Please note these care pages are OUR opinions, and are placed here to show the readers how we take care of our own animals. It is the readers own responsibility to be educated on the care of these animals before purchase.
Bearded Dragon - General Care
Bearded Dragons generally make wonderful pets. They tend to have friendly active personalities. However, daily maintenance is required to keep your pet healthy and happy.
In order to make your pet comfortable, it’s best to use a "natural like" environment. This can include a sand-like substrate, special reptile heating & lighting, a basking spot, hiding tunnels, and fresh food & clean water dishes.
There are a few substrates available for your pet to live on such as - calcium carbonate, playground sand, coconut fiber, animal bark, or reptile carpet. Be aware that some substrates can be harmful (even fatal) if swallowed by your pet! Too dusty substrates can cause respiratory problems. We recommend rinsing sand-like substrates thoroughly before placing it in the cage. Newspaper like substrates can also make it hard for your pet to find its food because crickets & other bugs can easily hide under pages. We tend to switch up the substrates from time to time - to determine which is best for their health (minimal dust and impaction hazard) and cleanliness.
You can purchase the proper heating and lighting fixtures from your local pet store. (Be sure to ask for help!) Your beardies should have a light fixture that provides a full spectrum of light to help vitamin absorption. You should also have a basking spot for your beardie that ranges from around 100o to 110o and ground temperatures should range at about 85o. It is important to have a basking spot for your dragon because they are cold blooded animals. Without this basking spot - nutritional deficiencies and health problems will likely occur!
Living quarters should accommodate the size of your animal. Beardies ranging from hatchlings to 12" should have a cage space of about a 15 gallon reptile tank. As they grow the enclosure should be replaced with about a 55 gallon tank size. We don’t recommend housing more than 3 bearded dragons in one cage. A basking rock or branch for heat, a hiding tunnel for privacy, and other decorations should be added to liven up the space. Multiple dragons don't usually like to see each other all the time! However be careful when putting a hiding tunnel in a cage with baby beardies - they may hide instead of bask and this can also cause growth problems.
Bearded dragons are omnivores which mean they'll need a variety of food to keep them healthy. This includes - bugs (crickets, mealworms, wax worms etc.), pinkies, and veggies (especially leafy greens). Be careful about feeding your pet veggies with little or no nutritional value. We recommend you buy and read a care booklet, and talk to your local pet store or vet - if you're new at owning a bearded dragon. Be careful if feeding them from your own garden- pesticides and lawn chemicals can be fatal. Also local plants can be poisonous. We recommend vitamin and mineral supplements (such as calcium) that can be added or sprinkled onto their food. Its also good idea to gut-load some of the bugs before feeding them to your animal.
We like to keep our beardies well hydrated by keeping a water bowl in their cages at all times. Beardies should be getting a lot of hydration from the foods they eat, along with occasional sprayings. It’s important to keep this water clean and fresh daily. Softened water is NOT recommended! It is also VERY IMPORTANT to keep the cage well ventilated to prevent respiratory infections & dust inhalation.
Behaviors can tell a lot about your dragon. Male dragons tend to be slightly more aggressive than females. They may have darker spikes (beards) under their chins that can become more noticeable at times. Some morphs can also have more aggressive personalities. Head bobbing is a dominance display, you'll probably see this more often when keeping more than one bearded in a cage. Arm waving is a sign of submission by the less dominant dragons. There are a few other behaviors dragons tend to have during breeding season.
It’s important to visually monitor the health of your dragon. Health problems can include - mites, nutritional deficiencies, impactions, thermal burns, vitamin A toxicity, respiratory infections, egg impaction, and parasites. Talk to your local pet store or vet if you think your beardie might be sick. Symptoms range from swollen or sunken eye-sockets, loss of weight & appetite (you may begin to see the hip bones protrude from their back) very loose stools, wheezing, to bubbles coming from their nose or mouth. Contact your vet if you notice or suspect a health problem with your dragon.