vonfirmath Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Is anyone familiar with bearded dragons as pets? Our rough green snake died on New Year's Eve and we are highly interested in getting a bearded dragon for our next pet. However, we'd like to make sure we can be good owners before acquiring one (though our kids have fallen in love with a lively "fancy bearded dragon" at Petco. We are holding off. I know often the pet store is not the best place to acquire pets. This store does have cats for adoption in the back through a partnership with a local shelter so maybe its better?) I've been googling over the Internet and finding a LOT of different information and I'm not even sure what to trust! or how to find a local reputable breeder as an alternative to the pet store! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Does your area hold any reptile shows or conventions? Near us is the state fairgrounds and they host different shows throughout the year (wedding, gun/knife, horse) and they have an annual reptile show. Lots of suppliers and such with booths. That might be an option other than Petco? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 My daughter's each have beardies and love them. They can be expensive to feed when they are young. The more they are held ...gently...the better they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted January 13, 2020 Author Share Posted January 13, 2020 51 minutes ago, alisoncooks said: Does your area hold any reptile shows or conventions? Near us is the state fairgrounds and they host different shows throughout the year (wedding, gun/knife, horse) and they have an annual reptile show. Lots of suppliers and such with booths. That might be an option other than Petco? Good idea! There is one "Repticon" coming to Taylor on February 8! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2020 Share Posted January 13, 2020 Beardies are great. I do recommend looking for a sub adult or adult over a juvenile (always my recommendation with herp pets. Most herps, as DD's field bio mentor puts it, are built cheap to government specifications. The survival rate in the wild is often single digits, and you can spend a lot of effort and money attempting to keep a hatchling alive that in the wild would not have survived-especially when you're talking "fancy"-color morphs can come with other potential genetic weaknesses). You do want one which has been handled a lot and is comfortable with people. Bearded dragon behavior is fascinating. They have a lot of personality and tend to be pretty social lizards. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogger Posted January 14, 2020 Share Posted January 14, 2020 Our vet calls them the dogs of lizard world. They do have a ton of personality. Although the veggies are easy, the insects are more expensive and can be a pain. I'd actually prefer to feed a snake I think. You can do crickets, some hornworms etc but we do roaches and they smell. 😕 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogger Posted January 14, 2020 Share Posted January 14, 2020 I would do a search for a rescue. We have multiple reptile rescues that are just jammed packed. Many rescue places do educational programs. You could learn care and rescue a critter. A good rescue should be able to tell you if there are signs of MBD or other issues and warn you. At least, I hope they would. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted January 14, 2020 Share Posted January 14, 2020 Our family LOVES bearded dragons! They live around 7 years so they are a commitment! The BD in my avatar was Drako-- he was our first and by far the sweetest BD ever! Over the past 16 years we have raised 5 bearded dragons from juvi stage to adult. We purchased mostly through breeders (and one through PetSmart). We also rescued an adult 'mostly dead' BD. With our vet's help we were able to save her and she lived 5 more years (age of 8 when she passed)- she was a 'happy' lizard named Lizard-Bella...pretty name for one UGLY gal-- but she was full of personality. Her original owners did not care for her properly-- they did not use the special lights or give her proper food and supplements... she ended up without the use of her front 'hands' but was very content being carted around or sitting in a sun beam on the patio. For the first 4 babies we fed mainly crickets (it is also best to get them eating a bit of salad as soon as possible but 80% of juvi diet needs to be 'live'). I would order them online by the 500's and even 1000's (much cheaper than getting a few at a time from pet store). Juvi's can eat 50 per day! The last baby (now an adult) eats mainly roaches. My oldest dd is his current owner and tells me the roach colony is not as smelly as the crickets (she has a system worked out that keeps the smell down)-- she also has another more exotic lizard who enjoys roaches as well. For several years we kept a silkworm colony going. Their food was a bit smelly (unless we found a supply of fresh mulberry leaves) but their life cycle was fascinating and the local school teachers had plenty of our 'extras' to observe PLUS the beardies LOVED them! Once the beardies get close to adult size they eat mostly veggies with some fruit-- and a few bites of live food (crickets, roaches...) once or twice a week. WARNING-- bearded dragon poo STINKS! Luckily they tend to 'go' in the same place each time so we keep a layer of newspaper or paper towels down and remove the offense as soon as possible! For babies we usually start them out in a 20-40 gallon tank for the first 4-6 months then we move them to a 75-80 gallon aquariums (one per tank). My daughters have had so much fun designing the tank interiors... the current BD has a cave inside an R2D2 model... my favorite was a replica of a Mayan ruin...one had a castle... The larger tanks are easier to regulate-- hot side/cold side as well as basking platform area with 'cave' underneath and a feeding/potty area. BD's are solitary critters-- they RARELY get along with a tank mate. Of the 6 we have had only one was resistant to human handling-- most LOVED the interaction. Two of our guys would get extremely excited when they saw their lizard leashes come out-- they loved exploring the house and the backyard-- DD would even take them to the local parades! (She uses ferret leashes). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 10 hours ago, Jann in TX said: WARNING-- bearded dragon poo STINKS! This is what I was going to post, lol. I would not let any child get a bearded dragon until they have seen and cleaned actual bearded dragon poop. It's disgusting, and I say this as someone with plenty of experience with animal poop 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jann in TX Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 7 minutes ago, katilac said: This is what I was going to post, lol. I would not let any child get a bearded dragon until they have seen and cleaned actual bearded dragon poop. It's disgusting, and I say this as someone with plenty of experience with animal poop 😂 Hint-- if you give your BD's a good soak in a warm bath they will almost surely 'go' in the water.... then toss the water into the toilet--- No smell! My dd's BD is a 'morning poo-er'... so if she gets up too late for the bath method she has him trained to 'go' on the newsprint/paper towel and she can quickly whisk it away. Only once or twice a year has he 'finger painted' the tank (with his tail...)-- that requires an extensive clean up effort.... but he is worth it! Here is a picture of youngest dd-- she was about 2.5 yrs old... with our first BD (one in my avatar) Drako-- he was about 6 months old- and yes, she was walking around our house 'wearing' him! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted January 15, 2020 Author Share Posted January 15, 2020 So we were at a pet store tonight (We have an exotic pet store in Austin!) and the store keeper suggested we look into fat tail geckos as being much lower maintenance than a bearded dragon. (And can reuse more of our existing equipment from the snake we lost on New Year's Eve) So we have something else to explore. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted January 15, 2020 Share Posted January 15, 2020 My daughter actually has her beardie as an emotional support animal. It goes with her (in a cat carrier) with prior permission to some of her providers .....never to food places though. We got this beardie a year ago today as a 6-8 month old. She saw a listing from a family that was rehoming her. She has been perfect. She rides around on my daughter's shoulder for hours, has gone on hikes with us, etc . 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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