my baby bearded dragon set-up (need help!)

[repti]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting a 3-4 week old hatchie on Thursday and I just want to make sure my tank is set up correctly. I have never owned my own beardie, but I have cared for a friends while they were away for afew weeks. I'm confident with how to feed and handle him or her but I was after some advice on the set-up itself. I've kept geckos and frogs so I've got all the thermostats, hygrometers and thermometers. So far this is my plan:

Tank - 4' x 2' x 2' glass aquarium
Light - 4' ReptiGlo 10.0 (by ExoTerra)
Heat - 100w HeatGlo InfaRed (by ExoTerra)

I'll run the UV from 8am to 9pm and the infaRed heat lamp will be on 24/7 suspended about 25-30cm above the basking spot. What temperature do you beardie keepers have your basking spot?

The basking spot will be roughly 40cm below the UV. It will be made of thick slate, securely stacked up. I was thinking of using aquarium sealant to glue the pieces together, has anyone else done that?

For substrate I already have about 55kg of red desert sand, but I was only going to put enough in to make it about 8-10cm thick on the bottom. Is that deep enough?

I have a shallow food dish so that i don't have to feed him/her off the sand, As i know they can get impaction if they eat sand.

Decorations wise, I have a nice background with desert and sky and I also have afew large pieces of drift wood, some tough fake plants (I heard they can eat the thin ones?) and afew more of the chunks of slate.

Any advice would be useful, as I said before I havn't kept my own beardie so I am new to this

I've attached a very basic (no laughing!) picture of what i want the tank to look like. Because I don't know about you guys, but I find it easier to understand something if i can see it!

 

[Bel03]

Your beardie needs to be able to get within 10cms of the uv for it to be beneficial. Also, 100w heat lamp seems too much, & it doesnt need to be on at night, they dont need night heating. For my beardie the basking spot is 40-42degrees, using a 75w basking globe, & this is only for approx 7hrs a day.

I also wouldnt use sand......some people do, but not generally until the beardie is older.

 

[maddog-1979]

set up looks pretty good. personally i would use newspaper as a substrate until it is about 5-6months old, or of a good size ( a bit longer than the palm of your hand) , and i would ditch the infared globe and use a ceramic if you plan on keeping it on 24/7. the infared will keep your beardie awake at night. alternatively you could just not heat at night, as long as the ambient temps dont get too cold ( below 15ish)

 

[repti]

Thanks guys. The UV i got says effective upto 50cm. Also it spans the length of the enclosure so I figured it should be fine to have one end closer to it that the other. The UV will sit in the reflector, ontop of the tank. But there is no mesh over the UV so theres nothing blocking its shining directly onto the whole tank (and dragon) . So how do you have your UV 10cm above your dragon?

 

[maddog-1979]

So how do you have your UV 10cm above your dragon?

a stick for the dragon to climb up

 

[Bel03]

I just built up his basking spot, so it is closer to the uv. If yours reaches a 50cm distance though.....you should be fine i guess. I just had always been told to be sure they can get to where they need to be.

 

[thepythonguy]

just put some climbing branches in under the uv light if they need extra they can climb up the branch and bask under the light. you could have the climbing branch 10 cms away from the light.

Also just a suggesting instead of using a infrared bulb and using 100 watt you could use a halogen downlight kit from bunnings 12v 50w for $9. you could use that for a basking light have it close enough and you can create basking spots up to 45 degrees also the bulb are cheaper too and. could be used during daylight hours and not heat at night

I wouldn't worry about planning distances yet as when you set the tank up you may need to move things closer or further away depending on the temperature reached

 

[JungleManSam]

somewhere for it to hide?

 

[repti]

Ok, Tomorrow I'm going to get some more rocks, their sort of wide and flat, and easily stackable. So i'll use those to build up nice and high, then I'll use some of the driftwood logs as well. I'll make sure it's nice and secure though, I don't want anything to fall and crush the baby, or crack the glass. I had planned to use the rocks and logs to make a sort of shelter, like 3 sides covered and a roof, so he/she can get out of the light and feel safe. That would be fine for a hide wouldn't it? Also, if the crickets hide in there atleast with 3 sides it will be easy for me or the hungry hatchie to get them out.

You guys are full of good ideas - thanks!

