Bearded dragons are agamid lizards belonging to the genus Pogona. They are native to Australia, where they live in arid, rocky, semi-desert regions or arid open woodlands. They are social animals with an average life span of about 10 years and can grow to an average 21". They spend a lot of time on branches or basking on rocks in the mornings and afternoons absorbing UV. They are omnivores, eating invertebrates, small vertebrates, and foraging plants (greens, fruits, and flowers).
Here are a few things you should know when you bring a Bearded Dragon home. The dragon will be scared, so it's best to not handle them for a few days as they get acclimated to the new sights, sounds, and smells. On about the third day, it's ok to hold him/her for a short time (10-15 minutes). We recommend slowly increasing the handling time over a couple weeks as they get acclimated.
Housing:
Adult require at least a 50 gallon terrarium and babies can be housed in a 10-gallon terrarium. Terrariums typically are needed to be longer than they are high. We don't recommend keeping more that one dragon to an enclosure, if you do, make sure they get along and are only female, and use a larger terrarium with multiple basking areas.
Substrate:
There are differences of opinion about substrate. The consensus is do not use any wood chipped, corn cob, walnut, kitty litter, or gravel: these can all lead to impaction. There are also numerous reports of Calci-sand causing impaction. Some breeders successfully use filtered play sand only for adults, although there are reports that it also leads to impaction in adults. We only recommend using paper towels, reptile carpet (non looped), non-stick shelf paper, newspaper, brown butcher paper (brown paper rolls sold at home improvement centers...similar to a shopping bag paper), or ceramic tiles. We also use a grout and sealed floor successfully. If you decide to use playsand, make sure to filter it through a strainer before using to sift out any large particles and consider moving the Beardies to a separate feeding bin to avoid ingesting the sand at meal time
Lighting/heating:
Bearded dragons like a basking spot at about 110 degrees and a cooler side in the low to mid 80's in their enclosure. They need a good full spectrum UVA and UVB source for 8-10 hours a day. We recommend active UV/heat or mercury vapor (MV) bulbs as they provide a high quality UV and heat from one source. If you can not use MV bulbs, then a good fluorescent UV full spectrum light can be used, although they provide a lower quality UV than the MV bulbs. It's recommended that Beardies are give as much natural sunlight as possible. When giving natural sunlight remember to reduce the supplements provided, specifically d3.
Feeding:
Bearded dragons are omnivorous, eating vegetation and protein. In captivity their diet consists of crickets, mealworms, superworms, Pheonix worms, and a salad mixture. The size of the food should be 1/2 to 3/4 the size of the space between the bearded dragons eyes. Greens can consist of greens (collard, mustard, turnip, and dandelion). Avoid feeding iceberg lettuce, kale, cabbage, or spinach. You can also add a small variety of vegetables like carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, corn, fruits, cactus fruit, dandelion flowers, and hibiscus flowers. Vegetation variety should be given daily in the morning. Protein such as crickets (gut loaded with fruit and vegetables preferred), super worms, silk worms, phoenix worms, roaches, grasshoppers (never fireflies) can be offered in the afternoon. Try to avoid feeding them 2 hours before lights out. An occasion wax worm is ok, but be conservative with them as they contain high levels of fat. Never use bugs caught outside, they can contain parasites or pesticides. As the dragon gets older their diet will become more vegetation and less protein. Adults will only need protein 3-4 times a week.
Supplements:
Bearded Dragons require a Calcium and vitamin supplement. The calcium supplement may or may not contain d3 (what you use depends on how much natural sunlight is available). For babies we use a calcium supplement 6 days a week and a multi vitamin 1 day a week. As the Beardies get older, they require less supplement. We ultimately recommend going over your specific dragons supplement needs with your vet.
Water:
Dragons should be misted once a day and given a warm bath a couple times a week. We also provide a shallow water dish for them as well. We recommend you change/clean the water dish at least twice a week to avoid any bacteria buildup. We use Spring Water, as distilled lacks the needed nutrients and minerals. Tap water could contain chemicals that could be harmful. If you see any defecation in their water, change it out to avoid issues of drinking dirty water.
Provided by: www.TheCornPit.com
|
