| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 12/02/2015 : 09:54:46
Hey everyone, it's been a while since coming here, and quite a bit has changed.
Alo passed away, no ill health just came back from work one day and she was gone, and Ruby is also ill, but hopefully on the mend. Moving house and a really cold ambience has obviously stressed her out somewhat. She always has a heat mat on so its a strange one for sure.
But last night my SOs work colleague brought in a beardie, as her 6 year old son has lost interest (how surprising), and that is now sat in our front room!
So I need to learn fast about caring for it. It's in a glass tank, maybe 2.5ft, with paper towel down, a log, a cave and foliage decor. It has one of those ceramic heater bulb things, statted at 32. (This is all I managed to find out before my internet ran out).
I know by others on here occasionally that it should have some fluorescent tube lighting and a basking spot, so could someone please link what I need?
It has come with some medium silent crickets, and a bag of peppery lettuce which I've binned, it now has a small bowl of mixed veg including basil, mint leaves, tomato and bok choy stuff, sprinkled with beardie dust.
It's only about 7 inches long, and only has half a tail!
Please advise on what I need to help it back to a nice condition, and provide links and tips for keeping! |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 27/02/2015 : 12:45:11
quote:
Originally posted by serena_08
Three days in and the light seems to be okay. No noises, flickering or smelliness!
And he's perked up loads, his colouring seems to be changing and he's eating a lot more.
Ah glad to hear that!  Hope it continues for you.
Good to hear he's perking up quickly. |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 27/02/2015 : 08:34:42
Three days in and the light seems to be okay. No noises, flickering or smelliness!
And he's perked up loads, his colouring seems to be changing and he's eating a lot more. |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 25/02/2015 : 17:54:37
quote:
Originally posted by serena_08
He said something about it going back into the ballast, and that's what will get warm, I will however be buying the 40 inch tube next though, although he said it's okay I'm still dubious! He just needs something as he's never had any uv whatsoever :)
See how it goes, if it makes a loud buzzing noise turn it off! That's a bad sign, that's the noise ours made before blowing. |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 24/02/2015 : 20:44:00
He said something about it going back into the ballast, and that's what will get warm, I will however be buying the 40 inch tube next though, although he said it's okay I'm still dubious! He just needs something as he's never had any uv whatsoever :) |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 24/02/2015 : 14:43:11
quote:
Originally posted by serena_08
Ok, so I ordered the 40w Hagen Glo ballast, and a 30w Arcadia 10.0 bulb. Realising my error after what you said AA, I rang the seapets helpline, and mentioned about the power output being too high for the bulb and your experience with it blowing. That woman said it SHOULD be fine, but unconvinced she gave me the number to speak to a reptile expert at one of their shops.
This guy was amazing. He explained it will be okay (and just to buy the 40w bulb in 6 - 9months) and that excess wattage won't be used (he said why but electronics and my brain, well let's not go there), and that the unit will just get a bit warm.
He also answered loads of questions for me too!
If the bulb doesn't blow then it'll be warm and make noise. The excess wattage does get used and puts too much power into the bulb. Maybe we were just unlucky and it blew then. |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 24/02/2015 : 10:50:03
Ok, so I ordered the 40w Hagen Glo ballast, and a 30w Arcadia 10.0 bulb. Realising my error after what you said AA, I rang the seapets helpline, and mentioned about the power output being too high for the bulb and your experience with it blowing. That woman said it SHOULD be fine, but unconvinced she gave me the number to speak to a reptile expert at one of their shops.
This guy was amazing. He explained it will be okay (and just to buy the 40w bulb in 6 - 9months) and that excess wattage won't be used (he said why but electronics and my brain, well let's not go there), and that the unit will just get a bit warm.
He also answered loads of questions for me too! |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 21/02/2015 : 15:39:07
quote:
Originally posted by serena_08
Can I bulk buy the bulbs?
Do you mean can you buy them in packs of three, etc. or can you buy more than one at once so you don't have to keep going out every 6-12 months?
If it's the first, not seen bulk packs anywhere but they may exist.
If it's the second, yeah that's fine. Just store them carefully so they don't get broken obviously lol. |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 21/02/2015 : 10:47:34
Can I bulk buy the bulbs? |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 20/02/2015 : 18:52:58
quote:
Originally posted by Razee
Aww, Kobe looks so sweet, and quite colourful :-)
AA, those cricket bites look horrible... glad he's healed. You wouldn't believe the beardie would just sit there and let them chow on him!
Yep, we couldn't believe she just sat there too... But she did. Cue me salt washing and dabbing clean daily until healed. |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 20/02/2015 : 14:46:27
Lol, they don't call out surnames at our place, but I would give him a clean name for such purposes!
And he is his namesake, he's a douche with attitude, no other way to describe him! |
| Razee |
Posted - 20/02/2015 : 13:44:36
Ermm completey off topic, but couldn't resist:  Serena, I just noticed what your hoggie is called... then I imagined, if you ever needed to take him to the vets - the full waiting room, the vet comes out of the surgery and calls his name....with your surname attached ( that's what they do at our vets )...
