Zamen the Bearded Dragon
I got Zamen (Pronounced like Ramen as in 'Top Ramen' soup.... but with a 'Z') back in May of 2003. When I got him I was told he was just 7 weeks old, which puts his birthday around early March.... I'm just calculating as March 1, 2003.... if I'm off by 1 week... who cares.... it's close enough for me. So, that would make Zamen about 5 months now (Early August). Zamen is about 11 inches long. I say 'about' because it's tough to be completely accurate... he doesn't usually sit straight as a board. He is a good eater but doesn't eat his veggies as much as I wish he would. Sometimes, I will come home from work, and veggies will be scattered everywhere... other times, I get home, they haven't been touched at all. Oh well, he looks and acts healthy, he's a good color, and he has not exhibited any odd behavior, so, I don't let it get me too worried.
Above are pictures from just after the 4th of July. I went up near Lake Tahoe
area and collected a lot of driftwood for his cage. I soaked it in bleach to
disinfect it, which turned it very white... I actually thought that gave the
cage a 'clean' look.
These pictures were taken August 4th. I picked up the cave and digital gauges
from a reptile convention in Sacramento CA. The cave came from 'The Outback
Reptile Co' and the thermometers came from 'The Bean Farm'.
Homemade Supplies
Visuals are always good to help people understand, so I added a couple pics here of homemade supplies I use for cleaning my lizards sand and also keeping crickets in. My recommendation, get a glue gun. I got a 'mini' one from a sewing store and it's worked out pretty well. If I were to do it again I would look for a glue gun or accessory that can be added which would help me get the nozzle into small areas... that is always tough to do.
Good Links For Supplies
The Bean Farm ... they have good prices and great stuff for heating (heat panels, infrared bulbs, etc). They also sell antibiotics for treating animals for various parasites (please know what your doing if your going to medicate your herp)
Big Apple Herpetological ... nice stuff and an easy to use web layout. Eventually, I think I want to pick up one of their thermostats. They have one that looks very comparable to the Helix systems, but for a better price.
Petguys.com ... not a whole lot of selection... but I found them to have the best prices on mercury vapor bulbs and ZooMed brooder lamps. They were a little slow shipping, but, the price could not be beat
Good Websites For Info
Bearded-Dragons.com ... A site with some links to reptile food sites, classifieds, tips, vet listing, AND a Forum where you can go and ask questions or help other people.
Beautifuldragons.com ... The more I visit this site, the more I like it. An excellent resource for nutritional info and care in general.
Tricia's Chinese Water Dragon Site ... Yep, this is NOT a bearded dragon site, it's Water Dragons. However, keeping them has some requirements which also apply to bearded dragons too. This site has a lot of good herp info, info on food, nail trimming instructions, info on calcium and D3, and Tricia is a nice person too. We used to chat online a lot when I had a Water Dragon.
Herp and Green Iguana Information Collection ... This site is run by Melissa Kaplan. Don't let the title fool ya...just because it says iguana, don't think you won't find a TON of useful info on this site. You could spend days on this site researching UVB and wavelengths. Very good info for any lizard keeper here.
Links For Reptile Food
Raising Silkworms ... I am no expert, and I used the guidelines from Mulberry Farms website. However, I thought it may be helpful to create a page with pictures showing my own experience with this.
Mulberry Farms ... I just ordered some silkworm eggs from here, so, I can't tell ya much more, except that they have silk worms for a better price than any other site I could find
ReptileFood.com ... I've ordered crickets from here 3 times now. Prices are good and shipping is quick. I reccomend this site for crickets