Newish Bearded Dragon Owner

[rhirano09]

I have a few leopard geckos so I decided I would take on another hobby! I bought a 6 week old at the time and now she's about 12 weeks or so growing like a weed. I'm already putting her on giant mealworms because that's what my leopard geckos eat and it's easier to buy in bulk! I throw in crickets for a few days after the cage is cleaned until it gets a little dirty then go back to worms.

I know I'm going to get some criticism for this but how important are vegetables to a growing beardie? When I do put veggies out, she's not interested and wants to chase crickets and eat worms over that. She's quite the character. I went to repticon like 2 weeks ago and compared her to other beardies her age. She was bigger than just about every breeder's except one where they fed them 3 times a day but it was close in comparison.

I bought her an Exo terra cage that is 36x18x12. How long should that last her?

I bought her Amazon.com: Exo Terra Compact Top Canopy for PT2613 - 90 cm: Pet Supplies for the UVB and got a couple of these. Amazon.com: Exo Terra Repti-Glo 10.0 Compact Fluorescent Desert Terrarium Lamp, 26-Watt: Pet Supplies. (She is also under a separate heat lamp).

The breeder I bought from said it needs to be a strip light. Any suggestions? I feel like it does that same thing. Except these bulbs aren't directed straight down and reflect off reflectors.

Thanks!

 

[acpart]

Congratulations on your new beardie. I'm not an expert by any means, but I do have one. He's my second. The first I got as an adult female, had her for 5 years and she died of old age. This one is only about 2 or so but I also got him as an adult because I didn't want to deal with a baby. As I understand it, veggies are crucial and by adulthood should make up about 90% of the diet. I think it's really important to keep offering greens to the babies. They'll get the hang of it eventually. Try some fruit tool. My beardie loves blueberries. It's important that they get UV and a strip florescent is better, from what I've heard, than a compact flourescent. Reptisun is a good brand for that. THe light needs to be changed every 6 months to make sure the UV output is adequate. In addition they need a basking light. My beardie is in an exo-terra 36x18x18 and that's the smallest size I'd keep an adult in. He gets about an hour every morning (and more on weekends) to roam my living and dining rooms.

THere's a good beardie forum --beardeddragon.org-- that is definitely worth checking out.

Aliza