My New Eastern Bearded + Tank setup (Photo Heavy)

[Dotora]

Hey guys,

Thought I would post up a few pics of Rex my baby boy. Hes a Eastern Bearded Dragon and from looking around and browsing other topics they don't get much love on this forum . Hes very very quiet, at first quite skittish but after a few weeks he has now settled down and loves to be handled, hes still a little skittish when people walk past and he will pull back but that will change over time with more handling.

Hes 4.5 months old and by the size of him he looks like hes going to be quite a big boy when hes fully mature.

He really is a beautiful lizard

Enjoy


















Here is the set up I currently have him in, its a 3ft x 1.8ft x 1.8fx, substrate is red sand my brother does not use anymore. The setup includes one of those new Reptile One fan force heaters and a normal 35w UV tube.







Hope you guys enjoyed the photos will post up more if asked, he really is the most placid natured pet I have ever had, even though he bit me when I first got him ill forgive him for that

 

[Barno111]

awesome stuff mate!

 

[Notorious_Guf]

looks good, i see you have the reptile 1 fan heater, how do you find it? what wattage did you get and what temp do you get in the basking spot?

 

[Dotora]

I got mine for $60 from my local pet shop, some places are charging over $100 for them so make sure you look around.

I have the 50w one and I find it quite good. The basking spot reaches around 37+ degrees depending on the weather. At the moment its cool and I have the thermostat set to cut off at 39 degrees the last few days have been over cast and it has not cut off but it does reach 37 very easily. On a normal / hot day it reaches the higher temps easily, but because I have a full glass tank with openings at the top the hot air escapes a bit which is causing the temps to be slightly lower at the moment. Also because of the fan pushing the hot air around the cool end is maintained at 25 - 28 degrees.

I like it, it saves space and is fairly efficient on energy, I would not really recommend it for anything bigger thank 4ft. Also for 3ft - 4ft you need to get the 50w the lower watt ones just don't heat up quickly enough.

 

[Notorious_Guf]

Hey thanks, I noticed some places try to rip you off, I almost bought one from the reptile expo in Castle Hill for $60, then saw it in a local pet supply place for $97.95. Unbelievable. I have a 4ft tank and was wondering if it would work well. I like it because it has the UV and its difficult to get my guys close enough to the UV light for it to be very beneficial in my set up.

 

[Dotora]

Yeah it does have UVA & UVB but they need to be under the direct beam to get it properly, the UV does not branch out. After about a two weeks it was evident that my little guy was not getting enough UV because he did not spend enough time directly under the beam, to counter this I just went out and bought a 3ft UV tube the strongest I could find and that solved all my problems

So to sum it up dont rely on just the heater to give them their full UV requirments because if they arnt directly under it all the time you will notice them get very lazy and slugish and go off their food and become very inactive.

Apart from that I do recommend them as they really do use next to no power and the 50w one does not go above about 47 degrees, I left it on all day with out a thermostat and thats the temp it sat at for three days which is good as it wont burn your reptile the temp how ever will vary from tank to tank as each tank retains heat differently, but do look out because pet shops do try to rip you off, where I got mine it was only $60 and then a pack of 2 bulbs (the light comes with one) are only $12. Another pet shop was trying to sell the unit for $110 and the bulbs for $50. Those sneaky little buggers...

 

[mike83]

cool pics mate thanks for showing us when i get my k rudd money i think ill get a tank set up and bearded dragon dont know if i should get a pygmy or centrell or eastern im really not sure

 

[John_lisa]

well thanx for showing them pics thats a good lookin fella

now i wont one i used to have one a few yrs ago they make good friends

 

[Dotora]

well thanx for showing them pics thats a good lookin fella

now i wont one i used to have one a few yrs ago they make good friends

Aye they do make good friends and they seem to bond very well, he has become very used / comfortable with me and will do anything when its only me in the room, he goes as far as licking sweat and other goodies off my skin, if how ever you bring in somebody that he does not see often then he will really suck himself in and play dead lol.

For some reason he hates my brother, when ever he is in the room Rex gets all grumpy and flares up at him, I have no idea why but Rex hates him.

 

[reptilefan95]

Hey man nice beardie and nice tank, couldnt help but notice that you have a glass top, is that over all the cage or just a part, because the heat and the uv wont be able to get through that!
Any way i dont want to be nipping at you heels, so nice tank

 

[Tinky]

Dragon Love

Agreed, Dragons need more love.

Did you keep a growth chart. My guys are about 17cm and growing at 1.2cm per week.

I am still sortig out feeding and oter issues, but think that my guys are doing ok.

They have never been very active. I am trying to lower the tank temp overnight and then up it during the day to see if they respond to a more natural pattern.

My thermostat only goes to 35. Might be time to upgrade.

Cheers

 

[Dotora]

Hey man nice beardie and nice tank, couldnt help but notice that you have a glass top, is that over all the cage or just a part, because the heat and the uv wont be able to get through that!
Any way i dont want to be nipping at you heels, so nice tank

Hey Reptilefan95, yeah it does have a glass top but only one panel on the front left side. The right side is a wood panel I made up and have put over to hold the heater. At the back the glass panels have been removed to allow the UV light to go into the tank, there is also about a 15cm gap between the light and the front panels to allow for some fresh air to enter. The only glass blocking the UV is a 6cm wide glass bracing beam across the center of the tank but apart from that its all open for the UV goodness to enter .

Agreed, Dragons need more love.

Did you keep a growth chart. My guys are about 17cm and growing at 1.2cm per week.

I am still sortig out feeding and oter issues, but think that my guys are doing ok.

They have never been very active. I am trying to lower the tank temp overnight and then up it during the day to see if they respond to a more natural pattern.

My thermostat only goes to 35. Might be time to upgrade.

Cheers

Hey Tinky,

They deffently need more love, sure they don't have the colors of the CBD but they are fantastic funny and active / inquisitive dragon. No I have not been keeping a growth chart but I am going to be knocking up something soon along those lines when I have time, its kinda hetic at uni at the moment so apart from handling and feeding there isnt too much time for anything else.

My guy was not really very active untill I got a full length UV tube. I got a 35w UV5.0 one which I believe is the second strongest. As soon the full length tube went in he became very active, and started eating well, remember you can never have too much UV .

I have my tank sitting at about 35 - 39 degrees depending ont he weather so 35 should not be too bad. Also I dont know where you live but I live in queensland and at night I dont have a heater for him, I just let the tank cool down nauturally. When It gets right into winter ill look at getting a heater for him then depending on the temps but at the moment the temps drop down to about 19 degrees and he is fine. He was bread outside with out a heater so he is used to the lower temp nights anyway.

 

[Sock Puppet]

Great pics, love the one of him surfing the net for lizard porn.....

 

[Tinky]

Tonksy,

You mean:

Collage Dragons Shedding
DILTF, (Dragons id like to *******)
Two Dragons, One water bowl
Pigmy Dragon meets German Giant Dragon
I head bob on first dates
Good Dragons gone bad, (there the ones with piercings and tats)
Silicon Dragons, (man the size of the tails on some of those girls)
Dragon Jelly Wresteling

. . . . i need another Hobby

 

[Sock Puppet]

Tonksy,

You mean:

Collage Dragons Shedding

Isn't that from the same people who are now advertising "Dragons Gone Wild" late at night?

 

[Tinky]

Love it Tonksy,

Have you been to the Dragon Pole dancing club at Kings Cross

 

[Dotora]

*** lol guys, I need to download a net nanny and block all the dragon porn websites from him, the naughty little 5 month old, suppose he will need the birds and the bees talk now...