BD checklist?

[Joshuashaw]

Hopefully going to get a set-up this weekend, does this sound about right, anything need gettin rid as uneeded or anything that needs adjusting any help much appreciated.


48x24x24 viv in beech
reptitherm heat mat heatmat 23x11 inch
mat stat
Spot lamp fitting (bayonet)
Basking spotlamp 100w
Reptiglo 10 tube 30in
standard controller (for light tube)
Exo terra feeding dish (medium)
Exo terra Water dish (medium)
Exo terra large reptile cave
Digital thermometer

[tkapoutsis]

Hi,

I would lose the heat mat as it has been known for BD's to suffer burns from them.
It is not un-common for a BD to cuddle upto anything hot and worst case is getting burnt.

Some kind of silk plant is always good as you can water mist it which will they will naturally try to lick. BD's do not reconise standing water but can get to know where it can be found with some training.

Please have a look at this too. it was given to me by a reptile vet : Dragons Down Under: The Inland Bearded Dragon

Do be aware that there are some very poor care sheets on the web so please be carful on what you read & believe.

Good luck

[HadesDragons]

You don't need a heat mat or a mat stat - you need a dimming stat for the heat light instead though.

You may find it easier to set up the vivarium if it's only 18" tall (so 4' x 2' x 18"), as this will make the basking spot easier to get to the correct temperature. It also means you can mount the UV light on the ceiling of the vivarium with a reflector, so it's not shining in your beardie's eyes. Using a ReptiGlo 10% tube means you can't really mount it overhead in a 24" cage, as the UV would not be strong enough. I don't recommend mounting tubes on the backwall unless you absolutely have to (and even then they should be high up) - I certainly wouldn't want a UV tube at eye-level all day, and neither will your beardie!

Hides is a debated subject - I personally don't like the cave-style hides as babies can end up spending too much time in them and not get adequate UV as a result (a UV tube is only a fraction of the strength of real Australian UV, so you need to have your beardie exposed to it for most of the day rather than the couple of hours they may get in the wild in between hiding). Instead of providing a cave, you might want to buy a couple of pieces of sandstone from B&Q to form a wall - your beardie can go behind it to hide from you, but will still be receiving the much-needed UV.

If I were to be really picky I'd suggest a smaller water dish to keep humidity down and a 36" / 42" tube, but the options you've listed should be fine.

[Adam W]

I would also reccomend that you buy some sort of stone for example slate as it absorbs the heat and put it under the basking area for example like my vivarium below this will also help to keep their claws from wearing down enough so they dont grow too long

[zemanski]

not sure about that care sheet at all -

BDs don't live on sand but hard compacted earth,

they shouldn't have mealworms till they're bigger,

I have a top opening viv at the moment and it is a pain; they are tame enough to manage very well in a front opening viv and I can't wait to get mine in his bigger viv so I don't have to keep lifting him, when he's grown it'll be even more difficult

if you put a hide in the dragon may well decide to hide out of the light and become lethargic and finally ill

they need higher than 5% uvb

- just to pick out a few points