• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

? on Beardie health

S

SableLynx

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Hi everyone, I am usually hanging out on the Leopard Gecko forum. I won that wonderful Beardie on the Fauna Fund auction and have a few questions. The Beardie seems to be doing great, he is eating well and very active. He had his first shed in my care and all went well. I do have a few concerns though and clarifying questions.

1) Since he is an adult I understand he should be eating 75% veggies to 25% bugs. What I have been doing is feeding him about 12-15 crickets or superworms every other day. Is this enough bugs or should I increase that amount?

2) He gets a salad of mixed veggies and/or greens everyday. (Always gets some type of greens, most of the time but not always has some other veggies included) I dust this every 2nd or 3rd day with repti-vite. Any problems there?

3) I attempt to spray him each day and he used to really like it. Lately he has taken to shaking his head and running away from the spray instead of drinking it. I thought it meant he was not thirsty but he kept it up for 3 days running, so I sprayed him down anyway. :hehe: When he does that should I quit spraying him? or go ahead and spray him? I started spraying extra on his veggies when he acts that way so I know he is getting some water.

4) I put him in the tub or sink to swim/soak about every 3-4 days and give him water as explained above but his skin still appears loose. Is it normal for a beardies skin to be a bit loose and wrinkled appearing? Or is he still not hydrated enough? :toiletcla

5) What should I do to help him shed? This last time I gave him the baths as explained aboveand also sprayed the whole length of his body every day that I observed dry loose skin. he had a clean shed but I don't want to give him a URI from to much moisture either.

Husbandry info: Housed in a viv that is about 36 long and 24 in wide. I have tile for the substrate a flat rock under his basking spot and a resin rock formation on the cool side to hide under/behind although most of the time he is on top of it instead. Temps run from 105 under the heat (CHE) to 85 on the cool side. I put a water bowl in there for him on Monday and he did drink from it and also tried to swim in it. When I put him in the sink though he did not want to swim or soak :rolleyes: I forgot to remove the bowl so it stayed in there all night. When I changed out the water Tues and offered him fresh he was not interested so I took out the bowl.

Thanks for taking the time to read my long post, and thanks for any advise that you can offer.
 
Oh yeah one more thing, I take him outside 15-30 min every day or two for UVB.
 
Start reading here:
http://www.dragonsbynature.com/care.htm
http://www.reptilerooms.com/Section...es-secid-1.html
http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/caresheet/
http://www.kakadudragons.com/caresheet/
http://blackninjakitty.com/herps/dragons.php
http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html

1) I feed my adult dragons 10-15 superworms 3 times a week... So it sounds like your feeding him a bit much...
2) Sounds good...
3) For adults you only need to spray a couple of times per week...
4) Baths are good but only necessary once a week for adults UNLESS the BD is shedding, in which case you can bath more.
5) See above...

The tank sounds okay for now, although a *bit* on the small side... Temps are good (although i would use a light because BDs associate light with heat). No bowl is necessary. As for the UVB, either get a fluorescent UVB lamp such as reptisun 5.0 or 10.0, OR increase the sun exposure to an hour a day. UVB is ESSENTIAL to a healthy dragon.
 
congrats on your new buddy

1) sounds good ad long as he is eating his salads. He probably would not eat too many bugs even if he had the chance as they don't have the appetite for bugs that younger BDs do.

2) you need the calcium more than the vitimans, try rep-cal, pink label. That has calcium with D3

3) thats fine Humidity in the wild can average 40% or more. It is not a desert enviornment.

4) Wrinkled slightly yes but not all the time.

5)mist and bath are good but give him enough time to dry out after or the skin wiont peel off. Adult BDs can take a month to shed completely, sometimes more.

36" is fine but some folks say 48"
CHE are good as long as there is a lot of light in the cage too.
Some BDs use a water bowl some dont

you may find some more useful info here
http://www.beardiedragon.com/pages/Care/BD_Care_QA.html
 
Whoops, thanks Bennett, I didn't notice that it was a multivitamin not just calcium that she she was using! Thanks for catching that!
 
