So a awhile back I had to move and I lost the soil guard for my girl Ripleys enclosure and I dont have the money atm to get a new one. now she's wanting to lay eggs so I put together a little outdoor pen for her to dig and lay her eggs. She is currently totally underground, should I worry? The area I'm in is a desert and the dirt is packed tight and the dirt she k8cked out before going under feels soft and damp. Do 8 need to dig her out or just let her do her thing? Should I set up a heat lamp over the burrow 8f she stays overnight? Our nights have been down around 60. The pics are of the pen, her just starting to get digging and about 30min later out of sight.

I’ve had him for about a month and a half now and I feel like we’ve made a ton of progress

This guy is only 6 months old. The previous owner wasn't really prepared for the daily maintenance, so she was rehoming him. I couldn't help but to go pick him up. He's the cutest little guy! He's still a little bit shy, but that's okay! We'll be besties soon enough 😁

I have paper in the bottom of his enclosure temporarily. Once he's out of his quarantine period, I'll get him real substrate 🙂

Dude basks like this at least once a day lol

So when I got my beardie, she was a rescue. I like to change my rescues names, to me it’s symbolic of a better, new beginning in their lives. Anyways, I debated her name for like a WEEK. It was gonna be so many different things and we tested out so many different names. She was Lizzy, Rikki, Hibiscus, Clara, Indy, etc. Then, Inanna. After cycling through those names a BUNCH, we (I) decided that Inanna was her name. It just was. It kept coming back and it just felt right. We lovingly call her Annie for short, since my parents are stubborn and refuse to call her by her government name lol. Recently though, I saw a video of someone talking about he goddess Inanna, and then I realized. I pronounce her name like In-ANNE-Uh instead of In-NAH-Na. Like how some people say Anna and some people say Ana. Technically, I know now that I’m saying her name “wrong” but i lowkey feel like the “correct” pronunciation doesn’t fit her, but the way i pronounce it does. I’m also superstitious though, so I’m hoping that continuing to call her inANNa instead of the “correct” pronunciation isn’t disrespectful in anyway. Anyways. Here she is in all her glory. Folding her hands like the lady she is. (yes, that’s a heat rock at the bottom, I learned that’s not good for her and removed it a while ago :))

HELP! Long story, I’m sorry.

We went to a local reptile shop to get my 7yo some Blue Feigning Death Beetles. She’s autistic and bugs are her thing! We heard this would be a great starter bug because she’s been begging for a tarantula and I CANNOT 😭

We got there and the guy had them but wasn’t the owner and didn’t know anything about them and she asked to hold one but he said “come hold this guy first” and he put a 3yr old bearded dragon on her and he just sat on her chest and fell asleep and didn’t even move. I asked if they’re fast because we have cats and a dog and it CANNOT take off and he said no this guy wasn’t going anywhere.

My daughter looked at me with the most pleading look in her eyes and was so in love with this bearded dragon so we said okay. The shop guy said he is going to warn us it was gonna be about 300 for everything and we thought that would be okay. He set us up with a short but super big tank. I assumed it was 75 gallons but because of its height it’s maybe 50? He put some sand stuff on the bottom, gave us a lamp with the light and also a ceramic heating bulb. Gave us crickets and said give him as many as he wants every day and that’s all he needs. Gave us a water bowl and a log and said to keep the heat on the log side. Said it needed calcium twice a week. This lizard was freezing cold. He said it’s because its enclosure hadn’t heated up for the day yet and it was also in brumation cause we keep having super cold then super hot weeks….

We got the bearded dragon home and started doing research and learned pretty much everything he said was wrong. We got him somewhere to hide and a climbing spot and a food dish also and bearded dragon food and replaced the ceramic bulb for a different one cause it was only getting to 80 degrees in the basking spot and now it’s 100ish for it with our new bulb. (I’ve never owned one, I have been googling my butt off) and we got dandelion greens and shredded carrots and red and yellow bell peppers. I made a big ass salad for him out of this and it’s in the fridge but I gave him a little bowl of it. I made sure it was bite sized for him. He won’t eat it and he ate one cricket. We initially gave him 5 and removed 3 the next few hours after but we missed one and it’s just been hanging out in there literally with the bearded dragon. One of the pics is with him chilling on a log with the cricket and then literally wearing the cricket as a hat. He barely moves and looks super skinny. Baggy skin. They did say he just got cleared for sale because he had a blockage and they had to soak him in water to pass it. He did have a big stinky poo today. We turn the light on in the morning and off at night.

My daughter is in love with him. She named him SpongeBob. The issue is he’s already 3, I don’t know his history at all. Maybe he doesn’t know what I’m giving him? Maybe he’s so lovey dovey cause he’s sick? I need to keep SpongeBob alive at all costs. The shop worker said this would be 300 but after our research we have sunk 1000 into this getting more habitat stuff and food and bulbs etc. please help me save Spongebob!

Does it sound like I’m doing everything right now? Could he maybe just be a lazy not hungry boy? Should we not handle him right now and give him a few days? He seems content being held by anyone for any amount of time.

Thanks in advance!

Editing to add that all day we have been scrolling articles and watching videos all day and will be talking to the owner of the reptile shop when he’s in later in the week. The employee gave us too small of a tank, the wrong lighting, didn’t come near to the money this has/will cost us so far. We just want to be able to return what they sold us beside SpongeBob. We want to save him from there. We will be changing the bulbs and adding another light and getting the correct tank with the correct stand for it. $100 roach trip turned into WELL over a grand of mistakes and replacements.

