Optimal Setup?

Hey folks, so we got our new baby beardie the other day and I am trying to optimize his tank setup.

For now we got a 20gallon long critter cage with a zilla fresh air lid over the top of it(double protection from the cats). On the left side we have a hood with reptisun bulb. On the right side we have a double fixture. One bulb is a zoomed basking bulb, the other is a zoo med night bulb(shines red). We do 12hr on of the basking and UVB and 12hr on of the night light. We are using reptile carpet on the ground. We have a climb for him on the basking side as well. On the hood side we have a water bowl and a dish to put some food.

I have a Ryobi IR thermometer, btw, and is a good place to check his basking side temp on the top of the climb itself?

We have been feeding him around 20-25 pinhead crickets a day(but I am looking at switching to dubia's and starting my own colony). We do calcium dust these.
We have tried feeding some vegetation, but he seems uninterested.

I also mist him once a day.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hi there. So you need to make a few adjustments.

1. Of your lights, you only want to use the basking light. The red night time bulb is bad for them - it hurts their eyes and keeps them awake at night. The coil UVB lights are extremely dangerous - they do not provide enough UVB and cause serious eye problems (keratoconjunctivitis). You want to turn off the red light entirely. Total darkness is best at night. If it stays above 65F, you're fine. If it gets below that, you will need a ceramic heat emitter. You need to get a ReptiSun 10.0 TUBE UVB, an under cabinet fixture from WalMart, and 3M command hooks. You should mount the bulb INSIDE the tank, 6-8 inches above the basking spot on the basking spot side. The tube should be about 2/3-3/4 the length of the tank. Since you're in a 20 now, you might go a bit longer than that and get the 24 inch bulb and fixture - that way, you can just move it once he is big enough for the 40 gallon tank. By the way, he will need at least a 40 gallon breeder within probably 2-3 months. They grow really fast.
2. 12 hours is good for lights on.
3. You should take out the water bowl and stop misting. These both raise humidity, which can cause respiratory infection, and most beardies don't drink standing water anyways. You need to offer him a bath pretty much every other day for a baby so he can stay hydrated. That should be sufficient.
4. You want to take temps with the temp gun directly on the spot he likes to bask at. You should have a temp of 105-115F on that spot, aiming for 110F. The cool side should be 75-85F. Overnight I already addressed.
5. You need to feed him more. He should be eating as many crickets as he wants in 10-15 minutes, twice a day. Typically that is well over 50 crickets a day. Make sure none of the bugs you feed him are bigger than the space between his eyes. Dubia are great, but it takes 4-6 months to get a colony established, fyi. Other options include phoenix worms and silkworms. At 16 inches head to tail, you could begin to introduce superworms. Never feed mealworms. Horn, wax, and butter worms all make good treats.
6. Keep offering appropriate veggies. Babies rarely eat them, but you have to get him used to them. Try hand feeding them to him before your first set of crickets of the day when he's hungry. He might eat a little bit then. The best options are turnip, dandelion, collard, and mustard greens. Also winter squash is a good staple. Do not feed anything with lettuce in its name, as it is basically nutritionally worthless, and has too much water content. Also avoid kale and spinach, which bind calcium. Here is a list of good stuff to feed: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html.
7. Dust with calcium+D3 at one feeding each day, 5 days a week. The other two days, dust one feeding each day with a reptile multivitamin.

daner923":2nk8j2jm said:

Hi there. So you need to make a few adjustments.

1. Of your lights, you only want to use the basking light. The red night time bulb is bad for them - it hurts their eyes and keeps them awake at night. The coil UVB lights are extremely dangerous - they do not provide enough UVB and cause serious eye problems (keratoconjunctivitis). You want to turn off the red light entirely. Total darkness is best at night. If it stays above 65F, you're fine. If it gets below that, you will need a ceramic heat emitter. You need to get a ReptiSun 10.0 TUBE UVB, an under cabinet fixture from WalMart, and 3M command hooks. You should mount the bulb INSIDE the tank, 6-8 inches above the basking spot on the basking spot side. The tube should be about 2/3-3/4 the length of the tank. Since you're in a 20 now, you might go a bit longer than that and get the 24 inch bulb and fixture - that way, you can just move it once he is big enough for the 40 gallon tank. By the way, he will need at least a 40 gallon breeder within probably 2-3 months. They grow really fast.

Can you elaborate more on that setup with maybe a link of the fixture type? I knew he would outgrow this one with the plan that my corn snake would inherit it(she is in a 10).

3. You should take out the water bowl and stop misting. These both raise humidity, which can cause respiratory infection, and most beardies don't drink standing water anyways. You need to offer him a bath pretty much every other day for a baby so he can stay hydrated. That should be sufficient.

Done

4. You want to take temps with the temp gun directly on the spot he likes to bask at. You should have a temp of 105-115F on that spot, aiming for 110F. The cool side should be 75-85F. Overnight I already addressed.

Do i need to use the temp gun at night on the climb as well, or is there a better way to check?

5. You need to feed him more. He should be eating as many crickets as he wants in 10-15 minutes, twice a day. Typically that is well over 50 crickets a day. Make sure none of the bugs you feed him are bigger than the space between his eyes. Dubia are great, but it takes 4-6 months to get a colony established, fyi. Other options include phoenix worms and silkworms. At 16 inches head to tail, you could begin to introduce superworms. Never feed mealworms. Horn, wax, and butter worms all make good treats.

I have been ramping up his feedings. The pet store people gave me the crap of to only feed him 4-5 crickets a day.

6. Keep offering appropriate veggies. Babies rarely eat them, but you have to get him used to them. Try hand feeding them to him before your first set of crickets of the day when he's hungry. He might eat a little bit then. The best options are turnip, dandelion, collard, and mustard greens. Also winter squash is a good staple. Do not feed anything with lettuce in its name, as it is basically nutritionally worthless, and has too much water content. Also avoid kale and spinach, which bind calcium. Here is a list of good stuff to feed: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html.

Will do, and thanks for the link.

7. Dust with calcium+D3 at one feeding each day, 5 days a week. The other two days, dust one feeding each day with a reptile multivitamin.

I only have the calcium, and ill pick up the multivitamin today.

Click to expand...

Please look at the bold for my followup questions. Thanks a bunch for the help!

I'm not sure what exactly you want to know on the UVB set up. Here is a link to the fixture. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lights-of-America-24-Under-Cabinet-Light-White/17163528. Also, here is a picture of my tank so you can see the location of the UVB.

That helps a lot....thanks!