New Beardie Owner - New to site from Mudgee NSW Australia - need some help please

[mudgeemustang]

Merry Christmas Everyone - it looks like we are going to have a good Christmas after all.

My daughters beloved Beardie died :cry::cry: on Friday - absolutely devastating - cause unknown.

It looks like with a lot of hard work and enquiries we have found a High Yellow Beardie (had no luck for 3 days searching everywhere with the word out).

Now... here is where I need your help. It's apparently 5cms and 10 weeks old and I want to confirm it's diet please. We only had large crickets for our last Beardie and the usual salad/fruit/vegie diet.

It's soooooo tiny that I'm worried about it. We have a large custom built terrarium capable of housing two large Beardies.

Should I place a smaller tank within the large terrrarium? Terrarium is 1m long, 80cms deep, 90cms tall set up with caged ceramic heat lamp to right of tank and UVA/UVB basking lamp to left - large rocky outcrops and plants, large Exo Terra Water Bowls and Feed dishes.

What would recommend for diet "pinhead crickets"... living in Mudgee have to rely on the Pet Store having something suitable.

Haven't picked it up yet - it's currently travelling from Sydney.... and the registered breeder gave no advice.

As desperate to save my daughters Christmas and Birthday on the 29th of December I had to take whatever I could find and a friend of ours offered to pick it up from Narellan and drive it home to Mudgee tonight. I remember that they don't eat sometimes when moving to a new environment but I would like to have the tank set up correctly and diet here for his arrival.

Also - what temperature would you have it on - given he's a baby?

Thanks again everyone - we appreciate any advice you can offer.

Merry Christmas Cheers,
Mudgee Mustang:lol:

 

[sharky]

Firstly, welcome! And I am sorry about your daughters beardie...one of mine passed from cancer a few years ago Great choice on the high yellow, I have one myself! They are beautiful

Okay baby beardies don't real care for veg. You can try feeding them veg but it is likely they will just leave it but if they eat it, that's still good They should just be fed crickets, woodies and insects daily. Enough to fill his/her belly up! In a month or so he should be having veg worked into his diet though.

Temperature I would keep at 35 degrees, I don't know if others think different but that is what I kept my hatchies at and they are all super healthy

As for settling in....avoid handling for the first week. I know, its hard but they have to settle and get used to their new environment Try feeding on the second night you have him/her. Gives them time to explore, adjust and be happy

Good luck!

- - - Updated - - -

Oooh, also food should be dusted in vitamin powder every second day! Forgot to mention that

 

[Hindy]

I would still keep the basking spot at about 40-45. I would also move the UVA/UVB up to the same end of the tank as the heat source. This way, the beardie gets heat and UV at the same place at the same time.
Oh and, I'm from Kandos

 

[Chris1]

sorry to hear about your daughters beardy, i lost one a few weeks ago to 'funky follicles that didnt get reabsorbed properly', eating like a pig one minute, dead 2 hours later.

pinhead crickets will be far to small, the crickets should fit in the space between the beardies eyes, so probably small. (have a look when you pick them up)
you might want to feed him in a seperate tub to prevent crickets escaping, they will chew on ur beardy while its sleeping.

ask the breeder if hes already on salads, some people get them onto salad within weeks of hatching, if so ask what they've been using.

basking spot 40-45, theyre processing alot of food and need optimal temps to digest and absorb all the nutrition.

dont forget growing bones need extra calcium, so dust 1 meal per day, 5 days a week with calcium, if you use a multi vitamin, one a week is enough, they can overdose on vitamins, but need lots of calcium.

i would replace the ceramic heat emitter with a bright basking light, i use the phillips reflector bulbs that cost $3 at bunnings, i alternate between 75W in summer and 100W in winter to give a 45C spot, in summer i set timers to turn off in the hottest parts of the day and back on around 4.