She is doing slightly better. Shes deff. a fighter. I have just on a towel right now, in a ten gallon tank. with a uvb light on a screen over her. I read she should be close to the light as possible, is this right or wrong. I want to add something for her to climb on since in her old tank at my bros she liked to climb on stuff. When she is up and running around (what little bit she does move) shes looking for something, not sure what. I need to get some more crickets since I only got a few to begin with not sure she would even respond to them. Or if she could even move. I've been giving her this fluckers stuff. Just one CC like it says. as what I was told as well.

What can I add to her tank, without stressing her out? How big should she be? She is still apx 7 in since I got her for him in July. I see Bearded Dragons all the time that are HUGE! We had one apx 5 years ago for 3 years that wasn't as big as some i've seen, but yet much larger than this baby!

I know your supposed to offer a "salad"...what should it consist of?
Romain lettace, since iceburg is bad for any reptile so i've read [no nurtitional value is what i've read about giving it to my turtles].

When she was at the "pet shop" they fed her a salad of spinage, strawberries and carrots, i believe. Plus crickets.

Ok I think I covered some things i've been wondering about. Also, any suggestions on a timer for the light? I need to find a relatively cheep one, that works.

Sounds like u are going in the right direction. As far as salad, dont feed Romaine, it has no nutritional value. U can feed her mustard and collard greens, endive, parsley, cilantro, red cabbage, spinach ocassionally. Here is a link to a great source as to what u can feed and how much. Also the closer to the UVB light the better, but if u have her in a 10 gl tank thats really small, she needs to be able to move to a cooler side if she wants to, i suggest at least moving her to a 20 gl. This way she can bask at one end and get to a cooler end if needed.

http://home.comcast.net/%7Eholachapulin/Nutrition.html

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

With the UV light most recommend that the dragon should be able to get within 12" of it in order to receive the full benefits, however recent tests done by myself and Frances Baines found that closer was not always neccessarily better, and they can receive too much UVB. Esp. with bulbs like the megaray, the dragon should be at least 12" away from it. It depends what lamp/bulb you are using and the age of the bulb, but the general rule is to allow the dragon within 12" of it.

Have you read the care sheet on this forum? - Bearded dragon care You can also look on http://www.beautifuldragons.com for nutritional value of food.

7" is quite small for 5 month old dragon, but different reptiles grow at different rates, and individuality as well as different care and amount of food being fed/eaten, etc can all have an effect on how big and how quickly a dragon grows. We have 2 juveniles, around the same age, and one is approx 13" while the other is only 8-8.5" (the smaller one is missing the tip of her tail but she also weighs much less than the larger one). Keep doing what you are doing and your dragon will come on leaps and bounds i'm sure.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

The bulb, isn't but two MAYBE m onths old, its a "super uvb coil bulb" it I think is 25 watts, i'm not sure. Its to hot to take out and check, as last time I did that, i broke the bulb! I'll have to check out those sites. I read the care sheet on this fourm, back when I got her which is were I learned most of what I know about them. Plus various other sites not sure of names. I have the light positioned so one side is "darker" which I would assume colder, it would be a benefit if I knew the exact temp.

5 months would be if she was born right then, when I got her as well. When measureing you do count the tail length correct? 7" includes her tail.

I'm going to check out those sites now. Then run by petsmart and bilo.

I've seen the "reptile grass" what is up with that? Good or bad, etc. Also what would be good [material wise] for basking?

I've had the light on over her for apx 3 hours and she still hasn't moved a bit :/ but she is alive, so!

You definately need a thermometer so you know the temps of all areas of your enclosure, these things are just too important to guess.

For basking you can buy her, or go find perhaps as long as you disinfect properly, logs and twigs or branches of various materials, rocks (but not hot rocks, these are dangerous, just a normal rock will suffice and will get warm but not hot when placed in the basking spot), or you could buy commercially produced hides and climbing apparatus. We use branches, called flexi-branches, made out of some kind of rubber, mesh nets to stick to the back and sides of the tank, plastic plants, hides, rocks and wood drilled into the sides of the tank so the dragons can climb on them.

Reptile-grass - i've never personally used this, but it is fine to be used with dragons. Only problem I can see is that it could get a little messy/difficult to clean when they go to the toilet, esp. adult dragons

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Ok --- I looked at the nutritional chart and that TOTALLY confused me. I get the, color code yes, but i've heard of just general health problems in reptile from to much to little of certain types of vitamins, etc. She just drank apx 4 CC of water, until she stoped opening her mouth. I think maybe she got a bit tired...that i'm sure is a work out for her.

Does anybody have a good diet already made that I can follow? How much, etc.

I think I may get her something similar to what she had in her old tank, it was just some type of branch thingie that looked like a tree stump. LOL.

Just feed her daily with live food - crickets, meal worms, wax worms etc,. and daily or every other day with fruit and veg. I usually feed butternut squash and mixed greens, which I chop finely and put in the enclosures daily. Other veg and fruit ours usually get include carrot and apple, whatever we have in the house really that they are allowed to eat, grapes, mango, etc. You will find that your dragon prefers some over others. One of our dragons loves raspberries for example, and eats them whole, while the others won't entertain them! One of our other dragons likes grapes, while one of our younger dragons loves her greens. I've noticed on the whole they prefer green veg as it more natural to their environment.

Certain fruits and veggies should only be fed occasionally (see chart on the web link in previous post), while others, like squash, can be fed daily. Don't forget supplements on live food - for our Bearded Dragons we use pure calcium once a week, nutrobal (a multi-vitamin plus calcium) 2x per week, and probiotics 2x per week. The other days they get plain crickets.

Hope this helps.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

About how many crickets a day? I know they dont live to long, so how many should I feed/day/however long they'll live for.

I don't understand how long you have had the dragon for? - if you have had her for 5 months shouldn't you already know what salad and food to feed?

Length - includes the tail = snout to tail length (snout-tail length), or without the tail = snout to vent length (snout-vent length).

Live food - just put several crickets in. The general rule is to feed however many the dragon will eat in 5 mins. If all the crickets are eaten put in a few more, or feed later on in the day. While young you can feed 1-2 x daily, when she grows to an adult only feed once a day, or every other day, depending on how much the dragon eats. There is no set amount, it depends on the dragon, but I would estimate that the larger of our juvs eats around 20 a day, while the smaller juv eats 5-10 a day.

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"If you know everything you may as well blow your brains out because the reason for existence is to learn more everyday." - Mark O'Shea, 2004

Well, this dragon is my brothers. I don't know what the heck he was doing. I know all he had in the cage when I was there was commercial pellets. I'm just double checking, to see apx how many the *SHOULD* eat a day. in order to get the # of rickets I need. I told my brother what they fed her while she was at the pet store, but I don't think he followed through. And it was a LONG time ago so I don't remember, i know they said something about romain lettace though. I'm just trying to double check and re check to make sure I get her 100% back to norm. I want to see her get nice and big she is a very pretty dragon! That and until the other day I havn't been trying to get one back to good health. *HEHE*

Just adding...
I got stuff for a salad, and put it in her new dish! She hasn't touched it yet, I fed her a couple crickets and ate them in no time. I also got a little wood den, thing, and shes just chillin' on that!