Happy Beardie!

[riddick07]

Made the long trip to get the tank today! WAY bigger then I was imagining it and ten times heavier haha Definitely going to have to go shopping tomorrow and online shopping tonight to find new things to furnish this cage!

But this is what I just set up with a couple things it came with, a couple things I bought from petsmart today and some of the things I had laying around for him!




He is definitely wondering what is going on! Tomorrow I'm going to lowes for tiles and to get materials to make a digging setup for him

 

[thekarens]

Very nice! I love beardies. They are my favorite pet reptile.

 

[RavensGryf]

Deluxe! I bet he's gonna love it especially when it's all done!

 

[riddick07]

Heh... he ran full tilt across the cage Seems like he is enjoying himself so far!

 

[ruffledfeathers]

So cute!!! I almost got one once too. After "Superstorm Sandy" i got to 'beardie sit' for my nephew who had no power and it was cold at his place. I just don't like feeding them live crickets, LOL!

 

[Phlox]

He looks as happy as a pig in....mud.

 

[aether-drifter]

Wow...that tank is AMAZING! Lucky lizard. Is it custom built?

 

[Sterling1113]

That tank is awesome!! Next time you find one grab it for my beardie, eh?
I have the stone tile in my 40gal and it's awesome. Just be careful to not have a lamp right over bare tile, it tends to hold heat more than others!
Next time I upgrade his tank I might steal your idea for a digging area.

 

[Ducatimom]

That's an awesome set up! Does it have doors that open or do you take the top off? We have one of each for our male and female, and the one with the doors is SOOOOO much better.

 

[PetoftheDay]

What is his name? Huge tank, looks great!

 

[riddick07]

Yeah no doors...bit of a pain but it was super cheap compared to buying a new one. Got it off of craigslists and am guessing it is custom built. Has a couple things that point to a custom build and I've never seen one that looks like it before! I have always used tile for the beardies but just didn't have any that fit this cage which is way I put paper towels down. Went to lowes today and got a painter bin, top soil, and play sand to make a digging box. Unfortunately, it is a bit covered right now because I still haven't gotten any decor that is tall enough for a basking spot so it is kinda like a thrown together basking ledge right now

I also made a trip to home depot for the tiles I found online that I liked! Will have to search the internet for some odd sized tiles for the remaining 11 inches but for now the three cover most of the cage!

I feed worms and greens...no crickets to be found here I used to feed roaches but with just one beardie I feed worms as a staple for the meat side.

This is the cage so far....

 

[Ducatimom]

I've never seen tile in one. I like the look of that! You feed him worms? Is it the Superworms? I had always read that they could get compacted if they eat worms. I mean I guess they could on crickets though too. We want to try and have one successful clutch with our two. Ed kind of surprised us with eggs after we had them for three years in the same tank. We never changed her name either. Nothing else fit her

 

[riddick07]

We fed lobster roaches to the young ones we used to own but the tiny crickets are the easiest to find when feeding a bunch of babies. We had a roach colony....they breed super easy so there was always a lot of babies. It can take awhile to establish a colony though.

I feed silkworms, hornworms, and butter worms mainly. I will occasionally feed wax worms and super worms if I run out of the others since I can find them at my local per store. The hard casing of superworms is a worry with younger reptiles because they can cause impaction. All the other worms I feed do not have the hard casing that superworms and crickets have on them. The lobster roaches also have very little hard casing to them. Crickets don't really offer much nutrition to me. You really have to feed them well to get good nutrients out of them. Silkworms are my favorite to feed overall since they are very healthy

 

[Ducatimom]

Thanks! I'll have to start using worms. We've always fed them crickets. I hate crickets and grasshoppers though, all jumpy. blah! Worms would probably be easier for me to deal with lol

 

[riddick07]

I hated the crickets too but it was more their smell. They are not clean things to keep thats for sure. That was one of the main reasons I started feeding roaches.

The worms can be pretty expensive to feed if you have a lot of animals to feed or a young one. Since mine is an adult he is cheaper to keep since he doesn't need as much food as the younger ones and what he does eat is primarily greens. Just a thought not sure how much you want to spend on worms and shipping costs. I order my worms from mulberryfarms.com. The one store near me will occasionally sell silkworms and horned worms which is nice when that happens If you do get silkworms it is cool to let one grow into an adult...they are super freaky looking but awesome...and they can't actually fly as an adult.

 

[Ducatimom]

We have two but they are adults. We give them more veggies than insects. I'll have to look at what it would be to ship worms to us. We order our crickets from premiumcrickets.com because whatever they do to them causes them not to chirp. They do smell but I just hate any kind of jumping insect. They just feel weird lol. Is there a certain way to keep the worms kind of like the crickets?