Getting a Bearded dragon next week.

[dreamforthedead]

I've paid for a 4 month old bearded dragon and will be picking him/her up next week. I'm in the middle of setting up the tank, what live plants to put in? I've read its a waste of time because they will eat them very quickly.. But my friend has one and she did have fake plants in her's but the beardie ended up eating some of the fake so she had to take them out. Basking 95F too 105F i've only read those temps for an ault so what would it be for a 4 month old? So far i have a 50gallon tank (not his or hers adult tank) 5.0 zoomed fluorescent UV tube. Basking bulbs from 20watts to 100watts, have all those bulbs from getting the right temp for my chameleon.. Calcium with D3 and without, feeding/water bowl. I need to get digital thermometers and some branches, i have fake plants but not sure about putting them in, don't want the beardie to eat the fake plants. Only going to be using paper towels for the floor. Tips/ideas would be awesome. Thanks

 

[evadora]

Hi, I have several beardies and it sounds like you're on the right track. The only thing right away I would say is no to the plants. I feed mine greens everyday, so yes they do need that, but only certain kinds. They'll likely munch whatever you put in there live or fake. Also beardies are desert critters unlike our chams and don't need the humidity, so adding live plants even safe to eat ones can be bad. Your uvb might need bumped up as well, beardies need the stronger 10.0 bulbs, definitely the reptisuns, not reptiglo, there is another type in the uk arcadia I think is the name brand. My best advice is to hit up beardeddragon.org and just read read read. Theres a ton of info there, and others in the uk as well that can tell you if it's arcadia or something else. Feel free to mssg me if you have specific questions, either site, I'm on both. Good luck with the new little one.

 

[Julirs]

No plants-in fact you want to keep things as simple as possible. I keep mine on newspaper, it is just much easier than anything else. Papertowels will not work-the beardie will shred/eat them. Temps 105-110 for babies-they need to be able to digest and require those warm temps. Here in FL I use a regular 100 watt bulb to keep temps that hot, but you may have to test a few bulbs to get you where you need to be. I would go with a 10.0 UVB bulb. I use pieces of flat slate and stack them for basking platforms-they are easy to clean. You will need to start out with a 20 gallon long tank and then move up to a 40 gallon breeder +, as they require some room. Also make sure you have a good mutlitvite. You will also be making lots of salad!
Important-keep all of your beardie supplies and feeing cups, etc. away from your chameleons-beardies naturally are coccidia carrying. You do not want cross contamination.
Best of luck-I really enjoy my beardies.

 

[warpdrive]

my nephiew just got two adult bearded dragons at the last NY reptile show.
I talked him into getting a piece of carpet for the bottom of the cage...the type used in an office or for outdoors, not the plush kind.

once cut to size, he was amazed at how nice the tank looks and how easy it is to clean up.

Harry

 

[GoFast]

Good advise guys!

Hi, I have several beardies and it sounds like you're on the right track. The only thing right away I would say is no to the plants. I feed mine greens everyday, so yes they do need that, but only certain kinds. They'll likely munch whatever you put in there live or fake. Also beardies are desert critters unlike our chams and don't need the humidity, so adding live plants even safe to eat ones can be bad. Your uvb might need bumped up as well, beardies need the stronger 10.0 bulbs, definitely the reptisuns, not reptiglo, there is another type in the uk arcadia I think is the name brand. My best advice is to hit up beardeddragon.org and just read read read. Theres a ton of info there, and others in the uk as well that can tell you if it's arcadia or something else. Feel free to mssg me if you have specific questions, either site, I'm on both. Good luck with the new little one.

No plants-in fact you want to keep things as simple as possible. I keep mine on newspaper, it is just much easier than anything else. Papertowels will not work-the beardie will shred/eat them. Temps 105-110 for babies-they need to be able to digest and require those warm temps. Here in FL I use a regular 100 watt bulb to keep temps that hot, but you may have to test a few bulbs to get you where you need to be. I would go with a 10.0 UVB bulb. I use pieces of flat slate and stack them for basking platforms-they are easy to clean. You will need to start out with a 20 gallon long tank and then move up to a 40 gallon breeder +, as they require some room. Also make sure you have a good mutlitvite. You will also be making lots of salad!
Important-keep all of your beardie supplies and feeing cups, etc. away from your chameleons-beardies naturally are coccidia carrying. You do not want cross contamination.
Best of luck-I really enjoy my beardies.

 

[Monkeykungphu]

Since I've laid a ton of slate tile at my house, I ended up cutting some extra pieces to fit my 40 gal tank, applied some gloss sealer to the top of it. Looks nice & easy to clean. If I'm lucky, my bearded will make his plop in the center of one piece, that way I can pull that one piece out, wash it & put it back. If he poops where two or more pieces meet... I've gotta pull out a few more... lol. I spot clean like that, & about once a week I'll pull all of the tile out, clean everything really well & put them back. Still, a pretty good solution & looks way better than newspaper!

