bearded dragon help

man.about.town

i got a bearded dragon, last week, hes about a year and a half old (i think) an very tame. hes in a 4ft vivarium, im using chipped wood as the substrate, a large piece of wood to climb and a few rocks etc... the viv came with uva tube, a red heating light, a heating pad and i bought a ceramic heating lamp because the red light wasnt heating it up enough. i have a water bowl and feeding bowl. so far ive feed him mainly locusts, apple, lettuce and pellets.

how often do i clean it out (i take out any excrement when i see it)?

they like baths?? how often?

and should i feed him every day?

its my first lizard so any advice or tips are welcome???

cheers

man.about.town

here is picture of the vivarium w/bearded dragon

Hellrazer

man.about.town wrote: »

i got a bearded dragon, last week, hes about a year and a half old (i think) an very tame. hes in a 4ft vivarium, im using chipped wood as the substrate, a large piece of wood to climb and a few rocks etc... the viv came with uva tube, a red heating light, a heating pad and i bought a ceramic heating lamp because the red light wasnt heating it up enough. i have a water bowl and feeding bowl. so far ive feed him mainly locusts, apple, lettuce and pellets.

The viv looks good but Im a bit concerned with the amount of heat you have in there.

Ideally they need a gradient so what I would do is place the ceramic heater over the rocks-they`ll absorb the heat and he`ll get "belly heat"
Ideally the basking spot should be around 110-115 farenheit (41-45 c)

Take out the heat pad.
So you have one source of heat and the rest of the viv will be cooler further from the heat point.

Small tip for you--Ive always had more success using spot light bulbs instead of all these fancy ceramic heaters,"reptile bulbs" etc.
A 60 or 100 watt spot ulb will do just as well for you if you put it in the ceramic heater socket.

Also that uv bulb seems very high up in the cage.These bulbs have a range of only 9-10 inches so if you`ve any slack in the cable drop it down lower into the viv.

how often do i clean it out (i take out any excrement when i see it)?

Spot clean everyday and then a full clean out and new substrate every 3-4 months should be ok.

they like baths?? how often?

Once a week should be ok for a bath but if you notice its not pooing then give him a bath in warm water up to his shoulders--not too deep.

and should i feed him every day?

Feed veggies everyday(actually you should really have fresh veggies in there all the time anyway and insects every second day is the way I do it.If its not eating the veg then feed more often with insects.

Another tip for you--Beardies love dandelions and this time of the year I collect loads of them.Savaged in minutes.just make sure theyre really really clean and not collected near anywhere that could be polluted ie near roads,industrial estates etc.

its my first lizard so any advice or tips are welcome???

cheers

Just enjoy it.I love beardies and even though Ive kept other lizards beardies have always been my favourite lizards of all time.

man.about.town

Hellrazer wrote: »

Just enjoy it.I love beardies and even though Ive kept other lizards beardies have always been my favourite lizards of all time.

thank you very much for that, i have re-arranged the viv and removed the heat matt.