Boris

[Sziren]

Thought I should share pic's of my new pet Boris!

He joined my family/zoo yesterday and he is a 1-year-old Bearded Dragon.
There is still some growing in him, should reach upto 24 inches long. At the moment he is about 16/18 inches.

Never had a reptile before, so this is a first, but I totally adore him and the viv makes such a feature in the living room on it's own

...... cannae wait to talk my man into getting something else now....

 

[moray]

he's great, the viv is very pretty too.

 

[blitztidus]

He is very sharp 8)

 

[Saedcantas]

Hiya Sziren,

Boris is adorable, pretty much like all beardies really!

I apologise if this is unwelcome, but could I make just two teeny tiny suggestions that I think will help you prolong the life of your new beardie and prevent some possible problems that could occur?

Could you please take the beech chippings out of his vivarium and replace them with either Bird/playsand or grocers grass Both of these things are in general more than safe to use and pose no risk to your pet.
Beech and other chippings however can very easily be eaten by your beardie as he is a lunge feeder and can accidently pick up the wood too, if he swallows this you can very rapidly have a very ill or dead beardie!

I think I can see the glow of a UV tube across the top of the vivarium, but if you could possibly manage it, it would be far better if you lowered it to within 6" of where your beardie spends the majority of his time or provided him with lots more sturdy branches and rocks to climb on which give him closer access to the UV tube.
UV tube lighting is most effective within 6" of your animal, over 12" away and the UVB rays simply do not penetrate that far and as a result your beardie does not gain any benefit from the light and could potentially suffer Calcium uptake problems later.

I hope my comments fall on listening ears and that you dont take any offence from me
Here is my own bearded dragon caresheet, just incase you have the time to read it, since you can never research enough
Bearded Dragon Care.

 

[Sziren]

Thank you very much for your kind comments!

Hiya Sziren,

Boris is adorable, pretty much like all beardies really!

I apologise if this is unwelcome, but could I make just two teeny tiny suggestions that I think will help you prolong the life of your new beardie and prevent some possible problems that could occur?

Could you please take the beech chippings out of his vivarium and replace them with either Bird/playsand or grocers grass Both of these things are in general more than safe to use and pose no risk to your pet.
Beech and other chippings however can very easily be eaten by your beardie as he is a lunge feeder and can accidently pick up the wood too, if he swallows this you can very rapidly have a very ill or dead beardie!

I think I can see the glow of a UV tube across the top of the vivarium, but if you could possibly manage it, it would be far better if you lowered it to within 6" of where your beardie spends the majority of his time or provided him with lots more sturdy branches and rocks to climb on which give him closer access to the UV tube.
UV tube lighting is most effective within 6" of your animal, over 12" away and the UVB rays simply do not penetrate that far and as a result your beardie does not gain any benefit from the light and could potentially suffer Calcium uptake problems later.

I hope my comments fall on listening ears and that you dont take any offence from me
Here is my own bearded dragon caresheet, just incase you have the time to read it, since you can never research enough
Bearded Dragon Care.

Thank you very very much for this!
I knew that the substrate was wrong, but the shop did not have any of the lime(?) sand left so it has been ordered for me and I should get it for Thursday. I have also ordered a bigger piece of wood so that he can get to climb a bit ( and get closer to the light).

I have been doing some research of course, but I do struggle to find a lot of vegetables to feed him. There are loads and loads of american sites, but the stuff they mentioned is not named the same here in the UK.
There also seems to be conflicting information in regards to what type of live food to give him, some say stick to crickets and some say he should get hoppers, same thing with all the worms you get...??

I will read through the link you have kindly supplied as I love my Boris and will do anything to ensure his needs are met in any way I can!

Thank you again!

