I just purchased a baby bearded dragon but the store didnt…

Hello,

You have been given some very bad information on diet and lighting. You should have a UVB light. I suggest a Reptisun 10.0 florescent tube. This is the most effective UVB and will need to be replaced every 6 months. You do not need the Red light at night, unless the temps drop below 70*F. You need to run the UVB 12-14 hours a day along with the basking light. To work with the UVB you should have a Calcium supplement to dust on live prey 5 days a week and a vitamin supplement 2 days a week.

The diet is horrible and I suggest throwing the dried meal worms away as well as any other dried foods. Freeze dried food have no butritional value and all it is chitin(which is a hard outer shell). The Dragon should have live prey like crickets that have been gut loaded with food, silk worms, phoenix worms, or dubia roaches. We do not even recommend live meal worms. As far as veggies, carrot can actually cause eye problems. We use finely chopped collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, butternut squash, escarole and curly endives.

You should have a digital probe thermometer for temps in the basking area, warm side and cool side. I am going to give you my care sheet to help with the proper care of Chaz. Pet shops do not always give the proper information and that is why we are here to help.

Bearded Dragon Care Sheet

• Bearded dragons should be housed alone.
  
  
  
• Ages of bearded dragons follow these guidelines:
  

1. 0-3 months- baby
2. 3-12 months-juvenile
3. 12-18
months- sub adult
4. 18 months + -adult

• Bearded dragons live as much as 10-12 years if well cared for
  properly.
  
• Bearded dragons have a very good temperament as long as they
  are cared for and handled.
  
• When you bring your baby home, it may be quite stressful to
  him/her to get use to new home. May not eat well the first 2-3 days. They may
  not need to be handled the first 2-3 days if skittish and nervous.
  
• Never use sand or any other type of loose substrate: Loose
  substrates can cause impaction (not being able to go Poop) in all ages of
  bearded dragons- they lick their environment to explore .It is difficult to keep
  germ free and clean. Ceramic tile, newspaper, non adhesive shelf liner and
  reptile carpet is what is most recommended. Use paper towels for the little one
  and as they get bigger you can change to something else.
  
• Be sure you keep your beardies home as clean as you can. Clean
  up by spot cleaning when needed. Clean & sanitize entire tank every 10-14
  days. A good cleaning solution is a 20% bleach solution. If you choose to use
  wood climbing branches etc, these should be soaked in the bleach solution and
  rinsed well. Then bake in 250 degree oven for 30 minutes.
  
• Need a climbing accessory: to bask and to warm up under basking
  heat light and lower branches or platforms to come down and cool off.
  
• A hide of some sort like a cave.
  
• A food dish and water dish.
  
• Plastic spray bottle
  
• Can use artificial plants when they get older- 3 months or so.
  
  
• Digital thermostat and/or temp gun
  
• Tank size: Minimal size tank for this age is 20 gallon long
  
  
• Minimal size for older beardie: 4 months of age: 40 gallon
  breeder is the minimal tank size for older dragon. Can divide a 40 gallon
  breeder for a smaller dragon. Must have two lights for your beardie.
  

1. A UVB light source-best is 10.0 Reptisun that runs the length
of your tank. Your dragon must have this light to metabolize calcium. If not he
will get metabolic bone disease, a serious condition. You can also take your
beardie outside to bask in the sun for 15 minutes each day if your temps are 80
degrees or above outside. You can purchase cages or reptariums from your pet
store. Never leave a beardie outside unattended.
2. A basking type light
that puts out heat and warmth above basking spot. Your beardie must have warmth
to digest food & thrive.

• Lights should be on for 12-14 hours each day. Follow the
  seasons and light timers are a great luxury if you can get them. 6 dollars at
  Lowe's. No lights or warmth needed at night unless your temperatures get below
  62 degrees. If they do, there are ceramic heat emitters that put out no light,
  only heat. Use these at night if temperatures fall below 62 degrees.
  

