Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I work at a Petsmart, and we just got a new beardie shipment. They are a bunch of normal hatchlings, and a few yellow ones. I wanna get one of the yellow guys, they're awesome, for 70 bucks.

I have a 30g tall hex and a 55g unoccupied, as well as numerous ten gallons. (I know not to use them for beardies, and won't sell one to someone planning on putting them in one.)

Which would be better for a hatchling?

Also, does anyone know what watt bulb would work in either, from personal experience? I don't feel like trying a ton of different ones if someone could give me a good idea lol.

I know UVB dusting gutloading blah blah blah lol, but as babies, how can I get them to eat their veggies, in the store they only care about the crickets lol. About the gutloading, can I use timberline cricket gutload, or do I really need to feed them a variety of fresh foods?

Sorry for all the questions lol...

I would start off in a smaller tank but a 10 gallon may be too small and tall aquariums aren't too great. You could just put a divider in the 55 gallon and just gradually increase the size until it needs the full tank. For the light question, I really don't know what wattage, for my full 55 gallon tanks, I use 175 watts (a 100 watt and a 75 watt) of heat to get the temps up on the one side. As for the crickets and gutloading, I always keep some fresh fruits in the crickets cage for water. The gutload will be easiest for them to get when on the fruits/veggies. Eating greens isn't too easy for young dragons to do. Just feed greens in the morning and then crickets a while later. Hope I helped.

For a taller tank I would go with 100Watt basking spot lamp, Petco carries them, and I'm sure Petsmart would too. There is a picture of a dragon on the box, I can't remember the brand name. As for getting them to eat greens, its really not that hard. I use small paper plates instead of a bowl so they can actually see the greens. It's hard for them to grab a flat piece of green so just make sure you kind of make a pile. My hatchlings have all eaten finely chopped greens from the very beginning. Keep it moist and this will encourage a thirsty bd to investigate and realize its food!! If they ignore it, just keep offering every day till they figure it out, otherwise drop silkies into it to get their attention.
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1.3 Louie,Sunny,Red,Lilly and babies!

thanks

no silkworms for me, im only 17, no credit card, mom won't let me use hers to get stuff online

As to a 55 too big, if i filled it with plenty of hides and climbing stuff, would that be ok? I don't see how a big tank is stressfull, as the wild is pretty big lol. Care to enlighten me, because I never understood this concept

the size of the tank just makes it harder for the baby to find ALL the crickets...so when the lights for the cage go out, all the crix that are hiding come out and crawl all over your sleeping dragon. If you hand feed all the crickets to your baby, you don't have to worry about them all over the cage. handfeeding leeds to less ingestion of substrate and a better relation with you and your pet!

for a light, i suggest getting a mercury vapor bulb. UVB and heat all in one light. i just started using a mercury vapor and it is WAY better than using a fluorescent tube. The colors in my dragons have greatly intensified. I will soon be changing all my lighting to mercury vapor.
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a free range dragon is a happy dragon

Just a note, the "reptile" bulbs that the pet stores sell are nothing more than overpriced household bulbs. Also, they burn out VERY easily...double rip off! You're better off going to Home Depot or wherever and getting a Halogen or one like DuraMax. I'm not sure what watt bulb to recommend you as that depends on a lot of factors, house temp, basking height, etc.
Anyway, good luck with your dragon. Also, about the silkworms, I think silkworm farm may take money orders, but I'm not sure. Can't hurt to try...
-Nicky

sales@silkwormfarm.com

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Stare at me with empty eyes and
Point your words at me
Mirror on the wall will show you
What you're scared to see
I can see, yeah, wish I couldn't see at all
I can feel- Wish I couldn't feel at all
Hate to see- Wish I couldn't see at all
Hate to feel- Wish I couldn't feel at all
So climb walls,
Thin my blood now
And I crawl, back to bed now
-Alice In Chains
2.1 Bearded Dragons: Gordo, Layne, & Chiquita
2.2 Cats: Zeus, Remi, Kiki & Delilah
1.0 Betta: Mr. Purple

i never use reptile bulbs lol... incandesant from rite aid all the way haha.

i'll look into merc bulbs too thanks.