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Beardie slideshow on my site - can you tell we are hs'ers?


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And you bred him! He is fantastic, and I am so impressed.

 

We have just entered the world of beardies, and are enjoying it immensely. We just have one, and she is really pretty, with a lot of red and orange, but Obi is one of the prettiest I have ever seen.

 

By the way, how do you handle going out of town? Do you take them with you, or have you? We are exploring that as a possibility.

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Drako is my oldest dd's baby...well he has been her baby for the past 4 years. He is often seen sitting in her lap while she does her homework--he also loves to watch TV with her. He is a Super Orange Sandfire--one BEAUTIFUL orange boy.

 

Bella (short for Lizzard-bella) is our 'rescue' beardie. SHE. IS. UGLY. but at the same time she is beautiful to us. She had a rough start in life--her first 3 years were in terrible conditions (no UVB light) and not enough food. She is a German Giant/ Orange cross...she is HUGE (24 inches long!). According to the vet she was 'mostly dead' when we took her in. I syringe fed her Parazap (great stuff!) and baby food. She pulled through...but she cannot use her feet (move her toes)...she can waddle around a room on occasion. Bella LOVES to watch animal planet and since her 'girl' (my middle dd) attends PS I often put a show on for her...or like yesterday, I watch it with her!

 

I NEVER thought I would love lizards so much!

 

Each lizard has its own 75 gallon aquarium complete with a homemade rock wall. We also have an outside screened enclosure for basking in the sun on sunny days.

 

Neither beardie brumated this year...they have slowed their eating a bit...but no long slumber.

 

I raise silkworms for them spring-fall...they LOVE their silkies!

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Parazap is an all natural formula for treating/preventing parasites in all sorts of animals.

 

You can google Parazap to find where to purchase online. It is a bit expensive--but it lasts a LONG time--and is much cheaper and safer for your pets than meds from the vets.

 

 

Most beardies will have a parasite "bloom" when you first bring them home due to the stress of a new environment. I make the 'tea' with Parazap and the beardies lick it off the end of a syringe/dropper. I've also used it to help bring a 'mostly dead' cat back to health (extreme starvation and parasites). Two weeks of daily treatments (I mixed the powder with his food) and he was on his way to recovery.

 

I give our beardies a round of Parazap once a year as a preventative--I try to do it in late fall before they brumate (lizard word for hibernate).

 

If your beardies poo ever starts to smell even worse than normal or if they have diarrhea--it is time for a round of Parazap.

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I would love to see pics of your set-ups as we need to EXPAND here. Also, did you buy your screen enclosure or build it?

 

I am thinking of building something for them that is roomier. I actually have an old TV console unit I am thinking of converting.

 

One of my ds has something very similar that someone bought which gave me the idea. I figure I could install fixtures in the top and have glass for the front.

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I made my dd research bearded dragons for nearly one year before we ordered our first (yes I bought him online from a breeder out of state--you should have seen the lady at the post office's face when I opened the box!). I also researched because I knew that I would also have to help care for him.

 

I found Cheri at The Reptile Rooms to be one of the nicest experts on reptiles--especially bearded dragons. She helped me save the life of my rescue.

 

http://www.reptilerooms.com

 

The other web site I used to frequent often was http://www.kingsnake.com

click on forums, then scroll down to lizard forums and select bearded dragons--or just try this link:

http://forums.kingsnake.com/forum.php?catid=43

 

Kingsnake is a HUGE HUGE site. Most of the posters on the Bearded Dragon forum are experienced--but some of the newbys may give mixed information. There are several trusted posters that have been there for the 5 years that I've been around. PHLdyPayne, B22 (he is NOT a native english speaker and he is a hoot--but he knows what he is talking about), BDlvr is also good.

 

DO NOT BELIEVE THE PEOPLE IN THE PET STORES! I shouted because most pet shop workers will sell you supplies that are proven to be dangerous to beardies--like walnut shells and 'Calcium Sand'--it is NOT digested by beardies, they WILL eat it and way too many have died...most bags of this stuff have a picture of a pretty beardie on the front--Reptile products are NOT regulated.

 

For a baby beardie to start you need at least a 20 gallon aquarium with screen lid, fluorescent UBV bulb (8.0 or 10.0) and a heat lamp with bulb.

I really like to use Duck Brand non porous shelf liner to line the tank with. No danger to the beardie and it is EASY to keep clean. A stack of rocks or a wooden branch set on angle to bask on/hide under. You do not need a water dish as they are more likely to use it for a toilet and they get their water from food/greens and baths. By 6month of age they should be moved into at least a 40 gallon long aquarium--but bigger is better. We use 75 gallon aquariums for each of our beardies.

 

It is NOT recommended to keep males and females together--they WILL breed and hatchlings can be expensive to feed...in the wild bearded dragons live a solitary life except when it is time to breed.

 

Beardies need protein from live prey when they are little. They will eat salads too (dark leafy greens)... when they are adults they will only need protein once or twice a week. Babies need it every day! These guys grow fast. We feed babies crickets (order by the 1000 online) and silkworms. Adults get crickets on occasion, silkworms spring-fall, and superworms for variety. Our beardies will also eat commercial dragon food (Repcal pellets).

 

READ lots and soon you will be able to filter out the good information.

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I have adults, juveniles and babies. I even have four eggs about to hatch. I am using rabbit food pellets for my adults for substrate as I was told it was safe since it dissolves and is pretty large.

 

However, I want to get some liner paper as that sounds better. I am also getting an old TV console that I am going to convert into a cage. I thought it might be a fun project and thinking I could install a light socket and flourescent bulb socket to top, maybe put some plexiglass on front and particle board on back with screen vent. What do you think?

 

I also went to the reptile room. Great site. I even ordered some silkworms as I have never fed them those before. Hope they are not hard to keep but from the fact sheets it seemed pretty easy.

 

Thanks for all your advice.

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I purchase my Duck Brand shelf liner at the grocery store, Home Depot and even WalMart. You want the kind that has a bit of texture (slight) but no holes. It will smell plasticy for a day or so---you can unroll it and let it air out before cutting it to fit in the enclosure. One dd currently has a 'flowery' pattern (female beardie) in her tank and the other dd has 'palm trees' (male beardie) in her tank.

 

The shelf liner is easy to wipe off. Just clean with a damp paper towel or take out and wash with soap and water when needed. My oldest dd's beardie will 'use' a certain part of his tank each time. She keeps a separate (second layer) piece of the liner there--so clean up is easier...when he was little she had him potty trained to paper towels!

 

Each of our beardies has a sand box located in the lower level of their rock wall/basking site. They usually sleep in their sand box.

 

Shelf liner is one of the safest substrates (slate is another). You really want to avoid pellets of any type--and absolutely avoid commercial substrate products. I like sand only for sand boxes--not for a whole substrate as it holds too much bacteria when they 'go'--and you can NEVER scoop all of 'it'.

 

I just found some of my OLD pictures in the Kingsnake photo gallery...http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/42208EmilyandDrako.jpg

This one is of my baby (she turned 6 yesterday!) holding a baby Drako (he was 6 months old--now 4).

 

http://gallery.pethobbyist.com/data/42208Drakosrockwall.jpg

This is a picture of our first rock wall. It takes up half of a 75 gallon aquarium. I googled 'rock walls' and found several sites with directions. It was EASY... We partitioned the bottom 'cave' off for a sand box...Drako is cuddled inside it today--snuggled up to a stuffed FLOWER pillow...my dd is relentless with her props!

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