Talk to me about Bearded Dragons!

[Gentlemommy]

We allowed my four year old to pick (within reason, no tarantulas allowed lol) our next pet. I tried to convince her to get a nice, furry little bunny. No luck. She chose a bearded dragon lol. So after doing some research, we decided it was something we can manage, and a pet that would fit in nicely with our lifestyle.

We have a pet sitter lined up who has had a bearded dragon for nine years, so when we go traveling over the summer, we are set. The tank he's in currently is forty gallons, which should last for the next year or so. Then we will move to a 75 gallon tank. Any help in the best place to buy those? The forty gallon was the biggest they had at the store. Also, are there lighter options for suitable tanks? Like plexiglass or something like that? We have both types of lights, a heating pad, water and food dishes, and a hide, which also serves as a step up closer to the light. We plan on finding some good climbing branches and baking them and putting them in there. We were warned against using sand, so we have a towel in there now....would it be better to get a patch of the fake grass stuff? I'm worried about his little claws getting caught in the towel loops. Or I could get a yard of flannel to put in there (I don't think that has loops?). I do need to get a mister today, and the calcium water additive. We bought the powder to dust onto the crickets and mealworms.

 

He's not eating right now. Last night we put a couple of crickets in and he ate them right away. Then we put meal worms and he didn't want those at all. They are still in there today. We put in some more crickets, but he isn't going for them. Should I worry? We turned off the lights last night, but kept his heating pad on. I wonder if he got too cold???

 

Tell me all about them! Share stories and tips and pictures if you have them! We are so excited about the new addition to our family.

[Tiramisu]

Experiment with greens to see what he likes. Spinach and lettuce aren't good choices, but ours like kale. I have a friend whose beardie will only eat collard greens. 

 

We have done better with a surface that we can clean well or throw out because they poop on it. For awhile I could predict their pooping but not so much anymore. One tends to go in the same place which makes it easier to clean, but the other not so much.

[Jann in TX]

NIx the meal worms-- they are not a good food choice for bearded dragons (poor nutrition and hard to digest).   Crickets and silkworms are the top option (silkworms are easy to raise too).  You can purchase crickets onlline (once your baby is closer to 12 inches long and constantly hungry!)-- We get boxes of 500 at a time.

 

  Here is a great site that is a wealth of information.  Veggies are VERY IMPORTANT--babies need to be started on them and will eat mostly veggies as adults.  Adults who do not eat veggies have a multitude of health problems (life span is usually about half too).

 

Also-- the heating pad-- an overhead heat light is better.  Bearded dragons cannot sense heat on their tummies and they can overheat and acutally get burned on heating pads/rocks...

 

Our babies always liked to burrow under a towel at night (some of our adults too.

 

We keep papertowels or newspaper down in the part of the tank they  'poo' in so it is easily removed (this will get bigger and stinkier as they grow so potty training them is recommended (if you keep the area cleaned out they will continue to use it).

 

 

 

 

 

[Greta]

Here's a great nutrition chart that shows which foods are best, good, acceptable occaisionally, and never acceptable for a beardie. It's been a huge help to us. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

 

And here's the kind of terrarium we bought. These are rather pricey, so this may not be of interest to you. My husband has a really tender heart when it comes to animals, so he wanted our beardie to have nice accommodations. :D We bought a HUGE one. It takes up so much space in our living room! :lol: http://www.showcasecages.com/cage_details.htm

 

My husband jokes that our beardie has two facial expressions: accusatory and particularly accusatory. :lol: He does sort of look at us as if he's plotting our demise, but we love him anyway!

 

We got him when my dd was 9 years old. She's always been really fascinated with reptiles, and she wanted a snake. I am more squeamish, and I knew that I would not be able to handle taking care of a snake during those times when she couldn't (was away from home or something). So the beardie was a pretty good compromise. I'm not squeamish about handling him at all. I like him.

[klmama]

I suggest you price a new 75 gallon tank and everything needed to go with it, and then watch craigslist and garage sales for used ones at a lower price.  If you don't find one by the time you want to move him into a larger space, talk to the owner of the pet shop to see if you can negotiate a better price.  

[Dmmetler]

Also, watch Petco. A couple of times a year they do a $1/gallon sale on their tanks, which is a nice way to upgrade. We have a friend who owns a small reptile/exotic fish specific pet shop, and he recommends buying at those sales, because that is less than his cost when he buys wholesale for anything bigger than a 20 gallon. You'll probably be able to transfer most of your equipment to a bigger tank when the time comes.

