Bearded Dragon Care
Setup
Housing
-A single to an adult pair should be house in a 55 gallon aquarium (minimum). Babies can be housed in a 20 gallon.
-An aquarium must have a screen lid on the top to prevent other pets from harming your bearded dragon. (Lid locks may be used)
Heating & Lighting
-Place heat pad on one side of the aquarium, most heat pads should be placed on the underside of the aquarium. Do not turn it on yet; do it when you’re finished with the aquarium. For heat lamp users, screw on heat bulb. Place heat lamp on top of the screen lid, on the same side as the heat pad. **
The best heat source for bearded dragons is the heat pad (it should be big enough to cover 1/3 of the aquarium) Heat lamps are used if the heat pad does not provide enough heat.**
Temperatures on the side of the heating source at day time should be 100 – 105 F for adults and around 100F for babies. The opposite side should be around 80-85 F. At night time, the whole tank can drop into the 60's. Place a thermometer on either side of the aquarium, this helps you keep the temps right.
Bearded dragons are diurnal, meaning they are most active during the day. It is important that they have UVB lighting; it produce vitamin D3 the dragon need. Turn UVB light off at night.
Substrate
-Reptile carpet, tile, paper towels, and newspaper can be used as substrate. Calcium sand can be used for adults.
Hiding Spots
- Babies do not need hiding spots. The lizard may decide to hide instead of bask and therefore will not eat well and grow properly. Adults could use a few branches and rocks.
Food and Water
Types of Food
-Live Crickets, mealworms, waxworms, and superworms, and pinkies (baby mice) can be fed to bearded dragons. Beardies will also eat vegetables and fruit (kale, arugula, collard & mustard greens, parsley, , endives, radish, carrot and turnip tops, escarole and chicory endive. Squash, corn, peas, carrots, sweet potato, cucumber, zucchini. Cantaloupe, apple, blueberries, peaches, pears, grapes, plums, raspberries, etc)
-The size of the insects will depend on the size and age of your dragon. Babies will eat small, 3 week old crickets, small mealworms…
How to Feed
-Crickets should be "gut loaded" 24 hrs before you feed them to your beardie. Basically, you have to feed them high quality foods like carrots, orange, apples, and special cricket food, bought at pet stores.
You can give your lizard mealworms by putting 10-30 of them in a shallow dish. But you can't do the same with crickets, or anything that can get out of the dish. You can use tongs to feed insects to your bearded dragon. Babies will eat small amounts of insects twice a day while adults eat once a day. Place chopped veggies and fruits in a small dish and refill it everyday. Bearded dragons need vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. You must buy a vitamin powder and a calcium powder. To give these powders to your lizard, you can provide it a small dish of calcium. You also have to "dust" the crickets before you feed them to your beardie. To do so, dump some powders into a small bag and put some crickets in it. Close the opening and SHAKE!! Shake the bag until the crickets are covered with powder. Your bearded dragon must eat the crickets within 15 minutes or the powder will fall off. Usually, though they can do this way faster! For adults, dust the crickets with vitamin once a week and calcium three times a week. For juveniles and gravid females, you should dust the insects more often. I don't mix the powder, I do it separately.
Water
-Bearded dragons will need fresh water everyday. You can use bottled water or tap water with one or two drops of dechlorinator. Poor water in a shallow dish. Some dragons don’t recognize still water, so you can use those small water falls sold at pet stores. Another way to give your dragon water is to spray some of it on his mouth; he will then sip it up.
Cleaning
1. Take your lizard out of her tank, put her in a small container.
2. Unplug all the heat sources, take off the heat lamp. Some heat pads have to be stuck to the bottom so don't take those off.
3. Take the water, food, calcium dishes and wash them with water, dry them and put in fresh water, food, and calcium.
4. Take all furnishings out and wash them well with a diluted bleach solution, and rinse it very well with water. Dry all furnishings. Don't wash anything that is made out of wood; they can be hard to dry...just give them a good shake outside.
5. Dump out old substrate, and replace with new ones. Reptile carpets can be used again. Just wash it with water and dry it. (I usually keep two reptile carpets for one tank. You can replace the old one with a new one while the old one is getting washed)
6. When there is nothing in the aquarium, wash it using soap or a diluted bleach solution, scrub it well, and then rinse the aquarium with lots of water.
7. Dry the aquarium with paper towels.
8. Add in all the materials when the aquarium is dry, including the new substrate. 9. Put your bearded dragon back in her home.
10. Turn on the heat source and close the lid.
Handling
Bearded Dragons are well known for their gentile nature and tolerance of handling. This is the pet you can hold all the time! Be careful of the claws and tail while handling them.
