Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday I was at the LPS buying stuff for my beardie and a woman approached me and asked if I had a dragon. I told her how I was going to buy one in a few weeks and such and she asked if I wanted her baby. She told me how she didnt want to care for him anymore and it was too much work so of course I said Id take him. I met her at her house and paid for the little guy. I was shocked when I seen him. He is absolutly the tiniest beardie Ive ever seen in person. She said shes had him for 2 weeks and fed him only lettuce and pellets. Needless to say he could definitely use some healthy food and a warm tank. So now I have this baby no more than 5 inches long. I have him in a 10 gallon with paper towel substrate a half log, Lizard Ladder(his toes are too tiny to get stuck) and a water dish(he does drink out of it but I still drip water on his mouth). Temps are 112F on basking site and 78 on cool side. Zoo Med 5.0 UVB light. Last night and today I fed him food from a Dole Spring mix, green beans, a piece of a raspberry, and squah baby food(dusted with Rep Cal w/ D3). Hes an excellant eater and looks a whole lot better today.
My questions are how old to you think this baby is?
Any personal experiences that I can do to unsure he does best possible?
Anything else?
Thanks a lot,
Nykole

When I first brought him home
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I cant get my pics to work. Does Kingsnake allow pic hosted by Photo Bucket?

I dont know if you can see this pic buts it from this morning:
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my pic came from photo bucket

Looks like your account is password protected.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

It's impossible to say how old he is with the treatment he has recieved. All you can do is give a good diet and husbandry and hope for the best. Might want to take him by a vet for a checkup and fecal also. He needs to be eating a lot more bugs than salad right now and nothing bigger than the space between his eyes. Your temps sounds good, might want to eliminate the extra's in the cage for now though, it's just a personal thing but i generally don't give babies too much to distract themselves with. Best advice I can give you is READ anything and everything, start with the caresheets on various peoples sites from here, that will answer 99% of your questions right there. Sort through enough of them and you'll find a pattern of the correct way to do things. Good luck and have fun with the little guy.

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

I can't see the pic but will respond based on your size (5". Probably about 4-6 weeks old but stunted by that diet!
I think your diet sounds ok (although you didn't mention crickets and they should really be eating crickets at this stage). He should be eating little pinhead crickets (remember, nothing larger than the space between his eyes).

I offer greens/veggies in the morning and a few crickets (~5), then in the afternoon I offer about 10 crickets. My baby is just getting started (she is about that size but I have only had her since Wed- not quite a week).

PS: I can't get the image thing to work either and mine is on the kingsnake site! You should be able to clink on the link
Fiona

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Hangin with the Herps
ZZ

Thanks everyone for the opinions. I have no idea how to get my pics to work.

I have spent countless hours researching beardies but this one came a little sooner than I expected.

The little guy refuses crickets. All he seems to want is a salad and pellets. I offer them eveyday and he will not even eat one. I think they are 2 week old crix, less than 1/4 inch(and they fit between his eyes). Any tips on how to get him to eat 'em? If he still refuses will it cause him harm?

Thanks,
Nykole
Link

That link is a pic of the baby yesterday eating his greens.

Heres one of him the first day I brought him home:
Link

My Fiona is shy when it comes to crickets. I bought a Feeding Rock. It is a rock in two halves. There is a hole in it, the crickets have to crawl out the hole to get out. Fiona figured out how it worked very quickly. Now she gobbles them up as they come out of the hole. It makes her mad to miss one, (which she does ocassionally) and will hunt that ONE cricket down until she eats it.

Try a feeding rock or put him in a smaller container to feed. Also give him time. Maybe he is just trying to adjust. You can also try silkworms (I hear they are a delicacy and VERY nutritious). I am getting my order this week sometime.

You can also get mini crickets in a can. They are about $5 per can. If your beardie will eat them. (I had an adult that liked the canned crickets BETTER than the live). Of course, live is better, but he has to have the protein to grow properly. Don't forget supplements.

He definitely NEEDS the protein to grow.
Good luck. I love the babies. They are like a little puzzle to figure out.
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Hangin with the Herps
ZZ

another thing you can try is silkworms. They are a bit more expensive, but very nutritious. Much better than mealworms or waxworms, they can be used as a staple insect instead of crickets. Sometimes a beardie who refuses crickets will eat worms so it would be worth a shot.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)