BD Care?

[Defiant]

Hello all, a friend is needing to get rid of her BD because she is going across seas for school so I have been chosen to care for her as I love reptiles. I have absolutely no idea how to care for a bearded dragon and want to provide optimal health and a comfortable enviroment. I do know that she is eating a pellet diet and meal worms. I just don't think that the pellet diet is good for her, as most aren't for reptiles. I have searched a few of the different websites. Conflicting information. Is there a strait forward no bullshit care sheet that anyone can lead me to that is complete. Thanx in advance I and the new beardie appreciate it very much. -Shaun

 

[chadk]

Start here:
http://www.beardeddragon.org/

You'll want a good MVB or other combo of heat lamp and UVB. I use a 100w SB MegaRay.

Tile or paper towel or news paper are good substrates. Avoid sands and walnut and other loose substrates to avoid compaction and bacteria growth....

Feeding should be good greens like a tort would eat. Spring mix is good. Adults should eat 80 percent greens and 20 percent bugs.

Mealworms are not good. Not very nutritious and too much hard shell. Super Worms are better. Dubia roaches are my favorite feeder. Pheonix worms are good, but expensive. Crickets are fine, but I hate dealing with them...

No water dish is needed, but soak him in slightly warm water about 3 times a week for 10 to 20 mins.

Check the caresheet for temps and other details.

 

[Defiant]

Thanks so much. When I got the beardie it was in pretty poor living conditions. Cover in feces dry food that looked pretty bad and bad cage set up. Heat pad was inside and upside down. Nothing to climb on and pretty much was curled up in the cleanest corner of the tank. I gave it a bath and cleaned sanitized and put correct substrate as you recommended.
Totally went crazy with the mustard greens and crickets. Im assuming it hasn't had a decent meal in a LONG time . That has changed and will be a daily thing. Here are some pictures after the bath. Also any chance on sexing it?

 

[Tom]

I like sani-chips for beardies. I've never had an impaction problem with it. I feed out of a shallow bowl. Temps should be like a tortoise: Cool side 75ish, warm side 85ish, but with a raised basking spot 115ish. 70 or so at night is fine. The bigger the enclosure the better you'll be able to get a good thermal gradient going.

Variety and calcium supplementation is important in the diet too. Nothing wrong with the pellets as long as they mostly get other stuff too. Dubia roaches are great, like Chad said, but look into as many insects as you can find.

This is one of the reptile species that in my opinion NEED sunshine. As much as possible. 20-30 minutes 2 or 3 times a week will get it done, but more is better. I use wire cages for this and always make sure there is at least some shade. Over the winter and days you can't get them out the mercury vapor type bulbs are the best. No reason you can't use a flourescent too. I just use regular cheap incandescents for heat and get them out in the sun a lot. I've had to bring back dozens of these from MBD that were under expensive UV reptile lighting. It has to do with diet and supplementation too, but they still had the bowed jaw and puffy limbs right under their UV bulbs. I rehabbed every one of them with daily sunshine, calcium powder and a varied diet. If I got one during a rare winter storm, I would use a 160 watt mercury vapor lamp until it was sunny again.

I would ditch the heating pad too. Overhead heating and lighting is safer and better.

I can't sex it from the photos. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Defiant]

Thanks Roach for that info. I'm really glad I am getting to experience keeping a new reptile. I have it under Mega-Ray SB100w MVB. I did ditch that heating pad as it was destroyed from the bullshit this beardie was living in. As far as Dubia roaches any idea where I can get a few to see if it will like them. Where I live they do not have them available.

 

[Floof]

Though my experience is limited (yet simultaneously extensive--I've only dealt with my one, but it's been a very "round the block" experience, lol), I have some input...

The site Chad linked to is awesome. My personal favorite reference for beardies. A couple good places to go for nutritional info and what to/not to feed by the way of plant matter are http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html and http://www.greenigsociety.org/foodchart.htm. (The latter is for Iguanas, yes, but still a good reference for this info...)

Substrate is a highly debated subject... Many people will tell you any particle substrate is hugely dangerous because it risks impaction; others will tell you they've used sand, aspen, walnut shells, whatever for years without issue. I'm one to recommend against particle substrate, simply because there IS a risk and there really is no way to know just how big or small that risk is. Paper towel, newspaper, non-stick shelf liner, slate tile--they all do the job just fine without putting your animal at risk of substrate-induced impaction. (The tile option even helps in keeping your dragon's nails worn down!)

The only benefit particle substrate has that non-particle doesn't is burrowing capabilities. If you're really concerned about that or your dragon really likes to burrow, you can supply a walled-off section of washed play sand or some other substrate away from where you feed the dragon... Even this can be troublesome, though, if yours is a dragon that insists on licking everything.

Good luck with him/her!