All info are self-written
Housing
-A single to an adult pair should be house in a 55 gallon aquarium (minimum). Babies can be housed in a 20 gallon.
-An aquarium must have a screen lid on the top to prevent other pets from harming your bearded dragon. (Lid locks may be used)
Heating & Lighting
-Place heat pad on one side of the aquarium, most heat pads should be placed on the underside of the aquarium. Do not turn it on yet; do it when you’re finished with the aquarium. For heat lamp users, screw on heat bulb. Place heat lamp on top of the screen lid, on the same side as the heat pad. **
The best heat source for bearded dragons is the heat pad (it should be big enough to cover 1/3 of the aquarium) Heat lamps are used if the heat pad does not provide enough heat.**
Temperatures on the side of the heating source at day time should be 100 – 105 F for adults and around 100F for babies. The opposite side should be around 80-85 F. At night time, the whole tank can drop into the 60's. Place a thermometer on either side of the aquarium, this helps you keep the temps right.
Bearded dragons are diurnal, meaning they are most active during the day. It is important that they have UVB lighting; it produce vitamin D3 the dragon need. Turn UVB light off at night.
Substrate
-Reptile carpet, tile, paper towels, and newspaper can be used as substrate. Calcium sand can be used for adults.
Hiding Spots
- Babies do not need hiding spots. The lizard may decide to hide instead of bask and therefore will not eat well and grow properly. Adults could use a few branches and rocks.
Food and Water
Types of Food
-Live Crickets, mealworms, waxworms, and superworms, and pinkies (baby mice) can be fed to bearded dragons. Beardies will also eat vegetables and fruit (kale, arugula, collard & mustard greens, parsley, , endives, radish, carrot and turnip tops, escarole and chicory endive. Squash, corn, peas, carrots, sweet potato, cucumber, zucchini. Cantaloupe, apple, blueberries, peaches, pears, grapes, plums, raspberries, etc)
-The size of the insects will depend on the size and age of your dragon. Babies will eat small, 3 week old crickets, small mealworms…
How to Feed
-Crickets should be "gut loaded" 24 hrs before you feed them to your beardie. Basically, you have to feed them high quality foods like carrots, orange, apples, and special cricket food, bought at pet stores.
You can give your lizard mealworms by putting 10-30 of them in a shallow dish. But you can't do the same with crickets, or anything that can get out of the dish. You can use tongs to feed insects to your bearded dragon. Babies will eat small amounts of insects twice a day while adults eat once a day. Place chopped veggies and fruits in a small dish and refill it everyday. Bearded dragons need vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. You must buy a vitamin powder and a calcium powder. To give these powders to your lizard, you can provide it a small dish of calcium. You also have to "dust" the crickets before you feed them to your beardie. To do so, dump some powders into a small bag and put some crickets in it. Close the opening and SHAKE!! Shake the bag until the crickets are covered with powder. Your bearded dragon must eat the crickets within 15 minutes or the powder will fall off. Usually, though they can do this way faster! For adults, dust the crickets with vitamin once a week and calcium three times a week. For juveniles and gravid females, you should dust the insects more often. I don't mix the powder, I do it separately.
Water
-Bearded dragons will need fresh water everyday. You can use bottled water or tap water with one or two drops of dechlorinator. Poor water in a shallow dish. Some dragons don’t recognize still water, so you can use those small water falls sold at pet stores. Another way to give your dragon water is to spray some of it on his mouth; he will then sip it up.
Cleaning
1. Take your lizard out of her tank, put her in a small container.
2. Unplug all the heat sources, take off the heat lamp. Some heat pads have to be stuck to the bottom so don't take those off.
3. Take the water, food, calcium dishes and wash them with water, dry them and put in fresh water, food, and calcium.
4. Take all furnishings out and wash them well with a diluted bleach solution, and rinse it very well with water. Dry all furnishings. Don't wash anything that is made out of wood; they can be hard to dry...just give them a good shake outside.
5. Dump out old substrate, and replace with new ones. Reptile carpets can be used again. Just wash it with water and dry it. (I usually keep two reptile carpets for one tank. You can replace the old one with a new one while the old one is getting washed)
6. When there is nothing in the aquarium, wash it using soap or a diluted bleach solution, scrub it well, and then rinse the aquarium with lots of water.
7. Dry the aquarium with paper towels.
8. Add in all the materials when the aquarium is dry, including the new substrate. 9. Put your bearded dragon back in her home.
10. Turn on the heat source and close the lid.
Handling
Bearded Dragons are well known for their gentile nature and tolerance of handling. This is the pet you can hold all the time! Be careful of the claws and tail while handling them.
All info are self-written