 

I do suggest breeding insects once you get established and know what your Beardie wants. Insects are really expensive to buy, but easy to breed, and it's a nice science lesson, too.

 

If you have a local herp group, connect with them. Check Facebook and do a google search-some will use things like proboards and separate websites, but many are on FB. That's a good source of local information, and also a good source for feeders. I've found the herp world VERY supportive of kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BigMamaBird]

We don't have a Beardie yet but are in the early stages of seriously planning for one.  I stalk Craigslist regularly for tanks.  It's amazing the number of people who decide they don't have enough time for their dragon and sell the tank and animal for less than $100.  If you're willing to drive a few towns over you can probably find a nice tank for not a lot of money.

[whitestavern]

Not to hijack, but can someone explain why lettuce and spinach are bad feeding choices?  Also, why sand is bad.  We have obviously been doing some things wrong with our lizard :(

 

We were told feed them crickets and mealworms (again, this appears to be wrong) and fruits and veggies, but ours eats nothing but greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, parsley) I just take any other fruits and veggies out after a day or two because he doesn't eat them.  We use sand because we were told it's like kitty litter, easy to scoop up the poop, which is is.  But why is it bad? Also, I don't think our tank is anywhere near 75 gallons.  He seems to be happy and we do take him out and leave him out a lot (he loves to bask in the sun on our kitchen floor for hours).  Also, we purchase about 50 crickets at a time because they just don't last much past a week.  We do keep lettuce in their cage for moisture.  Anything else we can do to extend their lives?

 

We adore our bearded dragon!

[Dmmetler]

For crickets, I suggest using water pillows/gel crystals (they're sold in the reptile section, but if you get ones designed for plants, they work, too, so long as there's nothing added-we often find them discounted in winter and can stock up for the next year or so) and a commercial cricket food or good quality dog food with a lot of protein. Do not get something designed for gut loading with calcium because it hardens the shells so that crickets can't molt, and will die pretty fast. Dust the crickets before feeding instead.  If you have cardboard tubes or egg carton pieces in the cricket tank, the crickets will hide there, which makes it fairly easy to extract them for feeding or for transferring to a new tank. Crickets need to be cleaned at least weekly, otherwise they stink. Keeping dirt at the bottom of the tank helps with smell.

 

 

[Gentlemommy]

I just put apple, bell pepper, and celery in his tank. Those were all on the acceptable list...I need to go get some greens tomorrow.

So no meal worms? That's just as well, as he doesn't seem to like them. For the crickets, we are using the small sized ones now, I put in about 7 this morning and there are three left. They are hiding in his hide....so will he eventually find them? I am not sure about raising crickets, that seems like more than I am willing to handle right now. 😳 I'm more than happy to pay a premium to let the pet store store them for me lol. The crickets wig me out enough as it is...can I just put ten crickets in per day with him, plus his veggies? What if he eats the crickets and not the veggies, do I hold off on more crickets until he eats his veggies? Do I alternate days, one day crickets one day veggies? We were told to feed one thing per day-day 1-10 crickets, day 2-10 meal worms, and day 3-plate of greens. I'm finding that what we were told isn't always accurate, so now im second guessing everything.

 

Currently he is about 5-6 inches long, including the tail. So for that size, how much should I expect him to be eating per day? He did poop today (on his hide😣) so I'm feeling better about his not eating much this am. I also misted the cage and him a bit.

[Greta]

Also, why sand is bad.

I guess there are mixed opinions on this, but I've read that it's fine. That's what we use too, always have, and we've never had any problems with it. It's a very natural substrate for an animal that comes from a desert habitat. I've read that you shouldn't use potting soil, and that makes perfect sense because it contains pesticides and fertilizers and whatnot. But sand works just fine.

[Greta]

Not to hijack, but can someone explain why lettuce and spinach are bad feeding choices?

I looked them up on that chart which I linked, and it says that lettuce is of poor nutritional value and can cause diarrhea. Spinach is too high in Vit A, oxalates, and goiterogens.

[Jann in TX]

You have a tiny baby-- probably round 3 months old.  Not worth ordering crickets online yet-- but you will know when they it the bottomless pit stage!

 

Sand can cause impaction (stopped up gut)-- we want our pet bearded dragons to live LONGER than the ones in the wild (most wild live only a year or two if that). 

