Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello. I am in charge of the reptile section at a local pet store. Reptiles are my passion, but I am always learning. We will be recieving 3 baby bearded dragons tomorrow, and I wanted to see if anyone had any tips. I will be putting them in what I believe is a 20gal. high, MAYBE a 30 breeder (I'm not sure), with repti-sand, a log, a big water dish, and some greenery. I am going to try to feed them crickets everyother day, and squash, shredded carrots and chopped lettuce once a week. I have a reptile flourecent light and a heat-glo lamp on during the day, and a night-glo lamp on at night. They will also be misted twice a day.
Is there anything else I am missing? I am just trying to keep them as comfortable and happy as possible at their (hopefully) short stay with us, and just want to cover the basics. If anyone has any tips that are convienent for a pet store setting (an inconvience would be that we can't have undertank heaters ), please let me know! These are my babies, and I want them happy!!!
THANK YOU!
~Angela

I'm VERY glad to see someone in your position that cares enough to ask about caring for something that's unfamiliar to you! First of all, NO REPTI-SAND! This can cause them to become impacted & possibly die. Plain white papertowels would be better. NO LETTUCE! Little to no nutritional value. Use collard, mustard, &/or turnip greens instead. Mix it with some endive &/or escarole. Squash & carrots are good. Make sure they're fed a few times a day, as they can nip each other's tails & toes. Be careful with the greenery, as they may try to eat it. Use lukewarm water to mist them, not cold. They should have crickets everyday; the crickets should be no bigger than the space between the dragons' eyes. Make sure the flourecent light puts out UVB. Also check & maintain the proper temps. Many of us don't recommend under-tank heaters or heat rocks. Other than that, handle them & love them, as they are precious!
ToniaD

I have had my baby bearded dragon in a tank with sand since I have had him about a week ago. Should I immediately change to paper towels??

What age can sand be used as a substrate in there?

My dragon is averaging about 4-5 crickets a day but is only two weeks old. Is this about the average? Any he doesn't eat I remove so its not as if he is looking for more. When should greens be introduced?

Are the crickets no larger then the space between his eyes? He should be eating an average of 15 crickets 2-3x a day.

Yes, I would remove the sand, unless you feed your beardie in a seperate enclosure.

Hmm well he isnt eating that many. Some are slightly bigger than the space but will have to get some smaller ones again and see if he finds them more easy.

Put paper towels in too

.

Also no watter dish, babies can drowned (From what ive heard) Easily in it.

Of course you might not have the time required to do so when working at a pet store but feeding sepretly is a very good idea. Nips do happen and I imagine it must be hard to sell legless or tailless dragons.

You don't need heat at night unless your store gets really cold (below 70 degrees). I would feed them crickets 1-2 times a day, and offer greens every day or every other day. Baby dragons eat a LOT.

Make sure that your water dish is shallow. Paper towels or washed playsand is usually better than reptisand, but reptisand will work in a pet store setting...

Nice to see a petstore inquiring how best to care for repitles.

The best tank would be the 30 gal breeder (or 20 gal long, instead of the tall). Use papertowel or plain newsprint for the substrate. You can decorate it a bit with large flat rocks. Green reptile carpet can be used as well (or indoor outdoor carpet you can get at any home improvement store, or walmart). A shallow dish is fine for water but for the most part, it will get soiled quickly, not to mention crickets can crawl into it and drown. Misting several times a day would be better as teh dragons can lick the water off the glass, rocks or from themselves.

Feed small crickets (about 1/4 inch in size) two to three times a day, removing any left overs by end of day (closing time). One UVB producing light and a basking light or two (low wattage, 60W or less) will be all the lighting it needs. Temperatures should be, for basking area(s) 100-110 F. Tank temperature should be around 95F with a cooler end of about 80F during the day. Nightime temperature should be about 70F - 75F.

You can offer finally chopped mixed greens, such as collard greens, mustard greens enchive, escarole, dandelion greens, shredded carrots (sparingly, as this can lead to runny stool), finaly chopped bell peppers, zuccini, mixed frozen vegetables, thawed and chopped finely. A little fruit and flowers can be included as well but only sparingly. Dandelion flowers, hispiscus, strawberries, grapes, melons and bananas (very rarely for bananas). Never feed iceberg lettace as it is useless nutricion wise. If possible, dust crickets every other day with a calcium (with D3) and multivitamine suppliment.

For the prospective buyer, deffintely recommend all the above and for them to get any books about Bearded dragons (or just send them to this forum LOL), websites etc to ensure they know all they can about basic care and feeding of bearded dragons.

Hope this helps.