Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was given a 8 month old female beardie today,she has been fairly well taken care of except that her cage was filthy and she haad a HUGE water dish in her cage and her sand was wet,So now I have her on clean dry sand with a little more heat and have fed her some mealies and dark greens.It looks like she is in shed,is there anything I should do to help her? I soaked her for about 15 min and some of the skin came loose,her previous owners said she would lay in her water dish then roll around in the sand,I figured she was tring to get her shed off.Is it o.k. to have a small water dish for her or should I just mist her for water? Also she has been fed mostly crickets,I have switched her to mealie as thats what I have for my leopard geckos,but will soon get her super worms.Should I feed more veggies/fruit or bugs?? She is nice sized and healthy except the is missing 2/3 of her tail and a front foot.I have been looking for a good web site with detailed care sheets but haven't found any that I like yet,do you know of any?? Thank for any help.
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(c) 2004 Neopets, Inc.

Please don't feel mealworms! Too much chitin, too hard to digest. You're risking impaction and serious health problems.

Crickets or silkworms or butterworms make better prey items. Superworms will do in a pinch but also have a lot of chitin and are really only suitable for adults. At this age she should get veggies/greens ad lib and prey daily.

Go to beautifuldragons.com for good nutrition information and food items to choose from for daily foods and treats. Dust greens and prey with a good calcium/vitamin supplement 5-6 times a week. Make sure she gets UVB lighting.

Some beardies do enjoy playing in water but I don't see a need to have constantly available water. Just gets messy. They do get most of their water needs from foods and can be adequately supplemented in their intake by dripping water on their noses. Besides that, many beardies don't recognize standing water for drinking.

Soaking her will help with the shed, but be aware that dragons don't shed all in one piece anyway and too much humidity can be unhealthy for dragons. Soak her, then let her bask. Make sure you basking spot is nice and hot and bright. Keep an eye on the areas around her toes and remaining tail and help remove the shed skin if necessary.

Best,
michele
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4.3 Bearded Dragons (Rescues)
1.0 Corn snake (Rescue)
0.1 California King
4.5 Royal (Ball) Pythons (3 rescues)
1.1 Dogs (Rescues)
2.0 Cats (Rescues)
2.2 Humans
No, it's NOT a big house

Thanks for the advice,I will have to search for butterworms/silkworms.I live in a small town and there are no pet stores that carry them.I will probably go with superworms the most as they will be easier to get,crickets are hard for her to catch with her missing foot and I worry about her eating sand with them.
How can I get her to eat her veggies? She really was spoiled by her previous owner,she only wants bugs.I am going to introduce her to grapes tomorrow,I hope she likes them.
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(c) 2004 Neopets, Inc.

Changing eating habits can be a challenge. Offer her a fresh bowl of vegetable foods first thing in the morning or whenever she is usually hungriest and save the live foods til later in the day. Try "bouncing" a couple pieces into the plate and see if the movement catches her interest. Try red and yellow peppers mixed in (some dragons like brightly colored foods) Keep fresh veggies available all day. Put her worms in the veggie dish. She might get a mouthful and discover she likes them. If she enjoys handfeeding this might work as a temptor, but beware, handfeeding can become a "requirement" for some lizards and can then get awfully tedious (not to mention risky to the fingertips).

She will learn to hunt with the missing foot. Until then, if you want to use crickets, take off their rear legs, put them in a deepsided glass dish or put them in the fridge just long enough to slow them down but still be wiggly, and she might have an easier time of it. Superworms can be pretty speedy too, btw.

If you're worried about sand ingestion, try newspaper or shelf liner.

Best,
michele
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4.3 Bearded Dragons (Rescues)
1.0 Corn snake (Rescue)
0.1 California King
4.5 Royal (Ball) Pythons (3 rescues)
1.1 Dogs (Rescues)
2.0 Cats (Rescues)
2.2 Humans
No, it's NOT a big house

Yay!she ate her veggies today.I put a few worms in her salad and it seemed to help.How much veggies should I be feeding her?She is a little over half a pound.
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(c) 2004 Neopets, Inc.

We feed our dragon all his food, including his crickets in a large bowl. This way he will "catch" a green every now and then. He will now go to his bowl to eat pellets (RepCal)when he is hungry. The bowl also keeps him from ingesting any sand.

It's actually funny. Once a cricket managed to get out of the bowl and he kept watching it while sitting on his bowl because he knew the cricket should be in the bowl. He was happy when I put in it there for him.

I just offer a nice full dish of various veggies and greens for my dragons to eat as they wish throughout the day. If she is diving right in every day and finishing everything, go ahead and offer more--she is still growing. Actual measurement amounts are going to vary with what kinds of foods are offered, how finely/largely it is chopped, etc.

Be aware that if she is used to a predominately insect diet her stools may change as her diet does. Have a fecal test run on her soon, as a standard health-care measure, and don't panic if she does initially develop runnier stools as she consumes more vegetable matter.

Best,
michele
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4.3 Bearded Dragons (Rescues)
1.0 Corn snake (Rescue)
0.1 California King
4.5 Royal (Ball) Pythons (3 rescues)
1.1 Dogs (Rescues)
2.0 Cats (Rescues)
2.2 Humans
No, it's NOT a big house