My Baby Bearded Dragons!

[NanoDuke]

Borrowed from AussiePythons.com where I originally posted.

QUOTE:
After a lot of trawling on these forums, gathering information. I finally got a pair of baby dragons.

So happy with them.
I've already noticed one (maybe both) arm wave at me. First time was when I got changed for work in my pitch black pants and shirt. Second time was this morning from one of them on the drift wood. I've also witnessed them asleep on top of each other on the wood one night, and another night one was propped standing up against the glass. So much character in these guys!

And now for the pics.
Here's "Low Spot" showing his darker and lighter colours:



"High Spot" looking all bright-like


Their favourite basking spot - a roof tile from out the back. They can still fit underneath to chase after crickets that escape.


And a full shot of their home - the paper around the otuside is to stop them from chasing their reflection :P


Many thanks for the following "suppliers":

Drift wood by falconboy
4ft tank by Rupes
MicroClimate B1 by nightowl
Fluon AD1 by Leigh
Silkworms by SilkWormCity

And of course the dragons came from the lovely Jenny

Many thanks to all the guys that helped me to get set up.
Please leave comments and feedback.


For those interested the basking light is a Philips 100W Spot globe on a dimming thermostat. It comes on from 9am to 9pm. Above is a double 4ft fluoro with a standard white tube and an NEC Blacklight UV. It comes on at 10am, and goes off at 8pm.

Temperature directly below the lamp is hovering around 35C, with the cool end at room temp.

These guys are just on 2inches (5cm SVL).

[_Raz_]

Cool. Aren't they the cutest. I like the colouring on the second one. They are centrals right?

I have easterns and the big mumma laid 33 eggs the other day... unfortunately only 7 were fertile!

Usually all of her eggs are fertile, so hopefully it was just a one off.

Here is one hatching from last years clutch



In the yellow one in the centre is the one we kept, very happy with her colouring for an eastern!

[kr0nic]

Oh man there totally awesome!

I am so going to have to try and talk mum into letting me put ANOTHER tank somewhere in the house to get some of these awesome guys.

[NanoDuke]

Thanks guys.
Yeah, Raz, I believe they are CBD. They both can go that same yellow, but the other one seems to be a bit more grumpy, or likes to blend into the drift wood better.

Oh and Kronic, you'll have to convince your folks to have TWO tanks.
You really need a second one to keep roaches and/or crickets in.

[dpenman]

Yeah i got two off of Jenny around this time last year and they are CBD, great animals...

[NanoDuke]

Did you get the yellow phase ones?
I'd lvoe to see pics of them.
My mate has a yellow one, and it's come up nicely.

[maldotcom2]

Nice, good to see you've got all the essentials from the get-go. I've had a Black Soil Plains Bearded Dragon for about 5 years now. He's a great little friend, he's currently asleep in his enclosure behind me.

So they're Vitticeps you think? Do you know the sex of them?

A few questions/pointers:

- Did you disinfect the tile and brick with bleach?
- Do you have calcium and vitamin supplement powders? If not i recommend rep-cal brand, it's really critical while they're growing so fast.
- Look at getting a substrate aside from sheets of newspaper, i recommend fine play sand. Not only does it look better but crickets don't hide under it and the dragons seem to like to dig in it.
- I don't think its a good idea to have the heat turn off completely at night, especially during winter, perhaps an undertank heatpad to give heat while still simulating night?
- Seeing as the dragons are so small they would have to balance very precariously on the edge of the food and water bowls. Maybe use the lids from Vegemite containers?

Sorry to pick, i got the impression you were new to the game, if not and i'm telling you stuff you already know disregard my post.

the paper around the outside is to stop them from chasing their reflection

My dragon does that too, runs up and down the side of the tank scrambling at the glass. He only does it for a few minutes though until he realizes his attempts are futile.


Good luck and enjoy your new friends!

[dpenman]

I find the best thing for the surface is astro-turf, they really love to rub on it whilst shedding, i originally got one yellow and one plain, yellow one received an infection and died after a few days on anti-biotics , plain one is still growing quickly, ill load up some pics when i finish building its new terranium (spell?)

[_Raz_]

Originally Posted by maldotcom2

- Look at getting a substrate aside from sheets of newspaper, i recommend fine play sand. Not only does it look better but crickets don't hide under it and the dragons seem to like to dig in it.

No sand for babies!!! They can eat it (they like to taste things) and become impacted and die.

The newpaper is fine. You can also get reptile carpet, which looks pretty good if you don't like the newspaper.

[NanoDuke]

Originally Posted by maldotcom2

Nice, good to see you've got all the essentials from the get-go. I've had a Black Soil Plains Bearded Dragon for about 5 years now. He's a great little friend, he's currently asleep in his enclosure behind me.

