Care Sheet for Bearded DragonsAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 4.42 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 02/01/2006 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Bearded Dragons |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | X_Nile_x |
Years Experience: | 3 to 5 Years |
Species: | Bearded Dragon |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | Just Bearded Dragons |
Sexing and Characteristics: | When sexing a bearded dragon, you should place the lizard on your hand, it’s head facing the opposite direction of you. Carefully lift the tail upwards until you can see the vent. Just above the vent, you will either see:
In Females, you’ll see one bump, or none at all.
In Males, you’ll see two bumps on each side of the tail with a dent right in the middle.
Characteristics in females:
The cute arm wave. (Babies do this more often than juveniles and adults will, so you can’t really say a baby is a female because it waves). The arm waving means "You are the boss, I am not worthy. Please don’t hurt me, I’m harmless!"
Some say females have a smaller heads than males and also females tails aren’t as thick as males.
Characteristics in Males:
The heads are usually bigger.
They have a thicker tail
Please do not take the characteristics as a for-sure statement of your beardies sex. Use the Tail technique for an accurate answer.
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Mostly Active During: | Day |
Substrate and Water Needs: | Recommended Substrates:
Ceramic Tile (my personal favorite)
Paper Towels
Newspaper
Reptile Carpet
Computer Paper
Indoor/Outdoor Carpet
Substrates to avoid:
Childrens Play Sand
Reptile Sand
Calcium Sand
Woodshavings
Walnut Shell
Please do not use any loose substrate to avoid to risks of impaction.
Sand will get moistened and collect into lumps in the stomach. As time passes it will eventually add up and impact your beardie.
Bearded Dragons are not on sand in the wild...MOST of it is hard packed clay. |
Lighting and UVB: |
Bearded Dragons require a UVB bulb. You’ll need a tube that can cover your basking spot. I’d get an 8.0 or 10. A beardie deprived from UVB rays will suffer from a disease called MBD (metabolic bone disease). |
Temperatures and Humidity: | Temperatures for the basking spot for a baby or juvenile can range anywhere between 110-115F. Keep a close eye on temperatures and check them with a digital thermometer you can usually find at Wal-mart. The pet store ones are usually inaccurate.
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Heating and Equipment: | For Heating, you will need either of the following choices:
*UVA Basking Spot bulb (get a watt that will get to the right temp)
*A regular household bulb (100 watts)
*Indoor Flood Light (50 watts)
DO NOT USE:
Hot rocks
When laying on a hot rock, beardies will not know when it gets too hot and it can severely burn a dragon, sometimes it can even be fatal.
The only time I would use a heat mat or UTH is when the temperatures at night drop below 65F. Even then I would suggest getting a ceramic heater emitter. |
Caging Provided: | Babies can be in a 20 gal. cage for a small amount of time due to the effects of beardies growing so fast.
For juveniles I would go-ahead and get the 40 gal. breeder so you wont have to be buying all these different size cages.
For an adult, the absolute minimum size for an adult is a 40 Gallon breeder cage. But keep in mind bigger is always better.
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Diet: | Omnivorous |
Description of Diet: | For insects, their staple diet should be crickets, silkworms and lobster roaches. Babies can eat up to 50-100 small crickets a day. Offer babies and juveniles as many as they can eat in a 10-15 minute period.
Adults should be offered 30 crickets max a week.
Superworms and Waxworms should be offered as treats only.
Staple greens:
Mustard Greens, Collard Greens, Dandelion Greens, Turnip Greens, Escarole, and Endive. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | Dust live prey in calcium and multivitamins before feeding.
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Maintenance: | Maintenance can be frustrating at some point, but it takes time to care for a dragon. You need to take at least 2 hours out of your time each day to care for this reptile. You’ll need money for food (especially for babies and juveniles as they require a lot more food), frequent vet visits, changing bulbs when needed. |
Some Words on this Species: | Great reptile for kids or adults...most love being held and their just as interested in you as you are them.
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