies at first by feeding dusted crickets but, after a visit to my vet we discovered that the crickets caused an impaction and he was given an enema to relieve the pressure(good times!). So the lesson learned in all this rhetoric is to try something new (AND SMALL!!!).
P.S.---Good rule of thumb, feed nothing larger than the area between the eyes!
Hope this helps,
-Harry

you say you have heard bad things about the compact uvb? is it too bright?

This web page addresses the issues with these bulbs. I highly recommend everyone read it.

http://www.uvguide.co.uk/phototherapyphosphor.htm