I'm sure there's a history to that name  |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 20/02/2015 : 09:20:19
So I've ordered a ballast and a light from sea pets, SO will love installing that when it arrives! (They have a 5% promo code, GH7823R if anyone is interested)
He ate 3 crickets and 3 waxworms last night, I know waxworms aren't the best but I'd rather him eat something than nothing! He seems to enjoy his salad too, my Aunty has got him a load more in her asda shop. Yay! |
| Razee |
Posted - 20/02/2015 : 08:51:16
Aww, Kobe looks so sweet, and quite colourful :-)
AA, those cricket bites look horrible... glad he's healed. You wouldn't believe the beardie would just sit there and let them chow on him! |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 19/02/2015 : 02:54:31
Strip lights are best as the screw bulbs aren't as effective I've found.
You need a light starter unit like below.
http://www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/images/T/Interpet-Starter-Unit-03.jpg
You can use either the aquatic one or the reptile one just make sure you get the right one for the right wattage! If the bulb is under the wattage of the unit it will blow, we had that happen with a mis-sold unit. Sold for a 30 inch 25 watt bulb, was actually a high powered 38 watt unit... Bulb shattered, glass everywhere... Big mess.
You thread the two connection parts through the back of the vivarium and the bulb sits about 2 inch from the ceiling in the back. You can use specialist holders or just wire staples(you know the ones you use to hold internet cables, etc.?) to hold it in place. |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 18/02/2015 : 21:21:22
Oh and he needs feeding up, poor thing hasn't had such a good life :( |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 18/02/2015 : 21:15:27
This is Kobe;
He's in a 4x2 viv now, ceramic heat on all the time, statted properly.
I've read all about the fruit and veg side, and I've put a waxworms or two in it every other feed. He doesn't seem to be into the crickets very much, but I will keep trying him!
The only problem I'm facing is which bulb to buy (strip or es27 screw bulb), and the relevant fitting! If I use a strip light, how do I attach it? |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 16/02/2015 : 02:09:21
quote:
Originally posted by serena_08
Thank you!
It will all be changing definitely, so absolutely any advice is readily welcomed!
I've been leaving the ceramic heater on cuz it does get cold in that room.
Ah, sounds good That's the reason we leave our beardies heat source on all night, because our living room temp(where she is) drops to about 18 degree's from 10pm-6am when the heating is all off. The only reason my room maintains between 20-23c is because of the tropical fish and the reptiles lol.
Humidity wants to be quite low for beardies though watch for shedding problems. Ours doesn't seem to have any, just don't panic if the beardy sheds one leg one day and then the body the next, etc. lol! Ours does this all the time, we panicked at first, apparently it's normal.
Staple of crickets or locusts is good(unfortunately ours is hooked on locusts and won't eat crickets very often) but do NOT leave crickets in with him/her. We found out the hard way(pics included) that it's really not a good idea - Though I always knew that and told my mum to feed her in a separate tub or watch her eat them, she said she did and then we saw crickets nomming on her...
That's all healing nicely now though after I gave it a salt wash and then rinsed with fresh water.
We do feed mealworms or waxworms occasionally in the veg to make it more interesting as ours really doesn't like veg either... So we make it "alive" with other food lol. Don't feed iceberg lettuce, there's a lot you can and can't feed.
Here's a link to safe veg - http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-nutrition-data.php#veg
If you scroll down it also gives unsafe veg along with both safe and unsafe plants(herbs, etc.) and fruit
Hence this photo of the cheeky girl.
That's about it really, |
| Razee |
Posted - 13/02/2015 : 19:11:05
Don't know anything about beardies, but would love to see a photo :-) |
| serena_08 |
Posted - 12/02/2015 : 22:38:50
Thank you!
It will all be changing definitely, so absolutely any advice is readily welcomed!
I've been leaving the ceramic heater on cuz it does get cold in that room. |
| AcidicAngel |
Posted - 12/02/2015 : 19:47:11
You'll need to get a bigger enclosure for it as it sounds like the beardie is still growing at only 7 inches long. Our girl is 16 inches including her tail and she's small for a beardy(by small I mean small. Her tail is about the length of her body so without it she's about 8 inches)...
I'd recommend anything over 3.5ft(this is the reason I think ours is stunted as she's always been in a 3ft viv - Not my choice) with a UV bulb that is 6 inch shorter than the viv size. So say you get a 42 inch viv(3.5ft) you'd need a 36 inch bulb.
10/12% UVB on 12 hours a day, the basking temperature should be in the range of 90-95F(32-35C) and the cool end temperature should be between 80-85F(26-29C) At night time you have the choice of dropping the temperature or not. If you do it needs to stay above 70F(21C) with 75F(23C) being the optimal if you want to drop the temperature. We don't bother dropping ours and I know a lot of people that don't drop it with no known health problems.
Can't get any links at the minute but will try to source some reliable ones for you if you still want them! |
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