I hear sand can cause impaction in the younger beardeds, please stay away from that whatever you do!

 

[PedroANDAshley]

I had a dragon.
Every one pretty much covered everything.
The one thing I found the most convient is the slate that monkey mentiond.
In my opinion dragons are a little "stinkier" than chameleons and newpaper kinda of makes it worse.
It was nice with the slate because you only had to spot clean every day instead of taking out the newpaper everyday because of the smell :/
and also there are no hidng places for crickets
they like to go underneath what ever they can find.
Also harry,
I use to be the member of the bearded dragon forums LOL and they dont recommend carpet because occasionally the dragons nails get stuck in it and they pull em out or hurt them selves.
Oh another plus on the slate is that the nails naturally file them selves down

 

[Monkeykungphu]

and also there are no hidng places for crickets

The slate this works out really good with the crickets trying to hide... however, everytime I feed him, I still have to pull out his 3 pieces of wood, his water bowl, food bowl & that monster piece of limestone hes sitting on in the picture. Let him eat for 10 minutes or so, pull the leftover crickets out, then replace all of his furnture. If I don't pull all of that out, they hide under/behind anything they can.

 

[ijmccollum]

When my beardie was a juvie 4" -- 1 year he was kept on paper which was swapped out with every BM. Yes, this meant I went through alot of paper but he is now an adult stud.

Young ones require more protein than adults but you will want to make sure they get some greens.

Pete is now about 4yrs and is kept on carbonate sand that gets swapped out twice yearly and sifted daily. Furniture and its placement is important for temp gradients and nail care.

For the most part I would say you are well on your way but do bump up to the 10.0 UVB and keep the platics out.

Oh, and be sure to socialize -- they are alot of fun.

 

[PedroANDAshley]

ugh i remember having to do that.
It was horrible.
I had a tree branch with a hide in it that he liked to sleep in.
I notcied he wasnt sleeping in the any more so i was like, hmmmmmmmm.
So i took it shook it around and guess what came out.....crickets a bunch of crickets.....
I miss him though
He use to fall asleep on me some times T.T

 

[dreamforthedead]

Thanks everyone, great help. I can't wait to get him/her they are awesome. I'm like an excited kid the night before Christmas. I wont use newspaper and im gonna go in buy a 10.0 UVB online in a mo. The other one will do as a spare for my chameleon. Do you all feed insects to yours every day or every other day? How much?

 

[dreamforthedead]

Since I've laid a ton of slate tile at my house, I ended up cutting some extra pieces to fit my 40 gal tank, applied some gloss sealer to the top of it. Looks nice & easy to clean. If I'm lucky, my bearded will make his plop in the center of one piece, that way I can pull that one piece out, wash it & put it back. If he poops where two or more pieces meet... I've gotta pull out a few more... lol. I spot clean like that, & about once a week I'll pull all of the tile out, clean everything really well & put them back. Still, a pretty good solution & looks way better than newspaper!

I hear sand can cause impaction in the younger beardeds, please stay away from that whatever you do!

Your beardie is Gorgeous, they have such sweet little face's. Awww man i wanna go pick mine up now. Your set up is really cool.

 

[PedroANDAshley]

Well since yours is four months thats kind of young.
I use to just drop about 10 small crickets in there at a time and hed eat,eat,eat then id drop some more and hed eat,eat,eat and then when he's finally done id remove the extra crickets and that would be that c:
and id do this in the morning and at night.
Also when theyre young they dont like to eat veggies but id keep some in there any ways.
If you mix some smashed kiwi into their salads when their young theyd more likely eat it because they like the kiwi
And most people with dragons also say they LOVE butternut squash, mashed up of course, my dragon didn't care to much for it.

 

[JJC]

Thanks everyone, great help. I can't wait to get him/her they are awesome. I'm like an excited kid the night before Christmas. I wont use newspaper and im gonna go in buy a 10.0 UVB online in a mo. The other one will do as a spare for my chameleon. Do you all feed insects to yours every day or every other day? How much?

Be prepared to go through A LOT of crickets! Baby Beardies are eating machines! I got Ginger when he (was supposed to be a girl when I named him Ginger) was only 6months old. He would eat 25-30 full sized crickets a day. I remember experimenting to see how many he COULD eat if I let him... and I think it was close to 50. This was on top of his daily salads. Bearded Dragons are awesome pets. My older one Larry will sleep on my shoulder while I watch TV. When Ginger reached 8months old I put him on washed play sand. I hand fed him to prevent him from eating any sand. I personally think mature bearded dragons SHOULD be on sand because its natural. Both my boys enjoy digging in it and occasionally falling asleep in the holes they dig. Oh...and one last thing...if you feed them salad about an hour BEFORE offering crickets, they are MUCH more likely to eat the salad. Good luck!

Ginger

Larry