Couple of questions re. beardies

[Kitah]

Heya guys, as some of you know, im currently studying vet science at JCU in townsville, and i currently live on campus at one of the colleges; thus, no pets allowed. however, i have never in my life been without animals, and, now that i havnt had mine with me for the past year and a half while studying, i know they are my stress reliever. To cut a long story short.. the college principal KNOWS that i need to have animals around me.. and she offered to let me keep a fish at the college.. which, wont really help. however, i think that i MAY be able to get her to let me keep either a rat or a lizard of some sort. (i would love to get the blonde maccie ive been dreaming of, but she is absolutely terrified of snakes...)

I was thinking, if i am allowed a lizard... what species would be best? I was thinking pygmy beardie, purely for size issues. i have done some research, however i would love to get some of your opinions/methods/facts in regard to the following points

For a single dragon;
- I have heard that beardies can be tolerant to handling; is this true (from your experiences) and are pygmys reasonably tolerant to handling, or is it just the larger species? (have read some who say pygmys arnt as good for handling, others say they are fine)


- what is adequate housing for both pygmy and larger beardie species? (size.. may be an issue in a college situation)


- any other important/relevant facts you think i could have missed in my research




And also.. these are a few facts for requirements for pygmys ive gathered.. can you let me know if any of these are incorrect/inaccurate?


- good UV bulb/tube


- naturally from a low humidity environment (would they cope in Townsville ok?)


- one website says to use co**** sand as the substrate. Are there potential problems due to impaction from consuming sand? Could this risk be avoided by feeding in a separate container, or will they still consume sand by possibly licking? It says they like to burrow


- special basking area under a lamp for them to bask, with some rocks or something underneath


- hot end up to 45 deg, leave the heat lamp on for 12-14hrs in summer, decreased to 8 in winter


- hide box at the cool end (havnt yet found what temp the cool end should be?)


- feed a variety of fresh veggies (carrot, broccoli, pupkin, squash.. im pretty sure lettuce is low in nutritional value, so not particularly good), crickets, wood roaches, also says other foods like mealworms (ive heard these can be hard to digest) caterpillas, grasshoppers, moths etc... can also feed some commercial pelleted type foods (but fresh is best?)




I know, its lots of text in one post.. just, if i AM able to get a dragon of some sort, id like to know as much as I can. yes i know a lot of you will say "use the search function" and get these different books.. I have searched, and if i am allowed a dragon ill get a book, but dont want to just yet incase i cant get a dragon..



if you could help, id greatly appreciate it!
-laura

 

[channi]

You've really done you're reseach well, the only thing I will mention is that any particle substrate has the very real potential to cause impaction. I am not really sure about pygmies but central beardies are awesome pets. Also brocolli is not great.

 

[Kitah]

thanks Wasn't sure about brocolli or the other veggies.. thats just what ive got off the websites ive visited so far do you know of any other veggies/fresh foods that would be good?

hopefully i can get a beardie of some type

 

[falconboy]

Just like any other beardie, the more you handle, the better they become. Most of mine are 'ok', but I only handle to check them over, but no more. One I have that had been handled by the previous owner is as calm as anything (if anything, a bit TOO calm!).

Housing - either a melamine enclosure or fish tank - at least 3ft for one or 2 pygmys. Glass don't hold heat as well, but not a problem if you are in Townsville.

UV: I use either compact max 10 (not the most popular choice) or NEC blacklight tubes

I wouldn't think the humidity would be a problem, unless you were housing outside.

Sand - NO WAY. Don't risk it. I love tiles, they are easy to clean, and you can get natural looking ones - I use a red/orange type to imitate red sand, or slate. Fantastic! Yes, plenty of people use sand, but they CAN get impacted. They CAN'T get impacted from tiles!

They will bask under a heatlamp - I use normal phillips reflector globes. You can put a log or something underneath, however my lamp hangs from the top of the enclosure so is low enough that they can get nice and warm underneath it.

Those temps and times sound fine. Keep in mind that they also need a good gradient down to the cool end (I would say mid 20's for the cool end - the longer the enclosure the easier it is to do, alternatively make more ventilation in the cool end (easy by using vents or small holes drilled in the back/side. Oh, give them a shallow water dish in the cool end too.

You can try a hide box, mine have always refused to use them!

Not too much carrot, and correct, forget lettuce. Use Bok Choy or Choy Sum. I mainly use bok choy/choy sum and squash/zucchini, peas, beans. As for mealworms, there is a chance of impaction if they swallow hole and the very rare risk if they go down alive they can their insides. I actually feed full sized Giant mealworms to my pygmys as it means they must chew them (break them up and kill them) before they swallow! And they LOVE them. They are also a bit less chitinise (spelling), meaning less hard shelled, so easier to digest. Not too many though, just as a treat. Good luck with the pellets, mine won't touch them!

Lots of info on these forums.

Good luck.

 

[Kitah]

thanks a heap for that info falconboy! very much appreciated!

 

[trogdor1988]

could get a central netted dragon there alot smaller wouldnt need as much room as beardies? or if you want beardies all you have written sounds about right. and yes there great to handle allways calm, but remember get a hatchy then it will get used to you and will be calm and placid.

Steve

 

[falconboy]

could get a central netted dragon there alot smaller wouldnt need as much room as beardies?

Pygmy beardies are only around 30cm or so full size, including tail, so similar to a central netted.

 

[channi]

Falcon boy is right chinese veges are really good as a stable and just add a little extra squash, zuchini, apple , cherries etc. when you have it. If you get a baby you won't have to worry about veges for a little while as their diet is mainly protein based as they are growing, keep offering and when it accepts then you can add them to the diet.

 

[Kitah]

I would get a hatchy as you said.. get it used to me. I wont be handling it all the time, but id like to be able to without it getting stressed (if they would get stressed by it, i wouldnt handle them though)

I had considered central netteds.. but i got the impression a while ago from reading something that they arnt good handlers at all? Ill have to look into those as well

thanks!