I just got her yesterday ^.^ I did research before I got her and its the first lizard I've ever had. I'm 14 so it was hard to force my parents to get her
I kinda know its a her because I checked under her tail today and there was a bump so, she's a girl :)! I'm guessing four or five months old.
I got her at a pet shop , not the best idea I know :(
I've gotten everything except the alucium thing ugh but I got crickets , wax worms (no worries I didn't feed her wax worms , knowing shed get hooked on those) and something called fortified food bearded dragon zilla something. Says it has d3 and vitamins and minerals and stuff, but I plan on going to the pet store and buying new food tomorrow. Maybe calcium, but I saw something else on the Petco site that reviews said made the dragon grow and the dragons loved it and the dragons loved it.
Today I fed her crickets , I didn't really count but less than twenty i know they can eat twenty to sixty. Then throughout the day she ate rommain lettuce and those pebbles. I tried to hand feed her a tiny piece of carrot but she wouldn't take it , but she let me pick her up today so many times, so gentle :)
She hasn't eaten since three or something and she doesn't have as much energy as before which is worrying me. She isn't showing any signs of stress like laying down or hissing or turning black or anything but still.
Also , her flooring worries me... I'm not stupid enough to put sand but the tank we bought was especially made for bearded dragons. I thought it'd be a carpet... Instead it's sort of like green grass stuff...like idk how to explain it I'm stupid :( it's made by the zilla company though. She ate it by accident earlier when she tried to get a cricket but nothing happened, thank god. Should I stay with this flooring or tomorrow go and get a carpet ?
And what food should I buy? And how many times should I feed her a day?
Update:And yeah I'm a bit stupid to let the crickets in the same tank as her, I won't be doing that next time no worries~~
Verified answer
Honestly the best substrate for them is newspaper. You can paper train them, and just throw out the dirty paper.The good reptile turf that doesn't tear off is also good, but harder to clean. It's important to keep them very clean. you should bathe it in lukewarm water in the sink once a week. They also drink a lot of water in their baths. They all have low levels of a parasite called coccidia, and its worse and causes diarhhea when they are stressed out. They are very clean animals, especially the adults/ ( and smart, mine just typed the slash mark!) Make sure you have a 10% flourescent tube UVB light on it for 10-12 hours a day, and they are very possessive of their cork bark logs (Petsmart sells them). They are solitary animals who don't like other pets, or strangers, but will get very attached and spoiled the more you handle them. I have to let mine type when I do, or he won't sit still. He also has his own little pillow in the bed and is always in a better mood when can sleep there instead of his 55 gallon tank. He listens to the telephone really close up to the receiver, and somestimes crawls up and snuggles, which can be a little spiny. Bored BD's sleep a lot, and they sleep a lot after eating. They never overeat though, so you don't have to worry about it getting stuffed with crickets.
In general, Zoo Med makes better BD products than Zilla. Good luck!
It sounds like yours is a good eater for a pet shop lizard. A lot of them won't eat anything but live food and greens. If it does stop eating and gets loose stools, it may need a vet check up. Beardedragon.org recommends a check up for all store bought ones, but I don't think its necessary unless it acts strange or sick. .
Some of the best things you can do is to make a cool and damp side while making a hot and dry side. The lizard should get crickets once every week (small 12 medium 24 large 24 to 36). All sizes should get many vegetables every day. The dragon zilla food is good to have just not as the main food source( you can also give fruit once a week too). The dragon should live on pet carpet ( it can be cleaned then put back in). The dragon should also have a place to hide (like a cork hollow). The dragon should have light lamp, a day time heat lamp, and a night tome heat lamp. You can find all of this in petco. This is the most important part though the dragon should be kept in a 20 gallon tank.
Ok.
First, calm down. Most of the time, unless it's something really obvious (like a broken limb), pretty much any behavior has to persist for at least a few days before it's really indicative of a problem. Sometimes reptiles go on little hunger strikes, sometimes they lie in weird positions, and so on.
I recommend paper towel as a substrate (particularly Viva, since it's not embossed, and thus looks a bit better). It's cheap, it's disposable (and thus easy to clean), it's absorbent... unless something actually needs a particular texture, or needs more humidity than you usually get using paper towels, paper towel is one of the best substrates you can get for a desert critter like a beardie.
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html has a nice list of what is and isn't good food for a beardie (though it doesn't mention feeder roaches, which are a good feeder insect). It sounds like your beardie is an older juvenile, so you should feed her a mixed "salad" (the base should be dark greens, like kale or the like, lettuce isn't the best thing to feed her), with about half of her diet being insects or other protein. You can feed her a prepared "bearded dragon diet", but it's best to at least supplement it with some fresh greens and some crickets or roaches.
If you can get them, I recommend dubia roaches as a feeder insect. One advantage is that you *can* leave them in the cage, if you have a dish with smooth, vertical sides, since they can't climb smooth surfaces, and they can't jump or fly. For a beardie, you can probably find an appropriate custard ramekin or the like to use as a feeding dish.
You should have calcium powder, and put that on both your beardie's insects and her salad. Ask at the store (ideally, at a small independent pet store that specializes in reptiles, rather than at Petco or the like) for what is the best calcium powder to use. I use something called MinerAll for my leopard gecko. A prepared diet generally doesn't need to be dusted, it already has calcium and other minerals in it.