So they're Vitticeps you think? Do you know the sex of them?

A few questions/pointers:

- Did you disinfect the tile and brick with bleach?
- Do you have calcium and vitamin supplement powders? If not i recommend rep-cal brand, it's really critical while they're growing so fast.
- Look at getting a substrate aside from sheets of newspaper, i recommend fine play sand. Not only does it look better but crickets don't hide under it and the dragons seem to like to dig in it.
- I don't think its a good idea to have the heat turn off completely at night, especially during winter, perhaps an undertank heatpad to give heat while still simulating night?
- Seeing as the dragons are so small they would have to balance very precariously on the edge of the food and water bowls. Maybe use the lids from Vegemite containers?

Sorry to pick, i got the impression you were new to the game, if not and i'm telling you stuff you already know disregard my post.


My dragon does that too, runs up and down the side of the tank scrambling at the glass. He only does it for a few minutes though until he realizes his attempts are futile.


Good luck and enjoy your new friends!

I'm pretty sure they're vitticeps. Sex unknown at such a young age.
Brick I didn't do anything. Tile I scrubbed with bleach, as with the tank.

Already have and use Rep-cal calcium and reptivite.

As Raz said, I don't want to use sand till after a year old.

It doesn't get too cold at my place during the night, and they're in my bedroom which is nice and cosy.

I did have shallow lids, but I've been mixing heaps of stuff together and wanted a bigger container. The larger dish allowed me to paint the sides with Fluon to stop bugs from crawling out.
I normally feed them by hand in the morning and throw in a few silkworms or crickets if one didn't eat, for them to pick at during the day. It much be fine for them since nothing lasts long in there, except the vegies... They aren't too fond of them yet.

They don't like the water either. I've dumped them in the dish and they just crawl straight out. I mist them every day though, and place a drop of water on their snouts which they then arc up and drink it as it falls down their mouths.

Thanks for caring. I am new to reptiles. I had a turtle before but that's completely different. I joined AussiePythons in April and have been asking heaps of questions, and getting advice there so everything's running sweet now.

[dpenman]

Try a shallow warm bath, mine loves it and it really helps with a shed...
Impaction is something to really watch for, its horrible to see, pretty freaky...

[maldotcom2]

Originally Posted by _Raz_

No sand for babies!!! They can eat it (they like to taste things) and become impacted and die.

Well i can see that may be a problem if they're ingesting large amounts of it, but they should pass the few grains they're likely to sample. I think the main problem is small pebbles, where eating one would cause serious problems.

Of course it's fine to err on the side of caution and use newspaper until they grow, just don't go releasing crickets in the hope they will get eaten. Carpet and turf would be terrible to clean up.


I have a question for anyone who feels they can answer: What's the best way to pick up a small dragon?

I tend to lower my hand in above him then slide my fingers under one side of him, and my thumb under the other. Like if you were to pickup a branch off the ground. Obviously this is a very threatening way of doing it because it's like a bird claw grabbing them. He doesn't like it at all.

[_Raz_]

I use a feeding tub to feed my Lizards, so there is no problems with the crickets hinding in the enclosure and nibbling on the lizard at night.

My enclosure has a lot of plants etc where they could hide anyway, so I find it the easiest to just use a plastic tub.



The carpet is pretty easy to clean. You pick up the poop every day, if it's a bit messy you wipe it up with some chux or something, and when you fully clean out the enclosure, you just wash down the carpet and hang it in the sun to dry. I also use some reptile enclosure cleaner.

I pick up baby hatchlings by lowering my hands to the ground and scoop him up making sure all of his legs are all on your hand. If you avoid putting your hands over his head where is third eye is it should scare then less.

If you are feeding your baby lizard in the tank with sand I guess it could cause problems when they miss and get a mouth full of it... while they may be able to pass it, I think it's better to be safe than sorry.

I had one of my babies get impacted from eating too many crickets at once, they were the correct size too, I was able to help her pass it by baths and soft tummy massage....when she passed it, her poop was huge!

[NanoDuke]

Originally Posted by maldotcom2

I have a question for anyone who feels they can answer: What's the best way to pick up a small dragon?

Since mine are only small, I lower my hand down and 'poke' a finger underneath their chin. They then climb up onto my finger and sit quite happily. I often have trouble getting them off my hand then.

It's always important to support their feet and torso when lifting them.
If their feet are flailing wildly, chances are they're not having much fun.

[BlastM]

Look how tiny they are!

I love the tank with the brick and the tile, truly the bearded dragon's native habitat.