 

[Tom]

If you do a Google search for Blaptica dubia, you'll find bunches of sites that will ship directly to you, relatively cheap. They cost a little more than crickets, but they are much bigger, so you need fewer per feeding. Also, they are much more nutritious.

You might also look into Blaberus discoidalis, Blatta lateralis or Nauphotea cinerea. The nice thing about all of these, except the N. cinerea, is that they can't fly, jump or climb smooth surfaces like glass or plastic. So once you throw them in they don't come back out. Also roaches won't bite or chew on a living animal like crickets will, so they pose no danger to your lizard if they are left overnight.

 

[Defiant]

The roaches pretty easy to care for? The woman is worried about it getting out and infecting the house with em. I think its just another pregnant scheme to stop live things in or around the house. -Shaun

 

[chadk]

Where do you live? Unless you live in the south, with warm humid conditions, Dubia roaches won't be able to live long if they escape. I've had a few escappees in my reptile room, and I find them dead within a few days. Luckily, they don't escape easily.

I keep mine in my cold garage. They don't want to escape in there... But if they did, they will die quickly. Dubias are slow to reproduce, so 'infestations' are not realistic.

I started my colony with from here: www.theroachguy.com. And have never regretted it. They live in a plastic bin with screen 'window' cut into the plastic lid for ventaliation (very important - don't want moisture build up). The bin is placed on a heat pad which is very important if you want them to breed. Feeding is simple. There are many things they will eat, from salad greens, veggies, fruits, ground up cat and dog food, baby food, etc. A variety is better than sticking with just one food source.

---

The site I gave you have an article on how to sex the beardies. A few pics of the anal area may help us tell.

 

[Defiant]

I live in Arizona pretty hot and humid. Thanks for the help I really appreciate it. I am sexing it as a male from the way they are describing it. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Tom]

The roaches pretty easy to care for? The woman is worried about it getting out and infecting the house with em. I think its just another pregnant scheme to stop live things in or around the house. -Shaun

ChadK has it right. There are roughly 4000 species of roaches. Only about 10 are listed as pests. With the exception of Blatta lateralis, all the ones I suggested are tropical species and won't survive for very long or breed outside of tropical conditions, unlike crickets.

And as Chad also noted, since the dubia don't climb, fly or jump, you could literally keep them in an open topped container and they couldn't get out. I don't recommend this as its hard to maintain enough humidity for them.

Roaches are also much sturdier than crickets. Most of them live a year or two after birth and they don't just die for no reason like crickets. So, if you buy a couple hundred, they will live until you feed them all out. If you want to get a self-sustaining colony going and eliminate the need to buy feeders ever again, start with around 300 in an 18 gallon bin with egg flats. You can feed out surplus males, while you wait a few months for them to really get going.

I really think that they are the wave of the future. This is how reptiles will be fed in the future. They are a superior feeder in almost every way. The only problem is the general public's reaction to anything called a "roach". Its kind of like telling some one to buy a pet rat instead of a hamster. Rats are superior in every way, but some folks just can't get the "sewer rat" idea out of their head. Instead they buy a hamster and their kids get the s@#$ bit out of them.

Just tell your wife roaches are silent and don't escape. Crickets get loose all the time and will drive you batty with their incessant noise. I've spent many a long night on search and destroy missions for escaped crickets. Never happened with any roach species.

 

[Nay]

Oh I wish I had this thread when I had my Beardies. 10 years of Fricken' crickets!!!! I don't have BD anymore and why I didn't get them was from those darn crickets. I will file this just in case.
And yes Roachman,
Rats are awesome and when you tell people that,'sewer' rat is it!!
Na

 

[Defiant]

I took him to a friend of mine. He says hes def a male and approx. 1 yr old. Any tips on getting him to eat his veggies? I made a really salad of mustard greens and mango and he didn't touch it. Today is collard greens with squash and he doesn't seem interested.

 

[Floof]

I took him to a friend of mine. He says hes def a male and approx. 1 yr old. Any tips on getting him to eat his veggies? I made a really salad of mustard greens and mango and he didn't touch it. Today is collard greens with squash and he doesn't seem interested.

I've never had to do this myself, but I see no one else has suggestions for you so far, so just don't forget that grain of salt... Lol. These are a couple suggestions that I've heard for getting stubborn beardies to eat salad.

1) Mix mealworms, roaches, or some other prey item that won't climb out and escape into the salad, so he gets bites of salad along with the prey--basically, trick him into taking it.

2) Skip the insect portion of the diet completely for a day or two, and only offer the salad. If he gets hungry, he'll probably eat the salad, and a day or two without won't hurt a healthy dragon.

Hopefully someone who's worked with younger dragons will come along soon and give you more in-depth suggestions on that. =)

 

[chadk]

You can also dip your bugs in TNT and get some 'greens' in that way... When mine was young, it would only like to eat the greens after they dried and cruched just right... Like a kid perfering pototoe chips to salad... But now he eats them much better.