 

We have had a few adults on sand in their hide area-- but not in feeding area.  Babies taste everything so err on the safer side.  Stay far away from Calci-sand  that stuff is a bearded dragon killer (think clumping kitty litter)-- it is NOT digestable!

 

Be careful about over misting.  A good soak in a plastic shoe box filled with a bit of water is better than misting.  Misting increases the humidity in their enclosure (so does a water dish) and humidy is NOT good for beardies it often leads to respiratory infections. 

Beardies will get most of their moisture from their veggies and even their bugs.

 

Beautifuldragons.org has the absolute BEST feeding chart with the why's and how's (nutrition info).

 

About raising bugs... my pastor is raising roaches for their beardie.  Needless to say his wife was not pleased at first. Roaches are an awesome food choice for beardies.  They are easy to raise-- and a thin layer of vaseline at the top of their box keeps them in when you take the lid off.   I prefered to raise silkworms.  It is VERY easy to get a colony going.  You do need to purchase the powdered food if you do not have access to a mulberry tree... 

 

[Greta]

Sand can cause impaction (stopped up gut)

I had forgotten what the argument against sand was. But our beardie never eats the sand! So maybe this is only a problem for those who have a tendency to do that? Also, we don't put his food on the sand.

 

About raising bugs... my pastor is raising roaches for their beardie. Needless to say his wife was not pleased at first. Roaches are an awesome food choice for beardies. They are easy to raise-- and a thin layer of vaseline at the top of their box keeps them in when you take the lid off. I prefered to raise silkworms. It is VERY easy to get a colony going. You do need to purchase the powdered food if you do not have access to a mulberry tree...

I'll have to pass on the roaches, but thanks for mentioning this about the silkworms. We've just been buying bugs from the pet store and it does get expensive. Maybe we should do this instead. We don't have a mulberry tree, though.

[Jann in TX]

I usually buy the silk worm chow.  Carrots can keep them alive for a few days (but turns them orange!) but without the special chow or mullberry leaves they cannot cocoon-- and that is so cool to watch!  PS the moths are cool looking and do not eat or fly-- they mate, females lay hundreds of eggs then they die (usually 2-3 days after coming out of cocoon (we feed the moths to the beardies too!).

 

To the OP-- if you see poop every day you know he is eating enough.  Once he gets settled his appetite will pick up.

 

I suggest getting an indoor-outdoor wired thermometer (kind with metal probes on end of wires) to check to make sure the basking area is correct temp (do not trust the plastic strip thermometers or the ones with the little dials).

 

 

[nukeswife]

We've had our beardie for almost 2 years now.  She never ate crickets, but used to love Dubia roaches.  I actually bred my own colony of a good 1000 or so of them from a batch of 20 roaches I bought online.  I sold them off to a store in VA before we moved to TN because she's now super picky and will only eat silkworms and the occasional super worm for a treat.  She did eat phoenix worms when she was younger as well as the roaches.  If you need a good online place for roaches check out Westcoastroaches.com  He has a Facebook page where he has auctions where you can get stuff super cheap if you win.  That's where I won the auction for my breading stock roaches.  

 

I order my silkworms from www.silkwormshop.com   They are super easy to take care of.  I buy the powered chow and make a batch up once a month or so to feed them. 

We've never used sand for a substrate but have used shelf liner, which is easy to take out and scrub if you need to.  Spock mostly poops in her bath.  We never misted her, just put her in a tub of warm water (up to her elbows) every other day.  Now we've switched over to slate tiles for her substrate, which is nice because it's easy to clean, helps retain the heat in her tank and also helps to dull her nails from her walking on it.  

 

She prefers collard, mustard, and turnip greens.  I've heard that Kale is good, but shouldn't be a main staple (our vets have all said this) She's totally spoiled and I must hand feed her the greens each day.  She's never liked having a blanket so she just has a branch to climb on, and a rock hide to bask on or crawl in when she needs alone time.  

 

One thing we've learned is stay away from the coil UVB lights, get a tube light and a cheap fixture at the local home improvement store (the tube should run about 2/3rds the length of the tank and be on the same side as the heat lamp)  Then use 3M strips to mount the tube light inside the tank.  This way you're not losing part of the good UVB to the screen top.  We actually took her screen top off because she never tries to get out, but some have other pets that would try to get in so they need to have it on.  The coil UVB lights supposedly can burn their eyes.  Spock actually had a rock that would allow her to get to close to the UVB tube light and we believe she may have some damage to her sight from that.