chameleoman
Avid Member
anyone have a FULL care sheet for bearded dragons?
thanks
thanks
Care sheet?
- Thread starter chameleoman
- Start date
I kept beardies for over 11 years (and keeping them isn't all that different than keeping chameleons except for the cage setup)....and this is what I did...
I kept them in a long low glass cage with a screen lid.
I placed a long linear Repti-sun 5.0 light along the length of it and a regular incandescent bulb in a domed hood at one end of a wattage that produced the right temperature in the basking area. I kept babies basking area in the low to mid 80'sF and adults in the high 80's to high 90's F depending on the season.
I provided branches/logs of appropriate sizes for the beardies to sit on as well as rocks. For baby dragons I used no substrate and for the adults I used a coarse sand that had tiny pebbles in it. I also provided a hide but they never used it to hide in...only to sit on. The cage was kept quite dry.
I fed them insects of appropriate sizes that had been dusted and gutloaded/fed as indicated below. I also provided them with "salads" consisting of the same greens and veggies (see below) as used in the gutload and a bit of fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.)
To water them, I would drip water into a small dish (like a peanut-butter jar lid) which I dumped out daily.
Here's some information I hope will help you with supplements and gutloading/feeding insects....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.
Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the beardie to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the beardie as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.
A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.
Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the beardie at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).
If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your beardie gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the beardie to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the beardie can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).
Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the beardie gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the beardie towards MBD. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)
Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the beardie needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)
Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the beardie (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the beardie.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.
Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
Hope this helps!
I kept them in a long low glass cage with a screen lid.
I placed a long linear Repti-sun 5.0 light along the length of it and a regular incandescent bulb in a domed hood at one end of a wattage that produced the right temperature in the basking area. I kept babies basking area in the low to mid 80'sF and adults in the high 80's to high 90's F depending on the season.
I provided branches/logs of appropriate sizes for the beardies to sit on as well as rocks. For baby dragons I used no substrate and for the adults I used a coarse sand that had tiny pebbles in it. I also provided a hide but they never used it to hide in...only to sit on. The cage was kept quite dry.
I fed them insects of appropriate sizes that had been dusted and gutloaded/fed as indicated below. I also provided them with "salads" consisting of the same greens and veggies (see below) as used in the gutload and a bit of fruit (apple, pear, melon, berries, etc.)
To water them, I would drip water into a small dish (like a peanut-butter jar lid) which I dumped out daily.
Here's some information I hope will help you with supplements and gutloading/feeding insects....
Appropriate cage temperatures aid in digestion and thus play a part indirectly in nutrient absorption.
Exposure to UVB from either direct sunlight or a proper UVB light allows the beardie to produce D3 so that it can use the calcium in its system to make/keep the bones strong and be used in other systems in the beardie as well. The UVB should not pass through glass or plastic no matter whether its from the sun or the UVB light. The most often recommended UVB light is the long linear fluorescent Repti-sun 5.0 tube light. Some of the compacts, spirals and tube lights have caused health issues, but so far there have been no bad reports against this one.
A wide variety of insects that have been well fed and gutloaded should be fed to it.
Since many of the feeder insects we use in captivity have a poor ratio of calcium to phosphorus in them, its important to dust the insects just before you feed them to the beardie at most feedings with a phos.-free calcium powder to help make up for it. (I use Rep-cal phosphorus-free calcium).
If you also dust twice a month with a phos.-free calcium/D3 powder it will ensure that your beardie gets some D3 without overdoing it. It leaves the beardie to produce the rest of what it needs through its exposure to the UVB light. D3 from supplements can build up in the system but D3 produced from exposure to UVB shouldn't as long as the beardie can move in and out of it. (I use Rep-cal phos.-free calcium/D3).
Dusting twice a month as well with a vitamin powder that contains a beta carotene (prOformed) source of vitamin A will ensure that the beardie gets some vitamins without the danger of overdosing the vitamin A. PrEformed sources of vitamin A can build up in the system and may prevent the D3 from doing its job and push the beardie towards MBD. (I use herptivite which has beta carotene.)
Gutloading/feeding the insects well helps to provide what the beardie needs. I gutload crickets, roaches, locusts, superworms, etc. with an assortment of greens (dandelions, kale, collards, endive, escarole, mustard greens, etc.) and veggies (carrots, squash, sweet potato, sweet red pepper, zucchini, etc.)
Calcium, phos., D3 and vitamin A are important players in bone health and other systems in the beardie (muscles, etc.) and they need to be in balance. When trying to balance them, you need to look at the supplements, what you feed the insects and what you feed the beardie.
Please note that various supplements have various amounts of D3 and vitamin A and so some can be given more often than others. The idea still is not to overdo the fat soluble vitamins like D3 and prEformed vitamin A.
Here are some good sites for you to read too...
http://chameleonnews.com/07FebWheelock.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200605020...Vitamin.A.html
http://web.archive.org/web/200406080...d.Calcium.html
http://www.uvguide.co.uk/
If you can't access the sites above that have the word "archive" in you can do it through the WayBackMachine.
Hope this helps!
