Long long post from new member (hi!) full of quesions I need to know answers to. ty!!

[BlackRose]

I need to know a few things. I know alot of people say a 3foot tank is not good for a beardie when it gets bigger for obvious reasons, but what if you have it out ALOT like i plan to cos i only got room for a 3foot viv and that cost 110quid.
And also in case its really gutsy shall I get a few tubs of crickets when i bring my beardie home? Cos they are 2quid a tub for about 80-100 and i heard that beardies may not eat for the first few days anyway.
How do i keep the crickets alive? By keeping them all together in their own plastic tank beside the viv and feed them apples or something? How often do you feed the crickets and how many can you fit in a little platic tank cos Im abit squeamish of bugs and while i dont mind feeding them to a beardie I coudnt pick a cricket or locust up with my hands or touch it in any way. How do you keep your crickets alive, what in, and how do you transfer them from their tank to your beardies tank without touching them or having escapees? What if a cricket escapes the tank or the beardies viv? What if your beardie doesnt eat any of some of them. How can you catch the uneaten crickets and do they just go back with the others then do be eaten another day? Things like this arnt explained on the net. So I wondered what you all do. Esepcially squeamish people like me who dont like bugs. How noisy are the crickets cos i iknow you can get silent ones but theyd be hard to find them wouldnt they if they got lose. I will have my beardie in the same room as my rats you see and I dont want crickets getting in their cages.
Can I just feed mealworms instead? I used to keep mealworms as pets (strange I know lol) so even though itd be abit sad I could pick them up with tweezers and put them in the viv no problem cos they wont run and jump at me and if they get lose they are slow and i can see them. If so how many meal worms or any other type of worms woyld you suggest to feed a day to a baby? and what about a juvinile?
Are they more expensive to buy than crickets or locusts?
I was considering breeding crickets.
I dont know how to keep mealworms alive, what to feed them etc especially cos they turn into beetles and I dunno if the beardie can have the beetle.
What if my beardie is out on a walk or sitting on the chair and it catches an insect like a fly or spider. Will it hurt it?
What kind of veggies and fruit are good for my beardie, particluarly for a baby or a juvinile?
Are there any obvious differences between a baby beardie and a baby rankins dragon? Cos they look the same to me and I want to know when i get one from my shop that it IS a bearded dragon. the shop im going to seem pretty good cos they said they got baby dragons there that arnt ready to leave yet cos they wanna see them shed their skin etc and make sure theyre doing ok and all that and they got an older beardie there too, so they seem caring and knowledable.
And at what age does a beardie start growing its beard and spikes more? cos they all seem pretty much the same when theyre little dont they? Not really any beard, not many spikes, all dark and light brown. Look like little alligators. lol.
Ok I will stop for now. Please try to answer as many of my quesitons as you can. All these things Ive been trying to find out.

[Spider Call]

Ok for the touching crickets and being scared of them, i had this problem when i was younger. I just used to peel back an edge of the tub hold it inside of the viv and tap the tub until the right ammount of crickets fell out. You can also use tweezers that are kind of serrated along the edges but in the middle they have a large dip you can catch them in.

As for feeding them, bran and orange works well for moisture, and a base thing. Or fish food is also good. Meal worms should not be given as a sole source of food, but you can feed them on moist bread. With the escaping thing xD black crickets would be better, as they dont really bounce about as much, and.... When they escape.... Err run aand cry like a little girl and refuse to go back in the room << Did that too xD.

Most veggies are ok, although i would avoid iceberg lettuce because it does not have much nutritional value.

[HadesDragons]

What is the other dimension of the tank? 3' x 2' should be an absolute minimum - I would say 3' x 1' is not acceptable as a permanant home for any adult beardie - if you cannot give the beardie the time and money it will need, even before you've got it, then please don't get it. Find somewhere in your home that will accommodate a 3' x 2' (or ideally a 4'+ x 2'+) viv, or stick with smaller species such as geckos.

