Baby Beardie Questions

[Miss B]

Seeing as I'm a first-timer and all, I've got a couple of questions about these baby beardies I've got, which are several days old.

1. When can I expect them to start eating? They are 4-5 days old, last night a few of them showed interest in some baby woodies and one hatchling chased after one for a moment, but so far none of them have actually eaten.

2. Do they need to be misted twice a day, or is once a day sufficient?

3. When do they usually shed for the first time? I know this can vary depending on how much they eat, temps etc - but on average?? I seriously have no clue, is it around one week? One month?

Thanks

 

[Kirby]

when they are first out, you should house them on moist paper towel, as they need a slow gradient to adjust to lower humidity. aparently.

mist twice + daily, and possibly bathe. they are very prone to dehydrations at this age.

usually or so ive read, at a weeks age is the first shed. depending on feeding and growth.

can you PM some pics of your setups, im VERY interested. youve got me excited.. !!

 

[CodeRed]

They should start eating on day 2 or 3. I find that if the crix that are dusted very heavily, and are completely white, then the beardies are more intersted in them. Maybe they can see them better due to the contrast with the cage floor?

Mist twice a day.

First shed will vary a lot depending on much you feed them. Some will shed after 2 weeks, others around 1 month.

 

[JasonL]

Mine usually start eating at about day 3 on woodies, and I start offering greens a couple of days later, though they will usually eat greens at day 3 too. I feed them tiny clover leaves and dandelion petals. I don't mist my hatchies at all as I keep about 30 in each tub, they need cleaning every day, I fill the sink with a half inch of room temp water and tip them into it whilst a wash out the tub, they stay in the sink for about 5 minutes, about 40% of the hatchies will automatically start drinking as soon as they hit the water. Shedding time depends on growth rates, which depends on how much they eat, which depends on how much heat they are getting.

 

[JasonL]

but roughly around the month or more mark

 

[JasonL]

They should start eating on day 2 or 3. I find that if the crix that are dusted very heavily, and are completely white, then the beardies are more intersted in them. Maybe they can see them better due to the contrast with the cage floor?

Most dragons for some reason go NUTS over white insects ie, freshly shed woodies & mealies, termites ect. It may be because they are softer? taste nicer?? I have no idea, but even non eating, sick dragons usually won't pass up a freshly shed woodie. I kept a stubborn female Ctenophorus cristatus alive for a year on a diet of only white insects before it started to eat normally, and it wouldn't fall for the dusted white ones either...

 

[Miss B]

Cool, thanks everyone.

Most of the babies dropped their yolk sack as they hatched out of the egg, so they went straight onto newspaper. The babies that still had yolk sack and umbilical cord attached stayed in the incubator until it dropped off. I'll get pics of the tubs later.

I'll try them on the woodies again tonight.

At what age do you guys usually send them off to their new homes?

 

[JasonL]

I like to sell mine before I decide to feed them off to something else

 

[Miss B]

And how soon is that? :lol:

 

[CodeRed]

I like to sell mine before I decide to feed them off to something else

didnt know that you had blackheads Jas

 

[Miss B]

Lol. You guys really need to start breeding those scaleless beardies, think of the poor BHP's, I'm sure the spiky beardie skin must hurt their throats :lol:

Anyway, is three weeks ok? So long as they are healthy and feeding well?

 

[Kirby]

usually around 2-3 weeks Miss B. or so ive noticed, most breeders wait untill they are eating very well, have shed, and are growing and acting 'normal' before they make the big move.. personally i would rather buy hatchies at least 7 inches, nowing they have a better rate of surviving the move. but hey, waiting that long depleets any extra $ you'll get from them,

basically when you feel they are stable enough to go through relocation stress, and will readily eat/drink/bask etc.

 

[CodeRed]

It depends on who you are selling them to.

For beginners I like to keep them for at least 3 weeks. That ensures the beardies are tough enough to handle a few husbandry mistakes

For more experienced people I only hold on to them for 7-14 days.

 

[Miss B]

Cool, no worries.

Almost all of them are going to people who already keep reptiles, so I feel confident they will be well looked after. Can they handle being transported interstate at around three weeks? That would be my main concern. Having said that though, less than half the clutch is being shipped interstate which is good.

 

[JasonL]

didnt know that you had blackheads Jas

no need to go to those extremes, I have a Spencers, or.. even the amyae.

 

[CodeRed]

Cool, no worries.

Almost all of them are going to people who already keep reptiles, so I feel confident they will be well looked after. Can they handle being transported interstate at around three weeks? That would be my main concern. Having said that though, less than half the clutch is being shipped interstate which is good.

yeap they ship no problems at 3 weeks old. I just put them in groups of 3-5 in chinese containers with moist paper towel and put the chinese containers in a bigger, more robust container + shredded paper.

 

[Miss B]

can you PM some pics of your setups, im VERY interested. youve got me excited.. !!

Here you go. I'm using 125L plastic tubs with a clip-on lamp (fitted with a 60w spot globe) and a 2-foot UV tube across each tub. The tubs all look identical. Each tub has 4 or 5 babies, and I've also set up a 4.5 foot glass enclosure which is housing a few babies. The tubs have half-log hides for basking spots and the glass tank has driftwood and branches.

 

[reptilegirl_jordan]

nice setup miss bi see the paper is retalstate,so the baby can look around ay?

 

[Miss B]

Yup, I'm subconsciously preparing them for the fact they're gonna be booted outta home in a few weeks