This is how we do it here at Rainbow Bearded Dragons. All babies and Juveniles that are sold were housed in clear Plastic Totes. If you are putting your new dragon in Glass cages, most of you will. Please cover the sides and back of the cage with paper and just leave the front veiw. This will allow your new dragon to adjust faster. Please keep your new dragon in his cage for the first few days except for soaking.This will help him adjust faster from relocation stress.
Can still pet him in his cage. New dragon needs to stay calm and settle into his new home before a lot of handling. Settling in, relocation stress can take a few hours most cases to a couple weeks extreme cases. This is normal but mine start eating usually within a few hours of arrival. Eating will increase over the first week of arrival. Be sure to soak your new dragon on second day of arrival. Can soak on first day if weather is hot in your area to hydrate the dragon from shipping and stress.
Please DO NOT USE COIL UV BULBS ! They are makeing them to strong and they are Burning the Dragons eyes!. Breeders are aware of the problem but most of the public are NOT AWARE. If you are useing coil UV Bulbs and your dragon doesn't want to bask and has it's eyes closed all the time it's eyes got BURNED! Take out the coil Bulb and replace with the tube type UV Bulbs. Provide the dragon with a hiding spot so it can get out of the UV altogether and let it's eyes heal. It won't be able to see, so you might have to hand feed the dragon . keep the dragon hydrated by soaking the dragon every other day until healed, around 5 days.
We use Reptiglo 10.0 UV Bulbs which provide 33% UVA and 10% UVB which I've found is all they need.. Also I use 10 inch domes with regular house hold bulbs for heat. Add a higher wattage bulb for more heat less wattage for lower Temp.s Start with a 60 watt and go up from there. Please don't guess at the temperatures in your cage! Check with a reptile thermometer or Temperature gun to check heat. Temp.s should be between 100-105 degrees under the basking light and 75-85 on the cool side of the cage. Dragons need to regulate their body temperature and need a cool side as well as a hot... These temperatures are for all size dragons and all cages... Their lights are on a timer here and come on at 8 am , off at 10 pm which is 14 hours a day...Make sure lights are coming on and going off the same time everyday. Dragons need a set routine.. Do all of your heating from above. No Heat Rocks or heating pads under dragons.
Night Time Heat
Okay I get asked this alot so here it is...Dragons will not need any night time heat unless your home is below 66 degrees at night. This means no lights of any kind or any type of under tank heater. If your house does go below that can use a red bulb sold at pet stores for night time heat. Only need the temp to be around 70 degrees IN THE CAGE FOR NIGHT TIME TEMPS. NOT 80'S or 90'S Dragons need to cool at night to stay healthy.
We use paper towels in the baby and juvi bins and newspaper in our Adult cages. Start your Babies off in a smaller cage or section off a bigger one so they can find their food and adjust more easily. Under no conditions should you house a dragon under 14 inches on Sand and NEVER USE WALNUT SHELLS . Walnut shells are like rocks and can't be digested. This will killl a small dragon quicker than anything. I can't stress this enough. They can get impacted and die, use paper ONLY. Keep it bare as crickets like to hide and come out at night to nibble on your dragon. Never have something a NEW DRAGON can hide in or under in the new cage. I want the dragon to adjust .Hiding will only make the dragon more timid and will take a lot longer to adjust. HIDING IS A BIG NO NO...
We feed greens in the morning. Mist your greens with plain water to keep your dragon hydrated. No water bowls are needed in the cage .Feed bugs in the afternoon and evening. Be sure to dust your crickets with calcium D3. Babies up to 4 months of age Daily . Afew times a week for older dragons. We use RepCal calcium with D3 because they are indoor dragons... and Herptivite a multivitamin twice a week. Soak your Dragon in warm water to hydrate once or twice a week for 10-20 min. Dragons will drink from their bath water at bath time. This is perfectly fine and good for your dragon. If it poops however in the water , Drain it out and put fresh warm water in.
Keep your dragon and cages clean and your dragon will stay healthy. Dragons do need to be fecal checked by a vet. at around 6-7 months of age and will need their first worming then. I don't recommend worming a dragon younger than that unless the dragon has been sick and ordered by a vet.
If you Still feel you want to use sand after they reach 14 inches you can do so... But it will not be as healthy for the dragon as paper. There is no way you can get all the fecal out of sand and the dragon will ingest this when it is eating and catching insects. Please be sure to feed you new dragon the right sized food. Greens and insects should NOT BE BIGGER THAN THE SPACE BETWEEN THE DRAGONS EYES. The dragon can choke on large food items. Babies and Juveniles are fed Mustard greens , Red Swiss Chard with grated Zucchini with peel on all mixed together. If you still have any questions feel free to ask. Better to be safe than Sorry.
How To House And Care For Crickets
Buy a 18 gal tote from Target or Wal-Mart whatever you have around in your area. Put some holes in the lid of the tote. Don't worry they can't climb the side of the tote as long as it is smooth. Buy your crickets from a cricket breeder near you. Cost will be much cheaper then a pet store.
Crickets will be delivered in a box with egg crate. Open box and dump crickets and egg crate in the tote you bought. Try to keep crickets in a warm place such as your reptile room. Feed crickets a good nutritious food and water gel. We use Organic chicken feed here. It's healthy , cheap and lasts a long time. Make sure to buy the Chicken laying crumbles and not the pellets. Pellets are to big for the crickets.
Place empty paper towel rolls or toilet paper rolls in a couple corners to get the crickets out and into your dusting bag. Crickets will crawl up into the rolls and you just shake the rolls into your bag to get the crickets out. Make sure to Dust your crickets with calcium D3 and multi vitamins as needed
All of our dragons are healthy and eating great at time of shipping. Please see our Terms of service page for more info on Purchasing a dragon from us..Thanks and have a wonderful day.
Tamara, Owner/ Operator Rainbow Bearded Dragons