For feeding, I keep crickets in plastic "critter-keeper"-style tanks, with lots of egg cartons. I feed them on fish flakes for dry food. They have a lid from one of the plastic containers which they come in, which has wet kitchen roll in. They can obtain moisture from this, and I have never seen them eat it. I also add apple/carrot/cucumber etc to the wet kitchen roll. This keeps it moist for longer, and provides their "wet food".
To transfer them into a beardies cage, you can pick up one of the egg cartons, shake it gently inside the cricket tank until only a few crickets are left on the carton, then put the carton into a plastic fish bag. Flick the carton with your finger until all of the crickets are in the bottom of the bag. From here they can be dusted, or simply poured into the beardies cage, depending on whether it is a dusting day or not.
If this is not clear, I can post some pictures later.

Mealworms are not a good staple diet for a beardie. Morio worms contain most of what an adult beardie needs, but crickets or roaches are still a better staple diet for them.

Andy

[Athravan]

Lot of questions!

I personally think that 36 x 15 is okay for one beardie if getting ample exercise out... but not for a german giant strain probably. 36 x 12 would be a little small... 36 x 24 would be better, but I do know a lot of people who use 36 x 15 x 15 or 36 x 18 x 18 for a single pet beardie that is handled and allowed plenty of exercise outside the vivarium.

I don't know about breeding crickets... but they can be fed fruit, or you can buy "bug grub" for them that actually contains extra calcium/vitamins etc. You want to keep them fairly dry as they tend to die off quickly in cramped/humid conditions.. so if you want them to live a long time, put them in a larger tub or kricket keeper.

Locusts work out more expensive as you get a lot less to a tub.

Waxworms and mealworms are easy to keep alive - you don't need to feed them, just keep them fairly cool and they should easily survive a few weeks without turning into beetles.

If you don't want to touch them the kricket keepers come with these tubes.. the crickets crawl up the tubes and then you just pull the tube out and dump the crickets into the tank. You can also get bug grabbers.

I would not recommend a staple diet of mealworms for a bearded dragon, it should be primarily crickets, plenty of fresh vegetation, and supplemented with mealworms.. and occasional waxworms.

Not a huge difference between rankins and bearded dragons as babies to me - but a shop would not be selling a rankins as a bearded simply because the rankins are usually more expensive and harder to get hold of I might be worried a shop was selling you rankins.. when they were beardies... but not vice versa!

The spikes and beard come as they develop which depends on the lizard and how much he eats really.. i would think by 4-5 months old you will have some noticeable spikes, but then someone might not display a beard until they are fully grown.. some females never display the beard although they will of course have the spikes

[Fangio]

Ok, I believe eveyone else has given good answers here.

Only thing I'll add is:

Have you thought about Rankin's dragons instead? Like beardies, but smaller. Would be ok in a 3ft viv

EDIT: Gah! just noticed Athravan already mentioned them!
*mumbles something about how I should've read the posts instaed of skimming them*

[LouiseK]

Hey there

Firstly if you can only have a 3 X 2 X 2 viv, then i'd suggest getting a smaller bearded dragon. Rankins dragons are very similar to bearded dragons but are much smaller and Vittikins are a hybrid of bearded dragons and rankins to result in an intermediate sized lizard. If you get a 100% bearded dragon it could grow to 22" in length and a 36" viv is just too small.

Don't buy a beardie from a petshop, check out some online classifieds and find a private breeder.

There are other benefit to having a smaller lizard including food costs. My baby beardie ate on the first day i got him and has eaten constantly ever since. You should definately have some food in to offer him on his arrival.

Mine has consumed about £10 worth of bugs per week.

Crickets are noisey, even the "silent" ones. You need to cut their wings off to make it stop. Some crickets WILL escape. They WILL hide and chirp until you rip up your carpets or they die.

I leave my crickets in the tub i got them in and feed them bug food you can get from the reptile shop.

Seeing that you don't want to hold the bugs, i suggest you feed him in a separate tank and just tip some in. You can't just drop them in his viv with him because they will hide and chances are when they get hungry they'll bite your lizard and leave a big sore.

I pick there legs off and feed them from a dish, but thats not really an option for you.

