Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two new babies, still trying to determine their age..one is 4-5" long nose to tail tip, the other 6-7" long nose to tail tip...anyway they hang out in their basking area, in one place all day long. I have only had them a week. They rarely check their food area and I have never seen them eat the greens. They must check it out at night, because in the morning it does look like less greens (hard to tell because they are all wilted by morning) They seem to eating the crickets O.K. and have no problem catching them. They catch them then go back to their branch and hang-out) Is this normal? ( I am pretty sure that their basking area is an O.K. temp. I have one of those stick on thermometer up high in the tank, right under the lamp.. it says 100 or a little more. Is there a better way to measure the temp at surface level. The tank is only 15" or so inches high.

Babies often don't eat greens right away, but keep offering daily.
A digital thermometer from Walmart, Home Depot or Lowe's will give you a more accurate reading on your basking temp.

The greens are probably just wilting at night. Once beardies are asleep they don't get up and eat.
Make sure that all crickets are out of the tank before lights out, they can chew holes in your dragons.

Also, be prepared to have 2 set ups, as they mature male/male dragons will fight. Female/male will breed too young. Female/Female "might" get along ok in the same tank.

Do you have a UVB bulb?
Crickets should be no larger then the space between their eyes (sounds like they should be eating 1/4" according to their size).
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TheClassyLizard

How old do you think they are? Is there a way to determine their sex this young? Head shape maybe?

do you mean the human kind of thermometer?

No, a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer (about 15.00 or less).
Like I said, males have more of an arrow shaped head. But, even that is hard to discern when young.
I have better luck looking under their tails. If you don't know what you are looking for, it's not obvious until they are 3-6 mo old.

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TheClassyLizard

You are awesome. Thanks for the picture.

This may sound stupid, but I want to make sure my tank is right. I place that probe near or on the area and it will work, right? ex. stick in the sand, on a rock or branch? does is read
mid-air?

You want to get one with a probe attached to it and place it directly on the basking SURFACE. Do not take an "air temp". The actual read out screen can be attached anywhere on the cool end of the tank.

Hope this helps.

>>You are awesome. Thanks for the picture.
>>
>>This may sound stupid, but I want to make sure my tank is right. I place that probe near or on the area and it will work, right? ex. stick in the sand, on a rock or branch? does is read
>>mid-air?
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

Cricket FREE babies!

If your temps are too cool, your dragons could be spending all of their time trying to get warm. Baby dragons will spend most of their time hanging out in the basking spot, just like adult dragons. But they also roam around a bit too.

Those stick on thermometers are inaccurate and a piece of crap in my opinion. I recommend investing in a digital thermometer with a probe. You can get one from Radio Shack or some other place for about 20 bucks. Put the probe right on the basking spot, where the dragons sit. Your basking spot should be about 100-110 degrees. The ambient temp should be 75-85. If the temps are right and the little guys are eating well, then there is nothing to worry about.

Remember, beardies are a bit lazy by nature, and without an accurate thermometer you can't tell if it's because of low temps or their natural laziness.

Do you mean the thermometer for humans?? or is it something else?

No, they're referring to a digital thermometer that you buy at radio shack or some place comparable. It will be a little device about 3 inches by 4 or 5 inches and have a long cord coming out of it. On the end of the cord is a little "knob" that records the temperature wherever you place it. The 3X5 inch box is just the readout display that shows the temperature, and records the high and low temp of the day, etc. Hope this helped.

np

it did. thanks!!!!

as stated.
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Rob