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How can I improve my bearded dragon's enclosure?
05-16-2012, 05:58 PM,
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Fishbone Offline
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RE: How can I improve my bearded dragon's enclosure?
Hi Army, nice to meet you Smile

Do you have a digital thermometer, or an infrared temp gun? What are the actual temperatures in the tank? A 100 watt bulb should be more than enough to heat her, unless your house is cold. You want a basking spot, right under the lamp, of 100-105 F. with the ambient air temperatures on that side of the tank around 90. You can adjust the branch higher and lower to achieve the desired basking temp and use that as a basking platform underneath the light. That is how I regulate basking temperatures, the height of the basking area. If they can't bask properly, that can lead to digestive issues sometimes, even if the temps are good. The basking is very important.

If she is less than 10" she is still small, it might be best to adjust your feeding schedule. Give her a salad in the morning every day. Avoid the spinach altogether, it is very high in oxalates, and can cause a problem in proper calcium absorption and usage. The best greens to base your salad around are collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, and turnip greens. Most dragons take best to mustards, but they are all different, so whatever she likes best. Butternut and other winter squashes are also very good staple veggies. This is a very good list of most of the foods commonly fed to beardies, with nutritional values. I would recommend giving this page a good read.

And if she is that small, she should be getting more insects, they need protein to grow. A dragon that small should be eating allot more insects. Give her insects at least twice a day, about as many as she can eat in 15 minutes each time. 3 times a day wouldn't hurt for a while. I'd go with crickets out of the cheaper options. Your probably looking at quite a few more than you have been feeding her. Avoid the supers until she is bigger, at least 12", I wait until they are 14-16". And no mealworms. They are nutritionally almost empty, and a young dragon will eat enough of them to hurt themselves, as they are far more shell than meat. Other good staple insects are Phoenix worms & silkworms, but that can get pricey with a young dragon. But you can still supplement with them.

And I didn't see you mention a UVB bulb. Do you have a high output UVB bulb on her? That can cause allot of problems if she is not getting UVB.

Do you have any pictures of your beardie? What colour is she?
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RE: How can I improve my bearded dragon's enclosure? - by Fishbone - 05-16-2012, 05:58 PM

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