You could use mealworms, but they aren't recommended as a staple diet as they aren't as nutritious and are difficult to digest. They intended as bird food. Again they'd need to go in a glass dish otherwise they'd just hide in the viv somewhere. There is bugfood availble for these too.

Your beardie will eat any bug it comes across. Offer food until they stop eating it and do this a few times a day.

There is a sticky thread at the top of this forum listing loads of good veg for your beardie. Rule of thumb - don't feed it spinach or any kind of lettuce or stuff picked from outside unless you're 100% sure its ok. Don't feed them fruit... maybe if its birthday

[mutt]

Originally Posted by LouiseK

Hey there

Firstly if you can only have a 3 X 2 X 2 viv, then i'd suggest getting a smaller bearded dragon. Rankins dragons are very similar to bearded dragons but are much smaller and Vittikins are a hybrid of bearded dragons and rankins to result in an intermediate sized lizard. If you get a 100% bearded dragon it could grow to 22" in length and a 36" viv is just too small.

Don't buy a beardie from a petshop, check out some online classifieds and find a private breeder.

There are other benefit to having a smaller lizard including food costs. My baby beardie ate on the first day i got him and has eaten constantly ever since. You should definately have some food in to offer him on his arrival.

Mine has consumed about £10 worth of bugs per week.

Crickets are noisey, even the "silent" ones. You need to cut their wings off to make it stop. Some crickets WILL escape. They WILL hide and chirp until you rip up your carpets or they die.

I leave my crickets in the tub i got them in and feed them bug food you can get from the reptile shop.

Seeing that you don't want to hold the bugs, i suggest you feed him in a separate tank and just tip some in. You can't just drop them in his viv with him because they will hide and chances are when they get hungry they'll bite your lizard and leave a big sore.

I pick there legs off and feed them from a dish, but thats not really an option for you.

You could use mealworms, but they aren't recommended as a staple diet as they aren't as nutritious and are difficult to digest. They intended as bird food. Again they'd need to go in a glass dish otherwise they'd just hide in the viv somewhere. There is bugfood availble for these too.

Your beardie will eat any bug it comes across. Offer food until they stop eating it and do this a few times a day.

There is a sticky thread at the top of this forum listing loads of good veg for your beardie. Rule of thumb - don't feed it spinach or any kind of lettuce or stuff picked from outside unless you're 100% sure its ok. Don't feed them fruit... maybe if its birthday

good replies from everyone so far but the one part that caught my notice was this......why not?

[LouiseK]

You know you can just delete the parts of the quote that you're not referring to

And due to the high sugar content. Its just not necessary, you can get all the vits and moisture you want from vegs... plus fibre is good too.

Its an unnecessary strain on their organs and they don't regrow all their teeth, if the back ones start to rot then thats that... it opens them up to infections and absesses too. Plus too much fruit has the same effect as laxatives.

Why risk it?

[Ssthisto]

Originally Posted by BlackRose

How noisy are the crickets cos i iknow you can get silent ones but theyd be hard to find them wouldnt they if they got lose. I will have my beardie in the same room as my rats you see and I dont want crickets getting in their cages.

You might find your rats will fight over who gets to eat the crickets if you have any escapees. Rats and mice are omnivores and are quite partial to crickets

I have to give a few crickets to the mice every time I feed the geckos - they see the box come down off the top of the shelf and I have these little lines of eyes and ears WAITING for their crunchybug.

[Meko]

Originally Posted by Andy87

For feeding, I keep crickets in plastic "critter-keeper"-style tanks, with lots of egg cartons. ".
To transfer them into a beardies cage, you can pick up one of the egg cartons, shake it gently inside the cricket tank until only a few crickets are left on the carton, then put the carton into a plastic fish bag. Flick the carton with your finger until all of the crickets are in the bottom of the bag. From here they can be dusted, or simply poured into the beardies cage, depending on whether it is a dusting day or not.
If this is not clear, I can post some pictures later.

i do the same although rather than egg boxes i use toilet tubes as the crickets hid inside which leaves less chance of any jumping out when you take the tube out to transfer into a bag.
Problem with the bag idea is your beardie will recognise that bag = food and try and eat it... well mine does, along with my bracelet cos it's dangling down.