BEARDED DRAGON CARE

So you have decided to get a bearded Dragon.  Well welcome to the club.  The bearded dragon (pagona vitticeps) is one of the most interesting and entertaining lizards in the pet industry.  They each have their very own little personality.  They are quite rewarding and love you as much as you love them.  Now on to their care.

First we will go over the things you want to have set up before you purchase your dragon.

1.  If you are purchasing a hatchling you will need to have a minimum 20 gallon long tank (personally I suggest getting a 40 gallon breeder tank or larger so that you only have to purchase 1 tank).  The 20 gallon long will be ok for your dragon until they reach 4 months of age.  After that you will need to get a larger tank for your dragon.  The 40 gallon breeder sized tank is the minimum size tank you can use.  You will want to make sure you use a reptile screen top for the tank to keep your dragon from being able to jump/climb out.  This will also give you something the place your lighting on.

You also will need a lining on the bottom of the tank.  There are many options out there and many misleading ideas.  I never suggest any loose substrate such as sand (calci sand, repti sand, or play sand), coconut fiber, or chopped walnut shells as all of these can cause deadly impaction (a blockage of the intestines) which can require surgery if not cause death.  My personl suggestions are papertowels, newspaper, reptile carpet, or Slate Tile.  All of these are not causers of impaction and are easy to clean.

2.  Is your lighting. 
You will want to have your lights purchased, set up, and temps tweaked before your dragon gets to you so that his/her home is ready.  Bearded Dragons need UV lighting and heat.  For UV light you can use either a tube uv bulb or a Mercury Vapor bulb.  The best tube uv light on the market and the only tube bulb I suggest is the Reptisun 10.0 (best price on the web at reptilesupply.com).  You can also use the Mercury Vapor bulb the best of these is the T Rex Mercury Vapor Bulb.  There are many others on the market but none touch the output of the t rex.  You need heat as well as the uv light.  For heating you need to use either a bright white household bulb, a spot lamp, or if you are using the Mercury Vapor Bulb for your UV this also produces heat.  You basking temperature needs to be between 105-115 on the basking site itself.  The cool side of the tank needs to be in the low 80s.  You want a temperature gradient in the tank so that the dragon can move himself under the heat or out from under it when he/she wants to.

3.  Now for temps. 
You will need to keep accurate temps of your setup for the health of your dragon.  The stick on thermometers at pet stores do not work well.  They are often off by as much as 20 degrees.  The best options out are the handheld temp sensors sold at tempgun.com for about 25 bux.  They are accurate to within .001 of a degree.  You can also go to walmart and purchase a digital probe thermometer (has to be digital probe thermometer).  If you go with the temp gun you can basically just point and click to get temps.  With the probe therm you have to put the probe on the area you want checked.  So the probe would have to be on the basking site for checking basking temp and be on the farthest part of the cool side to check cool side temps.

4.  You also want to have a place to order feeder insects from. 
All of my dragons are raised on Dubia Roaches and Turkestan Roaches.  But most will lean more towards crickets as many consider keeping roaches to be strange and gross lol.  The two companies online that are cheapest for crickets are coldbloods.com and www.millbrookcrickets.com.  You need to make sure your live feeders are smaller than the space between your beardies eyes as large than this can cause impaction which is often deadly to dragons.  You also need to find a place to get the veggies you will need.  A great listing of things that can be fed to your dragon are found here http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html.  I personally feed my dragons predominantly Mustard Greens and Collards.  Up to 1 year of age you will want to offer live feeders to your dragon 3 times a day as many as he or she can eat in 15 minutes and leave a salad of mixed veggies available at all times (chopped or torn).  After 1 year you can feed 1 to 2 times a day depending on your preference. 

5.  Supplementation. 
You want to use Calcium and Vitamin supplements with your feedings.  1 time a day 5 days a week you want to dust your live feeders with calcium powder with d3 and you want to use a multivitamin 1 time a day for 2 days a week.  I suggest using Repcal with d3 which is available at most pet shops for calcium and Herptivite which is also available in most pet stores for a multi vit.

So now you have all this ready, purchased and on standby and are still interested in one of my dragons.  Well now just pick one out and email me to check for shipping and availability.  But wait there is more stuff you need to know for after your baby arrives.

6.  Hydration
You need to keep your baby hydrated.  Most bearded dragons don’t drink as much as they absorb water.  The area at the base of their tale known as the vent is the main area to make sure is below water.  They absorb water via this area.   As a baby they need to be soaked 3-4 times a week.  Once they get older you can lower this number to 2-3 times a week.

7.  Let's Talk about Poop
I know that sounds weird.  But, you need to know what to look for.  Your beardie  will poop a ton as a baby.  The poops will be solidish in nature (i.e. not excessively runny).  There should be a whitish chalky substance with each poo.  This is known as a urate.  This is the way that beardie urinate much like a bird.  You need to clean up their poop immediately upon noticing it.  Their feces carries parasites and they can become infested if they are walking in their feces.

8.  Vet Care
You need to locate a vet in your area that will see exotic pets.  If you are having a hard time finding one you can use this website, herpvetconnection.com, to aide your search.

Well I hope all of this information didn’t scare you away.  I want to make certain that you have all the information possible for the proper care of these wonderful creatures.  They are a greatly rewarding pet and are wonderfully fun to have.  I look forward to hearing from you.  And if you have any questions on things not covered in this care sheet or questions about thing that are covered on this sheet please do  not hesitate to contact me.

Have a wonderful day.

Brian
Cryptic Dragons