Reptile & Amphibian Forums

New to beardies. Took in a rescue tonight. How many crickets, what size and how many times per week. Was very hungy and ate a plate of greens, carrots and Reptomin tonight. Seems small for its age

Thanks in advance

How big is the dragon? Length from snout to tip of tail, and weight in grams if possible.

Younger dragons I give crix 2x per day and greens once per day or every other day starting from the day they hatch. Adult dragons get bugs once a day or every other day and greens should be every day.

If giving crickets or bugs give them all they will eat within 5 minutes or so.

Eating greens is a good sign. Post a pic if you can.
Chris

Crickets should be no larger than the space between the dragons eyes.

Here's a good nutrition chart for salads.

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

I 2nd the post a picture. Also what are the conditions you've prepared for him?

Like was mentioned, the fact that it ate the greens is a very good sign. Always give the greens first so that he will keep that good habit, and if you add carrots be sure to grate them very thinly, a hard chunk, even if small, can cause digestive problems. If it is a growing dragon, give as many crickets as it will eat twice a day at the size that was mentioned. Give it about 5 minutes to eat the crix and remove what it won't eat so the crix don't swarm all over the beardie at night.

Thanks everyone for responding.

They gave me everything including it's tank. I dumped all of the sand last night as it was in pretty bad shape and cleaned the tank well. I am using newspaper now for substrate. I have
a regular bulb for heat. I am going to share my uro's Active UVB for a few hours a day as I think the strip that was in his previous home was a fish light and not UVB. I plan on soaking it well tonight as it really needs a good clean up. It did eat again this morning most of its salad: Turnip and collard greens, mixed vegetables, turnip and strawberries with a little calcium/D3 added. I will get a picture, weight and measurement soon. The former owner said it is 4 years old I plan on trying to determine whether male or female tonight. I have a book that shows the difference.

Should I buy an Active UVB for him or would it be too much heat (100 watt)for the 40 gallon tank? Would a Reptisun be better?

Linda

I'm not a real believer in MVB's for Beardies. I do own them though and use them with other species. But, to answer your question it really depends on your setup. Differences in basking height, ambient home temp., whether a screen top is used or not, etc. make big differences in what is the proper bulb to get the proper temperatures.

Basking spot (surface temp.) should be about 105 with an ambient air temp. of about 90 on the hot side. the cool side should be low 80's or below. Optimally the basking spot should be measured with an infrared temp. gun.

I like standard or halogen bulbs for heat because you can design some adjustablity into them for when the seasons change and your home gets warmer of cooler. I have only one 40 gal. in use right now and never use screens. It currently houses a Uro. I use a Zoo Med hood with a Zoo Med reptisun 10.0 UVB bulb. I then use a clamp lamp that is clamped to the pole of a floor lamp to create the basking spot. The clamp lamp can be slid up and down to increase or decrease the basking spot temperature. You could also use a dimmer. In general I build enclosures with built in lights for dragons.

Here is another source for sexing your dragon.

http://www.dachiu.com/beardeddragoncare/sexingdragons.html

As he is 4 years old, he's a full adult. I would feed him or her salad every day with a few crickets (adult crickets are fine) and about 6 adult crickets daily, or a 3-6 superworms, silkworms, butterworms, or hormworms daily.

Typically I feed every other day as my dragon wont' eat every day even if offered. But if I do it every other day she eats everything I give her. She's about the same age as your dragon now. She is eating a bit more lately as she is laying infertile clutches again.

Getting a good weight scale (one that can measure in 1g increments) and weighing your dragon once or twice a month is a good way to monitor weight. Measuring her from snout to tail tip and weighing her will make it easier for us to give an approximation of what her weight should be. Post pictures if you have them.
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PHLdyPayne

went out and bought medium size crickets today. I also bought one of those cricket keepers to keep them in. She about came through the glass when she saw them in the keeper. I wanted to start slow as she had not been given any in a week or so. She ate about 8-10 I believe. I did get her soaked and got all of the crud (poop and sand had hardened on her). She hauled off and bit me as I was trying to get her out of the water. Seemed very stressed. Is this normal behavior? I did manage to get a length on her but didn't want to stress her/him anymore. He/she is 16" inches long. She doesn't seem to have a lot of body fat but I noticed tonight its stomach seems to be sagging.Will get a pic over the weekend.

I will use the Reptisun 10.0 as suggested. I am thinking about keeping it but my not sure my hubby is in agreement. I attached a pic of my uro, Ichabod, that I adopted 4 years ago.