Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am getting a new hatchling this sunday,he was hatched out on March 16 and is already 5 inches long.He is being fed silkworms,waxworms,crickets,roaches and greens along with calcium and vitamins.He is comeing from a good breeder but I have a few questions that I don't want to run by her.

First off he has been kept on playsand since day one,is this ok or do I need a different substrate? I was also told that he could eat up to 6 dozen crickets a day,does he really need that many? What kind of calcium is best? I know it needs to have vit D3 but what about phosphorus? Lastly,what about temps? all the care sheets I have read recommend different temps.so do I go for 100 deg or 115 deg? I want to make sure I have everything perfect for my little guy,thanks for any help

First off, I'd stop feeding him roaches and waxworms for now. That might be a little too much for such a young beardie. Keep feeding him crix, greens, and small silkies.
Second, I'd recommend switching the substrate from sand to paper towel. I've learned that baby beardies arent the best in hunting for the first couple of months. They might lunge for a cricket and swallow a mouth full of sand, and this can lead to impaction, which could then lead to DEATH. I know it sounds unlikely, that your little beardie will die from swalling a little sand, but it deos happen. Alot. I'd wait until your BD is atleast a foot in length before switching him back onto a sand substrate.
Thirdly, baby beardies have an amazing appetite, and could easily eat severael dozon crix, but feeding 6 dozen crix to your BD every day is a little much. A safe estimate of how much your BD should eat, is to put crickets in one at a time, or jsut keep track hwo many are in, and feed your BD till it stops eating them, and then remove the remainder. That's a good estimate of how many your BD should be eating a day. *NOTE* make sure not to leave extra crickets in your cage overnight, i've seen first hand crickets give some nasty bites to sleeping BD's and other lizards. *i've seen an anole completly eaten by crix**not a pretty site*
4th- Regarding calcium, if you can purchase Rep-cal calcium supplement, that would be your best bet, but another good brand is Tetra's Reptocal calcium. It contains the D3 too. And ZooMed's ReptiVit is a good vitamin supplement.
Lastly- A temp. of 115 is a little on the high side, BD's can tollerate temps up to 120, but you'll want to make the hottest basking spot 110 max for a hatchling. Also pay close attention to the ambient *overall* temp of your cage. If you make a 10 degree baskign spot for a 10 gallon cage, the rest of your cage is going to be 90-100 degrees, and that's too hot for the whole cage. You want to be able to prove a hot and a cool side of your enclosure. Allow a 80-85 degree cool side for your cage.

Sorry for the lengthy post, but i wanted to tell everythign i could and not leave you misinformed or half-informed.

~Eric~

FunnyMan Reptiles.com

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1.1.0 Bearded Dragons (Pagona Vetticeps)
1.2.0 Gold Dust Day Geckos (Phelsuma Laticauda Laticauda)
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www.funnymanreptiles.com

Thanks for such an informative post.I will be setting up a 10 gallon tomorrow with papertowel substrate,it will give me a few days to regulate the temps.I'm going to start with a 65 watt bulb and go up from there if its not enough,but it should be pretty easy to heat such a small tank.

It's a lot easier than you'd think. I believe when my guys were hatchlings in 10 gallon tanks, 65watts was plenty to sufficiantly heat the enclosure.
P.S. Once you've got the heat correct, touch the surface of w/e you use as a basking platform to make sure that the surface temp. istn too much. BD's have less sensitive bellies, and can get burned if the surface under the heat light is also too hot.
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1.1.0 Bearded Dragons (Pagona Vetticeps)
1.2.0 Gold Dust Day Geckos (Phelsuma Laticauda Laticauda)
_____
www.funnymanreptiles.com

Can I use my temp gun to test surface temps? I have been using it in my gecko tank to check the temp of the UTH by touching the gun to what ever surface I am checking but I don't know if its accurate used like that.

I decided not to use a 10 gallon,instead I fixed up a 20 gallon long.I got all the bulbs I need today but they didn't have the reptiglo 8.0 that was long enough for my fixture so I got the only 18" bulb they had,its an arcadia 5% UVB,will this be ok for awhile? Next payday I will get a different fixture and the right bulb.

Can I use ceramic tile for flooring? its what I use for my geckos and I really like it.There is a UTH in the 20 long and the tile helps dissipate the heat and crickets can't hide under it.

I find that hatchling dragons most often reguritate wax worms, but if he is keeping them down go for it. The rest sound fine as long as it is appropriatly sized.

You want a fine powdered Calcium supplement that contains D3 and NO phosphorous. Phosphorous binds to calcium keeping it from being absorbed.

As for temps, put a log underneath his basking spot so he has a range he can get to as he sees fit. This will help you eliminate guess work with the inconsistancies of numerous caresheets.

I find that playsand is just fine for any age as long as it is fine grained and doesn't have any large pebbles in it for them to choke on. However, common practice is to keep hatchlings on papertowels until they are about 8 weeks old or greater then 7 inches long.

Wendy
Scales