Beardy help..newbie

[jact38]

Hi folks, we have been raising pythons for a while buy have now fallen in love with beardies - so we have two. We dids lots of reseach and generally all fine. But there is so much differing advice, Im hoping for a little help if you dont mind?

1. They are about 5 mths. After 1 week, 1 is eating well (crickets) and 1 wont eat at all. Nothing. I worry - though I know its probably just unsettled. How long do I wait?

2. We are aware we could force feed but I reckon that would set him back trust wise as well. So dont want to jump in. If we did try something, is the advice about a dropper and baby food any good?

2. Can we try another source of food other than crickets?

3. Are mealworms OK or not, I read two stories - I tend to believe not ?

4. We got sand - reptile sand - it wasnt cheap How do we best keep it clean. We clean the enclosures every day but should we spray anything or not? I will swap to breedes choice next though.

Heat at warm end about 34c. UV 10 light...fluro....they can get to within 30cm of it. I am going to mod the enclosure today, and try and warm it a bit more.

Thank you all so much

Andrew

Thanks.

Anyone?

 

[Darkhorse]

Hi Jact.... I can't give you all the advice you need but here are some things I've been advised about-

1) the heat should be cranked up. When they're adults a basking temp of 45c+ is acceptable. Juvies need less than that but still much hotter than 34c - this may help with the eating issues.

2) for juvies it's best not to have them on a substrate that they can ingest with their food. They are not as coordinated as adults and impaction is a problem. A substrate that has been recommended for me is synthetic grass - they can't ingest it and have get better traction on it than paper.

Also are you dusting you crickets with calcium and vitamins? Are you offering "salad" (asian greens, dandelion flowers, hibiscus flowers etc)

Good luck