General Bearded Dragon Care
Choosing Your Dragon
When first choosing your new pet there are a number of things to consider, the most reliable and usually cheaper option is to buy from a breeder rather than a pet shop, when buying from a breeder you should first ask to see the parents, by examining the parents you can tell a lot about your new dragon, look to see if the parents have any abnormalities, if there is a kink in the tail, any twitching etc. it could have nerve or bone damage, it could be physical or genetical, genetics are very important when selecting a dragon, if the parents are aggressive the hatchlings will most likely be aggressive as well.
Things to look for in the parents:
- Abnormal Bone Structure
- Characteristics/Personality
- Colour, Pattern and Size
When looking at the clutch of dragons there are also a number of things to consider, if a dragon sits with it's eyes closed on the ground for a long period of time it could be a sign of weakness or sickness. If you can see the dragons ribs or hip bones steer clear, it could just be underfed but it could also be carrying a parasite, if you can see a thin dragon in the enclosure it is best to not buy any dragons from that enclosure, if the dragon has a bug or parasite the others could also be carrying it.
Things to look for in the young:
- Wide Eyes and Activity
- Feces Around Vent
- Thin Tail and Body
When choosing what sex of dragon you want there are some different things to consider, female bearded dragons usually grow a little smaller than males, if you want a pet to interact with your best option is to get a male, they normally display more character and personality.
Enclosures
If you have a baby bearded dragon you can start it in a small enclosure around 45 inches long, putting a baby in a large enclosure can be stressful on it, but they do grow to become quite a large lizard, the absolute minimum size for an adult bearded dragon is 4ft by 2ft or to that equivalent.
Substrate
The Substrate is the flooring of the enclosure, you will hear many recommendations for what to use from many people, I recommend just plain newspaper, it doesn't look the best but it is cheap and the inks aren't toxic, but if using newspaper you must put in a rough rock so the dragon's nails will not over grow.
Some other good substrates for dragons are:
- Reptile or Marine Carpet
- Fine Reptile Sand
- Alfalfa Pellets
Some substrates that you should stay away from are:
- Gravel (can cause impaction)
- Bark/Wood Chips
- Kitty Litter
Heating
Heating is essential for a bearded dragon enclosure, dragons need a temperature gradient (cool down one end, hot at the other end) and a basking spot.
The source of heat should come from an incandescent or reflector globe down one end of the enclosure, put a large flat rock under the light so the dragon can bask the temperature of the basking site should be 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit (35-40 Celsius)
Lighting
Good bright lighting keeps bearded dragons active, they are sluggish under low light, something every bearded dragon needs is UVB, UVB is the UV light that causes skin cancer in humans, bearded dragons need this so that they can absorb vitamins and minerals into their system from their foods, most UVB lights come as 24" fluorescent tubes, not only providing them with the necessary UVB but also providing a good source of light to keep the dragons' spirits high.
UVB can be provided naturally by the sun, but it is blocked by glass and plastic, other than preventing Metabolic Bone Disease from calcium deficiency UVB also helps increase colour and pattern.
Feeding
Bearded dragons should be fed 50% meat and 50% fruit and vegetables, the most common food for bearded dragons are crickets, they are easy to obtain and feed, with a small supplement of calcium and other vitamins added to the crickets they are also very nutritious.
By what I have read and experienced bearded dragon prefer to eat Wood Roaches, these are not for the weak, crickets are easy to handle, but when you have 50 huge roaches crawling over you, you will be back to crickets in a flash, not just the fact that they are disgusting, the stench they produce is horrible, they are more expensive and harder to find.
Adult bearded dragons can eat Meal Worms, but never feed them to young dragons, they are hard to digest and can cause impaction even death, and there have been a few recorded cases of meal worms eating a hole in the dragons stomach and killing it.
The supplement of calcium is absolutely necessary, crickets and other live food do not produce sufficient calcium for a dragon, sometimes dragons can survive without it, but if you are willing to take that risk you don't deserve a dragon as a pet, they can get metabolic bone disease and die if not given sufficient UVB and Calcium, food should be lightly sprinkled with calcium powder every 2-3 feeds.
Bearded Dragons Lizard's Behaviour
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