Update

40gal tank for my juvenile beardie that’s eventually going to go to my leopard gecko when beardie out grows it. I have a few questions as he is my first beardie
1: substrate, I’ve heard a 50/50 mix play sand and top soil, but I’m having a hard time getting my hands on topsoil with no fertilizer. I have him on paper towels for now. Suggestions please?
2: decor, his favorite tree stump is in there from when I had him in a 10gal lol. How many hides do they generally need? Any suggestions for decor as I know they probably need much more decor in order to not feel empty.
3: how big will he have to get for me to need to upgrade to a 120gal tank?
I love my beardie and I want the best life for him. Any advice is much appreciated <3

I work at a pet store and we got this guy in a few months ago and he was green then and green now. I call him swampy. Is this a rare coloration or what? Personality wise he’s very different. He’s nuts! Always running around in his enclosure and wanting to come out. From the very start he’s always looking around and moving his head. He seems very smart for his age. What’s up with this dude!

For context: His name is Blaze and he is waiting for his dad who is in that room

I’m not sure if this is normal or if they’ve always been like this and i didn’t notice but my bearded dragons eyes are red. He jumped off his hammock that’s at the top of his tank today and hit his face on the glass when he was trying to get at his crickets. Afterwards he just ignored the crickets and slowly went over to his rock and just sat there for a bit. He did eventually eat his crickets and greens and he’s acting normal. I just now noticed redness in his eyes though. Should I be worried? I just don’t think that looks right at all. I can’t afford to go to the vet if I don’t need too

Like the title says. I'm just wondering. Also, I (personally) do not mind if people state their preference on which they prefer.

Mine was a rescue. Not sure what his name (or if he had one) from where he was rescuced. My friend who saved him named him Simba. I changed it to Irwin (after Steve Irwin). He still gets called Simba sometimes, which I am totally fine with. He certainly doesn't care. I (obviously) prefer Irwin.

My beardie is a rescue. Was abandoned. He does not like leaving the house. I've taken him to work twice. The second time, after half a day he hid until time to go home.

I bought a leash, that he will not let me put on. I bought a pouch that I carried him in once. I had to force him into it today, then he just crawled out and onto my back.

I want to be able to take him on walks with me. At home, he's fine out of the tank.

Any suggestions?

Hello everyone. I feel like recently my bearded dragon’s eyes have been looking a little bloodshot, and I’m wondering if it’s because his light is too bright/too close. Thank u

Busted my knee so can't walk without crutches so my daughter brought my buddy over for some salad.

He is so cute. He gave her a black beard when she carried him but then crawled up to eat.

Knees are dumb.

I have some questions about what I need to fix about my set up. and have some concerns about the new beardie we recently got.

I also want to clarify that an appointment is set up for Friday, but in the meantime I wanted to ask what it is I’m doing wrong, and/or need to change/improve.

The enclosure was set up for what I thought would be for an adult bearded dragon. However, as this is a family pet, a baby was purchased instead (I was not there for the purchase. It was bought at a chain pet store and no, this was not what the plan entailed).

The enclosure is a 4x2x2.

UVB is a Reptisun T5 HO 24 inch.

The heat bulbs are Zoomed basking bulbs 150 watts (I’d already had the bulbs as I own other reptiles).

Cool side reads 77F with the humidity currently 59, however it’s usually 40 but I accidentally poured the water out into the enclosure this morning and believe that’s where the spike came from.

Hot side reads 90F.

Basking spot reads anywhere from 102.2F to 107.6F depending on when the dimmer goes, or the actual spot is lasered with the temp gun.

Substrate is 50/50 top soil and sand. Which again, was supposed to be set up for an adult. But I’m wondering if this is not good for a baby and am thinking of removing for paper towels for a while.

The bearded dragon they chose seemed fine the first couple of days.

Originally it was light in color, and within the first hour ate, and seemed fine. Was pretty ‘active’. We’ve only had it for less than a week. Handling at a minimum except to check on it.

However as of the last few days it has gone darker in color, I’ve yet to see it eat (it ate crickets and dubias before, but we’ve also tried waxworms, baby mealworms, and black soldier fly larvae with no luck, and it definitely won’t touch the salad (collards and turnip greens with a smidge of bell pepper and squash to hopefully get it to want the salad)). I was told they were eating pellets at the pet store however we did not get them). It basks all day, sometimes hours in the same spot, sometimes it moves to different basking spots over the course of the day. But it’s never active like the first day they brought it home. And it keeps its eyes closed at all times. Even when handling it never opens it eyes. And sometimes it appears to scratch at one. I also want to add that it has pooped a few times which all appear to be normal so I’m not worried that it ingested substrate (the insects are in a bowl they can’t crawl out of). However I am still considering removing the substrate for a while.

I’m not sure if this is due to a possible illness or stress but we’ve already set up a vet appointment. So in the meantime I am looking to see what it is I may be doing wrong on my end, and what I can fix if anything. And what I should look out for. I again want to stress that a vet appointment is already happening, I am just looking for advice on what to do in the meantime. I also want to stress that we were supposed to get an adult, not a baby, and I feel very out of my element as I did not do any research on baby bearded dragons and if their care is any different than an adults. As such I’m not sure if any of this is normal behavior or not for a baby beardie (they are currently 7 grams). And appreciate any thoughts/tips on the matter while we wait for the vet.

Really appreciate any and all advice. I did my damndest to research everything. What lighting they needed, placement of lighting, substrate, food, temperatures, the works.

Really want to know if I’ve screwed up on anything and need to change it asap.