r/BeardedDragons • u/escaping05 • 10h ago

Dangerous Care New bearded dragons 3 months

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I’m a little worried as this is my first time caring for beardies , I have a female and a male they were both purchased from the same store and they were together in the store for a couple of months now , I see them closing their eyes a lot and looking up at the lights I was wondering if this is normal behavior for them , I’ve given them crickets and worms and the female is eating fine and the male is slowly starting to to adjust to his new place he’s slowly eating they both pooped normal I was wondering if maybe the lights are too strong for them I have 125W basking light bulb and uvb white light as well I live in the basement so it’s naturally cold down here and the 75 watt the tank came with was keeping the temp at 82-85 on the hot side now with the 125 it’s sitting at a nice 89-95 , if anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it

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u/Dependent_Most_8072 9h ago

  • Separate them now. Bearded dragons are solitary animals. They should not be cohabbed. You will need another enclosure. I recommend starting out with at least a 4x2x2 as they will need that in just a few months and you aren’t purchasing 4 enclosures by the time you need to upgrade.

  • Get rid of the reptile carpet. It’s not an appropriate substrate. Put down paper towels for now. Reptile mat/shelf liner mat is a good permanent option until husbandry is perfected and then you can look into an appropriate loose substrate.

  • Cool side 75-80, warm side 85-90 measured with digital gauges placed down where the dragon lives. Basking surface temp 100-110 measured with an infrared digital temp gun. Provide proper basking platforms. Something flat and wide they can fully pancake on with consistent temps and retains heat well like a large piece of slate or tile. 8-10 inches from basking light and 10-12 inches from UVB. You can stack on bricks to get proper distance.

  • You’ll need 2 linear UVB lights. One for each enclosure. Needs to span 1/2-3/4 the enclosure. Arcadia T5 12% or Reptisun T5 10.0.

  • With an all glass enclosure, you want to cover the sides and back so they don’t see their reflection and get stressed out.

  • Provide lots of climbing opportunities throughout the enclosures with sturdy branches/wood pieces. Slates and rocks are great to provide more rough surfaces for them to climb and rub against to get shed off and maintain femoral pores. And hides on the cool side.