 

[BigWillieStyles]

I just used some curled up pieces of bark for him to hide under while he is small. I also have some small real tussock grasses which my baby bearded dragon likes hiding on top. The tussock grass is too tough for them to eat, and looks good in a 'desert' theme enclosure. Some rocks or slate piled up with some crevices for him to hide in might be nice.

set up looks pretty good. personally i would use newspaper as a substrate until it is about 5-6months old,

I have my baby beardie on Red Desert sand, I find that its heaps cleaner than newspaper, easy to clean (just scoop the dirty bit out), holds heat much better in the enclosure, and also looks heaps nicer. I personally think that all that stuff about impaction has more to do with dehydration than it does with consuming sand.

 

[ajandj]

personally l would ditch the sand. You said you are aware of impaction. Crickets are not going to stay in a dish, he will chase them all over the enclosure. No heat needed over night. Ditch the infered light as it will cause irregular sleeping because the infer red DOES keep them awake. If you need to heat then use Ceramic heat emitter. Diffinately add branches for climbing, and a hide.
Make sure that when you get any decorations for the enclosure, boil them and make sure they are "clean"

 

[Hindy]

I hav used red dessert sand with mine sice Ive had him, I got him at three weeks old an I have had no trouble what so ever.

 

[repti]

There seems to be lots of mixed opinions on the substrate, I asked the guy in my local reptile store today. He said that he doesn't know of anyone who has had a beardie on sand and reported any problems. He said he kept his 3 on sand from the start and just fed them live crickets and woodies with snake tongs, so they didn't even touch the sand and that the dragons got more used to being in interacted with etc. I had already put paper down, but our house is pretty cold and now I'm concerned about the temperature drop at night so I've put the sand in (about 2 inches) and it's holding the heat stacks better already. I've bought some of those super long tweezers for feeding snakes and I'll do what that guy said and hand feed. I've got the time and the passion so that's not an issue, and once the hatchie is older it should all be fine. Also I bought the coolest piece of drift wood, It's like just under 4ft long and one side is really high, perfect for the basking spot! Everything is ready now, Picking up the baby tomorrow. So excited

Also, I should add - I have Red Desert Sand, with no added things just natural. I sifted it twice, then poured it into the tank through a fly screen so it's super fine. Should make it even safer.

here are some photo's of the tank. Sorry for the poor quality, my phone camera is covered in scratches

 

[maddog-1979]

lookin good repti. i have never had any impaction issues, or know anyone who has. i just use newspaper for young uns cos alot of people have told me too,lol. just as long as you are aware the problem can occur, you should be fine tho. keep the little fella well hydrated and should be no worries at all

 

[Vincey]

Your set up sounds / looks great. Love the diagram
Just as a personal opinion, I prefer tanks with a solid back and base made of wood/malamime or what have you.
Glass tends to lose its heat quicker. Good luck with the little critters and keep us updated. hatchy beardies are so damn cute.

 

[repti]

The tank is pretty good with heat (when it finally heats up) as the glass on the sides is 1cm thick and the base is 1.3cm thick. It's real good with holding heat, We had a string of power cuts when i had gecko's in it and I was worried they wouldn't make it through the night as it was winter - i kept getting up and checking it but it only dropped 2 degrees all night! It takes ages for the glass to get warm for the first time, but once it does it takes far longer to cool down. That in combination with the thermostat make for a great heating routine, also saves more power as the thermostat hardly clicks on anymore - It's perfect.

There's only one downside, and that's how heavy it is. Unbelievably so! I got my poor boyfriend to help me move the tank and coffee table it sits on into the living room last night, from the bedroom. He nearly did him self an injury trying to move it haha, I can't say I was much use as I'm nearly 6 months pregnant and I hurt my back the other week. Poor fella did a great job though

and yes - they are so cute! The one I'm getting is from two very red parents so I can't wait to see how he/she turns out!

 

[Jeannine]

i do with my BD what some owners do with their snakes when it come to feeding i just have a separate container and she eats them in there

i put the crickets/woodies dusted into a container, put it at the door to her enclosure so she can see them and then she comes running down to the door, i open it and she jumps into the container, eats her fill then i put her back, no need to worry about risking impaction and its much easier to make sure she eats them all and none escape

 

[Vincey]

I love to have them track down the escapees in the tank an hour after feeding though haha

 

[tarafritz2011]

I used red dessert sand when I owned beardies. Luckily no impactation products, though I found it stained their underbellies a browny-red colour.

 

[repti]

Haha, aww - Did they look funny? I washed the whole bag of sand when i got it (about 6 months ago) because the pet shop guy said it would do that otherwise. I used about half of it for the gecko's and it didn't stain them, so hopefully this being washed aswell won't stain.... hopefully lol