• Temperatures have to be kept at the following ranges during the
  day:

Babies: Warm basking log: 105-110 degrees F
Cool side: 85-90

Adults: Warm basking spot: 110-115
Cool side: 80-85
Measure
temperatures with a digital probe type thermometer or a temp gun-these are most
accurate. Stick on thermometers unreliable.

• Feeding a Beardie: Beardies eat live prey consisting of
  crickets, roaches and/or silkworms. Never feed any size of mice to your beardie.
  Never feed meal worms. They also must be given greens/veggies everyday. The
  younger they are the more live prey they should have. As they grow older the
  live prey decreases and the veggies/greens should be the major part of diet.
  Never feed anything bigger, than the space between your beardie's eyes. This
  includes both live prey and pieces of veggies/greens,
  
• A chopper or food processor is a huge help when your beardie is
  small. Always offer greens and veggies: collard greens, turnip greens, mustard
  greens, cabbage, red cabbage, fresh green beans, yellow summer squash, butternut
  squash, sweet potato, cactus pad. Apricots, strawberries, apples, blueberries,
  raspberries, cantaloupe- fruits are treats only.
  
• What is live prey? The easiest and less expensive live prey is
  crickets when you have a young or first beardie. The other live preys you can
  feed are silkworms, and special types of roaches. You can learn to raise your
  own live prey. Treats can be wax worms, super worms, and tomato/Goliath worms.
  You may find that ordering live prey from the internet is the way to go.....
  Never leave live prey or greens/veggies in tank overnight. . Crickets can bite
  your beardie when sleeping.
  
• Babies should get 80% live prey, and 20 % greens/veggies. But
  since the greens/veggies are a must when they are older, get them eating their
  greens/veggies very early. Give greens/veggies in small pieces everyday. You
  should eventually start decreasing your older dragon's protein intake when they
  are about a year to 15 months old. Their protein intake decreases to 20 % live
  prey and 80% veggies/greens.
  
• A baby eat 50-75 crix a day depending on the size of the
  crickets. Never feed crix or veggies bigger than the space between your
  beardie's eyes. Use this guide when buying crix or chopping your greens/veggies.
  
  
• You must provide calcium dust without D3 and multivitamin dust
  for your beardie. You should dust the live prey with calcium one time a day, and
  vitamins 3 times a week. Just collect your live prey into baggie and add enough
  calcium and vitamin to dust them. Then pour a few at a time into your tank. Some
  people feed their beardie in a separate tank so that no crickets can hide. Or
  some take out "furniture" from tank and feed this way. As they get older, 4-5
  months or so dust live prey with calcium 3 times a week.
  
• Feed the veggies/ greens 1st thing in morning after lights on
  for one hour at least. Then after 2-3 hours offer crix. Then freshen
  green/veggies. Then give more crix. Make sure after last crix feeding there is
  at least 1-2 hours of lights so that they can digest their food before night
  time.

*Beardies over the age of one year old during
the winter months will go into a Brumation like most Reptiles and Herps. It is a
form of Hibernation that is governed by the weather and time of year. The lights
should be on a shorter period at this time. Fresh greens should be available
during this period. Do not feed live prey during Brumation.

Water: Mist your little one with the spray bottle 3-4 times a
day. You can also offer a small dish of water in your enclosure but be sure your
dragon is not too small to drown in it. It is recommended that when your beardie
is 2 months old you can bathe your baby in a small plastic container with warm
water- not hot. It will help them to stay hydrated. As they get older you can
move up to the bathroom sink and then to the bathtub. Very important for bath
enclosure to be thoroughly cleaned and rinsed prior to bath time. Clean between
dragons too if bathing more than one.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask. I like to start people off with proper husbandry and then see if I can further assist. My goal is to give you 100% Excellent srevice. Joan

fruits and Vegetables

http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutritionframeset.html

Walnut shell Graphic: http://mrskingsbioweb.com/beardeddragngrossanatomy.htm

sexing bearded Dragons: http://repticzone.com/articles/sexingbeardeddragons.html