Help! What'dwe do with these darn kids?

[norman]

This might sound a little much, but I'd really appreciate any pointers you guys could give re: When the hatching starts with my clutch of beardies....

How long do I leave them in their incubator, do I put them all together? What kind of enclosure? Any special set up? What kind of lighting do they require (Are they too delicate for regular lighting?) What do I feed them and when? How do I prevent them for nibbling each other (Obviously, to provide lots of food, but anything else???) How do I transfer them without causing injury or trauma? Sorry for all the questions....we've just never done this before, and want to make sure we're as educated as possible, so as not to made any glaring mistakes. Any answers or additional pointers would be greatly appreciated....Thanks in advance, everybody....

Jess

[tHeGiNo]

After your female has completed depositing her eggs, remove the box from the enclosure and slowly remove the dirt untill you reach the eggs. I cannot stress the fact that you must take great care when removing the dirt, be very slow - patience is everything. Place the eggs into the dish in which you plan to place in the incubator. Be very careful not to rotate the eggs or shake them. Place them in the dirt approximately 1/3 or 1/2 covered by the soil. The soil in the incubator should be very damp. The temperature inside the incubator should be 83° - 85°F.

How long do I leave them in their incubator, do I put them all together? What kind of enclosure? Any special set up?

You put them all in the incubator together, yes. Once the eggs have hatched, you can put them all in the same enclosure. Something similar to a 15 gallon will suffice, but it is a personal choice. Until six months of age, keep them off sand. Something such as carpet liner, as Megan from ICULIZARD suggested to me, works like a charm. Simply have extra peices available, and once the one being used is soiled, throw it in the wash and replace it. Keep the enclosure relatively simple. You might want to have a rock or branch to allow them to get closer to the basking light.

What kind of lighting do they require (Are they too delicate for regular lighting?)

As you know, UVB/UVA lighting is essential for proper growth and activity levels. Heating wise, they are the opposite of delicate. You will want to keep them at higher temperatures as adults, between 105F and 115F.

What do I feed them and when?

Feed then pinhead crickets, and no worms, until they are of appropriate size. The small crickets are mandatory, too large a prey will induce neurological problems. To guide this, make sure the feeder item is smaller then the width between both eyes. Once they are a little bigger (which won't take long at all, lol) you can introduce them to baby wax worms, baby butterworms and baby silk worms. Avoid worms with a hard exo-skeleton, as it is hard on the babies to digest. You should offer vegetables. Although babies do not often take them, it is always good to provide a small amount just incase.

How do I prevent them for nibbling each other

The only way to surely prevent this is to house them all seperately. However, up until a couple months of age, they will be fine housed together. Watch for any dominancy. And this is really important. If you notice a bearded dragon is growing a lot faster then his siblings, remove him into his separate enclosure. If you notice a bearded dragon is getting picked on, and is left out and secluded, give him his own enclosure.

How do I transfer them without causing injury or trauma?

Just be careful. I try to put my finger under their neck and let them climb onto my finger.

[ICULIZARD]

very good advice thegino......


Just a couple of things:

Use Shelf Liner for the babies, not carpet liner. (That's what David meant) It can be purchased at Walmart, Home Depot etc. in rolls and cut to the right size.

I use vermiculite in the incubation containers and prefer this to soil, but it's a personal choice. We also use dampened soil for the laying bins and the dragons have no problem laying their eggs that way. (once again, that's a personal choice and either way works)

Also make sure the babies have a basking spot of between 105-115 and the ambiant temps should be 80-85. 14-16 Hours of light a day until they are older, then it can be dropped to 12-14.

Make sure you are supplementing your crickets every day for the first couple of months.....first feeding of the day. Calcium every day with crix and vitamins mixed into the mix once a week.

Try using a rubbermaid bin for the enclosure as it is easy to keep clean, perfect size for a clutch of babies and easy to set up a rack system using this method. If you are interested we can e-mail you a photo of our system. We hang the Flo. light fixtures from chains on a metal rack system that is 48" across (home depot shop light fixture) and the heating lights are clamped onto the sides of the rack pointing into each individual bin. Each rack has 4 shelves, room for 8 baby bins.

Since you won't need that many bins, you can use the rest of the rack for storage or just set up one or 2 bins on a table etc.

Use a high quality reptile flo. bulb for the UVA/UVB like Zoomed Reptisun 5.0. Stay away from 2.0 bulbs......the Zoomed is my favorite and has great ratings.

Hope this helps.

Megan
ICULIZARD

[tHeGiNo]

Whoops! LOL! Yes, I meant shelf liner. I am in love with the stuff already.

Thanks for clearing up the stuff I forgot :D.

[norman]

Thanks for in imput guys! What I actually meant with the first couple of questions wasn't very clear, sorry....What I meant by the first one was how long do I leave them there after they hatch (Which we will in a few days..) The beardie manual mentioned something about a period of time that you have to leave them in the incubator once they hatch, but it wasn't specific.
thanks for the info!
jess

[tHeGiNo]

Hey, once they have emerged from the egg completely, you can place them into a separate enclosure.

[K1LOS]

So you don't wait at all? As soon as they are clear of the egg they are okay to be moved into another container? hunh, i thought you were supposed to wait like a day or something too. Of course i haven't bred anything yet, so what do i know!

Geoff

[tHeGiNo]

It actually depends on the individual. However I should reiterate what I said and what I meant to say. Upon exiting the egg, the bearded dragons are extremely exhausted. In fact, some may appear to be dead. In reality, they are just rested and gathering strength after the long battle out of the egg. Common practise is to either take the babies out of the incubator, and into a small container (such as a shoe box) with a damp towel. Others do the same procedure, but keep the box in the incubator. This is done for 24-48 hours before moving them into their actual enclosures, with the heatlamps and the whole bit. This is done only once all the dragons have completely emerged from the egg. This gives them a chance to rest and adjust to the new world, as well as absorb the rest of their egg yolk. Usually within 48 hours, they will begin to show signs of alertness, at which point they may be moved into their housing. Sorry for the confusion.

[norman]

Thanks Gino and ICULIZARD! You've been very helpful....I'll let you know how it turns out.....Thanks again!

[ICULIZARD]

No problem.....Good luck and we would love to see some photos when your little guys hatch!

When they do hatch and emerge out of the egg completely....transfer them to another small container so they don't move around and disturb the other eggs. Leave this new container with your new baby in the incubator until they are showing signs of activity, usually we take them out of the incubator within 4-12 hours after they completely emerge from the egg.

ICULIZARD