Reptile & Amphibian Forums

'allo all! I'm new to both this forum AND to sharing my time with my new Beardie named "Draco"!

Yeah, not the best pic of him, but it's a camera phone Here's another one of him in his favorite spot:

In any event, I just got him yesterday and I'm already in love with this guy. I can't wait until he gets a little older and a little calmer. Right now, he's a firecracker! He's already almost gotten away from me a couple of times! One good thing that worked out well is how quickly he adapted to his new home. The shop owner told me he might be "mopey" for a day or two. Not Draco! He jumped right in and checked out the new pad right away! He's even waved to his reflection a few times (Yeah, submissive sign, but still cute!) He started chomping right away at crickets. Heck, crickets are doomed the second they enter the aquarium! He's even taken drinks from his water dish. But I can't get him to eat greens! I've got leaves of kale out, mixtures of all kinds of veggies (banana and broccoli right now). He just won't go near them! Any ideas?

Oh, and I've got him in a brand new 20 gal with seperate uvb and uva lights, large piece of driftwood, and Exo Terra Jungle Earth for substrate. I've been good about the 12hr "lights on" rule, but my newbie question is: when I turn off both lamps, he just lays in one spot with his eyes closed all night long. The tank cools down to room temp (about 70f). Is this ok, or should I be doing something here?

Anyways, nice to meet you all! Look forward to chattin' with all of you!

This is a great place to get information. Congratulations on your new little guy, he is very cute! Don't worry about the greens yet. I would offer them everyday and eventually he will get the idea. They need more protein as babies anyway. I am still having trouble getting my 4 1/2 month old to eat greens.
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Stacey

I am not familiar with the Jungle floor substrate, but I am not sure it would be the best. Little babies are at risk of ingesting their substrate when they go after crickets, especially an enthusiastic eater like yours ! On the forum the Duck brand shelf liner from Wal Mart is recommended. It is easy to clean, they cannot ingest it and it looks good. What are your enclosure temps (basking, ambient and cool side)?
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Stacey

better than what he is on for now!! I highly reccomend and use the duck brand super shelf liner from WalMart.

Robert Wood

info and people here!!

Later,
Robert

Welcome to the forum! Lots of cool regulars here that you can learn a lot from... yea, just keep offering the greens.. i would use collards, mustards, turnip, and maybe some endive cut up pretty small for him.. try some butternut squash or peas or something.. but at his age (judging by the size of him) he may not eat them for awhile.. especially if he has not been offered them much before you got him.

Temps are fine.. it can cool down to the 70's at night and he should be fine. If it gets any lower i'd move the cage or put a night light on him until he's older. When they are younger, the extra warmth can help them grow faster and keep their immune system up real good.. but you still want a night drop.

goodluck,
brandon
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Dragons by Nature

One more thing, if you feed the crix in his aquarium make sure you get ALL of them out before he goes to sleep. They will chew on your little guy during the night and can cause a lot of damage. If you have a lot of places for the crix to hide it would be best if you fed him in a different container all together. If you must feed him in his home make sure you have veggies in the aquarium at night to the crix can eat something besides your beardie.

Good luck with your little guy!!!
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Rob Talkington