I do have the calcium with D3, I have not used it as this vitamin supplement contains the calcium with D3 as well. What I am hearing here is to stop the vitamins and only use the D3? Or should I alternate so that I dust 1-2 times with the vitamins and 1-2 times with Just calcium D3? Do I ever use the straight calcium with no D3 for the beardies?
 
You can overdose on D3... It is best to let them regulate their own D3 with either natural sunlight (1 hour a day) or a UVB fluorescent (like reptisun 5.0 or 10.0 on their normal day/night schedule). NO ADDITIONAL D3 IS NEEDED!!! This way they can keep themselves from overdosing. They can't regulate ingested D3.
-Drew
 
Bennett Greenberg...
2) you need the calcium more than the vitimans, try rep-cal, pink label. That has calcium with D3
Click to expand...
Drew S...
NO ADDITIONAL D3 IS NEEDED!!! This way they can keep themselves from overdosing. They can't regulate ingested D3.
Click to expand...

Okay I have one person stating use D3 and one stating do not use it. Can you clarify this for me please.

I have both as for my Leos I keep a dish in their cage with plain calcium and dust once a week with either the reptivite (which contains calcium with D3) or the rep-cal with D3

If I put a dish of plain calcium in the cage will they lick it when they want/need calcium like the Leopard geckos do?
 
I recommend either dusting the greens or the insects with *plain* calcium powder. I used to keep leos so I know what you are talking about, but I have never heard of doing that (keeping calcium in the cage) with a beardie... D3 is best supplied with natural sunlight or UVB tubes. Bennett may disagree, but that is my, and many others (read those caresheets) opinions (don't get me wrong, Bennett is a very successful breeder and whatnot, but I disagree with him on this issue.)
-Drew
 
Thanks Drew, I appriciate the help. :dancer01: When it comes to animals health I like to err on the side of caution so here is my plan. I will continue with the Vitamin dust but drop it to once a week as the reptivite does contain the D3. I will either increase the time outside or rig a way to hang a floresent uvb light inside the viv. Oh hey wait I just had an idea, :idea: the uvb can not penetrate glass but it can go through screen right? I can build in an upper level to put him with the recommended 6-8 inches of the light. Also my viv is just a little bigger then I thought actual floor dimentions are 40" long and 26" wide so that is 1040 sq inches. The ones I saw recomended 48X18 which is 864 sq inches so I think I am good here. Do you see any problems with my plan?
 
I am no expert, but I am a nurse, and am a bit concerned over D3 toxicity. I actually prefer the products without the D3 for daily dusting. I use the multivitamin products which contain D3 about once a week on adults. In my experiences, and my friends experiences, we find every single Beardy to be quite different in personality and also very different in their preferences. I would suggest you ask the person who had the Beardy about what this Beardy preferred, if at all possible.
 
Thanks Louise, That is exactly what I stated I would do was drop the vit dust to one time a week as the supplement I use contains D3. I have a liquid calcium spray from Jurassic that I hit his salad with every day. It has no phosphorus or D3. I appreciate your help, Thanks again
 
Just a little more food for thought. I have 2 adult males (non-breeders) that are offered superworms once or twice a month. They are nearly 3 and have been on this schedule for over a year with no adverse affects.

They would eat 25 supers everyday if I offered them though. I have always been amazed at the numbers of insects I see people offering to their beardies. People talk about 5-10 crickets per day (with young ones). These guys were eating 50 a day from the time they were 6 weeks old (when I got them) until I switched them to mostly veggies after they reached 18 months.

I feed what I would call a maintenance diet of salads every other day. I dust with Repcal with D3 2 consecutive feedings. On the 3rd, I add Herptivite multivitamin. On the 4th, I do not offer any supplementation. Wash, rinse, repeat....

I would not recommend this diet for breeders or females though!
 
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