Care Sheet for Bearded DragonsAverage Rating Given To This Care Sheet Is 3.00 (1=lowest, 5=highest) Last Updated: 10/20/2006 |
Main Category: | Lizards |
Sub Category: | Bearded Dragons |
Care Sheet Submitted By: | Anonymous |
Years Experience: | 3 to 5 Years |
Species: | Bearded Dragons |
Other Species or Phases this Care Sheet May Cover: | Don’t rely on this for a Rankins dragon, because I am not sure if they have the same care. I’m making this only for bearded dragons. |
Sexing and Characteristics: | I’m not a breeder, so I can’t give sexing tips.
For characteristics, males sometimes have larger heads and once males are sub-adults to adults, you can notice two bumps near the vent (aka: butt/bottom). |
Mostly Active During: | Day |
Substrate and Water Needs: | Some of you guys might not believe in sand impaction, but take my word for it, it IS real and don’t get offended by people telling you to get them off sand (or any other loose substrate such as bark, mulch, and especially cedar). I for one use paper.
Even though beardies are from the desert, they need a water dish(and they don’t live completely in sand, but in compact clay soil in the wild). You may not notice it drinking the water you put in very often, but it does drink. |
Lighting and UVB: | These herps(slang term for reptiles and sometimes amphibians) need a good quality UVB light. If the light doesn’t say UVB on the package, it probably isn’t UVB. By good quality, I mean that it should be around 7% or more UVB. Something with around 3% isn’t good enough. Beardies need good UVB for growth.
You should have a basking lamp for the basking spot for one side of the tank. Some 100 watt bulbs make the basking spot temp way too high, so I use a 75 watt bulb with some sort of raised structure my beardies can just sparwl out on top of. I’ll mention the temperature below. |
Temperatures and Humidity: | The cool area of the tank should be in the 80s F (about 27-32 degrees C). Don’t get it too cold there. The basking spot should be 100-110 degrees fahrenheit.(about 38-43 degrees celsius)
Remember that beardies are from the desert, but sometimes sprits the cage a little to keep your beardie hydrated. You also should let beardies sit in a bathtub or sink, etc. for 10-20 minutes weekly to keep them hydrated. Beardies usually don’t like this but do it anyway. Going over 20 minutes may result in an extremely angry beardie and that is more then enough time to soak anyway. |
Heating and Equipment: | I think I have that covered already, but I advise that you don’t use any heat rocks because they can burn your lizard. |
Caging Provided: | Small beardies can live in a 15-20 gallon tank, but they outgrow it in short amount of time. Big/adult beardies should be in a 40-50 gallon tank. I’ve seen a 55 gallon tank, but those are extremely narrow. The tank should be long, but also wide enough to get a beardie a good amount of space.
No mixing species. This will cause interspecies aggression (fights between species). Two male dragons together will have intraspecies aggression (fight to death between organisms of the same species). A male and female will constantly breed with each other. You need to be prepared experts to breed reptiles. I’m terribly sorry, but I’m not sure what will happen when two females are placed together. Check out the advice of another reliable member to find out. I just say: One animal per terrarium, so that I’m not taking any risks. |
Diet: | Omnivorous |
Description of Diet: | They can eat crickets and superworms. Superworms are too big for young beardies. I mainly use crickets. Food should be an appropriate size for the beardie- no longer then the space between the eyes. Request the right size from your local petstore. Greens should also be offered. Collared greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, etc., etc. You have to make sure what you feed actually has nutritional value. Just because something is a vegetable doesn’t necessarily make it good for the beardie. If your beardie isn’t eating the greens, post it on the forums and someone can help you. Fruits can be offered, but too much Vitamin C can cause diarrhea. |
Supplements, Nutrition and Usage: | "Dust" live food with vitamin D3. Vitamin A supplements may have too much A, which can be bad. Too much D3 can be a problem ,too, so give dusted food weekly, not daily. |
Maintenance: | Beardies’ poop is terrible in size and smell, so clean up often. Afterwards, I spray a little natural enzyme formula that is completely safe for the reptile that helps with odor and bad lingering chemicals. |
Some Words on this Species: | These make good pets. They get pretty big, so get one if you are prepared for the time and money to spend on it. these aren’t the same as the little lizards you see outside. You can raise a young beardie to a big, spikey teddy bear with the correct care. That’s right, properly raised beardies that are used to human contact can even be pet like a dog!
If you have anything to correct or something you think I should add, etc., please tell me in your comments. I know I can’t look at comments yet, but once the webmaster adds that feature, I will readily work on this. |
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