Care Sheet Information: | Intro.
Into the wonderful world of the Inland Bearded Dragon (Pogona Vitticeps). First off there are many different breeders in the world and will all tell you to do something slightly different. So here i have the care sheet i have written and follow with great success. Some things that will be covered on this sheet are:
Enclosure Size.
Lighting.
Substrate.
Feeding and Water.
Heating.
Handling.
Breeding.
Treats.
Adult size.
1.) Enclosure Size.
There are many aspects that contribute to the size of the home enclosure. Even though in my opinion bearded dragons are semi-arboreal your dragons enclosure should not be vertically oriented, because if a dragon were to fall onto the hard floor of your enclosure it might break a bone or rupture something. A few things to think about when planning your dragons enclosure are heating and cooling, accessibility, viewing, cleaning, and prey hiding.
You need to be able to heat a basking spot up to 110 degrees yet keep a warm side no higher than 90 or so. You need to be able to reach every single corner and surface of the inside of the cage. You want to be able to clearly see your dragons, don’t you? You need to be able to disinfect the whole floor every week. Finally you don’t want your crickets or silkies to be able to hide do you?
So in all here are the setups I use for various stages of life.
Hatchling(4 inches) to Juvenile (6-7 inches) I use a home made hatchling rack made out of a old storage shelf with rubber maids on the top shelf and a P.V.C. cross bar for clamp heat lamps. With two 48’’ UV tubes hanging down to them.
Juvenile to young adult(8-14 inches) 20 gallon long with screen lid. With a dome light 75 watt clear bulb and a UV light running the length.
Adult (15-24 inches) Custom made 4’x2’x2’ enclosures with a 36’’ UV, a 150 watt flood light for basking and a Ceramic Heat Emitter (CHE) for extra heat.
2.) Lighting
This is one of the most important things you need for a happy healthy bearded dragon. You need a UV source now most people use a fluorescent tube light to provide this but there are other choices. There are M.V.B. that are either tube or spot lights. If you live in a place where natural sunlight is an option then by all means go with that. You want a UV source running down 3/4 the length of your enclosure and you need a spot where your dragon can bask within 6 inches of a fluorescent tube and 12 to 13 inches of a MVB tube. The MVB spot lights will give your dragon UV while basking. Personally I use ZooMed’s Repti-Sun 5.0 or 10.0. They have the best output and life of any fluorescent tube.
3.) Substrate.
This is another heated topic among Bearded Dragon breeders. Some say sand all the way others will not touch it with a ten foot pole. I on the other hand do not use sand and advise against its use. It is smelly, unclean, annoying, and on top of all that there are reported cases of impaction from its use. I use linoleum because you can find it in very attractive patterns and it is easy to clean and disinfect. Some other good choices are Tile, Shelf liner, news paper (nontoxic ink only), and none at all just keep your tank spot cleaned and disinfect once a week.
4.) Feeding and Water.
For a very good list of salad foods please go to Http://www.beautifuldragons.com .
On the topic of insects there are a few good choices. The first and best choice are crickets, they are easily bred, gut loaded, and if cared for correctly don’t smell that bad. Another good choice is Silk worms while they are better for your dragon as a single food they can’t be gut loaded and do not breed very easily. Another good choice is Lobster Roaches these are very easy to breed but can and will escape and for some reason most people are scared of them so they shy away.
Bad choices include Meal worms, mice, and other small fuzzy animals. Mealworms are bad because their shells have way too much chitin to digest and they can and will cause impaction. Mice are bad because they can’t digest the hair or bones very well this is the reason all fuzzy animals need to be left for other species.
Water should be provided at all times in the form of a shallow water dish and light misting daily. Twice a week soak in luke warm water for around 20 minutes.
5.) Heating
This one is very short and sweet. Use regular flood lights not those reptile basking lights. Temps need to be at or around (within 1-2 degrees) of these stated here.
Babies, jives, and young adults need a basking spot of 115, hot side at 88-90 and cool side at 77-80.
Adults need a basking spot of 100-105 a warm side around 85-87 and a cool side around 75-77.
Do not let your temps fall below 60 degrees for more than a couple of minutes.
6.) Handling
Hatch lings need to be picked up very gently and not by being grabbed by the tail (never pick up your dragon by the tail). Larger dragons can be held by sliding your hand under the stomach and lifting. Do not grab your dragons from above it makes them feel very insecure.
7.) Breeding
Well this is a very long, expensive, and time consuming process. It should not be done on a whim.
To breed you will need two adult unrelated dragons. The female should be over 350 grams and more than 18 months old. You will need to brute the pair to let them recuperate and let them rest before breeding, this is achieved by lowering their temps to the low 80’s and shortening their light cycles. Then male after waking up and resuming eating will try to court the female. This is done by the blacking of the beard and a vigorous head bobbing, if the female is ready she will "bow" to the male or do a slow push up. Then the male will come over to her bite her by the back of the neck and raise her tail for his to go under and copulate with her.
You will need a lay box this can be made out of a rubber maid with a hole cut in the top packed with a sloping (from 4in to 10in) mound of packed Potting Soil ( no chemicals) and play sand.
Gestation is about 20-30 days and she will lay anywhere from 15-50 eggs up to six times a year. Incubate the eggs in a moist vermiculite layer in small deli cups with lids(holes in lids) in a reliable incubator at exactly 83.5 degrees. The eggs should hatch in about 60 days.
8.) Treats
Treats are foods that your dragon will love but should not be fed as a singular diet. Some good salad choices should be Grapes, apple, carrot, blueberries, or raspberries. Some live treats could be Super worms, wax worms, grasshoppers, or Tomato Horn worms ( jaws removed.)
9.) Adult size
Well in most cases male dragons are longer then females but most of the time inch for inch females are heavier. Males and females can and sometimes do grow in excess of 22’’ inches and can grow to about 24" although rare this does happen. Most will stay in the 17-19" range.
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