A few questions

[Phox]

Hello all. First post here

Well I have been checking out this bb for a few weeks now and it seems like a great place. So, After reading alot I decided to get a beardie. I am using a 4'x2'x2' aquarium with coconut husk as a substrate, 150watt basking light and a 7% uvb 24" bulb. Anyways I got the little fella tonight and he/she is great. I wasnt sure if he was gonna eat, obviously being nervous, but he was hungry and had about 10 crickets in 5 minutes. BTW he is 2 months old.

So I just have a few questions:

1)Should I be worried about him overeating or basically allow him to consume what he can in a ten minute period?

2)How many feedings in a day? And should I leave fresh veggies in his cage daily?

3)How many hours of light? Ive heard from 10-14.


Thats all I can think of for now. Thanks alot in advance!

[meow_mix450]

hmmmm where did you get your little guy jsut wonderin...
My bearded dragon gets about 5-7 crikets a day, and hes about 2 months old, my bearded dragon gets light from when i wake up and when night falls, thats just my way, and its working. Hmmmm you should let it eat as much as it wants, cause i heard that someone had feed so much to his bearded dragon it nearly died.....and 1 - 2 feeding, i feed myne when hes about to sleep and if i have time in the morining after he warms up.
These are the things that have worked for me, do u have a uv light and a ubv light???? do u have vit????

Meow
Yes you should leave veggies in the cage daily

[eyespy]

As long as you limit feedings to just a 10-15 minute timespan it's nearly impossible for a young dragon to overeat. Ideally they should be growing 1/4 to 1/2 inch per week so it takes lots of food to fuel all that growth!

I give a salad in the morning and offer bugs 2-3 times a day for juveniles, once a day for subadults and breeding females, and once or twice per week for adults that aren't breeding females. It's generally after 1 year of age when the quick growing phase is done that overeating becomes an issue. By then, they should be eating more salad than animal protein anyhow. Juveniles should get more bugs to fuel the growth of new muscle tissue, but adults should have no more than 30% of their total food intake coming from animal sources, and less is better unless you have a highly active dragon.

I have my timers set to mimic natural daylight hours so that they can have "seasons" so in the winter they get about 9.5-10 hours of daylight and 14 in the summer.

[Phox]

Thanks alot for the speedy replies and helpful information. Meowmix, I got him at Petsmart. Unfortunately they were the only place in my area that had them right now. All the reptiles stores were out of baby dragons for awhile. I was talking to someone at Petsmart and she said they get them from a reputable breeder. How true this is I dont know but all of there dragons looked very healthy. And yes I do have uv/uvb lighting. I also planned on letting him get some natural sun-light a few times a week. And if by "vit" you mean vitamins yes i do have some. Good plan to go along with the seasons eyespy I think i'll do that. Seems here to still be a good amount of daylight so i'll do around 12-14 hours of light a day. The timer is set

Thanks alot for your helps guys. Im sure you'll see more of me soon

[meow_mix450]

np good luck with your guy post us some pics!!!! well ya if i would had to get it from a pet store i would have went to petsmart, they take good care of there reptiles, better then the other stores they have around me, how much did u get him for???
Ya i went to the pet store today and they were selling baby bearded dragon that was like a week old, its said..

Meow

[Phox]

Well today I noticed he had a hard time finding crickets in his cage becuase I had the coconut chips to deep and they were burrowing down(Now I can understand people using papertowels only, it would seem much easier/better). Anyways I took about half the bark out and it seems much better for him, but still too many hiding spots for crix. I was gonna feed him in a seperate cage but didnt want to stress him out even more at this point. Maybe ill do this in the near future when hes more comfortable in his huge new home.

BTW, I paid $70us for him. And I will definately post some pics w/in a few days

[meow_mix450]

thats great, give it a few weeks and you should be able to feed him in another tank