 

[kubora666]

use wood chippings in the vivarium, NOT SAND, they wil lingest it with there food and become impacted and DIE. its a very common death for captive beardies,
my 2 beardies are just abit over a year old, they are similar to urs only more yellow/red in colour. they have bred recently and i have eggs, they were my first reptiles and im now expirienced with them, beardeds are in my opinion the best reptile pet, there not boring and curl up all day like snakes, they never bite ( very un often ) they are personable and tehy are active and always ready to be handled, there very easy to look after and all my friends love them lol.

good luck with your beardies
regards kubora666

 

[grahamsokel]

Gorgeous beardie
the best sorce of heat for a beardie is a spot basking bulb from above as they need a basking area of around 110 deg

Hiya Sziren,



Could you please take the beech chippings out of his vivarium and replace them with either Bird/playsand or grocers grass Both of these things are in general more than safe to use and pose no risk to your pet.
Beech and other chippings however can very easily be eaten by your beardie as he is a lunge feeder and can accidently pick up the wood too, if he swallows this you can very rapidly have a very ill or dead beardie!

I think I can see the glow of a UV tube across the top of the vivarium, but if you could possibly manage it, it would be far better if you lowered it to within 6" of where your beardie spends the majority of his time or provided him with lots more sturdy branches and rocks to climb on which give him closer access to the UV tube.
UV tube lighting is most effective within 6" of your animal, over 12" away and the UVB rays simply do not penetrate that far and as a result your beardie does not gain any benefit from the light and could potentially suffer Calcium uptake problems later.

I hope my comments fall on listening ears and that you dont take any offence from me
Here is my own bearded dragon caresheet, just incase you have the time to read it, since you can never research enough
Bearded Dragon Care.

excellant advice there

use wood chippings in the vivarium, NOT SAND, regards kubora666

You should never use wood chips for beardies or geckos it is so dangerous as already said it can do so much dammage when swallowed
no substrate as babies and from 6 months birdsand is the only way to go
ask anyone on

www.livefoods.co.uk and they will say the same,i am a moderator on there

 

[karen84]

very nice

 

[shrimply]

kubora666 you really don't seem to know how to look after your beardies not only is their viv too small but they are on the wrong substrate.

I think you can use normal play sand for kids in the viv. It doesn't compress as well but it doesn't let off the unpleascent smells like calium sand. Wait till someone more experienced confirms this as I don't know that much about these animals.

 

[Saedcantas]

use wood chippings in the vivarium, NOT SAND, they wil lingest it with there food and become impacted and DIE. its a very common death for captive beardies,

Worst piece of advice I have had the misfortune to read on this entire forum.

Kubora, I have been working with reptiles in trade and keeping them for 7 years now, I am also a member of a large number of reptile specialist forums (including the one mentioned by Graham) and not one single person would agree with or support your statement.

 

[shrimply]

It is easy to see where the mistake is made due to the the fact that what he said is true for most snake species but It is easy to see that he did not do any research. I don't even keep lizards due to the fact that I do not have the room. Will do soon and the only info I know is from small pieces I pick up when I am in the reptile shop.

It is people that don't research their pets before they get them that gives reptile keepers a bad name.

He has handed out two pieces of advice know that I hardly understand how he belives them.

His other was two fully grown beadies will happily live in a 3ft viv. How on earth can you belive that animals that size will be happy in such cramped conditions. I would not go smaller than 4ft for one and it would have to be bigger than 12" wide.

He also states he is now experianced with them. Now I believe that I have good experiance with corns after a couple of years keeping my two but I know for a fact that nobody would find the advice I gave out to be alarming or cuase harm to the snakes as they have very basic care needs and the two years have been spent mainly on snake forums. Go on test me out


He says they are the best reptile and although this is his opinion it is deffinatly not the easiest starter exotic pet. I do agree however after decent research a begginer can pull off their care needs.

Also snakes are not boring and curl up all day. They all have different personalities I have one that hides all day but another who loves to stay out all day and goes right up to the front of the glass to watch the hovering.

Ok rant over- sorry everyone. Had forgot to say before that it is a great beardy and you sound like a good owner the sooner people are able to spot these problems and you listen to them the better.

Also forgot to say it might be better to use a spot light to heat the viv along with UV rather thn a heat mat as beardys are notorious for puncturing them and electricuting themselves.

 

[grahamsokel]

i keep my beardies in 4x2x2 vivs and they use every inch of the vivs and get out for a run around every day